“A reunion of thieves,” Rafe said.“Wonder whether it has anything to do with me?”
Clint shrugged.“I’ve been doing my damnedest to listen in, but they always close the door when they’re together.”
“Seems like we might be making progress.”
“Ortheymight,” Clint said grimly.“Russ Dewayne is thinking about forming a posse.”He hesitated, then continued.“Russ and his sons will be riding with the stage, so Randall said he would send the payroll by stage after all.He had been planning to send some of his men for it, along a separate route, which would have been perfect.”
“Russ?”Rafe furrowed his eyebrows together in surprise at the friendly way Clint mentioned the name.
Clint met his eyes directly.“I’m seeing his daughter.”
“What do you think of the father?”
Clint hesitated.“I like him.”
Rafe was silent for a moment, regretting again that he’d drawn the young man into his own battle.“You’re out of this, Clint.Both you and Ben.”
“No,” Clint said.“We’ve worked on this for five years.I’m not leaving.Besides, the woman has already seen both Ben and me.”He glanced toward the closed cabin.“How is she?”
“Angry but safe.”Rafe was the one who was no longer safe.
“There’s been no mention of her at the ranch.Maybe she was lying.”
“From what she says and the letters she carries, I don’t think her father—if he is that—even knows she exists.”
“Then that explains why I’ve never heard anything of her,” Clint said.
Rafe nodded.
“Someone’s going to find out she was asking questions at the express office,” Clint said.
“I know,” Rafe said.“That should bother Randall some.Everyone in the territory knowing he has a daughter he never acknowledged.Should damage that respectable image of his.”He couldn’t hold back the bitterness in his words.
Just then the sound of hooves against earth interrupted their discussion, and Ben along with Johnny Green, Bill Smith, Carey Thompson, and Simon Ford appeared.
They rode up to the two men and dismounted.“Skinny?”The question came from Clint.
“He’ll be along,” said Johnny, a short, pudgy man who many people underestimated.He was the fastest among them with a gun.“He’s at a meeting with the miners.They’re talking about a vigilante committee.”
Rafe closed his eyes.A posse and a vigilante committee.And he damn well couldn’t get it out of his mind that Randall was behind the killing.This time, though, Randall wasn’t going to succeed.
“We suspected he would do something if we pushed him,” Ben said.
Clint was silent.Rafe looked at him.“Clint?”
“I keep wondering about McClary.Although he’s a guest, Randall doesn’t seem to like him much.”
The five new arrivals looked toward Clint, who quickly told them about McClary’s arrival and his role in Rafe’s court-martial.Apparently, Ben had already told them about the woman, and they had darted curious looks toward the cabin but discreetly said nothing.Each had noticed he had not been invited inside for a drink.
Johnny sprawled down on the ground.“Got any whiskey?”
Rafe nodded toward the barn.“Clint, it’s in the far corner of the stable.”
When Clint disappeared inside, Rafe turned toward the others.“I think it’s time you move on.I can take it from here.”
“Just when it’s getting interesting?”The question came from Carey Thompson, a tall, thin man who had a talent for rustling.
“Ain’t no way we’re showing our back,” Bill Smith said.“It’s not just you, Rafe.Don’t think it is.We went through hell those three years, and I don’t like the thought of a yellow belly benefiting from the war.”
