Crow Bait

Sixty-one

“What kind of a deal?” Lancaster asked.

“I’ll tell you who hired me, and you let me go,” Sweet said. “Simple as that.”

“I’ve got a counteroffer.”

“What’s that?”

“You tell me who hired you,” Lancaster said, “and I’ll kill you quickly.”

Sweet rocked back in his chair. “That’s a joke, right?”

“No joke,” Lancaster said. “Make no mistake, Sweet. There’s no way you walk away from this alive. Not after what you did to me. But how you die, well, that’s up for discussion.”

“How about this?” Sweet asked. “Why don’t I just kill you right now?”

“Do it,” Lancaster said. “Go ahead. With your hands? Your gun? Or do you plan to kick me to death?”

Sweet stared at Lancaster.

“That’s what I thought,” Lancaster said. “You don’t have two more men to back your play this time.”

“Look, I told you already,” Sweet said. “It weren’t nothin’ personal. We was hired to do what we did.”

“And you’re gonna tell me by who and why.”

“Well,” Sweet said, “you got somebody mad at you, that’s for sure. Had somethin’ to do with somebody you killed.”

“So, what? Somebody’s wife? Somebody’s father? Brother?” Lancaster asked.

“I don’t know,” Sweet said. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t care. It was a lot of money.”

“And how specific was this person when they hired you?” Lancaster asked.

“Whataya mean?”

“Why the Mojave?”

“That’s what…they wanted,” Sweet said. “For us to strand you in the of the Mojave. They said take your horse, your gun, your water, and leave you.”

“And you didn’t ask why?”

Sweet shrugged. “Like I said, it was a lot of money.”

“But you didn’t leave me right in the middle of the desert,” Lancaster said. “If you had I might be dead now.”

“Well, I didn’t see any reason to wait,” Sweet said.

“You got impatient,” Lancaster said. “You hadn’t been paid yet, right?”

“Not all of it.”

“So after you left me you had to go and meet your employer to get paid. That means he or she was in Nevada, right?”

“So?”

“But do they live in Nevada?”

Sweet didn’t answer.

“Sweet,” Lancaster said, “the harder you make this on me, the harder it’s gonna be on you.”

“Naw,” Sweet said, “naw, you ain’t gonna kill me. Not while you don’t know who hired me.”

“And if you’re so bound and determined not to tell me,” Lancaster asked, “what’s the point of me keepin’ you alive?”

Sweet stared at Lancaster, then picked up his drink—whiskey, by the look of it—and swigged it.

“I ain’t just gonna lie down for you, Lancaster,” he said.

“I never thought you would,” Lancaster said. “But why cover for your employer? You’ll be dead and they’ll go on living.”

“And when they find out you’re still alive, they’ll hire somebody else,” Sweet said. “You’ll be lookin’ over your shoulder for the rest of your life. You don’t want me, Lancaster. You want who hired me.”

Lancaster gave that some thought. Sweet began to look hopeful. He didn’t think he had much chance going up against Lancaster in a fair gunfight. There had to be another way out. He looked at the batwing doors, hoping to see Fielding and Williams come through.

“Don’t be lookin’ for them,” Lancaster said.

“For who?”

“Fielding and Williams,” he said. “They’re in a cell in Amarillo.”

“Goddamnit!” Sweet said.

“Okay,” Lancaster said. “Okay, Sweet.”

“Okay, what?”

“You’re right,” Lancaster said. “I want the person who hired you.”

“And?”

“Tell me who hired you,” Lancaster said, “and I’ll let you walk out that door.”

Sweet looked hopeful, then suspicious.

“Oh no,” he said, “you gotta be more plain than that. You let me walk out, then you come out and shoot me. Huh-uh. I want you to say it. If I tell you the name, you’ll let me go.”

“If you give me the name of the person who hired you, I’ll let you go.”

“And you won’t come huntin’ for me again.”

“And I won’t come huntin’ for you again.”

“And you won’t ever kill me.”

Lancaster hesitated; then he said, “And I won’t ever kill you.”

Sweet still looked suspicious.

“This is too easy,” he said.

“Hey,” Lancaster said, “what can I say? You convinced me.”

Lancaster left the saloon with the name of the person who had hired Sweet to strand him in the desert. He also had the location.

He hated letting Sweet go, but he actually believed that the man would take his employer’s name to the grave just to be ornery.

He still had to find Gerry Beck. But even Gerry was going to have to wait until Lancaster settled with the person who paid to have him left in the desert.

The problem was, he thought that once he heard the name he’d know who it was. But even armed with the name, he had no idea who the hell this person was.