Ironhorse

110

We did not move. We stayed to each side of the door out of sight of the room and just listened. All I could hear was the sound of the rain outside of the open window in the room. We stood there for a long moment, waiting, but there was nothing. Not yet.

I kept my eye on Virgil, and when he moved, I moved, and in a second we were in the room.

We saw no one in the room.

I looked quick under the bed and there was nothing. The curtains were blowing and outside the rain was pouring, but the room was empty. There was broken glass, dirt, and pansies on the floor from where the window had been broken open and the flower box’s soil had been dragged into the room. And there was blood, blood across the window seal, the floor, and on the inside doorknob.

I whispered, “Looks like he got cut by the window glass.”

Berkeley nodded.

Virgil pointed at the blood on the floor leading out the door and into the hall. He pointed up.

“Rattlesnake got to the nest,” Virgil said, quietly shaking his head.

I moved first out the door. Berkeley and Virgil followed. When I got to the steps leading to the third floor, we heard laughter coming from behind us. We stopped.

We turned, looking down the long hall. It was empty, but we heard the laughter again.

No doubt it was Bloody Bob’s raspy laughter, but it was hard to tell exactly where he was, where his voice was coming from. Then, we saw him. He stepped out of Hobbs’ old room with the busted door at the far end of the hall. He was holding Abigail in front of him. He had his big knife to her throat. Abigail was wearing a white nightgown, and we could see it was bloody. I could not tell whether the blood was Abigail’s or Bob’s, but there was blood. Bob held Abigail off the floor, and her face was directly in front of his. Virgil stood square in the hall facing Bob, Berkeley was behind Virgil, and I stood behind Berkeley. Bob was at least sixty feet away.

“Been looking for you, Virgil,” Bob said.

“So I heard,” Virgil said.

Lightning flashed, and the window behind Bob let in a purplish-blue color.

“Ya’ll were quiet as this twat’s tears sneaking up here, I’ll give ya that,” Bob said. “Didn’t hear ya, but I smelt ya.”

“Let her go, Bob,” Virgil said. “Let her go so you and me can have our jig.”

Bob shook his head.

“Nope,” Bob said. “I got some bloodlettin’ to do first...”

“You do,” Virgil said.

There was a loud boom, and a plume of smoke kicked away in front of Virgil’s Colt. Abigail dropped to the floor.

I’d been in enough gunfights to know where the flight of a bullet ends up, and that shot from Virgil’s Colt hit a small piece of Bob’s head that was leaning out, looking past Abigail. There was another boom, and more smoke kicked out in front of Virgil’s Colt. Bob stumbled back, and Virgil shot him again. Bob crashed through the window behind him, and in a second was gone from our sight. Abigail did not look back. She got up and ran toward Virgil. Virgil laid down his Colts, and in an instant, Abigail was in his arms.

Virgil looked back to me and said, “The others!”

Berkeley followed me, running quickly upstairs to the governor’s stateroom. The door was locked. I pounded on it.

“It’s Everett Hitch!”

I didn’t hear anything.

“Deputy Marshal Hitch!” I said, beating on the door.

I thumbed through keys. Quickly losing patience, I stepped back a ways, and just before I kicked the door, it opened.

It was the governor, and huddled in a corner behind him were his wife and Emma.