Leaving Epitaph: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

10

They walked the sheriff out of the crowded saloon without anyone paying them any mind.

“Where to, Pa?” Thomas asked when they were outside.

“Let’s go to his office,” Shaye said. He prodded the lawman. “Lead the way.”

Torrence led the four Shaye men to his office, which he unlocked.

“No deputies?” Shaye asked him.

“It’s a quiet town.”

They went inside.

“Lock the door, Thomas,” Shaye said.

Matthew removed the sheriff’s gun from his holster and shoved him across the room. The man staggered, banged his hip against his desk and righted himself.

“This ain’t right, Dan,” he said. “You got no jurisdiction, here.”

“See these three boys?” Shaye asked. “They give me all the jurisdiction I need, Sam. They’ll do anything I tell them.”

“You boys are gonna be in trouble if you keep doin’ what your pa is tellin’ you to do,” Torrence warned.

Matthew turned and looked at Shaye. “Can I whomp ’im, Pa?”

“Go ahead, Matthew,” Shaye said. “Whomp him good.”

“Wha—” Torrence said, but Matthew took a step forward and smashed his fist into the man’s face, cutting him off and knocking him back over the desk.

Torrence tried to get to his feet, a smear of blood across his face, as Matthew went around the desk to get him. Matthew hauled him back to his feet and hit him again, this time in the stomach, then straightened him up and hit him in the face again. The lawman went tumbling back and fell over his chair.

As Matthew bent over to pick him up again, Torrence yelled, “Dan, no more. Call ’im off!”

“Matthew,” Shaye said.

But Matthew’s own rage over the death of his mother had the blood roaring in his ears. He couldn’t hear his father as he reached for Torrence and once again pulled him to his feet.

“Matthew!” Shaye shouted, but it did no good. Matthew hit Torrence again, and then again.

“Boys!”

Thomas and James rushed forward to grab their brother’s arms. They succeeded in pulling him off the lawman, who fell to the floor. Matthew was about to shrug them off when Shaye got in his face and shouted, “Matthew! That’s enough!”

He stared at his father, swallowed hard, then said, “I whomped ’im, Pa.”

“You sure did, Matthew,” Shaye said. “You whomped him good. Let go of your brother, boys.”

Thomas and James released Matthew, who stepped away from the fallen sheriff. Shaye turned and crouched over the fallen man, who was bleeding profusely now from cut lips and broken teeth.

“Sam? Can you hear me?”

“Uh—” Torrence said. “Juth keep him away….” He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stared down at the blood.

“Sam, which way did the Langer gang go?”

Torrence looked up at Shaye and tried to focus his eyes.

“Come on, Sam, stay with me,” Shaye said. “Don’t make me give you back to Matthew.”

“Wha—Wha—”

“Which way did the Langer gang go?” Shaye asked again.

“N-North.”

“Into Oklahoma Territory?”

Torrence nodded. “Yeth.”

“They’re not east of here?”

“No.”

“That was a lie.”

“Yeth.”

Shaye straightened up and walked away from the man, away from the urge to kill him. Not only was he a disgrace to his badge, but he’d been trying to help the gang get away.

“Put him in his chair.”

Thomas and James picked the sheriff up and did as they were told, then backed away. For a moment it looked like the local lawman would slide out of the chair again, but at the last minute he put his hands on his desk to steady himself.

Shaye kept his back turned for a few more moments until he had regained his composure, then turned and approached the desk. He leaned on it until his face was inches from Torrence’s face.

“Two things, Sam. Are you listening?”

“Uh-huh.”

“If we come back this way and you’re still wearing that badge, I’ll kill you. Understand?”

“Uh, yeah…”

“And if I find out you tipped off Langer, sent him a telegram, whatever, I’ll kill you. Got it?”

“I…got it….”

Shaye turned and looked at his sons. “Get your horses, boys,” he said. “We’re leaving now.”