Leaving Epitaph: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

48

“So you’ve got a posse with you?” Sheriff Holcomb asked Thomas hopefully.

“Not exactly.”

“Got one comin’ behind you.” Holcomb began to pace the length of his office.

“No,” Thomas said. “I’ve got three men waitin’ for me just outside of town. My father is the sheriff of Epitaph, me and my brothers are his deputies.”

“Sheriff Shaye?” Holcomb asked.

“That’s right.”

“So there’s only four of you?”

“That’s right.”

“And you’re after these two gangs?”

“It’s one gang,” Thomas said, “run by two brothers.”

“Wait a minute.” The lawman stopped pacing and faced Thomas. “Are we talkin’ about…the Langer gang?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh my God,” Holcomb said. “I should have guessed. The leader of the first group…he must have been Aaron.”

“I guess,” Thomas said. “We’ve been trailing Ethan Langer and his men.”

“All the way from Texas?” Holcomb asked. “Because of a…a bank job?”

“Not just a bank robbery,” Thomas said. “They killed a woman…my mother.”

“Oh,” Holcomb said. “Well…I guess that’s worth travelin’ all this way.”

“Are they all here?”

“I guess,” Holcomb replied. “Like I said, eighteen, maybe nineteen. How many hit your bank?”

“About eight, maybe nine.”

“So four of you tracking eight. I guess the odds didn’t seem so bad then.”

“How many deputies have you got?”

“Two.”

“So now it’s seven against nineteen,” Thomas said.

“Not so good, eh?”

“I guess not,” Thomas said with a shrug, “but we’ve got somethin’ they don’t.”

“What’s that?”

“My pa.”