Texas Bluff

CHAPTER 56

As Butler and Luke Short approached the Newman home, they noticed a curtain in one of the front windows move. Someone was watching them.

“Okay,” Short said, “so where would we expect to find Sutherland right now?”

“Here?” Butler asked.

“Why not? We came running straight here from the Anchor. What if he was outside, watching?”

“Then he knew that things didn’t go the way he planned,” Butler said.

“We go knocking on that door now he could start shooting right through it.”

“You honestly think Newman would go along with that?” Butler asked.

“Honestly?” Short asked. “That’s an odd word to use in this situation. Newman’s been anything but honest with us. You know he had to have tipped Sutherland off that we’d be in that saloon, otherwise why would there have been a reception party for us?”

They stood together, staring at the house a few moments.

“I guess one of us could go around the back,” Butler said, “and we could go in both ways at the same time.”

“And if he’s not in there, we’ll scare Newman’s wife half to death.”

“What other options do we have?” Butler asked.

Short stared at the house and tried to think of an answer.

Sutherland watched the two men through the front window, saw them stop short of approaching the house. He’d been hoping they’d just come right up to the door and knock. He turned and looked at Al Newman and his wife, sitting on the sofa in their living room.

“Shouldn’t be too much longer, folks,” he told them.

While Sutherland continued to watch out the front window, Helen Newman leaned over and hissed at her husband angrily.

“How could you get us mixed up in something like this?”

“Helen,” he said, “it was dealing with men like Sutherland that bought us this house.”

“I don’t care, Albert,” she said. “Does that mean we have to let him in our home? Be threatened to our faces? At gunpoint.”

“The sheriff should be here soon.”

“A lot of good he’s going to do us if we’re dead,” she said. “What does this man want?”

“He wants Luke Short,” Newman said, “but he’s got to get rid of Butler to get to him.”

“Luke Short? Butler? Why do we care about any of them?”

“Because they’re professional gamblers.”

She waited, and when he didn’t say anything else she said, “And?”

How could he explain to her how humiliating it was to stand in that White Horse Saloon week after week and watch lesser men be invited into Luke Short’s games. A woman wouldn’t understand. Especially a woman like Helen Newman would never understand.

Before he could try and explain his thinking to her, Sutherland said from the window, “Here comes the law.” He turned and looked at Al Newman. “Now let’s see if your plan works.”

Helen Newman looked at her husband and repeated, “Your plan?”

He sighed. There was no point in continuing to pretend that he was sitting with her on the sofa because he was being threatened. He stood up.

“Helen, just be still,” he said, and walked over to stand by Sutherland and look out the window.

“Butler!”

Butler and Luke Short turned at the sound of the voice, saw Sheriff Jim Courtwright approaching with two deputies in tow.

“What do you want, Courtwright?” Short asked.

“Shut your mouth, Luke,” Courtwright said. “For a change I’m not lookin’ for you this time.” He pointed a finger at Butler. “I want him.”

“What can I do for you, Sheriff?”

“You can give me your gun and come with me,” Sheriff Courtwright said. “You’re under arrest.”

“For what?”

“Suspicion of murder.”

“And who am I supposed to have murdered?”

“We’ll talk about that in my office.”

Courtwright reached for Butler’s gun, but the gambler backed away.

“Don’t make me use force, Butler.”

“Sheriff,” Butler said, “the man who killed Ed Cramer and the bartender, Zeke, is almost certainly in that house.” He pointed.

“Al Newman’s house?”

“That’s right.”

“What’s he doing in there?”

“Waitin’ for us,” Short said.

“One man alone is waitin’ to face the two of you?” he said, laughing. “That’s rich. I’ve heard a lot of things about Sutherland, but I never heard that he had a death wish.”

Butler and Short exchanged a glance.

“Who said anything about Sutherland?” Short asked.

“What?”

“We never mentioned Sutherland’s name.”

Courtwright looked confused, then trapped.

“Never mind that,” he said. “Butler has to come with me.”

“No,” Butler said.

“You better go,” Short said. “I can handle this. I’ll come to the jail later with a lawyer.”

“Luke, don’t you see? This is what they want, to split us up. It’s a plan.” Butler looked at Courtwright. “A plan that’s not going to work.”

“Take him, boys,” Courtwright said.

Butler and Short both drew their guns.

“Don’t touch those guns,” Butler said.

“Are you crazy?” Courtwright asked. “Drawing your guns on the law?”

“Right now we don’t recognize your authority, Courtwright,” Short said.

“Yeah,” Butler said, “it’s more than a little suspect, at the moment.”

Courtwright turned and looked at his deputies.

“I said take him—take ’em both.”

Both deputies gave him a look that said, “Why don’t you take them yourself?”

“Goddamnit!” Courtwright said. “I’ll have your badges.”

The two deputies exchanged an anxious glance, then both unpinned their badges.

“You can have ’em,” they said, handing their tin to the sheriff.

The two men walked away, leaving a confused Courtwright behind.

“Sheriff,” Short said, “time to move along.”

Courtwright turned a murderous gaze on Short.

“We’re not through,” he said. “I’ll be back for you two with deputies I can trust.”

“Make it a lot of them,” Butler said.

Courtwright looked toward the house, then turned on his heels and stormed off.

“What the hell—” Sutherland said, inside the house. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Looks like Short and Butler stood them off,” Newman said.

Sutherland dropped the curtain and looked at the lawyer.

“What now?”

Newman wasn’t sure, and to cover up that fact he said, “Give me a minute.”

Butler and Short watched Courtwright until he was out of sight, then holstered their guns and turned back to the house.

“We’re going to have to pay for that,” Butler said.

“We’ll deal with it later,” Short said. “Let’s deal with this now. I think we’ve got him trapped in there.”

“Back or front?’ Butler asked.

“I’ll take the front.”

“Be careful.”

“You too.”

“Two minutes,” Butler said, and then moved.