The Lawman

Chapter Thirty-four

When Decker left his hotel he saw Moran leaving his office. Ducking back into the lobby he watched and saw Moran watching the three bandits. When the three men separated, Moran started to follow one of them.

Was the man acting like a real sheriff all of a sudden? That wasn’t very likely. He was probably acting out of a natural distrust of strangers, and that made Decker happy that Moran had not seen him yet. As lawmen went, Moran had not exactly been very visible yesterday.

Decker decided to tail Moran, because if the man was that jumpy, this might be the day he’d make his move.

For the next hour he followed Moran as “The Lawman” followed the bandit. The bandit, on the other hand, seemed to simply be roaming the streets, stopping occasionally in a store to speak with the merchants.

It was odd behavior for a bandit.

While following the two men Decker kept an eye out for Gilberto or Raquel, but they were more than likely keeping a low profile so as not to run into him.

Decker knew he was going to have to do something about them well before he made a move on Moran. The only problem with that was that there were five of them, and only one of him.

Unless, of course…and the answer came with a jolt of irony…unless the town lawman could be persuaded to back him.

Moran didn’t know him. What if he became convinced that Gilberto, Raquel and their men were bounty hunters?

It was a big ‘what if?’, but if it worked…

After the initial hour Moran gave up on tailing the bandit, and crossed the street to go in the opposite direction. Decker stepped into a doorway and watched the sheriff to see where he was headed. When it was safe to do so he stepped out and followed him.

Moran eventually went into a café—hopefully for breakfast—and by then Decker’s plan was completely formed in his mind.

He entered the café, found Moran, and went over to sit with him.