Vengeance Creek: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

26

Dan Shaye tested his legs out before entering the cell block. When he was finally sure he wouldn’t fall over, he entered, leaving his gun belt on his desk.

The prisoner was lying on his back staring at the ceiling.

“Why don’t we start with your name?” Shaye said.

The man didn’t answer.

“You know,” Shaye said, “your friends killed everyone who worked at the bank. That’s a lot of murders, and you’re on the hook for every one of them.”

That got his attention.

“I didn’t kill nobody.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Shaye said, “because you’re the one we caught.”

Joe Samuels sat up and stared at Shaye. “You can’t pin them killings on me!”

“Sure I can,” Shaye said, “especially if you don’t cooperate.”

Samuels thought about that for a while.

“You know,” Shaye said, thinking this might clinch him, “one of the people who worked in the bank and is now dead was the mayor’s daughter. Needless to say, he’s real upset. He just wants somebody to pay.”

The man looked at Shaye. “Samuels,” he said, “Joe Samuels.”

“That’s your name?”

“That’s right.”

“And who were you working for? Ben Cardwell?”

“I guess,” Samuels said. “See, we were all recruited by Simon Jacks, and he works with Cardwell.

“Jacks,” Shaye said, frowning. “I know that name.”

“You should,” Samuels said, “if you’re any kind of lawman. He’s got a rep.”

“What about this other fella, Davis?”

“Davis?” Samuels frowned. “That sonofabitch.”

“He got away, you know.”

“He was supposed to hold the horses,” Samuels said. “I’d like to know what happened to that bastard!”

“And what about Cardwell and Jacks?” Shaye asked. “What was the plan?”

“Cardwell and Jacks were supposed to go into the bank, we was supposed to keep people away—especially law.”

“So what went wrong?”

“I don’t know,” the man said. “There were shots from inside and then you and your deputies came running over. We had to keep you pinned down.”

“But you were pinned down too,” Shaye said. “Didn’t that occur to any of you?”

Samuels frowned.

“How was someone supposed to bring the horses over?” Shaye asked. “How were Cardwell and Jacks supposed to come out the front with the money?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” the man asked testily. “I don’t plan jobs, I just follow orders.”

“Well,” Shaye said, “sounds to me like you and your compadres were supposed to get caught while Cardwell and Jacks went out the back way.”

Samuels frowned.

“See,” Shaye said slowly, “they got out the back after killin’ everybody, and you were supposed to get caught out front—caught or killed, probably.”

It slowly dawned on Joe Samuels, who whispered, “Sonofabitch.” He looked at Shaye. “They set us up!” He said it as if he’d just thought of it himself.

“And now that they’re gone, and everyone else is dead, you’re the one who’s gonna go down for it—all of it.”

“Hey, no, wait…”

Shaye had started to turn around, as if to leave. “What?” he asked.

Samuels got up and came to the front of the cell. He grabbed hold of the bars and his knuckles went white.

“Whataya wanna know?”

“Do you have any idea where Cardwell and Jacks would go after they left here?”

“No,” Samuels said. “Jacks never said.”

“Well, do you know where Cardwell or Jacks are from?” Shaye asked. “Maybe they’d go back home.”

“I don’t know nothin’ about Cardwell,” Samuels said, “but Jacks used to talk at night….” He trailed off and stopped, a crafty look coming into his eyes.

Shaye waited, because he thought he knew what was coming.

“What do I gotta do to walk away from this?” he asked suddenly.

“Mr. Samuels,” Shaye said, then, “or can I call you Joe?”

“Joe’s fine.”

“Joe,” Shaye said, “to tell you the truth, I don’t see any way you’re walkin’ away from this.”

Samuels looked crestfallen. “Then I don’t know why I should help you.”

“Because if you don’t,” Shaye said, “Cardwell and Jacks—and maybe even Davis—are gonna walk away from it…with all that money.”