Vengeance Creek: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

51

“Where do you think he knows you from?” Colon asked Cory when they were in the saloon.

“I don’t know,” Cory said. “Someplace in my past. I probably brought him a prisoner once.”

“Or a body,” Colon said.

Cory ignored him.

“Do you recognize him?” the Mexican asked.

“No,” Cory said. “I got too much to do rememberin’ the faces of the men I killed. I can’t be rememberin’ the faces of all the lawmen I’ve known over the years.”

“Sí,” Colon said, “that makes sense.”

“It don’t matter,” Cory said. “We’ll be leavin’ this town soon.”

“Too bad we do not have time for a hot meal,” Colon said.

Cory looked at him and asked, “Who says we don’t?”

They both smiled, and Cory started waving frantically to the bartender.

“You serve food here?” he asked.

“It’ll go easier on you if you cooperate, Davis,” James said to Sean Davis.

The man was laying on his back on the cot in his cell, one arm thrown across his eyes, ignoring him.

“They left you behind to take the rap, didn’t they?”

No answer.

“Took off with your share of the money.”

Silence.

“This guy’s an idiot,” Gibney said. “Those others did that to him and he’s protectin’ them?”

“I ain’t protectin’ nobody,” Davis finally said, without moving his arm.

“Then why won’t you talk to me?” James asked.

Davis fell back into his silence.

“Oh, I get it,” James said.

“What?” Gibney asked.

James turned to face the lawman. “He was trackin’ them too,” he said. “He wants to find them as much as we do.”

“Do we know who any of these fellas are?”

“Yeah,” James said. “One of them is named Ben Cardwell. The other one might be a man named Simon Jacks.”

“Jacks?”

“Yeah,” James said. “You know him?”

“I know of him.”

“Like what?”

“Good man with a gun,” the lawman said, “good man to hire.”

“Not a leader?”

“No,” Gibney said. “From what I’ve heard, he is strictly for hire. Somebody else does the thinkin’.”

“Like this fella Cardwell,” James said.

“Probably.”

They both looked into the cell again.

“I don’t believe this one does any thinkin’,” James said. “He looks like a definite follower.”

“Yeah,” Gibney said. “I don’t even know why he was trackin’ them. A man like Simon Jacks would kill him with no problem.”

Davis removed his arm from his eyes so he could look at them, then turned and faced the wall. James signaled for the sheriff to follow him out.

“It doesn’t look like I’m gonna get anythin’ from him,” he said in the office. “I’d better just collect my men and get after the other two.”

“Whatever you say, Deputy.”

“My brother will be along later today,” James said. “Just tell him what happened and where we went.”

“All right,” Gibney said. But as James was going out the door, he called out, “But where are you going?”

James found Cory and Colon at the saloon, each with a beer and hot plate of food in front of them.

“I see you fellas haven’t missed me,” he said.

“Bartender, bring out that other plate!” Cory said, then looked at James. “We thought there was no harm in havin’ some hot food before we left.”

The bartender obeyed, bringing out a third plate of food, along with a mug of beer. James sat down in front of the beer and looked around. The saloon was empty but for them. It was early, but it wasn’t that early.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.

“I think they thought there was gonna be trouble,” Cory said.

James hesitated with a forkful of steak halfway to his mouth. “Do you think there are others here?”

“No, I think the other two left, and the only reason we caught Davis is that his horse went lame. Did you get anything out of him?”

“No, nothing.” James took a bite of steak. It was tough, but good.

“Do you want me to try?” Cory asked.

“No,” James said, “Thomas will be along soon. He’ll have a try. We should eat and get going.”

“We need some supplies,” Colon said.

“That’ll be your job, Berto,” James said. “Just get us some beef jerky and coffee.”

“No bacon? No frijoles?”

“No,” James said. “We want to outfit light and move fast.”

“Sounds good,” Cory said.

“Sí,” Colon said, “as you wish, Jefe.”

Cory looked at James. The young man thought the older man might have winked at him, but it could have been his imagination.