Chapter 22 #2
They went up the street toward the hotel, Red Annie matching his long strides. The crowds he’d seen earlier had thinned out, congregating in front of the Dry Bottom Saloon.
“So, what does bring you to this Garden of Paradise, Red?”
She scoffed. “The railroad company just got Bonedale on the star route. But there seems to be some foot dragging now that I’m here. Personally, I think it’s cuz I’m a woman. These fools don’t know me.”
“Well, I’m much obliged for you watching my back.”
“Hell, what are friends for, amigo?” She tapped him on the shoulder. “But what was that all about you looking for a job? You giving up on ranching already?”
“No. This is something else. I’m looking for Elijah Starr.”
The thought of finding a guide for the Chinese travelers occurred to him, but before he could mention it, the rain started to fall. They stopped under the blue-and-white striped awning of the general store, and he reloaded his Colts.
It was nearly dark, and Caleb watched the rains filling the ruts and tracks of Bonedale’s only street.
From here, the storm would move eastward, soaking the valley before climbing into the rugged mountain passes, drenching the terrain between here and Elkhorn, turning difficult trails into treacherous ones.
“Could you use some money?” he asked.
Her eyes widened a little and then narrowed to flinty slits. “Of course I can use some money, but…one, I ain’t taking no handouts.” She took the flyer out of Caleb’s hand and slapped it disdainfully. “And two, I ain’t doing no dirty work.”
He really liked this woman. “How would you feel about taking a party of folks to Denver?”
She looked at him suspiciously. “What’s wrong with them?”
“Nothing’s wrong with them.”
“Why can’t they go on their own? The roads are reasonably good if you go north from here. Wagons travel that route all the time. Hell, two babies and a blind billy goat could find their way.”
“They ain’t got no wagons. They got two mules, and they want to stay off any main road that might cause them trouble.”
“Okay.” She cocked an eyebrow and handed back the flyer. “You got my ear, Marlowe.”
“They’re Chinese immigrants. Seven adults and a little one. And they’re on foot. They’ve come all the way from San Francisco, and they’re plumb tired. They’re finding this last leg of the trip damned hard.”
When he left Sing Lee and his people, Caleb had suggested they stay right where they were for a few extra days.
He told them that he’d come back after he did what he’d set out to do.
And if he wasn’t going to make it back this way, he’d hire someone to take them to Denver.
Someone he thought they could trust. And if everything went to pieces, and they didn’t see anyone coming for them in five days at the most, they should just keep going.
Finding Red Annie here was a blessing. There was nobody more trustworthy.
“I’ll pay you a hundred dollars to take them.”
She stared at him, frowning as she considered it. “You got that kind of money to spare for some strangers?”
Between what Patterson paid him and the reward from Wells Fargo, last month had been lucrative for him.
“Yep.”
“Why? I never knowed you to get tangled up in somebody’s business like that.”
He shrugged. “They saved my life. So, what do you think? You willing?”
He figured that was a fair price for taking them. Zeke was getting fifty dollars a month to serve as Elkhorn’s sheriff and the deputies got a dollar a day.
“All fellas?”
“No.”
“You said there’s a child with them. I don’t gotta change no nappies, do I?”
He shook his head. “There’s one woman traveling with them. The child’s mother. She’ll take care of him. And she’s a good one. You don’t have to worry about her or the boy.”
She pulled off her hat and raked her fingers through her short red hair. Caleb hadn’t noticed it before, but she had a short braid going down between her shoulder blades. She screwed her hat back on.
“So who pays me? You or them?”
“I pay you.”
“Up front?”
“Up front.”
“You trust me?”
Caleb scoffed. “You just saved my life in there. Of course I trust you.”
The creases appeared at the corners of her mouth. “I dunno, Marlowe. You give me that much money, you might just end up chasing me all the way to California.”
“Well, you won’t be hard to find with that new pigtail you got going.”
“Nice, ain’t it?” Red Annie snorted. “All right. You’re on. When do you want I should leave?”
“Soon as you can. I can give you directions to where they’re at.”
“I’ll leave first thing in the…” She stopped and stared at a woman watching them from the shadows of the building next door.
Caleb had seen her steal toward them a moment earlier. A toddler rode on her hip, and two young boys huddled next to her.
“You want something?” Red Annie asked.
Realizing she was discovered, she took a quick look to her right and left and herded her children forward until they were under the awning.
She was wearing a man’s dark blue wool coat over her mud-spattered dress.
The boys had coats on that fit them better, and she’d wrapped the toddler in a heavy shawl.
“I’ve seen you and your kids yesterday and again this morning,” Red commented. “You got something you wanna say to me? You need something?”
“I want to talk to him.” She nodded her head toward Caleb.
Strains of harmonica music started up, and she sent a nervous glance back in the direction from which they came. Moving closer, she pulled her children into the deeper shadows by the wall of the general store.
“I heard you was asking about Elijah Starr back at the Dry Bottom.”
“You work there?” Caleb hadn’t seen her in the saloon, and she wasn’t dressed like the other women working there.
“No. A fella that helps around the place used to be a friend of my husband, and he’s been kind to us since…” Her eyes slid away. “We been going there about this time through the back door. He feeds me and my boys when he can.”
“What’s your name, Mrs.…?” Caleb asked.
“Caswell. These three are mine.”
“Where’s your husband?”
“Murdered. Shot dead in cold blood by Elijah Starr hisself in front of my very eyes.”
Hot anger suddenly spiked in Caleb, sharp and furious. If he’d done what he’d intended to do thirteen years ago, this woman’s husband would still be alive.
“What for?” Red Annie asked. Her voice was softer.
“My husband refused to sell our land to the railroad. We’re farmers. It was a good place. Passed down from his own folks. We’d planned to work it and raise our brood.”
The baby began to fuss a little, and she gently hushed him.
“I can’t be seen out here talking to you. That wouldn’t go over none with them.” She cast another look back down the street.
The light spilling out of the saloon illuminated the green coat of the deputy, who was standing by the door and talking to someone inside. The six corpses still lay on boards in the street with a few men milling about them.
“They’ll hurt me and the boys, sure as winter ice.”
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Caswell?” Caleb asked. He reached into the pocket of his vest for some money.
“No. No. That ain’t it.” She held up her hand in refusal. “I don’t want no money from you, mister. I want revenge. I want to pay you.”
He glanced at the boys’ round eyes staring at the Colts strapped to his hips. “I ain’t a hired gunslick.”
“Didn’t you gun down them dogs that meant to do you?” she blurted. “Wasn’t you looking for Starr, who they worked for? Ain’t you a pistoleer?”
Caleb let that hang for a moment as she struggled to get her feelings back in hand.
Red Annie broke the silence. “Can’t imagine why him shooting down six men back there would give you that idea.”
He sent a hard look at her, but Red pretended to ignore it.
“I can pay good,” Mrs. Caswell said finally, her eyes flashing. “They made me take half what they were gonna pay my husband, but I’ll give you whatever you ask. An eye for an eye. I want Starr dead.”
Caleb knew what was driving her to feel such hate.
The right thing to do would be for her to take her money and go someplace where she could start again.
Forget everything that happened in Bonedale.
But she’d never forget. What she’d seen, what these boys had witnessed, would gnaw at her insides for as long as Starr was alive.
“I ain’t saying I can help you, ma’am, but do you got any idea where Starr is right now?”
A glimmer of hope lit in her eyes. “I know he left town with a group of men.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m renting a room down by the livery. With my own two eyes, I saw that filthy, one-eyed dog go. And if I’d had my shotgun, I’d have done him myself.”
“When was that?”
“This morning.”
“Any idea where they was headed?” Red Annie asked.
The woman nodded. “I heard two of his men talking. They’re going to Elkhorn.”