A Wolf in the Fold Read online

  “How peculiar.”

  Calista gazed out the window. “The whole town is buzzing like stirred-up bees. Most everyone figures the Butchers had a hand in it, but they can’t figure out how Clell got himself murdered. None of the LT hands claim credit.”

  I saw several cowboys rein up out front. “What will the LT do?”

  “Ask them,” Calista said with a jerk of her thumb. “Knowing Gerty, I wouldn’t want to be a Butcher. It will be all-out war now.”

  Sunlight spilled across the floor as the door was flung wide and in jangled two of the cowboys. One was a stocky slab of muscle who wore a Colt in cross-draw fashion. The other was a rangy bundle of sinew and bones with salt-and-pepper gristle. They ignored the other patrons and came straight toward my table.

  “Reverend Storm, Miss Modine,” the slab said, politely doffing his hat. “Sorry to intrude.”

  “That’s all right, Jim,” Calista said.

  “Mrs. Tanner sent us, ma’am,” the rangy cowboy explained. “She would be obliged if the parson, here, would plant her husband tomorrow at noon.”

  “I would be honored,” I said.

  Calista focused on the rangy one. “What is the latest, Chester? Have you found Lloyd’s killer?”

  “No, ma’am. Not yet.” Chester realized he still had his hat on and yanked it off. “We’re all for riding to the Dark Sister and wiping those varmints out, but Mrs. Tanner won’t hear of it.”

  “That’s not like her,” Calista said.

  Jim agreed. “It sure ain’t. Especially as mad as she is. We think maybe she’s leaving it for the Texas Rangers to handle.”

  “You shouldn’t ought to have sent for them, ma’am,” Chester chided. “You’ve gone and hobbled us, is what you’ve done.”

  “That wasn’t my intention,” Calista defended herself. “But you must admit this has gotten out of hand. Murders every time we turn around. Men and women. If it’s not a job for the Rangers, I don’t know what is.”

  “I reckon I can speak for every puncher on the LT when I say I’d rather chuck my own lead, thank you very much,” Chester said testily. “It’s bothersome to have lawdogs meddle.”

  “I’m sorry, but I would do the same had I to do it over again,” Calista declared. “This isn’t just about the LT. It involves the whole community.”

  The cowboys were disposed to debate the point, but I was hungry and nipped the argument in the bud with, “Tell Mrs. Tanner I will be out at the LT by eleven tomorrow morning.”

  “You can tell her yourself, if you’d like, Parson,” Chester said. “She’s over to the undertaker’s seeing about the coffin for Mr. Tanner.”

  For some reason that troubled me. Why had Gertrude sent the two cowboys to ask me to conduct the service for her husband when she could just as well have asked me herself? “I believe I will go have a talk with her,” I announced, rising.

  “What about your breakfast?” Calista asked.

  “It can wait.”

  Chester and Jim accompanied me to Ira Jackson’s. Jackson was the best carpenter in Whiskey Flats, and as a result, whenever anyone needed a coffin, they came to him. He wasn’t a real undertaker, but he was all they had.

  Half a dozen cowboys lounged out front, waiting for their mistress. Gertrude emerged as I approached, saw me, and frowned. “I didn’t say you were to bring him back with you,” she said to Chester.

  “He came on his own account, ma’am.”

  “I am sorry about your loss—” I began, and was peeved when she held up her hand to silence me, then motioned for me to walk with her. As soon as we were out of earshot of her hands, she stopped and faced me.

  “Tell me again why I hired you?” Gertrude did not wait for me to reply but went on with, “Ah, yes. Now I remember. I hired you to dispose of the Butchers. I trust you will forgive me for my next comment, but you have done an abominably poor job.”

  “You can’t blame your husband’s death on me.”

  “Can’t I?” Gertrude snapped. “If you were half as competent as I was led to believe, the job would be done by now.” She was so mad, she practically hissed. “Not only are seven of those wretches still breathing, but the Texas Rangers will show up soon to spoil everything.”

  Her emotional state could be blamed on the loss of her husband, but I still did not like her attitude. “I’ll finish it before the Rangers get here. I promise.”

  Gertrude’s features pinched together like she had sucked on a lemon. “You have one day and one day only. If by this time tomorrow you have not done as I hired you to do, you may consider our arrangement no longer in force.”

  “I don’t like being rushed.”

  “Frankly, Mr. Lucius Stark, I don’t give a tinker’s damn what you like or don’t like. Your incompetence has created complications I can do without.” Gertrude sniffed and started to turn. “Twenty-four hours. Not a minute more.”

  “You don’t want to hear who killed Lloyd?”

  “Tyrel, obviously.”

  I was impressed. “How did you know?”

  “Tyrel and Clell were inseparable. They went everywhere together. What you were doing there, and why you killed one and not the other, is beyond me.”

  So she had figured that out, too. “I was trying to stop them.”

  Gertrude gave me a strange look. “You failed rather spectacularly, didn’t you? Retaining your services was a mistake. You have clearly underestimated the Butchers, and you have severely underestimated me. That will cost you, Mr. Stark. That will cost you dearly.” Her spine as stiff as a ramrod, she marched off.

  Leaving me with the gut feeling I had just been threatened.

  Chapter 12

  Enough was enough. One thing after another had kept me from finishing up and getting the hell out of there. But no more. The Butchers were going to die and that was all there was to it.

  Evening found me in the foothills fringing the Dark Sister. I had shut Daisy from my mind. Emotion would no longer rule me. Only cold determination. So who should I come upon unexpectedly around a turn in the trail? Who else but Daisy Mae, with her brother Sam. They had heard Brisco from a ways off and were waiting, Sam with a rifle to his shoulder.

  I was in my preacher garb. The shotgun was in my bedroll, my long-barreled Remington in a saddlebag, the short-barreled Remington in my shoulder rig under my jacket, the knife in my boot. I appeared to be unarmed except for the Winchester in the saddle scabbard. Since it was only common sense to go armed in that neck of the country, it would not seem out of place for a parson to have a rifle. “Trust in the Lord, but keep your guns well oiled” was a saying that applied to everyone.

  I could have kicked myself for not leaving the trail sooner. I should have cut through the woods. But I had been anxious to get it over with. Too anxious. Drawing rein, I leaned on the saddle horn and smiled. “I’d prefer if you don’t shoot me, Brother Butcher,” I said to the stripling.

  Embarrassed, Sam jerked the rifle down. “Shucks, Parson. How was I to know it was you?”

  Daisy placed her hand on my leg. “What a delight to see you again, Reverend Storm. Ma will be pleased.”

  “Will she?” I looked at her, horrified by the tingle that had coursed through me at her touch. Damn me to hell, but I was acting worse than a boy her brother’s age. Conflicting desires tore at me: one to clasp her hand in mine, the other to draw my short-barreled Remington, touch it to her sweet face, and thumb back the hammer again and again.

  “What brings you out our way?”

  “I heard about Clell,” I replied. “I figured your family would need some comforting.”

  “That’s awful decent of you,” Daisy said, giving my leg a squeeze.

  “Everyone else treats us as if we have the plague,” Sam contributed.

  “Not everyone,” Daisy corrected him. “Miss Modine and a few others have been nice. We do have some friends.”

  “Precious few compared to the Tanners,” Sam said. “Most of the town is on their side.”
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  “It’s only natural. The Tanners were here long before we were.” Daisy lowered her arm. “Come along, Parson. We’ll escort you the rest of the way.”

  Here was my chance. I could shoot them in the back. But Sam let me go by him, saying, “I’ll catch up. Ma said for us to keep watch and that’s what I aim to do. Give a holler when it’s time for supper.” He stood there watching until we came to the next bend.

  Now it was just Daisy and me. I fingered the garrote in my jacket pocket, but the thought of wrapping the wire around her soft, slender throat and choking the life from her while she struggled and thrashed under me caused me to break out in a sweat.

  “Are you all right, Reverend Storm? You look sickly.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, my voice hoarse and low. To distract her I asked, “How is your family taking your latest loss?”

  “About as you would expect. Ma cried for an hour last night. Thank goodness it wasn’t Ty. She loves all of us as dearly as can be, but there’s a special place in her heart for him, Ty being her firstborn and all.”

  “You are wise beyond your years.”

  “That’s kind of you to say.” Daisy smiled and touched my hand. “But then, that’s why you became a preacher, I reckon. So you can go around saying kind things and being good to folks.”

  Why didn’t I kill her then and there? What in hell was happening to me? I was so mad at myself, I shook inside.

  “If you don’t mind my asking, how is it a handsome cuss like you hasn’t ever married? Or do you belong to a religion that won’t let you?”

  “I could marry if I wanted.”

  “That’s good. I never could understand that business about how a preacher can’t be close to the Almighty and a woman, both. Seems to me the Lord wouldn’t begrudge a man having a companion.”

  “You wouldn’t think so, would you?” was all I could think of to say. I wanted to rip off my collar and toss it away.

  “I admire how you always think of others,” Daisy flattered me. “Coming here like this. It means a lot to us.”

  I wished she would stop talking. I wished she would shut up and never say another word to me.

  “What kind of woman would you want? To marry, I mean? Would her age matter? Or whether she was refined, like Miss Modine?”

  “I’ve never given it much thought,” I mumbled.

  “You should. It’s not good to go through life alone. Ma hates being alone. She misses Pa something fierce. They were special close, her and him. Always holding hands and making cow eyes, even after being married so long and having all us kids.”

  “She has held up well.”

  “She says she has to, for our sake.” Daisy stared at me. “What will happen, Parson? How will this all end?”

  “I can’t predict the future,” I responded. “But I pray it ends as it should.” She could take that however she pleased.

  “Ma is worried, Parson. She’s heard about the Texas Rangers coming, and it can’t be soon enough to suit her. She was all fired up to fight the Tanners tooth and nail after Sissy was killed, but losing Clell has changed her mind. Now all she wants is for all of us to live through this.”

  I was glad when the clearing and the cabin appeared. Their dog started barking, and Jordy and Carson came out of the woods. As was to be expected, they were armed with rifles and revolvers.

  As I was dismounting Hannah emerged. She looked terrible, as if she had not slept in days. She had dark bags under her eyes and more lines in her face than I remembered. Deep sorrow had her in its grip, and I was partly to blame.

  “Reverend.” She grasped my hand in both of hers. Her eyes moistened and her lips trembled. “How good of you to pay us a visit. Come inside, won’t you, and let me treat you to coffee or whatever else you would like.”

  Ty and Kip appeared, and Ty cleared his throat. “We would be right honored if you would say a few words over Clell. We buried him this morning next to Sissy.”

  “Certainly.” That was when I realized I had left the Bible back in my room at Calista’s.

  “Would you rather do that first and then come in?” Hannah asked.

  “Lead the way.”

  The two mounds of dirt were a dozen yards into the woods. Crude crosses had been stuck atop each. The Butchers ringed them and bowed their heads.

  I racked my brain for a quote, but for the life of me I couldn’t think of one.

  “Whenever you are ready, Parson,” Hannah politely prompted.

  I stared at the mounds, wondering which was which as the crosses did not have their names carved into the wood. “Death comes to us all,” I said, groping and hoping I sounded like a real preacher. “We don’t want it to, but it does. Rich or poor, young or old, it comes for us when we least expect, and there is nothing any of us can do. Death is always there, always waiting.” I was rambling and not sounding very biblical. “Look at the Old Testament. Moses, Joshua, Samson, they were all close to God, yet they all died. Look at the New Testament. Even Jesus was put to death. When our time comes, it comes.”

  Hannah and Daisy were looking at me.

  “We are gathered to give our respects to two fine people, Clell and Sistine Butcher. They did not deserve to die, but they did. None of us does, but we do. Some say it’s not fair and it’s not right, but it’s the way God arranged things, so what can we do?” I promised myself, then and there, that this was the last time I would ever pretend to be a preacher. “We ask you, Lord, to welcome Clell and Sistine into the hereafter. Look after them. May their stay in heaven be happier than their stay here. And may we one day join them in their happiness.”

  Some of the Butchers were fidgeting. I needed a drink. Not a glass or two but an entire bottle.

  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Hannah said, and was echoed by her brood.

  I kept my head bowed until we came to the cabin. I figured they had seen right through me, but I was forgetting that most people don’t expect perfection since they fall so short of it themselves.

  “That was mighty fine,” Jordy said.

  Hannah opened the door for me. “You will have supper with us, won’t you?” I opened my mouth, but she did not give me a chance to speak. “I won’t take no for an answer, Parson. If I’m imposing on your good nature, so be it. I want you to stay, and that’s that.”

  I couldn’t very well tell her I had no intention of leaving until all of them were dead. “I will be happy to stay.” She ushered me to the rough-hewn log table and bade me sit, then asked if I would like some coffee. When I said I would, she motioned to Daisy, who went to the stove and soon brought over two brimming cups.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Hannah said as I took my first sip. “Losing Sissy and Clell has hit me hard.”

  “As it would any mother,” I remarked.

  “It was wrong to send Ty and Clell to kill the Tanners. I was better off waiting for the Rangers.”

  “We all make mistakes.”

  Hannah did not seem to hear me. “I wanted to end it, Parson. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing more of those I love. I reckoned that with the Tanners dead, the killing would stop.”

  “I pray it does,” I said.

  “That’s not likely. Gertrude always had a powerful hate for me and mine. Now, with her husband dead and her son laid up, she has cause to hate us that much more.” Hannah bit her lower lip. “There’s no telling what she’ll do to get back at us. I don’t mind admitting I’m worried. Mighty worried.”

  “The Rangers will be here soon and then you will be safe,” I assured her. No one would dare tangle with the Texas Rangers. It just was not done.

  “It can’t be soon enough to suit me,” Hannah said. “If I ask them to protect us, do you think they will see fit to guard us day and night?”

  “I could not possibly predict,” I answered. Unwittingly, she had given me more reason to finish
the job as quickly as possible. I decided to do it right after supper. I would catch them completely unawares. Unarmed and at ease, they would be easy pickings.

  To that end, I endured half an hour of small talk while Daisy made the meal. She had to do it herself. Hannah was in no mood to cook, and her brothers could not be bothered to lend a hand. When the venison was done, Daisy went to the front door and hollered, “Come and get it!” Everyone came, including Sam and the two who were hidden in the woods.

  I was hungry, but I did not feel much like eating. I picked at the meat and the beans and washed what little I ate down with piping-hot black coffee.

  Hannah, too, barely touched her food. Slumped in her chair, her chin in her hand, she hardly spoke the whole meal. As I pushed my plate back, she stirred. “I trust that was satisfactory?”

  “As delicious as can be,” I said.

  “Now that you have partaken of our hospitality, what do you say to doing me a favor?”

  “If it is within my power,” I said gallantly.

  “I don’t dare show my face in town. Me nor my younguns. But I need someone to get word to me when the Rangers arrive.”

  “I will ride out here the moment they ride in,” I pledged.

  Daisy beamed at me. “Isn’t he wonderful, Ma? Always ready to lend a helping hand.”

  “That’s what men of the cloth do, daughter,” Hannah said. “That, and they always turn the other cheek. It’s why they’re different from us ordinary folk.”

  “I could never imagine the parson hurting a fly,” Daisy said.

  How easy it is to fool people, I reflected. Most go through life with blinders on, only seeing what they want to see. There I was, a notorious Regulator, a killer many times over, and they could not see past my sheep’s collar and recognize the wolf in their fold.

  I was congratulating myself on my cleverness when their mongrel commenced barking his fool head off. He was tied to a stake at the corner of the cabin, giving him a good view of the trail.

  “Quiet, Samson!” Ty bellowed.

  “It’s probably another stupid rabbit,” Carson complained.