The Lady Doctor's Alibi (13 page)

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Authors: J. Roberts

BOOK: The Lady Doctor's Alibi
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“How can that be?” Angel asked.
Franco shrugged.
“I have no trouble killing lawmen,” Angel said. The others agreed.
“Very well,” Franco said, “then there is our main target.”
“And who is that, amigo?” Angel asked.
“A gringo named Clint Adams.”
There was silence and then one of the men said, “The Gunsmith?”
“That is right.”
The men exchanged glances. None of them were gun-men. In fact, three of them killed with knives.
“I will kill the Gunsmith,” Franco said, “with the aid of Angel. The rest of you will take care of the woman and the deputy.”
The men seemed to heave a sigh of relief.
“Angel will be paid more for this reason,” Franco said.
The other men didn’t like that, until Franco said, “Any of you who wants to face the Gunsmith will be paid more as well. So?”
So . . . none of them volunteered.
“Very well,” Franco said, “this is what will happen . . .”
 
Once the hired men were sent away, Franco and Rufus opened a bottle of whiskey.
“We do this tomorrow?” Franco said. “Will that satisfy your ugly gringa?”
“Would you stop saying that?”
“But she is ugly.”
“I know it,” Rufus said. “I don’t have to be told every five minutes.”
“How much longer will you stay with her?” Franco asked.
“Until this is over,” Rufus said. “Until she buries her husband and takes possession of the house and the money.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want the house,” Rufus said, “but I want that money.”
“How will you take it from her?”
“Get her to go to the bank and take it out,” Rufus said.
“And how will you convince her to do that?”
“I have this woman wrapped around . . . my finger,” Rufus said. “Don’t worry, I can do it.”
“And then will you want to hire me to kill her?”
“I think,” Rufus said, “that’s one murder I’ll be able to take care of myself.”
They had a drink on it.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Clint went back to Dr. Graham’s to let Deputy Boone, Lissa, and Marietta know that they could sleep peacefully that night.
“No one’s going to come looking for us until at least tomorrow.”
“How do you know that?” the deputy asked.
“I planted a seed today,” Clint said. “I passed the word that I was looking for Rufus Holmes and his hired killer, who most likely is Franco.”
“So how do you know they won’t come tonight?” Lissa asked.
“They have to collect some more men,” Clint said. “They won’t come alone, and they won’t come until they’re sure I’m here as well. So that means that we have time.”
“Time for what?” Boone asked.
“Time to move everybody out of here.”
“Move them?” Lissa asked.
“Can they be moved without hurting them?” he asked.
“Well, yes . . . all but little Katrina.”
“The girl with the injured leg?”
“That’s right.”
Clint frowned.
“No chance we can move her?”
“She can’t be jostled right now,” Lissa said. “Can you guarantee you’ll move her without jostling her?”
“No.”
“Then she stays.”
“Okay, but the rest of them have to go,” Clint said, “and so do you.”
“No, if Katrina stays, I stay,” Lissa said. “You can put the others somewhere else and Marietta will go with them.”
Clint opened his mouth to argue but Lissa cut him off and said, “You’ll be wasting your time and breath if you argue, Clint.”
Clint looked at Deputy Boone, who asked, “Where are we puttin’ them?”
“Somewhere close,” Clint said. “Somewhere they all fit, and where they can be made comfortable.”
“Hotel across the street,” Boone said. “The rooms are expensive, but I’ll talk to the sheriff. Can we do this in the mornin’?”
“No, tonight, under the cover of darkness,” Clint said.
“All right,” Boone said. “I’ll go talk to Sheriff Brown and we’ll arrange it. Can we bring back some help?”
“If you can trust them.”
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “Ma’am, I’ll be back.”
“Thank you, Deputy Boone,” Lissa said, “for everything.”
“I haven’t really done anythin’ yet, ma’am.”
“You’ve been here all this time with us, and Marietta and I appreciate it.”
Boone actually blushed, stammered, and left.
“I better tell Marietta,” Lissa said. “We can start getting the patients ready.”
“Can I help?”
“Not ’til it’s time to move them.” She started for the other room, then stopped and turned. “You really think they’ll come here?”
“This is where I’ll be, so they’ll come here,” he said. “Also, if I’m right and Lillian Graham is behind this, they’ll probably be looking to kill both you and Marietta as well.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Change your mind about staying?”
“No,” she said. “The child will need me. But I’ll get the rest of them ready to go.”
THIRTY-NINE
It took over an hour, but Sheriff Brown, Deputy Boone, and Clint managed to move the patients to a hotel not across the street, but just down the street from the doctor’s office. They were able to use the back doors of both buildings so that, from the street, everything seemed quiet.
“That the last one?” the sheriff asked.
“Yes,” Clint said.
“What about the doctor?”
“She’s staying because of the little girl with the injured leg.”
“Does she know what she’s in for?”
“I told her,” Clint said, “and she’s staying.”
“You want Boone back, right?” Brown asked.
“If he’ll come,” Clint said. “If you’ll let him.”
“He’ll have to take off his badge,” Brown said.
“Why?”
“Because my office can’t have anything to do with this,” Brown said. “You’re setting this up to be a massacre.”
“I’m not looking to massacre anybody,” Clint said.
“Well, they’re gonna massacre you,” Brown said, “and that lady doctor.”
“They’re going to try.”
“Well,” Brown said, “you’re on your own, Adams, unless Boone wants to quit and help you.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“I got the word from the mayor,” Brown said. “If I want to keep my job, I keep my nose out of it.”
“And arrest whoever’s left, right?” Clint asked. “Maybe charge them with Graham’s murder?”
“I’m just doin’ my job, Adams,” Brown said.
“You tell Boone I’ll understand if he doesn’t come back,” Clint said.
“I’ll tell him.”
The sheriff left the way he came in, the back door.
 
When he was gone, Lissa came in.
“Was he serious?” she asked. “He’s not going to help you?”
“He was serious.”
“What kind of lawman is he?”
“The kind who wants to stay alive.”
“What about Deputy Boone?” she asked. “He’ll come and help you, won’t he?”
“That’ll be up to him,” Clint said. “If I had to guess, I’d say no.”
Clint walked over to Dr. Graham’s desk and sat behind it. He had brought with him his rifle and his saddlebags. In the saddlebags he had shells for his modified Colt, the rifle, and the Colt New Line he’d given to Lissa.
“I’ll make some coffee,” she said.
“Don’t you have to watch the girl?”
“She’s asleep,” she said. “She’ll probably sleep through the night.”
“Then you could have left with the others,” he said as she prepared the coffee.
“I said she’ll
probably
sleep through the night,” Lissa said. “If not, I have to be here.”
“I understand.”
He put his rifle and pistol on top of the desk.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to clean my weapons and make sure they’re in proper working order,” Clint said. “The last thing I want to do is go into a gunfight with guns that won’t fire.”
“Do you, uh, want this one?” She took the New Line from her pocket.
“Yes,” he said. “I’ll clean that one first.”
She took it to the desk and set it down among the others.
“There’s going to be lots of killing tomorrow, isn’t there?”
“There’s going to be shooting,” Clint said. “How much killing gets done will be up to them.”
“And this is all because of some silly woman who wanted her husband dead?”
“Apparently.”
“Why didn’t she just leave him?”
“Because then she wouldn’t get his money, and the house, and his practice.”
“What will she do with his practice?” Lissa asked.
“I have no idea,” he said. “Could she sell it to another doctor?”
“I suppose so,” Lissa said. “Although that would be like . . . buying his patients, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
He started cleaning the New Line. She went to check on the girl. By the time she came back, the gun was clean, and the coffee was ready.
“This hasn’t gone the way you planned, has it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Rufus or Franco might just come tomorrow to talk, or maybe to call me out into the street.”
“You wouldn’t go, would you?”
“Be safer for you if this took place on the street,” Clint said.
“What about you?”
“Might be safer for me, too.”
“How so?”
“Well, out on the street I wouldn’t have to worry about you and that little girl in there.”
“Do you want to see her?” she asked.
“No.”
She frowned.
“Why not? She’s adorable.”
“I’m sure she is, but it would put me in the wrong frame of mind,” he said. “I’m just going to sit here, drink coffee, clean my guns, and imagine how this should go.”
“What if nobody comes tomorrow?”
“That,” he said, “would throw me off, and then I wouldn’t know what to expect.”
FORTY
“Did you hear?” Rufus asked Franco the next morning.
“You mean that Adams was lookin’ for me? I heard it from Auntie.”
They were at the saloon on the dock, where they were to meet the other men.
“Maybe we should wait,” Rufus said.
“Wait for what?”
“Another time,” Rufus said. “If we go to that office, Adams is going to be waiting for us.”
“It does not matter,” Franco said.
“He’ll have the deputy with him.”
“You and the others can take care of the deputy,” Franco said. “I will take care of Clint Adams.”
“He’s all yours,” Rufus said.
Franco poked Rufus in the chest with his forefinger.
“You just make sure you take care of the nurse,” Franco said. “I have never been in jail because I never leave witnesses.”
“I’ll take care of her.”
“You got money for the men?”
“Yeah,” Rufus said, putting his hand in his pocket. “I got it from her this morning.”
Franco eyed Rufus and said, “After you fucked her, eh?”
Yeah, Rufus thought, after he gave it to her good. He thought that, when it came time to kill her, he’d do it during sex. It was something he’d never done before.
“Give it to me,” Franco said.
Rufus took the money out and handed it to the Mexican.
“American money,” he said.
“That’s what she had,” Rufus said.
“The men will take it,” Franco said.
“How much are we payin’ them?”
“Fifty dollars each.”
“There’s a lot more than that there,” Rufus said.
Franco smiled for the first time.
“I know,” he said. “More for you and me.” He put the money in his pocket. “You have a gun?”
“I have one,” Rufus said. “On my horse.”
“Well, strap it on, Rufus,” Franco said. “It’s time to go and earn all that money.”
“Earn it?” Rufus asked, shaking his head. “What do you think I been doin’ all these weeks sleepin’ with that ugly woman?”
FORTY-ONE
Clint looked out the window at the street below.
“They know,” he said.
“What?” Lissa asked.
“Come here.”
She came over to stand next to him.
“What do you see?”
She stared at the street for a few moments, then said, “Nobody.”
“That’s right,” he said.
“It’s early.”
“But not too early for people to be on the street. They know,” Clint said. “They know something’s going to happen today, and now so do we.” He stepped away from the window, pulled her along. “From now on, don’t go near the window.”
“All right.”
“You got that gun I gave you?”
She patted her pocket.
“I’m going to check the door,” he said. “I want to make sure it’s locked.”
He went down the back way. The first floor of the building was empty. That was where Dr. Graham had been planning to put his hospital. The back door was locked, but the lock wasn’t very good. In fact, the door wasn’t very good. If he’d had a hammer and nails, he could have nailed it shut.
They had two ways to come up—front stairs and back stairs—but both stairways were narrow. They’d be really vulnerable on either of them.
So locking the doors was not a problem.
They weren’t going to come up.
They were going to try to make him come down.
 
When Clint went back upstairs, Lissa asked, “Does it give you satisfaction?”
“What?”
“Knowing that you’re right?”
“I don’t know yet that I’m right,” he said, “but I’d rather do this sooner than later. It’s the waiting that gets to you.”
“You?” she asked, smiling. “I’ll bet nothing gets to you.”
“Oh, there are things that get to me.”
“Really? Like what?”
She was standing with her back to the window, backlit by the sun. Her hair seemed to glow. She was wearing a white doctor’s coat, and under it a simple dress.

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