the Rider Of Lost Creek (1976) (13 page)

"If you will, you might tell me just what happened."

The puncher looked around, obviously uncomfortable.

"Ain't healthy to shoot off your face around here
... He muttered. "You see what happened to that gent?"

"You don't look like a man who'd scare easy
... Kilkenny said. "All I want is the truth. Are you afraid of Polti?"

"No. I ain't afraid of him or you either. It just ain't healthy to talk. An' that Polti an' his outfit, they have spies
everwhere
. Howsoever, what Polti said was true. Though it did look to me like Polti deliberately bumped that cowboy's elbow, then pushed him into a fight the puncher didn't want."

"That puncher now
... Rusty said. "What had he been sayin'?"

"Nothing to rile Polti, that I could see. He was sayin' he had a story to tell you that would bust this country wide open. He was drinkin' pretty good and he was talkin' more than was good for him no matter what he was saying, and just a lot of folks were listening."

"Anything more?"

"Just more of the same. You know how it is with drunks, they get to harpin' on one subject and they repeat themselves."

"Did he say who he was? Or if anyone sent him?"

"No, not that I heard."

Bert Polti then, had deliberately picked a quarrel with this man who had a message for Kilkenny, and had shot him down before the message could be delivered.

What was it the man had said or known that might be dangerous to Polti and his group? And why from El Paso?

Suddenly a thought occurred to Lance.

Finishing his drink, he said out of the corner of his mouth, "Stick around and keep your eyes open, Rusty.

If you can, keep an eye on Polti."

Leaving the Trail House, Kilkenny walked slowly down the street, keeping to the shadows.

Crossing the alley to the hardware store, he walked along beside it, then past the corral until he reached the hotel.

No one stood or sat on the porch, so he stepped up on the porch and went through the door like a ghost.

All was quiet and still. The small lobby was empty but for the glassy eyes of the elk and the buffalo who stared down at him with threatening gaze.

The old man who acted as desk clerk was lying on the leather settee, snoring softly. Sam Duval, the owner, sat in a big leather chair, a newspaper opened across his lap and partly on the floor. He, too, was asleep.

Kilkenny turned the register around. It was a gamble, and only a gamble.

It was the fifth name from the top: Jack B.

Tyson, El Paso, Texas.

Room 22.

Kilkenny went up the stairs, swiftly and silently.

There was no sound in the hall above, for those who wished to sleep were already snoring, and those who wanted bright lights and red liquor were still in the Trail House, the Spur and other such establishments along the street.

Somewhere in his own past, Kilkenny felt sure, lay the secret of the man on the cliff above Apple Valley, and this strange rider from El Paso might have been bringing him that very information, or perhaps some clue to what was happening here.

There are few secrets, and they remain secrets but a very short time. What someone knows, someone will repeat, always warning the other party to say nothing. But that party also has a wish to impart information, and it is invariably passed on again.

Also, for any criminal venture such as this one seemed to be, it was necessary to recruit men, and not all the men approached would agree to the terms. So somebody always knew something, and such word passes from saloon to saloon,
from
hide-out to hideout.

Perhaps ... and it was only a chance ... something in Jack B. Tyson's war-bag might be a clue, some clue to the why of his killing. It was unlikely that the authorities, such as they were, would have searched his room yet.

There was every chance that Polti might have, however.

Of one thing Kilkenny was certain.
The killing of Tyson, if that was indeed his name had been deliberate.

The hallway was dark, and Lance felt his way with feet and hands. When safely away from the stairhead he struck a match. The room nearest him was number 14.

A few steps farther, his fingers touched the door and traced the numbers: 22.

Gently, he turned the knob. Like a ghost he slid into the room, but even as he stepped in he saw a dark figure rise from bending over something at the foot of the bed.

There was a stab of flame in the darkness, and something sent a hot iron along his ribs, then the figure leaped through the open window, rolled down the shed roof and jumped off that roof to the ground.

Kilkenny stepped to the window and snapped off a quick shot at the man as he disappeared. Even as he fired, he knew that he had missed.

For an instant he considered giving chase, but then he dismissed the idea. The man would be mingling with those in the Spur or Trail House, or down the street at one of the cantinas.

There was the pounding of running feet on the steps and in the hall. Removing the lamp globe, Lance struck a match and lit the lamp.

The door slammed open and the clerk stood there. Behind him, clutching a shotgun, was Sam Duval.

"Here! What the consarn are you doin' in here? Who fired those shots?"

"Take it easy, Dad
... Kilkenny said, smiling.

"I came up here to have a look at Tyson's gear and caught some thief going through it. He shot at me."

"What rights have you yourself, comin' up here?"

"Jack B. Tyson was killed a short time ago in the Trail House. He had been looking for me, said he had something for me. So I came to get it.

Also, I'll have to take charge of his gear and arrange for his burial."

"Well
... Duval grumbled, "I guess he ain't in no condition to object, and I did hear him say he had word for Kilkenny. All right! Go ahead an' put his stuff together. He done paid when he come in, so's he don't owe nothing. But no more shootin', you hear? Folks have a hard enough time sleepin' as it is."

He turned and stumped down the narrow stairs, following the clerk.

Alone in the room, Kilkenny began a painstaking examination of the dead man's gear. Jack Tyson had brought little with him, and what he had brought was typical of a wondering cowhand, offering no clue to anything.

Nor was it much to leave behind. A couple of blankets and a ground-sheet, a yellow slicker, a broadcloth coat with four extra cartridges in one pocket, some matches and a letter, months old, from a girl.

He had found no clue, and whatever Tyson had planned to tell him was lost forever now, buried in the dead man's skull, as Polti had intended.

Lance had hoped for a quick solution to the problems, but there was no solution here. Nor had there been any settlement of the range difficulties. If he could just get Davis, Steele and Lord together!

The three were cut from the same cloth and would be friends, given a chance. Davis's only trouble was that he had come into this part of the country too late.

The introduction of wire had sparked this fire, and would do so at other places as well, yet the crux of the problem was not barbed wire.

El Paso . . . What was there in El Paso that tied in with this?

What had he forgotten?

Lance's warnings and arguments might have averted a major clash tonight, but the range war was still corning and he was little closer to heading it off.

Whatever was intended was being neatly arranged by someone with an eye for detail, and someone who knew the area.

Had Mort Davis not sent for him, the chances were that things would have gone forward without a hitch.

The fact that the mysterious figure behind the scenes seemed to hate Lance Kilkenny was beside the point, yet it had now become a major factor in the plans.

What of the Brockmans? They were in the area, supposedly somehow involved. But there was nothing Kilkenny could be sure of.

For a long time he had been sure that one day he would kill the Brockmans, for it was certain their paths would cross, and the Brockmans were aggressive, fearless trouble-makers. Kilkenny did not like troublemakers. And especially he did not like those who used their strength to tyrannize others, as the Brockmans did...

Suddenly Kilkenny froze.

An idea was coming into his mind, all uncalled for.

An idea that might change everything.

Chapter
X
II

Bert Polti might have killed Wilkins and Carter, but Lance had no hard evidence.

Again and again his thoughts returned to the house on the cliff and the feeling that he must go there. He was not foolish enough to believe he could do it without risk, for he must go alone, and there were too many imponderables, too many intangibles, too many unknown things that he could not foresee.

Lord and Steele might postpone their fighting for a day or two. It might even come about that they wouldn't fight, yet the problem of Lost Valley would remain. And the man at Apple Canyon would try to force the issue at any moment Standing in the dimly lit hotel room, Kilkenny let his gaze drift about him.

There was nothing. Obviously the man had entered the room, combed his hair and then
gone
out for a drink.

Lance was starting to leave when the memory came to him.

The man who had fired at him before, the man who had killed Carter, had stopped on the spot to reload.

A careful man, obviously. But then, a smart man with a gun was always careful.

Kilkenny searched the room again, knowing even as he did so the search was useless.

Then he went down to examine the ground where the man had fallen, or dropped. He found two deep indentations where the man had landed ... on his feet.

The tracks were plain enough and Kilkenny followed them, holding a match to the ground here and there, occasionally catching a glimpse of a toe or heel mark in the light from a window.

Sixty feet beyond the hotel he found what he sought. The running man had dropped the shell of the spent cartridge, ejecting it from his pistol to reload. Kilkenny picked up the shell... the same type used by the man who shot Carter.

"Find somethin'?"

He straightened up, moving to one side as he did so. He had already recognized the voice.

It was Gates, standing there, his hand on his gun, facing him.

"A shell. Where's Polti?"

"Left for Apple Canyon, ridin' easy, takin' his time."

"You been on him as I suggested?"

"Yeah. If you're thinkin' that might have been him who did the shooting, forget it. I heard the shooting and then somebody came hi and said you'd been playin' target down here. Polti was in sight all the time."

Kilkenny stared gloomily into the darkness. So it was not Polti . . . The theory that had half-formed hi his mind that Polti himself was the unseen killer had to be discarded.

Suddenly he had a new thought What about Rusty himself? What, after all, did he know about him? Why had Rusty joined him? From admiration, perhaps, or the sheer love of battle? Or for some deeper purpose?

He shook his head. If this continued, he would soon be suspecting himself. Turning, Gates at his side, Lance walked back to the hotel. He felt baffled, defeated. At whatever turn, he was outwitted.

The night was wearing on, and he was tired.

Mounting the buckskin, he rode outside town. He had chosen a place some distance away. Tomorrow night it would be another place, which he would choose tonight.

To sleep in the same place on more than one occasion was a treat he rarely permitted himself.

Rusty had remained in town to keep an eye on what developed.

Lance lit no fire, but unsaddled Buck, led him to water, then let him roll before picketing him on some grass near the rocks, where he himself would sleep. The moon was rising and there was light enough ... much more than he needed.

The moon was just clearing the ridge top when he heard a faint movement, the movement of somebody stirring around outside his camp.

Instantly Kilkenny rolled over behind a boulder, six-shooter in his hand.

Not fifty feet away, standing atop a small hummock, was the dark figure of a man.

"Don't shoot, Kilkenny."... The soft drawl was pleasant to hear. "This is a friendly call."

"Come on in, but be careful. I can see just as well in the dark as in the light."

The man walked slowly, giving Kilkenny plenty of time to see him. He was obviously a man accustomed to dealing with gun-handy individuals.

He stopped a dozen feet off.

"Sorry to come up on you thisaway, but I wanted a word in private and you're a right busy man these days."

Kilkenny waited. There was something vaguely familiar about the man. Somewhere, sometime, he'd seen him before.

"Kilkenny, you've the reputation of being a squareshooter. I need to know men like that. I'm Lee Hail."