Turnback Creek (Widowmaker) (17 page)

L
ocke waited patiently while Cooper checked the horses, even with the wet ground soaking through his clothes. Finally, Cooper moved away from the horses, probably planning to climb into the seat again. Locke aimed and fired one shot. It pinged off the ground in front of Cooper, and the man froze. Locke worked the lever of his rifle, and as Cooper started to take another step, he fired again, with the same result.

“John?” Cooper shouted. He had his hand on his gun, but he’d know that Locke was out of range.

“Stand fast, Coop!” Locke called out. “Where’s your rifle?”

“I don’t have one.”

“I know you have Hammet’s rifle.”

Cooper didn’t answer right away. “What’s this about, John?” the man finally shouted. “I’ve been waiting for you to catch up.”

“I’m sure you have,” Locke called back. “Take out your gun, and toss it away as far as you can.”

“If I do that, it might get damaged or go off.”

“Just do it, Coop.”

Cooper hesitated, then drew his pistol and tossed it. It landed with a loud clatter but did not go off.

“I don’t know what you’re so upset about,” Cooper shouted. Both their voices echoed in that bowl.

“I’ll tell you when I get down there.”

“Well, come ahead,” Cooper said. “I need some help with these horses, anyway.”

“Lie down.”

“What?”

“Facedown on the ground, Coop!”

“Come on, John—”

Locke fired another shot, which landed right at Cooper’s feet and ricocheted away.

“Not as bad with a long gun as you said you were, huh, John?” Cooper called out, lying down on his face.

“Put your hands straight out from your body!”

Cooper obeyed this time without question, and Locke got to his feet and started down the slope, holding his rifle ready. He hoped Cooper wouldn’t do anything foolish, because he didn’t want to have to shoot the man who had been his friend for years.

When he finally reached the buckboard and the prone figure of Cooper, he saw the sheriff’s carbine on the seat. He grabbed it and tossed it off into the distance, where it landed noisily. Out of nowhere, a cloud suddenly obscured the sun, and rain once again seemed imminent.

“Can I get up now?”

“Get into a seated position,” Locke instructed.

“The ground is wet, John!”

“I know,” Locke said. The front of his shirt and jeans were soaked. “Come on, sit.”

Cooper sighed heavily and shifted into a seated position. Locke leaned against the buckboard, holding the rifle casually in his arms.

“What’s this about, John?”

“You know what it’s about, Coop,” Locke said. “You’ve been lying to me from the beginning.”

“About what?”

“Everything!” Locke snapped. “Your alcoholic condition, your ability with a gun, and—most of all—your intentions toward the gold.”

“What intent—”

“Stealing it!” Locke said, cutting him off. “You were planning to steal this payroll right from the start. The only thing I don’t understand is, why did you bring me in on it?”

“You got this wrong, John.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Let me explain.”

“Explain why you let my horse loose and left me afoot.”

“I can.”

“Explain why you’re nowhere near the Shillstone mine.”

“I took a wrong turn.”

“You sure did, Coop,” Locke said. “What happened to you? The law used to be everything to you.”

“The law?” Cooper asked. “What did I ever get from the law, John? You saw what they did to me in Ellsworth. I learned a new word after that. Do you know what it was?
Vilified
. Do you know what that means?”

“I know,” Locke said.

“They ruined my reputation and my life,” Cooper said. “Do you know what the last eight or nine years have been like for me?”

“Obviously not,” Locke said. “You cut me out of your life since Ellsworth.”

“Because you were there!” Cooper said. “You saw me humiliated!”

“Is that my fault?” Locke asked.

“Actually, it is,” Cooper said. “I never asked you for help that day. Remember?”

“I remember,” Locke said. “I also remember there were five men waiting for you at the end of the street. You might not have survived without me that day.”

“That’s very true, John,” Cooper said. “And if I had been killed, it might not have come to this.”

“This being stealing the gold, Coop?” Locke asked. “And conning me?”

“I didn’t con you, John.”

“Are you a drunk?”

“I was,” Cooper said. “I’ve been a drunk for a long time, but I gave it up for this job.”

“You were acting for my benefit.”

“Not only yours,” Cooper said. “Everybody else, too. But it backfired on me. Molly started having doubts about hiring me, so I had to bring someone else in on it, someone she’d be impressed with and trust.”

“Your old friend John, huh?”

“I’m willin’ to share, John,” Cooper said. “I brought the subject up in Kingdom Junction, but you didn’t even entertain it.”

“So, you admit you intended to steal it from the beginning.”

“No,” he said. “Not from the beginning, but when I found how much was involved …”

“And you needed another man to help with the gold.”

“That happened afterward,” Cooper said. “Even after I sent you that telegram. I didn’t find out till later that the payroll was gonna be in gold. That sort of put a crimp in my plan, having to use a buckboard and all.”

“So you intended simply to ride off with the payroll.”

“Start up the mountain on horseback, and just keep going.”

“When did you recruit the sheriff?”

“After I found out about the gold,” Cooper said. “I read him right from the beginning. I knew that the gold would persuade him to help me.”

“You needed him to get you away from me.”

“Right.”

“And you planned on killing him all along.”

Cooper didn’t respond right away, then said, “I could tell you it was self-defense, that he tried to take the gold for himself.”

“But that’s not the way it happened, is it?”

“No.”

“So, you killed him in cold blood.”

“Yes.”

“You should have made sure he was dead, Coop,” Locke said. “He pointed me right to you.”

“I was wonderin’ how you caught up to me—although if one of the horses hadn’t come up lame …”

“I still would have caught up with you,” Locke said. “No matter how long it took.”

“Come on, John,” Cooper said. “There’s a lot of gold there. We just have to get over this mountain, and we’re home free.”

“And how do you intend to do that with a lame horse?”

“I assume you still have a horse.”

“Actually, I found yours.”

“There you go,” Cooper said. “We just hook that one up to the buckboard, and we’re on our way.”

“And how long before you try to kill me for the gold, Coop?”

“I wouldn’t do that, John,” Cooper said. “You’re my friend.”

“That didn’t stop you from conning me and leaving me on foot.”

“But I knew you’d survive,” Cooper said. “I’d never kill you. I’m not that far gone.”

“Seems to me you’ve gone as far as you can, Coop,” Locke said. “Killing a lawman sent you over the edge.”

“And you’ve never killed a lawman?”

“Never.”

“Well … gold, John,” Cooper said. This seemed to be the only argument left to him now. “Eighty thousand in gold, split two ways.”

“No deal, Coop.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“Deliver the gold to the mine,” Locke said, “and you to the law.”

“There ain’t no more law in Turnback Creek.”

“Then we’ll go to Kingdom Junction,” Locke said. “I’ll turn you over to Sheriff Maddox.”

“Maddox,” Cooper said, shaking his head. “He’d come in for a quarter of the gold, John. I could smell it on him.”

“By the time I turn you over to him, the miners will have the gold,” Locke said.

Cooper shook his head again. “I can’t let you do that, John,” he said. “I have too many plans for the gold.”

“Then we have a problem here, Coop.”

“More problems than you know, John.”

It took a moment for Locke to notice that Cooper was looking up the slope as he said this.

W
hen Hoke Benson, Eddie Rome, and their men came across the second horse, they saw that the reins had been grounded and knew they were in luck.

“Somebody’s around here someplace,” Rome said, looking around.

“Let’s spread out,” Hoke said, dismounting. “Anybody sees anybody, don’t sing out. Don’t let them know you seen them. Just come and get the rest of us.”

Everyone nodded.

Hoke and Rome stayed together and approached the horse.

“Rifle’s still here,” Hoke said.

“Don’t mean nothin’,” Rome said. “The sheriff’s rifle was gone, remember?”

“That’s right,” Hoke said. “The sheriff’s horse is on this mountain someplace. Heck, maybe this is it.”

“Well, whoever was riding it is around here,” Rome said. “He grounded those reins. Let’s see what’s up ahead.”

The two men moved forward cautiously to the top of the rise, and suddenly they were looking down into a basin at two men and a buckboard of gold.

“I know this place,” Rome said.

“What?”

“The Devil’s Basin, they call it,” he said.

“Why?” Hoke asked.

Rome hesitated, then said, “I don’t remember. I just know I heard of it.”

“Well,” Hoke said, “whatever it’s called, there’s our gold.”

“And them two don’t look like friends,” Rome said.

One man was standing and holding a rifle, while the other was sitting on his ass.

“Let’s get the others,” Hoke said. “We got ’em now, Rome. We got ’em, and we got our gold.”

They retreated and found the rest of their men.

“Let’s mount up,” Hoke said. “I want them to see us at full strength.”

“You thinkin’ they might just walk away and leave the gold?” Rome asked. “Without a fight?”

“I didn’t think so before, but maybe,” Hoke said. “Maybe they will. Why don’t we just let ’em see us and find out?”

W
hen Locke looked up, he saw seven mounted men at the top of the slope. He cursed himself for having left his horse up there.

“Looks like we’re gonna need each other, John,” Cooper said. “We can take up our argument another time.”

Locke knew he was in no position to take any other stance. “Coop,” he said, “stand up and move real slow to get your guns.”

Cooper got to his feet. “I hope they let me get that far,” he said.

“How bad is that horse?”

“He cut the bottom of his foot pretty bad,” Cooper said. “What are they doin’? They’re just sittin’ there.”

“They’re showing us their strength,” Locke said, “and, hopefully, giving you time to get to your guns.”

The pistol and rifle had been tossed in the same direction. The rifle, being heavier, had not gone as far, and that was the weapon Locke and Cooper wanted the most.

Locke held his breath the closer Cooper got to it.

“What’s he doin’?” Hoke asked as Cooper moved across the floor of the basin.

“I can’t see … wait,” Rome said. “He’s tryin’ to get to his guns. See that rifle?”

“That’s Cooper,” Hoke said. “The other one is Locke. Looks like Locke had the drop on the old marshal.”

“I can pick him off from here,” Turpin said, raising his rifle.

“No,” Hoke said. “Let the old man get to his rifle.”

“Why?” Rome asked.

“Why not?” Hoke said. “They’re outnumbered seven to two, and they have no cover. What are they gonna do?”

“They did okay when they were outnumbered five to two,” Rome said. “Remember?”

“I remember,” Hoke said. “But this is different. This time, we got ’em.”

Cooper reached his rifle and his pistol, too, which he holstered as he joined Locke by the buckboard.

“They figure they’ve got us,” Locke said. “That’s why they let you get to your guns.”

“Why don’t they make a move?”

“Why should they?” Locke asked. “Where are we going to go?”

“They don’t know we have a lame horse.”

“If we try to leave with the gold, they’ll either start shooting or rush us. On the other hand, if we just try to leave without the gold, I bet they’d let us go.”

“Why would we do that?”

“To save our lives?”

“I’m not leavin’ without that gold, John,” Cooper said. “I’ve got no life without it.”

“Why should I stay here and fight for it, then,” Locke asked, “if you’re going to take it?”

“I told you before,” Cooper said. “For half.”

“I don’t want half, Coop,” Locke said. “I don’t even want it all.”

“You won’t leave.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not the kind of man you are,” Cooper said. “Because these are the kinds of odds you like.”

“Seven to two,” Locke said. “How much worse could it get?”

At that moment, the sky opened up, and it started to pour.