Page 23

A Chance Encounter

Hot, tired, and dusty from three straight weekson the trail, when Seth arrived at the next town big enough to have a hotel, he stopped at the first one he saw.

A bathin an actualtub anda full night’ssleepin an actualbed was all he could think about, but the smell of freshly baked apple pie wafting from the Omaha Inn instantly changed his focus.

While checking in at the desk, he observed, “I hope that pie I smell is on the menu tonight.”

“It’s the best in the state,” the clerk replied, grinning proudly as if he’d done the baking himself. “As is the beef stew, which is the special tonight.”

The man directed him down a short hallway to Sarah’s Place, which was bustling with activity as suppertime neared.

Despite the crowd, he found an empty table by the front window.

As he settled in, the aroma of sizzling beef from the nearby kitchen made his mouth water.

Picking up the handwritten menu, the hearty options like the beef stew the clerk recommended, steaks, fried chicken, beans, and biscuits left him tempted to try one of everything.

He decided on their biggest steak with fried potatoes and green beans, and a double slice of pie, which was brought to him by Sarah herself in only a few minutes. As he eagerly tucked in to his supper, he couldn’t help but overhear the very loud conversation between two older men at the next table.

One had a waxed handlebar mustache that twitched comically as he chewed.

He didn’t stop eating as he complained about a recent robbery and his unsuccessfulsearch for theculprit.

Catching sight of the brass star pinned to his chest, Seth stifled a grin, recognizing the irony.

After years of evading the law, now, he was practically breaking bread with it.

“What’s your next move, Willard?” the sheriff’s dinner companion asked. “You’re up for reelection in a few months, and the townsfolk are in an uproar.”

“Don’t you think I know that, Ned?”he replied, wiping his mouth and then throwing down his napkin. “We can’t let this menace keep picking off payrolls coming and going from town. I’m just gonna have to match the reward offered bythe stagecoach line.”

“How much will that be?”

“Five hundred dollars each,” Sheriff Willard replied.

The other man whistled. “For that kind of money, I may go after him.”

“He’s slippery. And mean. If you go, don’t go alone.”

Ned dropped his napkin beside his plate and leaned back, frowning. “If I took someone with me, I’d have to split the reward.”

“Better that than him splitting yer head open with a bullet.”

Having heard enough, Seth pushed back his chair and sauntered over. “I’ll bring him in for you,”he offered. “Got a name? Better yet,a wanted posterwith a picture?”

“You!”Ned hooted. “You’re just a kid.”

That ran all over Seth. “I haven’t been a kid since I turned eighteen, six years ago.”

“Twenty-four,”the sheriff scoffed. “I got callouses on my ass older than that.”

“Sounds like that’s your problem,”Seth replied curtly.

The sheriff eyed him a moment. Grunting, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a tattered paper. “It’s not my job to stop a fool from being one,”he said as he held it out.

Seth didn’t respond other than to take it and unfold it.

Then he stared into a face from his past. He always suspected something funny had happened to his uncle.

With Thorn the last to see him, he felt sure he’d had a hand in Ike’s disappearance.

Had he killed him? Seth would never forget his cool indifference to his brotherbleedingin thedirt.

And he was long gone after the fire, along with Seth and Judd’s share of the loot.

Motivated by more than money now, he refolded the wanted poster and stuffed itinto his pocket. “I could almost do this one for free.”

“You know him?”

“We’ve crossed paths, unfortunately.”He met the older man’s gaze. “It doesn’t say dead or alive. That matter?”

“Not to me.”

“I’ll need to be deputized, in case it comes to that.”

“You bring him in, boy, I’ll hand you my badge.”The sheriff, a large man, heaved himself out of his creaking chair and slapped some bills on the table. “Let’s head overto the jailhouseand make you official.”

With his appetite for revenge now stronger than for food, Seth moved to the door.

Outon the boardwalk, withthe sun settingand a welcome breeze blowing, he saw a couple approaching.

The man was tall enough to block out the setting sun, the petite woman at his sidewitha wealthofdark-auburn hairgleaming gold, red, and copper in the sunlight.

She was beautiful and hauntingly familiar.

“I’d like to have a bath and go to bed early, Fen,”she said, her voice as smooth as honey.

“To hell with that. After being cramped up on that stinking train all day, I’m half-starved and need whiskey, pronto.”

“You go on. I’m not hungry.”

“I’m not eating alone, Lottie. You’re joining me.”

Seth tried not to stare at the young woman as they passed but wasn’t sure he pulled it off.

She bore an uncanny resemblance to the girl he’d saved from the Pleasure Palace fire.

Her voice was less raspy, which was expected since she wasn’t swallowing smoke with every breath.

He recalled dark hair, and the name was wrong.

The madam had spoken of her only with contempt.

The others clammed up when he asked about the dove in the attic, except for one who let slip the name Jade.

It sounded like an alias, a common practice among ladies in the trade, and she sure as hell didn’t look like a Lottie. She was too beautiful. Could it really be her?

“You got a name, son?”

He turned. The sheriff had caught up with him. “Seth Walker,”he replied, dropping his last name without hesitating.

After searching for Ike for six months, his funds had run dry.

One day, while passing through a small town in northern Arkansas, he saw a wanted poster offering a $10 reward.

He located the man within a day, hauled him in, and got paid.

One bounty led to another. Soon, he was collecting three and four rewards a month.

After years on the run, nobody understood a fugitive’s mind better than him.

The income was more than enough to cover the costs of a hotel room and apple pie whenever he found himself in a town that offered both.

The biggest rewards, some reaching $500, were paid with bank drafts, not cash. He couldn’t carry that much money around with him.When the formerbank robber became a bank customer, he put his past behind him and let his infamous family name go.

“We’re down this way, Walker,”the older mansaid, walking toward the east end of town.

Seth paused, glancing towardthe inndoor where he’d last seen her. If it was the girl he rescued from the attic, she had landed on her feet. He could sleep easier, not worrying about her anymore. But what if it wasn’t?

***

Thorn had only beena memberofthe Hartigangangfor a few weeks, but he talked a big game, and Seth had learned several of his favorite haunts when off the trail. Added to the sheriff’s information, he picked up his trail within days. It led him to a seedy saloon on the outskirts of Lincoln.

Raucous laughter and the clink of whiskey filled the air ashe entered. Seth scanned the room for his quarry, locating him as he drunkenly stumbled toward a young saloon girl, his intentions clear.

In time to spare the young woman his drunken advances, Seth moved in. Grabbing Thorn’s arm, he spun him around and swiftly had him pinned against the wall with the muzzle of his Colt pressed between his shoulder blades.

“What the fuck?”he exclaimed, thick-tongued, his speech slurred.

“It’s been a while, Thorn. Remember me?”

The older man twisted to look over his shoulder. Bleary-eyed, he blinked blankly at him.

“Apparently not,”Seth drawled. “But it doesn’t matter. What does is that you’re coming with me.”

“I ain’t going nowhere,”he replied, thenhiseyes widenedinrecognition.

“You’re Deadeye Bill Hartigan’s snot-nosed kid.

”When he glanced at the star on Seth’s shirt, a flicker of something—fear, perhaps—crossed his face.

He quickly masked it. “Why’sa memberofthe Hartigangangwearing a badge? ”

“Times change, as do people,”Seth said vaguely, letting his actions speak for themselves as he tied his prisoner’s hands with the rope he’d tuckedinto his pocketfor just this occasion. He wasn’t taking any chances, even if Thorn was too drunk to see straight, let alone make a run for it.

He wasted no time getting to the question that had constantly been on his mind for three long years. “Where is Ike?”he demanded, his voice icy and resolute.

“Ike who?”

“You damn well know who. Ike Hartigan. Deadeye Bill’s brother and my uncle,”Seth snapped, pulling the rope tighter than necessary as he knotted it off. “You were the last one with him. I want to know what happened.”

“That’s too tight!”Thorn protested. “You’re cutting off the blood to my fingers!”

Seth loosened the knot but only slightly. He wasn’t unkind, but he also wasn’t born yesterday. It didn’t stop the man’s sniveling.

“You’re pathetic,” he ground out between his teeth. “Why Judd trusted you I’ll never know. Neither me nor Ike bought your line of bull about being a friend of Pa’s. It was obvious you just wanted to worm your way into the gang and take over.”

“So what if I did?” he slurred. “Couldn’t have a kid half my age telling me what to do. ’Sides, I proved I was the better man to be leader. He got himself dead, and I’m still standing.”

“You got yourself caught,” Seth pointed out. “Think about that, tough guy, when you’re standing behind bars.”

“Fuck you!”

“Where’s Ike? What did you do to him?” Seth demanded.

“I got no idea what you’re talking about.”