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Zeke searched the streets and saw the sheriff a few stores down from him.

The sheriff was just leaving the barber shop.

The sheriff glanced up toward the saloon roof.

When Zeke was certain that the man on the other roof wasn’t looking his way, he held his hand up so the sheriff would see it.

The sheriff offered a nod then went to the next store.

Zeke lowered his hand. Everything was falling into place.

He and the sheriff were right on course for what needed to be done.

Zeke didn’t see Blaze or Faye anywhere. He wasn’t surprised.

Those two would be hiding in wait for Lee and Wilson to make their move.

He dipped out of sight so the man on the other roof wouldn’t notice him if he looked at the saloon.

This limited his ability to check on anyone else, but he was afraid if he remained standing for too long, someone from below might see him.

If Lee and Wilson arranged for a man to be on the roof of the dress shop, who knew how many men were somewhere along the street or in a shop?

He was glad Bernadette, Lucas, and Gail were safely out of the way.

He wouldn’t want to have to worry about them while wondering where Blaze and Faye were.

He hoped Faye was the person she said she was—that she really was there to help apprehend her brother and Lee.

He pulled the gun from his holster and got ready for the confrontation with the outlaws.

Sheriff Hoff entered the ammunition store. Surprised the owner wasn’t in the room, he called out, “Roland?”

Roland hurried out from the back room and pulled the door closed.

The sheriff frowned. It wasn’t like Roland to act this way. His gaze went from the door to Roland. “Is something wrong?”

Roland shook his head. “No, no. Nothing’s wrong. I was just taking care of business.” He cleared his throat. “I was at the outhouse. I ran in here as soon as I heard you. What’s going on, Sheriff?”

“I’m going through town warning everyone to stay inside. I know you’re due to close your shop, but I can’t have you going home until I let you know it’s safe.”

“How come?”

The sheriff couldn’t be sure, but he thought he detected a slight tremble in the man’s voice. Ever since Roland was a little kid, that tremble meant he was hiding something.

The sheriff inwardly sighed. Roland knew about Lee and Wilson.

Roland was helping them. Lee and Wilson had so many connections throughout the territory.

Ordinary people who would otherwise do the right thing were somehow led astray by promises of riches.

In this case, the lure was the treasure that might—or might not—exist behind the schoolhouse.

As the sheriff was about to pull out his gun, a man popped up from behind the counter, his gun cocked and ready to shoot. It was Lee.

Well, damn.

“I’ll hand it to you, Lee,” the sheriff said. “You know what you’re doing.”

“You don’t get this far without being smart,” Lee replied with a snicker. He waved for the sheriff to go to the back room. “I don’t think our little visitor will mind if there’s one more in the group.”

Roland gulped.

“When your ma finds out what you’re doing, she’s going to be so ashamed,” the sheriff told Roland, thinking that this might make him change his mind and turn on Lee.

Bringing up his mother, however, did not have the desired effect. Roland opened the door to the back room and motioned for him to go in there.

The sheriff paused for one second with a glance out the window. All was quiet out there. If Lee were here, then Wilson had to be in town, too. It was going to be up to Flagstaff’s deputy to find him.

“Now, we’re cruel, but we’re not unreasonable,” Lee began as the sheriff made his way to the back room. “We aren’t planning to hurt anyone while we’re here, Sheriff.”

The sheriff paused when he saw the woman who was tied up to a chair with a cloth tied around her mouth.

She took one look at him and groaned in disappointment.

Yes, he agreed. It was unfortunate he hadn’t been more on guard when he’d entered this place.

But he had known Roland for thirty years.

One would think that was enough time to know whether or not you could trust someone.

Lee took the gun from the sheriff, and Roland pulled up another chair.

The sheriff hesitated but sat down and let himself be tied up.

He could tell that the woman wasn’t happy he’d given in so easily, but Lee was a sharp shooter.

Any sudden movement would make Lee fire that gun.

And that would probably kill him. Worse, it would probably make Zeke come running here.

Zeke needed to keep watch over the schoolhouse.

Sooner or later, Lee would go out there.

And the sheriff needed Zeke to find them.

“Are there any other lawmen we need to worry about?” Lee asked Roland as Roland finished tying the sheriff to the chair.

Roland shook his head. “The deputy we had is dead. It’s just Hoff.”

“Good. Then we won’t have anything to worry about.” Lee turned his gaze to the sheriff. “We only kill when necessary.”

“Since when it necessary to kill women and children?” the sheriff asked, not wanting to argue but finding the accusation coming out of his mouth before he could stop it.

“I said we were cruel, not unreasonable,” Lee reminded him.

“Sometimes we find it necessary to kill women and children.” He shrugged as if anyone should understand the distinction.

“Now that we have the only lawman in town taken care of, I’m going to my post.” He turned to Roland.

“Keep watch at the window. I’ll be on the roof of the boot store.

I’ll give you the sign when Wilson and Todd are done digging up the treasure. ”

The sheriff waited until Lee and Roland left the room to look in the woman’s direction. She was glaring at him as if she had expected him to single-handedly tackle both men. He decided not to pay her any mind. He didn’t know why she was stuck back here, but she was the least of his concerns.