Brother's Keeper (13 page)

S
LOAN KNEW THAT
C
AL
Hardin had lied about the whereabouts of Jess Williams. It mattered little to him though. He knew that he

would find him sooner or later. Sooner would be better, but later would be just fine with him. He figured that the town of Black Creek was the best place to start. The sun was just about to go down when he finally rode into Black Creek.

Tony, the blacksmith, was just finishing up filing the left front hoof of a beautiful palomino mare when he looked up and saw Jess riding back into town. He stopped what he was doing and grabbed a rag to wipe his hands as he walked outside of the livery. He said, in a very low voice that no one but himself could hear, “well, well, well, I guess maybe that job offer sounded better than he first thought.” He kept looking at Jess who was walking his horse slowly towards the livery. The horse was the first thing he noticed. It wasn’t Jess’s horse, Gray. Tony knew that horse. He had sold it to Jess’ father, John Williams. Then, Tony realized that the young man on top of the horse wasn’t Jess. It was someone who looked an awful lot like Jess, but the body language was all wrong.

Tim Sloan rode right up to the large man who was standing outside the livery wiping his hands. Actually, the man looked more like a huge bear standing in the street. Sloan dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to the man. Sloan stared into Tony’s eyes, which was something he did often. He could read a lot from a mans eyes. It was something that he had learned from working the poker tables. He could usually tell if a man was lying or cheating just by staring into the man’s eyes for a moment. He saw something but he wasn’t sure what it was. He logged it in the back of his mind. Tony took the reins but said nothing, still staring at the close resemblance this young man had to Jess Williams.

“I’m looking for a room and I assume you can take care of my horse?” Sloan asked.
“Uh…sure thing, Mister, you can find a room at the hotel right there,” said Tony, pointing in the direction of the Creek Hotel. “I’ll take care of your horse for you.” Tim noticed the odd behavior of the blacksmith but he simply nodded and headed down to the hotel to get a room. He figured he would settle in and then start asking some questions about the man he was looking for. Tony went about stabling the man’s horse and as soon as he was finished, he headed straight over to Jim and Sara Smythe’s place. He had heard that Jess was looking for the brother he never knew he had, and while Tony wasn’t the smartest guy in town, he knew that there might be something to what he had just seen.
When he arrived at Smythe’s General Store, Jim was on a step stool stocking the top shelf and Sara was holding a box. She was handing Jim small bottles of some unknown elixir that probably delivered an unknown reaction to whoever was dumb enough to drink the stuff.
“Well, hello Tony, what do you need?” asked Sara.
“I need to talk to the both of you about what I just saw,” Tony replied with enough anxiousness in his voice to cause both Jim and Sara to stop what they were doing. Jim came off the step stool wincing in pain every time he put pressure on the leg he had been shot in. Sara put the box on the counter.
“What did you see that has you so rattled, Tony?” asked Jim.
“You know that brother that Jess is looking for?” asked Tony.
“Yeah,” replied Jim.
“Well, I think I just stabled his horse. I thought it was Jess come back to town at first until he got right up close to me. Then I realized it wasn’t Jess but someone who looked a lot like him. I think it might be his brother.”
Sara had a worried look in her eyes. “Oh lord Jim, what if it is his brother? What are we going to do?” Sara asked nervously.
“We ain’t going to do anything until we find out who this man is. Hell, maybe it’s just someone who looks a lot like Jess. I mean, what are the odds that he would show up here in Black Creek? Let’s not get too excited until we know for sure. Besides, Jess ain’t here anyway,” Jim replied.
“What do you want me to do?” Tony asked.
“Just keep an eye on him but don’t talk to him or tell him anything, especially anything about Jess, and make sure you warn Andy too.”
“I’ll go see Andy right now.” Tony headed out for Andy’s.
Sara put both her hands on her face. “My lord, Jim, I’m worried. I don’t want any more trouble. I don’t know that I can take it. I want it all to go away.”
“Now Sara, stay calm and don’t you worry. Things will all work out the way they are going to work out no matter how much you worry about it. Jess ain’t here and all we have to do is keep quiet and not let on about Jess. Maybe this guy just looks like Jess.”
Andy was busy wiping down the bar when Tony came in. Andy could see that Tony was excited about something. “What’s up, Tony?” asked Andy.
“Well, we ain’t sure yet, but a young man came into town a few minutes ago and I have a hunch that he might be that brother that Jess is looking for.”
“You gotta be kiddin’ me?” said Andy, with one of those strange looks he gives when he tilts his head slightly.
“I ain’t kidding. I thought it was Jess coming back to town when I first saw him ride into town. If it ain’t his brother, he sure could pass for him.”
Just then, the swinging doors to the saloon opened and a young man stepped inside and stopped, the doors swinging a few times behind him. The young man’s eyes swept the room completely and when he was seemingly satisfied that he was aware of his surroundings, his eyes fixed on Andy. Andy looked him over for a minute. The young man wore a very nice black left-handed holster with a silver engraved Colt .45 in it. The holster was tied down and you could tell by the look of this young man that he knew how to use it. There was a dark and foreboding look about the young man. His eyes were cold and his expression one of contempt for anyone but himself. Andy couldn’t believe the resemblance. Tony turned away from Sloan and said in a low voice that only Andy could hear— ”I told ya.”
Sloan slowly walked up to the bar and Tony turned around again. Sloan could tell that Tony was concerned by something but he felt no threat from him. He sauntered up to the bar and looked into Andy’s eyes.
“Well, barkeep, do you sell whiskey in here or not?” Andy didn’t move for a second. He was staring back at Sloan.
“Uh…yeah, we got whiskey. You want the good stuff or the rot-gut.”
“I’ll take the good stuff.” Andy got a bottle from the back shelf and poured Sloan a shot. Sloan downed it and Andy refilled the glass. Sloan looked over at a table where two men were engaged in a poker game. He looked back over at Andy. “You mind if I get a table started later on?”
Andy looked at Tony and then back at Sloan. “I don’t suppose so, as long as it’s a clean game.”
Sloan smiled at that. “What makes you think it would be anything other than a clean game?” replied Sloan, a hint of agitation in his voice now. Andy paused for a moment.
“I’m just lettin’ ya know, that’s all,” Andy replied, a little attitude beginning to show.
“Also,” Sloan said, as he turned to look back over at the men at the poker table, “I’m looking for someone. I was told he was here in town lately. His name is Jess Williams. Either of you two men know anything about him or where he might be?”
Well, there it was. It was the one question that neither Tony nor Andy wanted to be asked and the fact that Sloan asked the question told them the whole story. This young man was surely Jess’ brother and he was looking for Jess. Both Andy and Tony looked slightly uncomfortable and delayed in their answer. Andy replied first.
“We don’t know any Jess Williams, Mister,” replied Andy. Tony nodded as if to say the same thing when Sloan’s eyes turned to look at him. Sloan looked at them both and he knew that they were both acting strangely.
“Really?” Sloan asked, not sure they were being honest.
“That’s right, Mister,” replied Andy, “but if we was to run into a man by that name, who should we say is lookin’ for him?”
Sloan smiled and downed his drink. “You can tell him that his brother is looking for him.”
Tony turned back towards the bar and looked at Andy. Both had a look of dread on their faces. Sloan threw a few dollars on the bar and walked over to the two men playing poker and asked if he could join the game. They nodded and Sloan sat down and pulled out a few hundred dollars and placed it on the table. Both men looked at the pile of money and began figuring how they were going to spend it once they won it. About an hour later both of them left the bar with empty pockets.

Cal Hardin walked out to the front porch with a cup of hot coffee in his hand. He called over to Newton Cash. Cash walked over to the porch.

“Newton, do you know Terrence Hanley? He was one of the men who worked for Dick Carter.”
“Not personally, but I’d know him If I saw him. I saw him a few times at Andy’s Saloon. Seemed to be a nice enough fellow, not like those other men that worked for Carter. They were mighty mean. I mean, those rustlers were breaking the law sure enough but what those men did to them—well, I would have done it a little differently.”
“So would I, but that’s over now and we can’t do anything about it. I know I owed Dick Carter and I am a man of my word, but maybe we can do one good thing about this whole damn mess.” Cash didn’t know about everything or about Hardin’s role in identifying Jess and holding the ten thousand dollars for Sloan, so he looked a little confused.
“Cash, I want you to go and find Terrence Hanley for me. I would think that he is still at Carter’s ranch. I figure Carter’s widow would have kept a few of the hands that survived to help out on the ranch and Hanley was one of the best ranch hands they had. I want to hire him to do something for me. Tell him that I will pay him very well.”
“I’ll be on my way in five minutes boss.”
Hardin nodded and walked back into the kitchen of the house. His wife was busy making some breakfast and she had overheard his discussion with Newton Cash. She was one of those women who tried very hard not to say something or to interject with her husband’s affairs, but sometimes she just couldn’t help herself. She knew all about the money Cal was holding and she didn’t like the whole affair. She liked the young Jess Williams even though she was fearful of him, although if you asked her, she didn’t really know why.
“So, what do you want to talk to Terrence Hanley about?” she asked, somewhat sheepishly.
Cal didn’t even look up from his coffee cup. “Ain’t any of your business, woman, Cal replied, firmly.
“I know about the money you’re holding and I know why you’re holding it too and I don’t like it,” she replied, gaining a little bit of courage. Cal looked up at her and handed her his coffee cup.
“You just get me another cup of coffee and let me handle the affairs around here. Do you understand me, woman!” Cal hollered.
Ruth had a look of indignation on her face and it was one that Cal had seen many times before. She grabbed his cup, refilled it, and slammed it down in front of him and stormed out of the kitchen. Cal sat there and said in a low voice that no one else could hear. “What a pain in the ass.” He looked up to see Newton Cash heading out towards the Carter ranch. He smiled a little knowing that he was about to try to do something to right things a little.

Jess was making pretty good time in his journey to Red Rock, Texas. He was looking for a spot to make camp along a creek he had been following for the last few hours when he thought he heard voices. He reined up and listened. He heard them again and though the voices were far off, he could tell that they were loud and angry. He figured there were at least two men. He dismounted and tied Gray to a branch and worked his way towards the voices, his hammer-strap already off his pistol. He worked his way through some trees until he could see the men. There were two men and they were sitting on boulders across from each other. They were obviously engaged in a loud argument with each other. Jess didn’t see any horses, and the men had nothing but one canteen and a sidearm each. Neither of them noticed Jess and Jess decided to wait and listen for a minute before announcing himself.

Murry, no, never your fault.”
“I’m not the one who forgot to check him over to see
if he had a knife on him.”
“Oh, so I don’t check the man’s boots and that’s my
fault?”
“If I would have checked him over I would have
looked at his boots.”
“You say that now but you didn’t say it when I was
checking him over. What…you forgot then, but you remember now? Oh, that’s good—that’s real good,
Murry.”
“Well, what do we do now?”
“Now you want me to figure things out? You trust me
to figure it out?”
“Quit your bellyaching, Carl. I can’t help it if you
screwed up—again.”
“Again! What do you mean again?”
“Just like last time, Carl. You let the last man get the
drop on us and he robbed us just like this man did. How
are we going to make any money at this business if we
keep letting our prisoners get the drop on us? We’re
supposed to making money at this, not losing money.” “So now it’s my fault we’re losing money? Sure, let’s
blame everything on Carl. That’s the easy thing to do. Just
blame me. You’re really starting to piss me off, Murry. It
isn’t all my fault. You had a hand in this too.”
“I didn’t let the man keep a knife in his boot, Carl.
You did that; remember?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s all my fault. I’ll take the blame
so you can feel better, okay.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, just like that? It’s okay? Boy, you’re something
else, Murry, I’ll give you that.”
“Well, what are we going to do?”
Carl put his hands up in the air with a look of
exasperation on his face. “I told you. You figure it out.
You’re such a Goddamn genius—go on, you figure it out.
It’s your turn to screw up. I’m all done screwing up for the
day. You’re not going to blame me again today, that’s for
sure.”
Murry stood up and started waving his hands in the
air. “For Christ’s sake, quit complaining about everything
and start thinking about what we are going to do next.” “I already told you,” hollered Carl, “I ain’t doing
anything!”
It was then that Jess decided that he would announce
himself. He put his hand down by his gun and stepped
around the big pine tree he had been standing next to. “Afternoon, gentlemen.” Carl jumped to his feet and
Murry’s hands shot up straight in the air, followed by
Carl’s a half of a-second later.
“Easy, men. I don’t mean any harm. Put your hands
down and relax but don’t be going for those pistols, okay?”
Jess said, in a calm and re-assuring voice. “My name is
Jess Williams. Who might you two be; and how did you
get way out here without any horses?” Murry and Carl
both looked down at the ground for a moment. Then Murry
looked over at Carl.
“Well, we had horses until Carl here gave them away
along with our money and everything else we had except
one canteen and our six-shooters.” Carl shook his head
with a look of disgust.
“We got robbed, Mister. I didn’t give anything away.
And yeah, it’s all my Goddamn fault, according to Murry
here.”
“I’m just telling him the truth, that’s all,” exclaimed
Murry.
Jess didn’t want to hear the whole argument again so
he suggested that they have a cup of coffee with him. Jess
retrieved Gray and got out the coffee and the pan while
Carl and Murry collected some dry firewood and got a
small fire going. Soon they were all sitting on some big
boulders and enjoying a good cup of coffee. Jess decided
to find out a little more about the two men who seemed to
have been robbed and left stranded miles from any town. “So, what are you two men doing out here? I got the
drift from your argument that you got robbed, but who robbed you?” Carl and Murry looked at one another and
quickly looked away as if disgusted with each other. “We got robbed by our prisoner. We took him into
custody in a small town about fifteen miles east of here
and we were taking him to Abilene for the reward,”
answered Carl.
“So, you two men are bounty hunters?”
“Yeah, that’s what we are, but we don’t seem to be
very good at it yet,” replied Murry. “We’ve arrested two
wanted men so far and we’ve been robbed by both of
them. Not too good, hey?”
“Don’t sound like it.”
“Well, we have to get better at it if we want to make
enough money to start up our business back East,” said
Carl, throwing a look at Murry.
Murry started to wave his hands in the air again.
“Don’t look at me like that, Carl. This whole thing about
coming out West and making a fortune as bounty hunters
was all your idea, not mine.”
“Don’t give me that. You thought it was a great idea
and you even said so,” Carl replied indignantly. Murry was
about to reply when Jess figured he would have to either
cut in or listen to another protracted debate between the
two.
“Where back East?” asked Jess. Both Murry and Carl
looked at Jess and forgot about their argument for the
moment.
“We’re from the City of New York,” answered Carl.
“We were partners in the supply business.”
“What kind of supplies?” asked Jess. Carl started to
answer but Murry cut in first.
“Anything you needed. We would supply almost
anything any place of business would need. If you needed
dishes for an eatery, we would get them and resell them to you. If you needed lumber, we would get it and resell it. Pots, pans, clothing, whatever any business needed, we would go out and get it and then resell it for a profit. Hell, there’s about a million people who live in New York and that’s a lot of customers.” Murry said it as if he was proud
of being able to make a profit running a business. “So, let me get this straight,” asked Jess, “you two
men left a profitable business back East to come out West
and make a fortune at bounty hunting?” Jess asked the
question with a hint of humor in his voice. Murry looked
over at Carl when he answered.
“Well, Carl thought we could make a fortune. I wasn’t
so sure, but hey, he’s my partner and I thought I should
come out here with him and make a go of it.” Carl was
going to respond but he gave up and just waved his hand at
Murry as if to shoo him away.
“So, how much money have you lost so far?” asked
Jess.
“As far as we can figure, about five hundred dollars,”
answered Murry. “That’s counting the four horses and
saddles, four rifles, miscellaneous supplies and about a
hundred in cash.” Jess shook his head and tried to contain
his amazement.
“What? You think that’s funny?” Murry asked. “I’m sorry,” replied Jess, trying to be polite, “but yes,
it is kind of funny. You two left a perfectly good business
back East to come out here and make a fortune at
something neither of you knew anything about. In the
process, you’ve been robbed twice by the very same men
that you were trying to collect a bounty on and lost about
five hundred dollars worth of stuff in the process and you
don’t think maybe that’s a little bit funny?” Carl and
Murry looked at one another and both conjured up a smile
as they thought about it for a moment.
“You are lucky in one respect though,” said Jess. Both
Murry and Carl lost their smile.
“Lucky?” replied Murry, a surprised look on his face. “Yeah, what do you mean lucky. How the hell can this
be lucky?” added Carl, the same look of surprise on his
face. Jess shook his head, wondering about the sanity of
these two men who obviously had no idea of what they had
gotten themselves involved in.
“Yes. You two are lucky to be alive. I’m a bounty
hunter myself of sorts and it is a very dangerous business.
Most of the men out West that have a bounty on their
heads are very dangerous men…killers most of them. You
men are lucky you haven’t been shot dead and left as feed
for the vultures. You might want to think about giving this
line of work up and going back East and make your
fortune in the supply business.”
“We can’t do that,” Carl said.
“Why not?”
“We did a lot of bragging when we left. Some of our
friends said we was crazy and that we would come back
broke and riding a mule together. They laughed at us
and…well…we just can’t go back broke. It would be too
humiliating.” Carl hung his head as Murry chimed in. “I told you not to go bragging now, didn’t I? You just
couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?” Carl just
waved his hand at Murry, too disgusted to reply.
“He is right, though,” Murry said to Jess, “we can’t go
back as failures. We have to make enough to go back and
start up our new place of business. If we go back broke, we
would never live it down.”
Jess felt bad for the two men. They were obviously
trapped in a bad situation even though it was by their own
stupidity and actions. “What kind of business are you
going to start if you do go back?” Both Carl and Murry sat up straight and a look of excitement replaced their look of failure. They both seemed like they wanted to talk at the
same time. Murry was first.
“We are going to open up ‘Murry and Carl’s’. It will
be a place where men with money can come and drink
only the finest liquors and smoke only the finest cigars
available from around the world.” Murry said it so proudly
as if he had said it a hundred times before, which wasn’t
far from the truth.
“I say we call it ‘Carl and Murry’s’ but we can talk
about that later,” added Carl, shooting a look at Murry as
he continued. “It will be a small but beautifully decorated
place with dark wood and large mirrors on the walls. It
will have nice paintings on the walls and the finest carpet
on the floor. We will have wine, too, and waiters to serve
the customers while they remain seated in plush leather
chairs. It will be a place that any man of money will want
to go and have their favorite fine liquor. We can make a
fortune with it. There are a lot of rich men in New York,
and they will spend it at our place.”
“It seems like you two finally agree on one thing,
except for that name thing,” said Jess.
“We’ll work that out by the time we get back home to
open it,” replied Carl.
“Well,” Jess said, as he looked up at the sun, which
was slowly going down, “it’s too late to do anything
tonight so I suggest we make camp, have something to eat
and tomorrow we can figure out how to get you two some
new horses.”
“That’s mighty nice of you,” said Murry. “We can
wire for more money if we can get to that town back that
way where we captured that man.”
Jess unloaded some supplies and made enough beans
and pan bread for the three of them. Usually he made the pan bread with just flour and water but this time he made the pan bread by mixing some cornmeal, flour and water together and frying it in some bacon grease. They made some more coffee and sat around and talked for hours. They asked Jess about his strange looking pistol. Jess explained how he had found it hanging on the peg under his pa’s hat. It was probably the most conversation he had with strangers in a long time and Jess was actually enjoying it. They finished up and Carl and Murry cleaned up and gathered some firewood for the night. Murry was dropping off a few pieces of wood and he saw Jess with a can and a string wrapped around it. He watched as Jess unrolled the string from the can and placed the can in a bush about twenty yards from the campfire. He watched as Jess tied the string to another bush about six feet away. Jess put a few small pieces of rock in the can. Then, Jess got out three more cans with string wrapped around them
and started placing them around the area.
“What the heck you doing with those cans?” Murry
asked.
“I put them around my camp every night. I figure that
if anyone tries to ambush me at night, it might give me
enough warning to prevent that from happening. I’ve been
trying to think up more ways to guard my camp at night
and I thought about another one while we were eating. I’m
going to place a few medium sized rocks along the area
where I would walk if I were trying to sneak up on this
camp. That way, if it’s dark enough, someone might not
see them and step on it and that would make noise or make
them stumble enough to give me a warning.”
Murry smiled. “You’re mighty smart for a young
fellow. You want to be partners?”
Now it was Jess’ turn to smile.
“Thanks, but no, I work alone. I figure a partner could
get me killed. If I had a partner, I might start relying on
him and that might cause me to let my guard down just
enough to get myself killed. I like the fact that the only one
I have to rely on is myself. That’s what keeps me on guard
all the time. Besides, you already have a partner.” “Yeah, but he’s not as smart as you, and he’s getting
dumber by the day.” Jess smiled as he looked over as Carl
was walking up to the camp area. Carl didn’t see the string
and as he pulled the can out of the bush he was startled by
the noise and he tripped over a rock spilling the firewood
and landing on his hands and knees, cursing up a storm.
Murry just shook his head.
“Well, he’s all yours, Murry,” replied Jess, as he
continued to place the cans and rocks around the camp. “I think the can and rock thing will work just fine,”
said Murry as he walked over to help his partner up and
shaking his head in frustration.
“Goddamn it! Where the hell did that can come from?
It wasn’t there a minute ago,” exclaimed Carl as he began
to pick a sliver out of his hand.
“I’ll tell you all about it later. Now, go and get some
more firewood and watch where you’re walking. Jess has
these cans all around the area.” Jess finished up with his
work and they settled in for one last cup of coffee and then
they lay down for the night. Jess gave them his extra
blanket for some warmth and they thanked him again and
again. Jess didn’t get much sleep though. He spent most of
the night watching Carl and Murry wrestle the blanket
back and forth all night.