Sins of the Father (19 page)

would feed ten men. She was deliriously happy now
with Sheriff Steele out of his coma and Madden dead.
Things were beginning to feel a little normal now.

ake Morgan had been on the trail for several days now. He was on his way to meet with a man by the name of Rance Madden who was going to pay Jake his customary one thousand dollar fee per man. Jake had long ago stopped caring who it was he killed, as long as he got paid well for it. When he was fired from the gun company he worked at, he got so angry that it changed his way of thinking and looking at things, but not in a good way. He knew that his design of the pistol he now wore would have been revolutionary and way ahead of its time, but the owner wouldn’t take a chance on putting it into production. He bought the pistol from the owner and then went and had a special holster designed for it and he had the holster designed as a gun-tipping

holster. The holster swiveled on a round piece of metal so that he did not have to remove the pistol from the holster to shoot it; he only needed to cock the hammer back as he swiveled the holster up ninety degrees and pull the trigger. The holster was cut short at the top and the bottom and it was cut out so that he could easily reach the trigger, and the holster was also designed to allow the cylinder to revolve. It was quite difficult to learn how to use it at first, but he practiced with it for almost two years and he became very fast with it before he began to hire out his gun for money. He sold off all his other belongings and made his way out West. He took a train to Missouri, bought himself a horse and headed further west. Since then, he had killed over a dozen men in gunfights. His first gunfight was in Wichita, Kansas, and he wasn’t being paid for it. A man had challenged him because the man wanted to buy Jake’s gun and holster and of course, Jake wouldn’t sell it. Then, the man challenged Jake to a gunfight, leaving the gun and holster to the man left standing. Jake was still wearing it when he left Wichita, killing the man by putting a bullet in his chest before the man even got his gun out of his holster.

He had already been to the Madden ranch and found out all about what had happened. There were only a few ranch hands there and they couldn’t pay Jake Morgan his fee. Once he learned that Jess Williams was responsible for the demise of Madden and most of his hired guns, his interest peaked. He knew of Jess Williams and he had heard stories about a very unique pistol and holster that he wore, and Jake Morgan just had to see it so he headed into Timber to check it out for himself.

Jess and Frank were holding their stomachs as if they were trying to keep them from bursting. They had consumed two plates of flapjacks, one plate of biscuits, eight eggs and over a pound of salt pork between the two of them.

“You were right about that gun fighting thing last night, Frank.”
“Huh, what do you mean?”
“You know, that thing you said about gun fighting being hard work. Well, we’ve rested and we’ve eaten more than our share of good food, so I guess we have fully recuperated.”
Frank had been listening to part of what Jess was saying but in the middle of Jess saying it, he was distracted by the man he saw through the broken window of the saloon over at the livery. He knew the man very well and he knew that it spelled trouble. “Jess, the gun fighting might not be over just yet.”
“What do you mean? Do you know something that I don’t?”
“It’s more like I know someone you don’t.”
“Who?”
Reedy pointed to the livery. “The man over at the livery is Jake Morgan and if I haven’t lost my touch, I would say that he’s not here by accident. I would wager that Madden hired him and that he got here a little too late.”
Jess looked the man over and he could see the same thing in the man that Reedy saw. He was wearing a very strange holster, one that Jess had not seen before. “Well, Madden is dead so he can’t get paid. Maybe he’s just stopping by to supply up and get a hot meal before moving on.”
“Unlikely, especially if he knows you are here. Some men call him the Reaper and at last count, he’s killed at least a dozen men. He’s what they call a gun-tipper. That’s why his holster looks so strange. He doesn’t have to draw his pistol from the holster, he just swivels it up and fires. He’s pretty damn fast with it, too.”
“So, how come you or some other lawman hasn’t arrested him yet?”
“Because every gunfight he’s been in has been a fair showdown.”
Jess shook his head. “You lawmen with all your rules you have to follow sometimes just don’t make much sense to me. You’ll hang a starving man for stealing a cow, but you have to let men like that go around killing other men as long as he can goad them into the street for a showdown.”
“Hey, I don’t make the laws, I just enforce them.”
“By the way, when are you going to pin that marshal’s badge back on?”
“Obviously, not today by the looks of things.”
Jake Morgan was asking the livery man something and the livery man pointed over at Jed’s Saloon. Morgan slowly walked towards the saloon.
“I shouldn’t have eaten that last stack of flapjacks,” said Jess.
“Why not?”
“I hate gun fighting on a full stomach.”

AKE
M
ORGAN WALKED UP
the porch and examined all the damage from the bullet holes. The batwing doors were almost completely gone
from the pounding of bullets and buckshot. He
walked inside and looked at Jess and Frank and when
he did, he took his time looking over both of them
meticulously. Jess took the time to look Morgan over
at the same time. Morgan was very neatly dressed
and wore fine clothing. He had a slim build and wore
what looked like to be a new hat. Jess noticed that his
hands were not rough like most men, but very clean.
The gun and holster were, indeed, different from
what he had ever seen before with the exception of
his own. The holster was not tied to the thigh and
when Morgan finished looking the two over, he
walked up to the bar and ordered a whiskey. As he
walked, the pistol swiveled a little back and forth. Morgan finished his whiskey and ordered one
more. He turned to face Jess and Frank Reedy. “My
name is Jake Morgan. I’m looking for a young man by the name of Jess Williams, and I would assume by looking at that pistol and holster that I’ve found him,” Morgan said, his eyes fixed on Jess.
Jess turned to face Morgan but he did not get out of his chair. “Mr. Morgan, you have found me and the smartest thing that you could do right now is to finish up your drink and leave town before something bad happens.”
Jake Morgan downed his shot of whiskey and placed the shot glass on the counter. “I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.”
“Have it your way.”
“I usually do.”
Frank Reedy, who had been silent up to now, turned to face Morgan directly. “Morgan, I’m a U.S. marshal and I know all about you. I would suggest that you leave town like my friend here has asked.” “I don’t see any badge pinned on your shirt.” “I’m officially off the job, so to speak, but I could pin it back on anytime I want.”
“What difference would that make? If I decide to call him out in the street fair, what the hell you going to do about it?”
“Yeah,” added Jess, with a slight hint of friendly sarcasm, “what the hell could you do about it anyway if you did pin that badge on?”
“All right, I admit it, not a damn thing as long as it’s a fair fight, but there’s been enough gunplay in this town already. Besides, Rance Madden is dead so he won’t be paying you any money anyway. You working for free these days, Morgan?”
Morgan grinned as he looked at Jess’ pistol and holster. “I have plenty of money in the bank, but what I don’t have is that thing right there,” he said, as he pointed at Jess’ pistol.
“And that’s one thing you’ll never have, Morgan,” said Jess.
“We’ll see about that now, won’t we?”
“Only if you force it, Morgan, because I’m not looking for any fight with you.”
“Are you gonna run from it?”
“You already know the answer to that question, but do you know the answer to this one? Are you prepared to die over this thing here?” Jess said, as he tapped his pistol with his right hand.
“Who say’s I’m going to be the one to die?” “That would be me, Mr. Morgan. You can’t beat me even with that fancy tipping holster you got there.”
“Well, I think I can. I’ve gotten pretty fast with it and I’m thinkin’ I can beat you fair and square on the draw.”
“You sure I can’t talk you out of this?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“Then let’s quit wasting time on it.”
Jess stood up and so did Reedy. Jess walked out into the street and Reedy followed and stood on the wooden walkway. It didn’t take long for Morgan to follow and he stopped on the walkway and glanced over at Reedy. “You plan on involving yourself in this, Mr. Reedy?”
“No, I’m just here to make sure things are fair.” This was another example of Frank Reedy’s phrase—
I don’t often tell the truth, but I never lie.
Reedy had every intention of plugging Morgan if something went wrong and Jess was gunned down by Morgan. “I’m always fair when it comes to gun fighting. I do have rules that I play by.”
“Yeah, so do I and I’m getting a little tired about it, too,” replied Reedy, a hint of frustration in his voice.
Pattie Nate came out and stood next to Frank Reedy. “Why does this always keep happening? Jess didn’t start anything with that man. Why doesn’t he just leave?”
Tex came hobbling up the street with a scattergun. “Hold on there, men. What the hell is going on?”
Jess removed his hammer strap. “Tex, it’s okay. This is Jake Morgan and he’s decided today that he is going to challenge me to a gunfight. Why don’t you get on the porch with Frank and Pattie and let it go?” “To hell with that, I’m still wearing a badge and I don’t give two shits about the law right about now. I would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you. I swear, I’ll blow him in half with both barrels if you just give me the word. We can bury his ass out back with the rest of those assholes and Madden.”
“No, that won’t be necessary, Tex. I’ll give him what he wants. He might not like it when he gets it, but it
is
his choice.”
“You sound awfully sure of yourself for such a young man.”
“You’re about to find out, once you go for that pistol. Hey, Tex, how would you like a nice guntipping holster?”
“Hell, I wouldn’t say no to that,” Tex replied, as he joined Reedy, Pattie and Jed who had since come out from behind the bar. They were watching Jess and Morgan who were now about thirty feet apart and just staring at one another. Pattie could not believe what was happening. A moment ago, Jess was finishing up with a nice breakfast and now, here he was again, facing down yet another gunslinger. “It’s your move, Morgan.”
“No, why don’t you go first?”
“Not a chance. This is your play. I won’t walk away, but I won’t draw first, either. Your life is in your hands right now. Once you touch the butt of your pistol, it will be in mine.”
Morgan waited a few more moments. Jess didn’t know exactly why; maybe he was thinking about leaving town and giving it up or maybe he just needed to wait until he felt he was ready. It mattered little to Jess however; he had been at this very moment so many times before that it almost felt natural, as if killing another man should ever feel natural. Then, Jess saw the look that came over Morgan’s eyes. Morgan went for his gun and he cocked the hammer back and had the holster at a forty-five degree angle when the bullet from Jess’ gun slammed into Morgan’s chest, knocking him off balance. Morgan actually got to pull the trigger but his slug hit the ground about twenty feet from Jess. Morgan got his balance back but he was still wobbling a little.
“Damn, that sure was fast,” Morgan said. Morgan looked over at Tex. “You make sure you take real good care of my pistol and holster, you hear?” “I’ll do just that,” responded Tex, as Morgan slowly dropped to his knees and fell forward into the dirt.
Jess reloaded the spent cartridge, put his pistol back in the holster, and put the hammer strap in place. He walked over to Morgan and turned him over and removed the pistol and holster from Morgan’s dead body. “Here you go, Tex, it’s all yours. Just don’t shoot your foot off when you try it out.”
“I’ll be real careful, Jess, and thank you.” Tex hollered to a few of the local men to remove Jake Morgan’s body from the middle of the street. One of them used his boots to kick some dry dirt over the blood now seeping into the dirt. Tex had a big smile on his face like a kid standing at a counter full of penny candy.
“Pattie, do you have some more hot coffee brewing?”
Pattie, who had been mesmerized by the whole event, was a little befuddled. “Coffee? Oh…sure, I got coffee, Jess.”
“Maybe you could throw in a biscuit or two?” asked Jess.
“For Christ’s sake, Jess, you just shot a man dead and now you’re hungry again? You two just finished up enough food to feed four men,” said Pattie. “Well, like Frank here says, gun fighting is hard work.”
“Come on, I’ll make you another biscuit,” said Pattie, as she headed back into the saloon.
“Hey, maybe you could make a few more while you’re at it?” asked Reedy.
“Oh hell, I’ll just make a dozen, will that make you happy?”
Frank Reedy and Jess had made it up the two steps to the porch of the saloon when they spotted a lone rider coming into town. Reedy recognized him right off. It was U.S. deputy marshal, Cray Pittman. He rode up to where Reedy was standing with Jess. “Well, it’s about damn time someone came to check on us,” said Reedy.
Cray Pittman got off his horse, walked up the two steps, and shook hands with Reedy. “Where is your badge, Marshal?”
“Come on inside and join us and I’ll explain everything. By the way, this is a good friend of mine, Jess Williams.”
Pittman shook Jess’ hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Williams. Not all of it good.”
“It depends on how you look at it, I guess.” The three of them walked into Jed’s Saloon and Pattie brought out a platter of biscuits and a slab of butter. “I see you have more company.”
“This is U.S. deputy marshal Cray Pittman. Cray, this is Pattie Nate.”
Pittman stood up and took off his hat. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
“Would you like some eggs and flapjacks to go with those biscuits, Mr. Pittman?”
“Ma’am, that’s sounds wonderful. I would be most appreciative.” Pittman turned to Reedy as Pattie went back to the kitchen. “Now, Frank, you want to tell me what the hell happened here. We’ve been sending messages here and getting messages back from you telling us everything was fine. After a while, we got suspicious and the marshal’s office decided to send me down to check on you.”
Frank Reedy explained the entire chain of events to Pittman as he engulfed his food. Pittman washed his breakfast down with several cups of strong hot coffee. “Sounds like this Madden fellow was quite a piece of work, but you still haven’t explained where your badge is.”
Reedy took it out of his back pocket and shined it up a little and sat it down on the table. “Well, I took myself off the clock for awhile and I fired my two deputies.”
“What the hell did you go and do that for?” Reedy looked at Jess then back to Pittman. “Because desperate times call for desperate measures, and we had to do some things that I just couldn’t do while having a U.S. marshal’s badge pinned on my shirt.”
Pittman looked at Reedy as if he understood. “Whatever it was, I don’t want to know about it. You can put whatever you want in your report. Are you going to pin that badge back on?”
“I don’t know just yet. Jess, are we done here?” “I sure hope so. I don’t know if Madden has any more hired guns coming to town or not, but I can’t wait around to find out. I have to get back on Eddie Sloan’s trail.”
Cray Pittman put his coffee cup down. “Did you say you were looking for Eddie Sloan, the gambler?” “Yes I did, why? Do you know him?”
“Yeah, and I know where he is right now. He’s over in Largo trying to get a poker game going. I stopped in to see Sheriff A. J. Rubel on my way here and Rubel was grumbling about Sloan being there. I went to the saloon with the sheriff and we both warned Sloan that if he caused any trouble that he would be locked up. You know Sheriff Rubel, he don’t cotton to troublemakers.”
“What are the chances that he still might be there?” Jess asked.
“I’d say the chances are pretty good. He was waiting on a few players who were riding into town in a day or so after I spoke with him, and it’s only a day and a half’s ride there from here. The game was supposed to last two days so if you headed out now, I think you’d have a good chance to find him, not that you’d want to. He ain’t the friendliest guy you’ve ever met and he still has a fast right hand, even though he is getting up there in years. What business do you have with him anyway?”
“Let’s just say it’s personal.”
“I know what that usually means. If you go to Largo and cause any ruckus with Sloan, you’ll either get shot by Sloan or arrested or even shot by Sheriff Rubel. He don’t take no shit.”
“I’ve met Sheriff Rubel before and I don’t think I’ll have any problem with him. As for Eddie Sloan, he’s the one who will have a problem. Well, Frank, I guess I better start riding. I’d like to get there before Sloan leaves Largo.”
Reedy picked up his badge and put it back in his back pocket. “Wait up; I’m going with you to Largo.” “I don’t need any help, Frank. Go ahead and pin that badge back on and get back to being a lawman.” “I will, as soon as you finish your business in Largo.”
“I told you, I don’t need any help.”
“I know that, but you were here for me and you saved my life, twice. I think I owe it to you to make sure you get a fair shake when you get there. That means I might have to do something that might go against being a lawman with a badge on his shirt.” “All right, I guess I can’t stop you from coming along. What about your two deputies?”
Frank looked over at Pittman. “Cray, why don’t you go back and inform the marshal’s office that I will be back there to make out my report. I’m going to leave Abel and Banks here with Sheriff Steele’s two deputies just in case any more of Rance Madden’s hired guns come into town. When I’m finished up with Jess in Largo, I’ll come back and get them.”
“Okay, I guess I’ll head back and tell them that you’re okay.”
Cray Pittman got up, walked out, and got on his horse. Frank Reedy walked over to talk to Abel and Banks and asked them to stay in town with Buck and Tex. They had to volunteer to do it since they officially weren’t on the payroll. They agreed to stay because they were loyal to Frank Reedy. Jess said goodbye to Pattie Nate and then walked over to see Sheriff Steele once more. He walked into Doctor Hammond’s office and Steele was sitting a little more upright now.
“Well, Sheriff, you still look like shit, but you do look a little better.”
“I still feel like shit. At least I got an appetite and can keep down some food now. Pattie is making me some more homemade soup for lunch. She sure is taking good care of me.”
“Well, you best get out of that bed soon or you just might lose her to old River Bend Bill.”
The name of River Bend Bill always got under Sheriff Steele’s skin and Jess knew that, which is exactly why he did it. “Damn it, Jess. If I could get out of this bed I’d whip your ass a good one.” Jess laughed. “Yeah, but you can’t, so you won’t. I have to leave, Sheriff. Frank Reedy’s going to leave his two men here with your deputies just in case there is any more trouble. I’m going over to Largo to find Eddie Sloan so if you need me again for anything else, send a message to Largo and I’ll be back here as fast as I can.”
“Thanks Jess. I don’t think anything else will happen. This town owes you a debt of gratitude, as well as me. We won’t forget what you did for us.” “That’s what friends are for, Sheriff. You take care now, you hear?”