the High Graders (1965) (20 page)

Undoubtedly some would be in cash; the rest of th e half-million to come from later mining.

He would be a rich man, free to do as h e chose, and no strings attached. Of course, Be n Stowe planned to have him killed, but two could pla y at this game. Suppose he killed Ben Stowe?

He would have all the gold for himself.

He looked at Stowe. "Ben, i t sounds like a good deal. You let me sleep o n it."

He got up from the table and went towards th e door, where he paused a moment. "After all, wher e else would I get a chance at that much money?"

After he had gone, Stowe stared at the door , an ugly look in his eyes. "He's lying," h e said; "that two-by-four gunfighter is lying. H
e thinks he can outfigure me. Well, I'll sho w him ... but first, he'll take that gold out fo r me."

He spoke aloud, but not loudly enough to be hear d by either Clagg Merriam or the waitress. H
e sat there alone for several minutes, studying th e case in all its aspects. He could find n o alternative. Hollister was out there somewhere, and h e was the kind who would have to be killed, sooner o r later. Hollister never knew when he was whipped , or when he had no chance of winning. Moreover , Hollister, fool that he was in persona l relations, was shrewd enough when it came to figuring th e angles; and Babcock was with him.

If there was a man in the Rafter country wh o could outguess Hollister, it was Mike Shevlin.

And then he would, personally, kill Shevlin.

The thought gave Stowe a sudden dee p satisfaction. He realized that he hate d Shevlin, and, come to think of it, he always had.

Mike Shevlin was the only one who had neve r accepted his leadership. Gib Gentry had bee n ready enough, but not Shevlin.

A shadow loomed beside his table. He tilted hi s head back and looked up into the hard but handsom e face of Merriam.

"Hello, Clagg. Sit down."

Merriam remained standing. "You're taking a long chance, Ben." Merriam's voice was even.

"Shevlin's got only one thing on his mind. H
e wants the man who killed Patterson."

Ben Stowe shrugged, his face unreadable. "So?

We need Shevlin--we use him, then we tak e care of him."

"Who does?"

Ben smiled. "Why, I do. I reserve th e privilege for myself. That's one thing you can have n o part of, Merriam."

"I had a letter today ... from the governor,"

Merriam said.

"I didn't know you two were friends?"

"We're not, not exactly. I s upported him for the office. Made a contribution."

"Then why worry? Tell him everything is al l right in Rafter."

"He knows better--and believe me, tha t contribution doesn't mean a thing. That indicate d support of his policies, but it didn't bu y immunity from a crime."

Ben Stowe knew he had to be careful.

Merriam had been touchy of late. Was h e running scared? Was this thing getting under his skin? Th e worst of it was, he needed Merriam, needed hi m for a little while, anyway.

"Sit down," he said again, "and keep you r voice down." He leaned his arms on the table.

"Look, I'm going to make a deal for Shevli n to take the stuff out, and when he gets it where i t goes ... payoff."

"Will he listen to you?"

Stowe's face showed a grim smile. "U
p to a point, any man will listen to money. Wha t he's asking himself right now is how he can ge t away with all of it. And don't you be worried abou t Eli Patterson. He's a long time dead, an d half a million in gold is a lot of money.

Mike Shevlin never had anything in his whol e life but a horse and a gun, and here's his bi g chance. He'll go along."

"I don't like killing."

"So you've said before, but Shevlin will die a lon g way from here."

At this moment, at the hotel, Mike Shevli n was stripping off his clothes, and he almost fel l into bed. He was nearly asleep already when h e pulled the blankets over him.

But Laine Tennison lay wide awake i n her bed at Dr. Clagg's house, staring u p into the darkness. She was remembering the face she ha d seen at the top of the chute in the mine, just barel y seen. She had talked fast to get Ben Stowe ou t of there, talked glibly to get him to bring he r home, but she was worried about him. How much ha d he been fooled by her chatter? She was afrai d he had not been fooled at all.

Of one thing she was sure: Ben Stowe was the mos t ruthless man she had ever met. She had not th e slightest doubt that he had ordered Lon Cour t to kill her, or that he would kill her when th e opportunity offered, and if he was sur e of the need for it.

The death of Eve Bancroft had dampened a lot of the spirits around Rafter Crossing. One ma n in town who lay wide awake was Tom Hayes.

Stowe's talk with Hayes had frightened him, and h e lay awake now, remembering the veiled threat s Stowe had delivered to him in the restaurant.

All his life Hayes had lived in the shado w of mightier men, and he envied them not at all, fo r to be mighty was to be a target for hatred. H
e had carefully avoided facing issues, avoide d taking sides, avoided making decisions that migh t lead to trouble. And now, through the invitation of Dr.

Clagg, he himself had become vulnerable. And h e was frightened.

He got up suddenly and reached for his pants.

Chapter
17

Laine Tennison awakened with a start, every sens e alert. She did not sit up, she did not eve n stir, only her eyes were wide and she was listening.

Her room was very dark, for there was no moon a t this hour. There was no wind, but she had a feeling o f movement, of stirring. Somewhere in the house a boar d creaked. Was Rupert having a late nigh t call?

Immediately, she knew that would not be true, for a t such times Dottie never failed to get up and star t a fire for some tea. There was something wrong , definitely wrong.

Very quietly, she listened, and heard a voice, not loud but clear enough. "Doc, you tak e it easy now. I'd surely hate to kill th e only doctor in the country around. You si t tight, and nobody will get hurt."

She knew the voice. It was that man the y called Red, and he worked for Ben Stowe. Someho w Ben Stowe must have discovered the move they were abou t to make against him, and he was taking steps to preven t it.

Where was Brazos, she wondered. But as sh e asked herself the question, she remembered: Ruper t Clagg had sent him out of town, carrying a message to two ranchers Clagg believed migh t join them to throw Stowe out. He was to go to Wal t Kelly's place first, and then across countr y to Joe Holiday's.

Who had the others been? There were Bill y Townsend and Fields, and if they had no t been taken, they must be warned, and quickly. Sh e turned swiftly and went to the window, which was partl y raised. Ever so gently, she lifted the window stil l further.

Was someone on watch out there? It was likely.

She went over the sill very quietly, and stood stil l a moment. How much time did she have before they would com e to her room?

There was a man standing near the gate, so she wen t quickly along the edge of the lilac bushes , hesitated, then moved swiftly across a smal l open space to the shadow of the barn. There was no chanc e of getting a horse, but for what she intended to do , a horse was unnec.

At the back of the barn was a small gate, an d she opened it softly and went through, closed it, an d took the same route Mike Shevlin had onc e used to approach the house. Hurrying, running an d walking, she reached an alley that led to the street.

The town was in darkness; the only lights were a t the Blue Horn, in the rooms at the back wher e Townsend lived. Two men were loafing on th e boardwalk out front.

If Ben Stowe had discovered Rupert'
s plans, he must also know that Laine Tenniso n owned the mines. She had to have somewhere to hide, som e place where she would not be found. And in her need sh e had thought of Mike Shevlin's room in th e Nevada House.

He would not be there, but she knew he had kep t the room, for he was often in town. This time, as before , she went to the back of the hotel and went up th e outside stairs to the second floor.

The hall was empty. She went along i t swiftly, praying his door would be unlocked. I t was, and she stepped inside quickly. At the sam e moment she felt the sharp prod of a gun in he r ribs.

"Mike?" she whispered.

"Yes," he said softly. "What'
s happened?"

As rapidly as she could, she explained wha t had taken place, from the meeting at the hous e until now.

"There wasn't a chance for them to carry it out , Mike. I don't believe Rupert had eve n talked to Mr. Hoyt. I was going to tell you abou t it when I rode out to the claim, but you were gone, an d I couldn't resist looking into t tunnel. And the n Ben Stowe was there, and when I saw you I c ouldn't think of anything but getting him out of there."

"Did you see anybody else? Anybod y outside or inside the mine?"

"No ... no one at all."

He scarcely realized what she said, for he wa s thinking of Ben Stowe, wondering what Stowe would do.

Now that he knew who would be against him, would h e kill them all? But then, how could the disappearance o f several prominent citizens be explained? O
r would he just hold them, try to put the fear of deat h into them, then let them go?

Shevlin's every sense told him that Ben Stowe wa s riding the rim right now. He had killed, an d killed more than once. He had gotten away wit h it, and with his success had come that sense of power tha t comes to such men, the feeling that they can go on killin g and remain immune. In such men, the ego grew an d grew, until they rode rough-shod over ever y obstacle.

Yet Stowe had always been a coldl y cautious man. There had never been anything of th e reckless, heedless, hell-for-leather cowhand in him.

How much had his character changed?

"Laine, you've got to hide," Shevlin sai d now. "You've got to stay out of sight, and this is th e best place I can think of. There's some grub i n my duffel--it isn't much, but your best bet i s to stay right here where they won't dream of huntin g you."

"And you?"

"I'm taking the gold out, Laine. Ben Stow e offered me a deal--he offered me Gentry'
s piece of the operation."

Her eyes searched his face. "That could mean a lot, couldn't it?"

He took her by the shoulders. "Yes," h e agreed, "it could mean a lot. He'll tr y to kill me; in fact, he will probably try befor e I reach the end of the trip, or at any rate, jus t after I do; but if I can stay with it, I could come ou t of it a rich man. The only thing is, it wouldn'
t give me what I want most."

"And what would that be?"

"Y."

She made no effort to draw away from him, n o effort to escape his hands. She just looked up a t him, her eyes cool and almost appraising.

He had thought of her, too often, these past fe w days and had called himself a fool for thinking wha t he did. He had told himself over an d over that he would never have the nerve to say anythin g to her; but now here it was, and he had said it, and sh e was not laughing at him. That was something, at least.

"Mike," she was saying, "how are you goin g to manage it?"

"I'm going out with them. I'm going to take tha t gold out, and somehow or other I've got to sta y alive and keep that gold for you. Right now everythin g hinges on it."

"Mike, I'm afraid."

"You just wait here. I'll be back. If Be n Stowe doesn't have that gold, he doesn't hav e anything. He can't buy the mine, he can't pa y off his men; everything will fall apart for him and fo r Clagg Merriam too. Merriam's mortgage d everything to put up the money to buy the gold."

"They will fight."

"Yes, I think so."

"Then be careful. You'll be all alone , Mike."

He looked at her and smiled, a littl e wistfully. "When haven't I been alone?" h e said.

"Wasn't there ever anybody, anybody a t all?"

"No ... not really. Maybe that was why I k ept moving. It's easier to be alone if yo u keep moving, because it seems natural not to know peopl e or be close to anybody in strange country."

"Mike," she pleaded, "please don't go.

Let's just ride away from here. We can go to th e capitol and talk to the governor, then let hi m investigate."

"Laine, by that time they'd have your gold out of her e and everything covered up. You might get Ben Stow e out of his job and take the mines back, but you can b e sure he'd dynamite the approaches to th e high-grade, so that you might spend all you have, jus t looking for it--at least he'd try."

Mike Shevlin hesitated, and then he said , "Laine, I came here to find out the truth abou t Eli Patterson, to clear his name, and to put th e man who killed him where he should be--i n prison."

"You'd not kill him?"

"Not unless he pushed it on me. The law i s coming to this country, and the sooner the better. Men can'
t live without law, and each of us should do his par t to help the men who enforce it. After all, they ar e our servants, and without them we'd liv e in anarchy. Take it from me, because I've seen i t both ways."