of the job, Bess. When a man sets out to enforce the law he doesnât expect to move in the best company. Anyway, from all I hear sheâs not a bad womanâ¦maybe not a good woman, but not a bad one.â
He went out quickly before Bess could reply to that, and walked slowly up the street. He stopped on the corner, thinking. People went by and nodded or spoke, and he knew how he looked to them. He wore the badge. He was authority. He was the personification of the law. He looked strong, invulnerable, capable. Yet if they only knew!
He grinned ruefully at nothing at all.
What did he have? Puggsey and Frank were definitely suspectsâ¦Theyâd undoubtedly had a fight with the victim, and might have murdered him later.
Johnny McCoy was a drunk, not always responsible for his actions, and Johnny had stabled the manâs horse, knew he had gold on his person.
Time Reardonâ¦a lawless, ruthless man, who also knew the stranger carried gold. A man who often went for rides in the late afternoon or eveningâ¦Rides to where? And for what?
He thought of old Mrs. Riggin. George had a murder in his day, too, and maybe she would know how he handled it. Any help he could get, he could use. So he would go see herâ¦and he would see Mary Ann.
Oddly enough, he felt uncomfortable about that. Essentially a shy, lonely person, he had known few women. There had been a girl in Leavenworth when he was a boy, and another in Sedalia when heâd gone back there with some cattle, and then he had met Bess and after that no other girl really entered his thoughts. He had talked to Mary Ann more than once on the street, and at least once in her kitchen, but he avoided the girls, and as he wore the badge, they avoided him.
He frowned in sudden memory. People had mentioned the murder victim crossing and re-crossing the streetâ¦going where? The restaurant, Reardonâsâ¦George Blazer had seen him on the streetâ¦What about the bank?
What about Hyatt Johnson?
Chapter 5
----
L EANING ON AN awning post in front of the General Store, Borden Chantry chewed on a match and tried to put it all together. Unwillingly, he kept thinking of Hyatt Johnson, feeling guilty all the while because he had never really liked Hyatt.
In that part of the country in that period, there was no great affection for bankers or railroad men. The former had foreclosed on too many properties when poor men were unable, due to weather and grazing conditions, to pay their bills. The latter because the rates the railroad charged were felt to be too high.
Borden Chantry, with a large ranch and a good reputation, had no success in getting a reasonable loan and reasonable rates that might have kept him in business. Hyatt had offered to buy his land at a price far below its value, or had offered a mortgage at rates he had no chance of ever paying, so Borden had refused both offers.
He had his land, but he had no cattle. He would have thought Johnson merely shortsighted if he had not known that the banker wanted his land.
Yet, the banker had to be considered. The murdered man had gone to the bank. He had been carrying money. Sometime during those few hours that money had disappeared. Had it been deposited?
If so, would Hyatt tell him? It was a common saying around town that money went into Hyattâs bank, but none came out. That wasnât, of course, literally true, yet it betrayed the townâs feeling about Hyatt Johnsonâfor which there had been some reason.
Since he had been turned down for his loan almost a year before, Borden Chantry had not entered the bank, and his exchange of greetings on the street had always been coolly formal.
Crossing the street, he strolled up toward the bank. Ed Pearson was in town, Chantry observed, buying supplies for his mining claims. Ed lived off to the north and Chantry had intended to stop all night there when bringing Kim Baca back to jail, only Pearson had not been home.
Of a sudden, Chantry
He went out quickly before Bess could reply to that, and walked slowly up the street. He stopped on the corner, thinking. People went by and nodded or spoke, and he knew how he looked to them. He wore the badge. He was authority. He was the personification of the law. He looked strong, invulnerable, capable. Yet if they only knew!
He grinned ruefully at nothing at all.
What did he have? Puggsey and Frank were definitely suspectsâ¦Theyâd undoubtedly had a fight with the victim, and might have murdered him later.
Johnny McCoy was a drunk, not always responsible for his actions, and Johnny had stabled the manâs horse, knew he had gold on his person.
Time Reardonâ¦a lawless, ruthless man, who also knew the stranger carried gold. A man who often went for rides in the late afternoon or eveningâ¦Rides to where? And for what?
He thought of old Mrs. Riggin. George had a murder in his day, too, and maybe she would know how he handled it. Any help he could get, he could use. So he would go see herâ¦and he would see Mary Ann.
Oddly enough, he felt uncomfortable about that. Essentially a shy, lonely person, he had known few women. There had been a girl in Leavenworth when he was a boy, and another in Sedalia when heâd gone back there with some cattle, and then he had met Bess and after that no other girl really entered his thoughts. He had talked to Mary Ann more than once on the street, and at least once in her kitchen, but he avoided the girls, and as he wore the badge, they avoided him.
He frowned in sudden memory. People had mentioned the murder victim crossing and re-crossing the streetâ¦going where? The restaurant, Reardonâsâ¦George Blazer had seen him on the streetâ¦What about the bank?
What about Hyatt Johnson?
Chapter 5
----
L EANING ON AN awning post in front of the General Store, Borden Chantry chewed on a match and tried to put it all together. Unwillingly, he kept thinking of Hyatt Johnson, feeling guilty all the while because he had never really liked Hyatt.
In that part of the country in that period, there was no great affection for bankers or railroad men. The former had foreclosed on too many properties when poor men were unable, due to weather and grazing conditions, to pay their bills. The latter because the rates the railroad charged were felt to be too high.
Borden Chantry, with a large ranch and a good reputation, had no success in getting a reasonable loan and reasonable rates that might have kept him in business. Hyatt had offered to buy his land at a price far below its value, or had offered a mortgage at rates he had no chance of ever paying, so Borden had refused both offers.
He had his land, but he had no cattle. He would have thought Johnson merely shortsighted if he had not known that the banker wanted his land.
Yet, the banker had to be considered. The murdered man had gone to the bank. He had been carrying money. Sometime during those few hours that money had disappeared. Had it been deposited?
If so, would Hyatt tell him? It was a common saying around town that money went into Hyattâs bank, but none came out. That wasnât, of course, literally true, yet it betrayed the townâs feeling about Hyatt Johnsonâfor which there had been some reason.
Since he had been turned down for his loan almost a year before, Borden Chantry had not entered the bank, and his exchange of greetings on the street had always been coolly formal.
Crossing the street, he strolled up toward the bank. Ed Pearson was in town, Chantry observed, buying supplies for his mining claims. Ed lived off to the north and Chantry had intended to stop all night there when bringing Kim Baca back to jail, only Pearson had not been home.
Of a sudden, Chantry
Similar Books
