Gunman and the Angel Page 3

  Dan moved next to Meryl. ‘How would you like to earn some more gold coin?’

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘You got five children, a girl the same age as Mandy. She’s got nobody, and I can’t be taking her with me and what I got to do with them jaspers. Add her to the brood. You’ll barely know the difference.’

  Meryl shuffled his boots in the barnyard dirt, looking down at them. ‘It ain’t me, Dan, it’s the missus – it’s Ruby. When the young’un was born, she says she’s done. She don’t want no more mouths to feed and take care of. She’s about cut me off from hugging and fooling.’

  Dan jangled some coins. ‘But the girl won’t need no taking care of. She’s about the age of your oldest.’

  ‘And the oldest is bringing us boy trouble. That’s worse than taking care of the youngest. Ruby won’t have no part of it.’ He shook his head. ‘Much as we need the coin, Dan, we just can’t do it. Sorry.’

  That afternoon, riding into the town limits of Gila City, Moccasin proved to be obedient and docile. She walked beside Rowdy without fuss. Not that Rowdy did the same. He shook and pranced and kept pulling at the reins.

  Dan reined him back. ‘Don’t be getting frisky now. Hup, whoa, settle yourself.’

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Mandy asked.

  ‘Natural male urges,’ Dan said.

  ‘Oh. I grew up around farm animals. I know about male urges.’ Mandy twisted in the dress. ‘I can’t be wearing this. Other people’s clothes.’

  ‘You too good for hand-me-downs?’

  ‘My ma made my dresses. My life wasn’t riding and hunting killers then. It was farm life and schoolin’. Ma made them pretty, and they fit good, and they were mine.’ Her lips pressed tight. The emerald eyes flooded. She turned her head away. ‘Sorry.’

  Gila City had one main street. Midway along was the marshal’s office. Two doors down, a saloon had an upstairs pleasure parlor. Dan wanted strong whiskey to burn his throat. Maybe they had soda pop for the girl. He reined Rowdy in front of the Mid Town Saloon sign and swung down. Mandy did the same.

  ‘We got to get me clothes and a gun,’ she said.

  ‘All things happen in their time.’

  Through the batwing doors, nine tables with four chairs each, sprawled across a dirty, wooden floor to a hasty-built, plank bar stretched along the length of the room. A tired gent played a tune on an off-key piano about as bad as possible, while a sporting girl giggled, as she was man-handled on the stairs leading up to rooms. Cigarette smoke hung in the air, like a curtain of lace shrouding men trying to out-shout each other. Every table was filled. Two candle-burning chandeliers added more smoke with the light. The bar had men strung like crows on a wire, boot heels caught on the brass rail, overflowing spittoons situated in three places, being spit at, not in. Behind the bar were six liquor shelves and a dirty mirror centered on the wall. The bartender had thin, gray hair and pork-chop face whiskers, his striped shirt sleeves held up by yellow garters.

  Dan pushed through to create an empty spot at the end of the bar and asked for a glass of whiskey and orange soda pop. The bartender spent too long looking at Mandy, then turned away and brought the bottles.

  Mandy was all eyes, looking around in wonder. ‘You like this?’ She had to shout.

  Dan tossed down the drink, feeling the sting wash his throat. ‘They’re not all like this. It’s a break from the trail.’

  Mandy looked at the doors. ‘For a break from the farm, we went to church.’

  ‘That works for some,’ Dan said. He turned as a man with a badge came up behind them. Dan already had the loop off the Colt hammer.

  ‘Dan Quint? The marshal wants to see you – in his office.’

  Dan remembered Clyde, and said, ‘You one of the deputies from the trail, chasing after Steep and his gang?’

  He wore a black Stetson low over his eyes. His palm rested on the butt of his revolver in a side holster. ‘He says, now.’

  ‘Tell Marshal Gene Mount I’ll be along when I finish my drink. Or he can come here, and I’ll buy him one.’

  The palm pushed on the butt. ‘The marshal says, in his office now.’

  ‘You keep repeating yourself.’ Dan turned his back and put his boot on the rail.

  Mandy stood frozen staring at the deputy, the top of her head at Dan’s breast bone. Voice noise continued. Only those next to them remained quiet.

  One man at the bar said, ‘Did he say, Dan Quint?’

  Another said, ‘Deadly Dan Quint?’

  The deputy turned and pushed his way through men, out of the saloon.

  ‘Are we in trouble?’ Mandy asked.

  ‘Don’t concern yourself. But, we better drink up and go see the marshal.’

  ‘Do you know him?’

  ‘Know of him.’

  Mandy shook her head. ‘This pop is awful.’

  ‘The whiskey is pretty good. Think I’ll finish off another glass.’

  ‘We sleeping outside on the ground again tonight?’

  ‘Maybe I’ll take a room at the hotel. Tomorrow we’ll get you outfitted and move on.’

  ‘Good. Don’t know when I been so cold.’

  ‘We’ll need another wool blanket.’

  Mandy slid the pop bottle away across the bar.

  Dan lifted the full glass for his last drink.

  A big, burly, black-bearded man came up behind him. ‘Howdy, stranger.’ He stood built like a beer barrel, red and black checked shirt around his girth, wide red suspenders holding up jeans. Bushy hair covered his face, head, and around his neck to his shoulders. A shiny round nose sat below dark, beady bird eyes. ‘They call me Bear on account of I’m so petite.’

  Dan nodded and polished off his whiskey.

  ‘Lemme buy you another, stranger.’

  ‘Some other time, Bear.’

  ‘I wanna make you a proposition.’ He looked at Mandy with such intensity she shriveled and moved closer to Dan.

  Dan said, ‘We got an appointment with the marshal.’

  ‘Then we can talk another time. Never caught your name.’

  ‘Dan.’

  ‘This can be a moneymaker for you, Dan. I see the little girl is with you.’

  ‘She is.’

  ‘Daughter?’

  ‘I’m taking care of her for now.’

  Bear’s face brightened with delight. ‘Well then, it ain’t like she’s kin. She ain’t kin. Dan, I got a miner’s shack sixteen miles outta town, do a little diggin’ around for some color. You know, it gets gut lonely out there – especially at night. I’d like to buy that little filly from you. Give you a handsome price for her.’

  Dan knew where the conversation was going, and he would not let it get there. ‘She’s just a girl.’

  ‘Well, I know that. But she can go into training. I can teach her just the way a woman supposed to be. You understand, don’t you? She looks bright. She can pick up what to do right away.’

  Dan looked into Mandy’s emerald eyes. He saw fear there. ‘Not tonight, Bear.’

  ‘Well, ’course not, you got the thing with the marshal. Tell you what, Dan, you can go ahead and visit the marshal and leave the girlie with me, you know, so we can get acquainted.’

  Mandy nodded at Dan. ‘I’m with him.’ Her lower lip shivered with fear, as if she realized her life rested in Dan’s hands. He controlled what happened to her.

  ‘ ’Course you are, sweetie,’ Bear said. ‘For now, he’s taking care of you. I’m talking about a change in your life. You can be a woman.’

  Dan turned to face the big man. ‘You ain’t listening. Not tonight, Bear. Not tomorrow night. Not any night. Like the girl says, she’s with me.’

  ‘Why, that’s downright selfish. Let me buy you another drink.’

  ‘We have to be leaving.’

  When Dan stepped away from the bar, Bear put his hand on Dan’s chest.

  ‘We ain’t done talking, Dan.’

  ‘Don’t do that.’

  ‘I aim to
have me that little girl.’

  ‘She won’t even attend your funeral.’ Dan used his arm to gently ease Mandy away behind him.

  Bear heaved a heavy sigh, beady eyes boring into Dan, lips hidden beneath black whiskers. ‘I’ll break your back.’

  ‘Not that tonight neither, Bear.’

  Since Bear showed no weapon, Dan would not shoot him down – he’d pistol whip him instead.

  The batwing doors swung open, and the deputy came back, along with another man wearing a badge. Both men took one look at the crowd’s attention and drew their guns.

  ‘That’s enough, Bear,’ the deputy said.

  The other badge had his Remington revolver aimed directly at Dan. ‘Keep your hand away from the gun, Dan Quint.’

  Chapter Five

  Dan Quint sat at the end of Marshal Gene Mount’s desk. Besides the desk, the small office held a two-cell jail, a full rifle cabinet, two more chairs against the wall and a big, front window looking out onto the main dirt road. Dan still had his Colt in the holster.

  Marshal Mount looked to be between thirty and forty, dressed in black shirt, pants and boots with a black cartridge belt and holster with the Remington. Could be some men thought black meant authority. He had a square, smooth face, and straight, black hair combed back and down his neck – maybe thought himself another imitation Wild Bill Hickok without the mustache. The black, flat-brimmed Stetson hung on a wall hook.

  Mandy sat in one of the wall chairs, her bare ankles above the shoes, crossed. Deputy Simms had talked Bear down from rage and cut him loose. The marshal sent Simms to fetch Jo.

  ‘Jo?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Josephine, my wife. She’ll look after the girl while we have our talk.’

  The marshal had heavy black eyebrows that joined together when he frowned and talked.

  ‘Dan,’ Mandy said from her wall chair. ‘I don’t wanna go no place with nobody – don’t need no looking after.’

  The marshal leaned forward, elbows on the desk. ‘Now you just never mind, little girl. Jo says there’s stuff about you changing she got to talk to you. Things your body is doing you may not know about.’

  ‘My ma told me about them changes. Dan, we got to get going.’

  Dan looked down at the rough, wooden floor trying to figure how to angle him and Mandy on down the road.

  The door opened and the woman in Deputy Clyde McCabe’s photo stepped in with a smile and a toss of her head. She cut a fine figure in a blue, print dress and her curly, dark hair hanging in ringlets. Big, brown eyes looked across and beyond Dan without interest. The gaze passed over the marshal with equal lack of interest. She turned to Mandy, and the smile widened. ‘What is your name, girl?’

  ‘Mandy Lee.’

  ‘Related to the Confederate General?’

  ‘Ma said a distant cousin or something had a connection to the family.’ Mandy turned her big, green-eyed gaze to Dan. ‘Dan, we got to be moving along.’

  Josephine said, ‘Let me buy you a hot chocolate at the hotel restaurant, Mandy.’

  ‘No.’

  Dan leaned back in his chair. ‘Go with her, Mandy. I’ll meet you in a bit, and we’ll get you outfitted.’

  Josephine then looked at Dan with interest. ‘I can do that with her. After our chocolate, I’ll take her to the Emporium, and she can pick out what she needs. I’ll help with a few dresses.’ The smile deepened. ‘The cost will be waiting for you, of course. You can meet us there.’ She turned to Mandy. ‘Come along now, girl.’

  The marshal said, ‘That’s it, then. Dan and me got to talk about how deputies got themselves killed.’

  Dan said, ‘That suit you, Mandy?’

  Mandy nodded. She stood, keeping her gaze on Dan then followed Josephine out the door.

  The coffee had gone from hot to warm to cold. Dan sat at the end of the marshal’s desk knowing he’d had enough and wanted something with more kick, down his throat.

  ‘Where do you think they’re headed?’ Marshal Gene Mount asked.

  ‘Back along the Mexican side of the border. The territories are too hot for them now. I reckon they’ll come back someplace in Texas, maybe head up to Indian Territory or even the Dakotas.’

  ‘No chance of getting the bank money.’

  ‘Just the reward,’ Dan said.

  The black eyebrows thickened together. ‘Just what did Clyde tell you?’

  ‘About them? Or about you?’

  The marshal leaned back in his creaking chair. ‘Let’s start with me, and then swing around.’

  ‘He said you stole the marshal job from him, and the woman.’

  ‘Jo made her choice.’

  ‘I thought that. When you caught the killers, you was going to split the reward.’

  ‘Of course. What’s your interest in them outlaws?’

  ‘Personal.’

  ‘You after the reward?’

  ‘I’m after gunning them down, dead.’

  ‘What about the girl?’

  ‘They wiped out her family. What do you think?’

  ‘I mean what’s your intent with the girl?’

  ‘I want her in a safe place.’ There were parts of Mandy’s tin box, and parts of Monte Steep that Dan figured as none of the marshal’s business. Dan didn’t care a lot for the marshal. He didn’t like the beautiful wife much either.

  Marshal Gene Mount said, ‘I’m thinking Jo took a liking to the girl. According to the doc, my wife can’t have children.’ He shrugged. ‘One of those things. We might want to take her on as our own. When we heard of her, we talked about it. Naturally, Jo was disgusted with Bear and his offer. That’s why she wanted to meet her.’

  Dan didn’t see that happening at all. He’d take her with him on the trail before he’d let the marshal and his wife influence her. He said, ‘That’s up to Mandy.’

  ‘She can use more discipline, learn some manners, get educated. It might be a good life for her.’

  ‘Until you get gunned down on the street.’

  The marshal smiled. ‘Unlikely that would happen. I can appoint many deputies. I’m popular.’

  ‘So Clyde said.’

  ‘A shame what happened to him.’

  ‘You were supposed to meet him. You and fresh deputies.’

  ‘Yes, we were.’ The marshal let it hang there.

  Dan sat straight. He’d had enough of the office. He’d had enough of Gila City, and those in it. ‘Clyde braced the outlaws alone. It got him killed.’

  ‘He had you, a famous gunfighter, Deadly Dan Quint.’

  ‘I wasn’t quick enough, soon enough.’

  The marshal sipped cold coffee. ‘No, you weren’t. I may appoint a few deputies, head on down toward the Texas border.’

  ‘You’re a town marshal, not federal.’

  ‘The reward is the same for all.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Dan said. ‘Are we done here, Marshal?’ He pushed to his feet, eager to be gone.

  ‘Will you talk to the girl?’

  Dan stood at the door. The marshal had not once said her name. ‘I’ll talk to her. Am I going to be able to get out of town without killing anyone?’

  ‘You mean, Bear?’

  ‘I mean, anyone.’

  ‘You staying at the hotel?’

  ‘Not sure. That’s up to Mandy.’

  ‘Tomorrow morning, you tell us what you and the girl decided about her living with us. Jo needs the company, a companion. Somebody to take care of a few chores that need to be done. It will help build the girl’s character.’

  ‘Mandy will decide about her own character,’ Dan said.

  Inside the Emporium, Mandy smiled as Dan came in. She looked different. She wore buckskin pants tucked into boots and a yellow, linen shirt with a bright, red bandana around her neck. Her brown-copper hair tied behind her head came out of a brown, short-brimmed Stetson with a neck strap. On a table, she had a heavy, buffalo coat, a yellow slicker, and a canteen.

  ‘Now I can ride,’ she said.

&n
bsp; Dan said, ‘We’ll have a scabbard made for the roping saddle. I got a rifle for you.’

  Josephine looked neither upset nor pleased. ‘I told the proprietor to stay open,’ she said, tossing her head for Dan. ‘Here is the bill.’

  Mandy went to Dan. ‘I need one more thing.’

  ‘I know,’ Dan said. ‘I got it in the saddle-bags, a Colt Navy .36.’

  While Josephine held back, Dan and Mandy decided on a belt and a European holster without a flap for Clyde’s Colt.

  ‘This holster ain’t like yours, Dan?’

  ‘Mine’s old – from the war.’ He turned so she could see. ‘I sliced off the flap and cut a half-moon piece from the holster where it covered the trigger guard.’

  Mandy stared with interest. ‘I got a lot of learning to do.’

  ‘We’ll get started tomorrow.’

  After the purchase of two extra blankets, while Mandy looked in the full-length mirror, Josephine pulled Dan aside. ‘Gene talked to you about the girl. If she is to come with us, you won’t be doing any quick-draw, target-practice tomorrow.’

  ‘That so?’

  ‘Didn’t Gene tell you what we wanted?’

  ‘He did.’

  ‘Didn’t he tell you to talk with the girl?’

  ‘He did.’

  ‘So, why the gun?’

  ‘Mandy and me done had our talk just now,’ Dan said. He had made a decision about Mandy.

  Chapter Six

  Dan found a spot in the Tortilla Mountains near the San Pedro River between Gila City and Tucson. His final purchase before leaving town had been a pack mule with vittles and food provisions – dry beans and coffee beans and flour and salt. The buckskin, Rowdy, didn’t care for dragging the mule along on a tether. Plus, he had to deal with the attraction of the pinto filly, Moccasin, prancing and teasing beside him. He obviously walked with a life of frustration.

  Josephine and the marshal had been left visibly upset.

  The campsite nestled under pines and cottonwoods, protected on all sides from icy November winds, the gurgle of the San Pedro flowing by. After tethering the animals, Dan built the campfire high. He and Mandy ate smoked ham and beans washed down with coffee. While the mule stood docile slightly downriver, not so Moccasin and Rowdy, who kicked up rustling and snorting, set to scare fish from the water. After supper clean-up, Dan gulped down two swallows of whiskey. Mandy slid her roping saddle next to Dan’s Texas one-cinch.