I was glad when the clearing and the cabin appeared. Their dog started barking, and Jordy and Carson came out of the woods. As was to be expected, they were armed with rifles and revolvers.
As I was dismounting Hannah emerged. She looked terrible, as if she had not slept in days. She had dark bags under her eyes and more lines in her face than I remembered. Deep sorrow had her in its grip, and I was partly to blame.
“Reverend.” She grasped my hand in both of hers. Her eyes moistened and her lips trembled. “How good of you to pay us a visit. Come inside, won’t you, and let me treat you to coffee or whatever else you would like.”
Ty and Kip appeared, and Ty cleared his throat. “We would be right honored if you would say a few words over Clell. We buried him this morning next to Sissy.”
“Certainly.” That was when I realized I had left the Bible back in my room at Calista’s.
“Would you rather do that first and then come in?” Hannah asked.
“Lead the way.”
The two mounds of dirt were a dozen yards into the woods. Crude crosses had been stuck atop each. The Butchers ringed them and bowed their heads.
I racked my brain for a quote, but for the life of me I couldn’t think of one.
“Whenever you are ready, Parson,” Hannah politely prompted.
I stared at the mounds, wondering which was which as the crosses did not have their names carved into the wood. “Death comes to us all,” I said, groping and hoping I sounded like a real preacher. “We don’t want it to, but it does. Rich or poor, young or old, it comes for us when we least expect, and there is nothing any of us can do. Death is always there, always waiting.” I was rambling and not sounding very biblical. “Look at the Old Testament. Moses, Joshua, Samson, they were all close to God, yet they all died. Look at the New Testament. Even Jesus was put to death. When our time comes, it comes.”
Hannah and Daisy were looking at me.
“We are gathered to give our respects to two fine people, Clell and Sistine Butcher. They did not deserve to die, but they did. None of us does, but we do. Some say it’s not fair and it’s not right, but it’s the way God arranged things, so what can we do?” I promised myself, then and there, that this was the last time I would ever pretend to be a preacher. “We ask you, Lord, to welcome Clell and Sistine into the hereafter. Look after them. May their stay in heaven be happier than their stay here. And may we one day join them in their happiness.”
Some of the Butchers were fidgeting. I needed a drink. Not a glass or two but an entire bottle.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want. Amen.”
“Amen,” Hannah said, and was echoed by her brood.
I kept my head bowed until we came to the cabin. I figured they had seen right through me, but I was forgetting that most people don’t expect perfection since they fall so short of it themselves.
“That was mighty fine,” Jordy said.
Hannah opened the door for me. “You will have supper with us, won’t you?” I opened my mouth, but she did not give me a chance to speak. “I won’t take no for an answer, Parson. If I’m imposing on your good nature, so be it. I want you to stay, and that’s that.”
I couldn’t very well tell her I had no intention of leaving until all of them were dead. “I will be happy to stay.” She ushered me to the rough-hewn log table and bade me sit, then asked if I would like some coffee. When I said I would, she motioned to Daisy, who went to the stove and soon brought over two brimming cups.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Hannah said as I took my first sip. “Losing Sissy and Clell has hit me hard.”
“As it would any mother,” I remarked.
“It was wrong to send Ty and Clell to kill the Tanners. I was better off waiting for the Rangers.”
“We all make mistakes.”
Hannah did not seem to hear me. “I wanted to end it, Parson. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing more of those I love. I reckoned that with the Tanners dead, the killing would stop.”
“I pray it does,” I said.
“That’s not likely. Gertrude always had a powerful hate for me and mine. Now, with her husband dead and her son laid up, she has cause to hate us that much more.” Hannah bit her lower lip. “There’s no telling what she’ll do to get back at us. I don’t mind admitting I’m worried. Mighty worried.”
“The Rangers will be here soon and then you will be safe,” I assured her. No one would dare tangle with the Texas Rangers. It just was not done.
“It can’t be soon enough to suit me,” Hannah said. “If I ask them to protect us, do you think they will see fit to guard us day and night?”
“I could not possibly predict,” I answered. Unwittingly, she had given me more reason to finish the job as quickly as possible. I decided to do it right after supper. I would catch them completely unawares. Unarmed and at ease, they would be easy pickings.
To that end, I endured half an hour of small talk while Daisy made the meal. She had to do it herself. Hannah was in no mood to cook, and her brothers could not be bothered to lend a hand. When the venison was done, Daisy went to the front door and hollered, “Come and get it!” Everyone came, including Sam and the two who were hidden in the woods.
I was hungry, but I did not feel much like eating. I picked at the meat and the beans and washed what little I ate down with piping-hot black coffee.
Hannah, too, barely touched her food. Slumped in her chair, her chin in her hand, she hardly spoke the whole meal. As I pushed my plate back, she stirred. “I trust that was satisfactory?”
“As delicious as can be,” I said.
“Now that you have partaken of our hospitality, what do you say to doing me a favor?”
“If it is within my power,” I said gallantly.
“I don’t dare show my face in town. Me nor my younguns. But I need someone to get word to me when the Rangers arrive.”
“I will ride out here the moment they ride in,” I pledged.
Daisy beamed at me. “Isn’t he wonderful, Ma? Always ready to lend a helping hand.”
“That’s what men of the cloth do, daughter,” Hannah said. “That, and they always turn the other cheek. It’s why they’re different from us ordinary folk.”
“I could never imagine the parson hurting a fly,” Daisy said.
How easy it is to fool people, I reflected. Most go through life with blinders on, only seeing what they want to see. There I was, a notorious Regulator, a killer many times over, and they could not see past my sheep’s collar and recognize the wolf in their fold.
I was congratulating myself on my cleverness when their mongrel commenced barking his fool head off. He was tied to a stake at the corner of the cabin, giving him a good view of the trail.
“Quiet, Samson!” Ty bellowed.
“It’s probably another stupid rabbit,” Carson complained.
“Don’t ever take anything for granted,” Hannah said. “One of you go have a look-see.”
Sam started to rise but froze along with the rest of his family when the dog’s barking was brought to an end by the blast of a rifle. The next instant the Butchers were scrambling for their hardware. Without thinking, young Sam and Carson went to rush out the door.
“Stop right there!” Hannah commanded. “What are you trying to do? Get yourselves killed?”
Mocking laughter wafted from the woods. “Can you hear me in there? This is Gertrude Tanner!”
So much for her giving me twenty-four hours. With an effort I swallowed my fury.
“Dear God!” Hannah Butcher breathed.
Again Gertrude laughed in sheer savage delight. “Are you ready to meet your Maker? Because you are all going to die!”