Dunham waved his cigar, airily. «Let me tell you something, Johnny. She ain’t going to be split, either. Me, I get along swell the way it is. The boys at Rattlesnake understand the situation, but that damn Sundown gang would be riding my tail all the time … all the time.»
«Nothing strange about the Rattlesnake gang understanding you,» Harrison said, blithely. «You practically hand pick them.»
Dunham chuckled good naturedly.
«Ain’t none of them damn Sundowners suspected me, not out loud, at least. Except maybe Ma Elden and she didn’t peep about it. Figured, I guess, she wasn’t sure enough. And now I got her where I want her. I got it fixed so she’ll never crack a whisper.»
«Carolyn,» said Harrison, quietly.
Dunham put the cigar back in his mouth, leered around it. «You figure things out fast,» he said. «When Ma gets the note the gal’s going to send her, she’ll get out and work against the county splitting. She’ll do an about-face so fast it’ll make her dizzy.» He chuckled at the thought. «Imagine Ma Elden lining up with Rattlesnake!»
«Smart,» said Harrison. «Smart operator, Dunham. You even were on hand to join the posse that went out hunting Carolyn.»
«Sure,» Dunham told him. «I think of everything.»
«And rigged one of your buzzards all up in city togs to do a killing job on Doc. Or was it somebody you hired to come in and do the trick?»
«Someone I hired,» said Dunham, easily, «but I played it safe. He doesn’t even know who hired him.»
«I hope you haven’t paid him yet,» said Harrison, «because he sure botched up the works.»
Dunham’s mouth flopped open and the cigar tumbled to the desk. His feet came down off the desk with a heavy thump.
«What’s that!» he roared.
«The gent with the daisies killed Doc all right enough,» said Harrison, «but I sort of interfered. I pegged your killing hombre with a hunk of lead and got the letter Doc was writing.»
With an angry gesture, Dunham swept the burning cigar off the desk. His face was red and flushed.
«What letter?» he shouted.
Harrison laughed quietly. «Why, I thought you knew,» he said. «The one to Omaha. To the marshal there. Doc must sort of hinted to you that he was going to write it.»
Dunham’s hand moved swiftly beneath the desk, came up with a heavy six-gun that leveled on Harrison’s stomach.
«Pull that trigger,» said Harrison, «and there’s a noose around your neck. Doc had got quite a ways along in that letter. He had put in some names.»
«Where is it?» Dunham asked, icily. «Hand it over to me.»
«I left it with a friend of mine,» Harrison told him, «and asked him to mail it if I didn’t come and get it. Told him if I wasn’t back by tomorrow morning to send it on to Omaha.»
Dunham snarled. «I could get it out of you, you lousy wagon tramp. I could …»
«You can’t do a thing,» said Harrison, softly. «I’ve got you across a barrel and you know I have. Kill me and the letter goes to Omaha. Wait too long to make up your mind and it goes to Omaha. So you better put away the gun and let us talk some business.»
The six-gun in Dunham’s fist sagged.
«What do you want, Harrison?»
«How much did Doc hold you up for?»
Dunham hesitated. «Ten thousand,» he said, finally, «and it was too damn much. If he’d asked four or five …»
«It’s going to cost you more than that,» Harrison told him, flatly.
Dunham smashed his fist against the desk. «I won’t pay it,» he shouted. «I’ll …»
«It will cost you a woman and a horse,» said Harrison.
«A woman and a …»
«Carolyn Elden and the black horse that one of your men stole from me.»
Dunham looked relieved. A grin crept across his face.
«Now, Johnny, that’s fine. You get me the letter and then you and the gal ride out on the horse and don’t tell no one where you been.»
He licked his lips, like a cat that had just lapped up a plate of cream. «No trouble at all, you see. We make the deal and everything’s all right.»
Harrison shook his head. «And you’d have men along the trail to bushwhack us before we’d gone a mile.»
Dunham raised his hands in horror. «Never! I stick to my word. I’ll shoot square …»
Boots pounded on the porch outside and the door squeaked open.
Harrison spun on his heel, backed against the wall. The boots tramped across the outer room and the man came in the door.
At the sight of him, Harrison’s hand slipped swiftly for his gun.
«Hello, marshal,» said Dunham smoothly. «Don’t mind Johnny over there. He’s just sort of nervous.»
Marshal Albert Haynes stood rigid, staring at the gun in Harrison’s hand.
«Get them up,» snapped Harrison. «All of you. You, too, Westman!»
He switched a quick glance at Dunham, still seated in the chair, but with his elbows on the desk and his hands lifted stiffly in the air.
«So you hired him, too,» said Harrison.
Dunham grunted. «Bought him. Sundown don’t pay its marshal much.»
Still watching Harrison, Haynes spoke out of the corner of his mouth.
«Got a letter for you, Dunham. Took it out of the pocket of the hombre you sent to kill Falconer.»
Dunham chuckled heavily. «You made a good bluff, Johnny,» he said, «but I guess it’s run out now.»
Chapter Five
Bare Fists vs. Three Guns
Harrison’s brain spun, but his gun hand held steady and his face was grim.
Dunham was right. His bluff had run out to nothing and he was on his own.
A moment before Dunham would not have dared to lift a gun against him, but now he was fair game for any bullet that should come his way.
«Hold still,» he told them. «Anyone that moves will get it in the guts.»
Dunham laughed at him. «Better think fast, Johnny. You can’t stand there all day. The next move is up to you.»
And that, Harrison knew, was the bitter truth. Slowly, cautiously, he catfooted toward the door, slid into the doorway. His hand reached out and grasped the knob.
«Good luck, Johnny,» said Dunham, and the man was laughing at him … laughing because he knew that Johnny couldn’t make it, knew that he would die as soon as he reached the street.
«I’ll shove that laugh right down your throat,» said Harrison. «With bullets!»
He stepped back and slammed the door behind him, ran across the room, heading for the stairs that ran to the upper floor. Half way up them, he swung around to cover his back trail, but there was no one there. The door into the office still was closed, but someone was shouting out a window to someone in the street.
«Don’t let him get out! Watch all the doors and windows!»
Trapped, Harrison told himself. Trapped here in this house, without a chance to win.
A soft voice came to him from above.
«Johnny! Johnny Harrison!»
He swung around, a cry surging in this throat.
«Carolyn!»
She stood there, at the top of the stairs, more beautiful than he had remembered her. She wore a dress that matched her eyes and her hair was done up in a way he’d never seen … piled on top of her head instead of being braided into pigtails. Half school girl of the east … half Ma Elden’s daughter as he remembered her.
«I knew you’d find me, Johnny,» she said, and her voice was soft. «I knew that you would come.»
«Get back!» warned Harrison. «Get back out of sight!»
He sprang up the stairs toward her, dragged her back out of line of the room below.
«Trouble, Johnny?»
Harrison half groaned. «Up to my eyes,» he said. «I thought I had them bluffed, but it didn’t work.»