“We’ve never been good friends, but I wanted to tell you I appreciate what you did.”
“Just doing my job.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Stilson walked around as if he was inspecting the wagon. “It was lucky that I was making my rounds when I heard the noise. I thought it was someone’s roof collapsing or maybe a horse got a burr under its saddle and was kicking in a wall. Turns out it was your door getting kicked in. Far as I knew, you were nowhere to be found, so I went and had a look for myself.
“I saw two of them as I rode up to your place,” Stilson explained as he tapped his foot against one of the wagon’s wheels. “One of them bolted before I could even bring my horse to a stop. The other took his sweet time coming out, even after he saw me, but walked away from your cabin soon enough once he saw I wasn’t just some nosy neighbor.”
“Did you get a look at them?”
Stilson walked over to examine Rasa and Kazys as if he intended on purchasing the horses. “One of them might have been the fella that me and Miguel found in the graveyard that night when the Van Meter place was raided. Come to think of it, I’m almost certain it was him.”
“Jesus,” Nick muttered as he felt a knot tighten in his stomach. “And the other one?”
“Didn’t recognize him,” Stilson replied while checking to make sure the bridle was secure on both horses. “But he was a different breed from that first one. The fella that ran first, the one that was in my jail, was skittish and moved like he was hurt or scared out of his mind.”
Nick kept quiet, but knew that J. D. was both of those things the last time he’d crossed paths with him, on the Silver Gorge trail.
“The second one was still around after I’d taken a look inside your cabin. I thought I might have to take a shot at him since he didn’t clear off your property right away.”
“What happened?”
Shrugging as he walked around to examine the other side of the wagon, Stilson replied, “He asked where you and your missus were.”
“What did you tell him?” Nick asked, while silently dreading what the answer might be.
“I said you both had moved on.”
Nick’s eyes snapped back into focus and he fixed them upon the sheriff. “What?”
“I said you and Catherine were in a rush to get out and that’s exactly what you did. I made up some story about how folks were talking that you two just up and left without packing more than some clothes and food into a few carpetbags. The more I told them,” Stilson said, chuckling, “the more I started believing it, myself.”
“What made you think to tell a story like that?”
“There was just an opportunity, I guess. Nobody was home and the damage was done, so I spun the first yarn I could and hoped it would be enough for them to move on. There wasn’t anyone inside your place, so I just figured on getting him to leave of his own accord.
“Men like that are like stray dogs. You show ’em there ain’t nothing to gain from being somewhere and they’ll stay gone. Don’t you worry, though,” Stilson added. “I bowed up and chased him off, just to be certain.”
Nick could imagine it hadn’t taken much to chase off J. D. If Dutch sent another gunman along for the job, however, it was probably a man who didn’t frighten so easily.
His inspection of the wagon completed, Stilson wound up standing next to Nick with his arms crossed. “That fella from my jail was off like a shot. That other one, though…he wasn’t in no hurry. He left, but he made sure I knew he was leaving of his own volition. He seemed pretty happy with himself, though. My guess is that he didn’t have any trouble believing what I told him.”
As Nick listened, he also didn’t have any trouble believing what Stilson told him. In fact, the only reason for those gunmen to think Stilson was lying was if they already knew better. If that was the case, they would have known where to find who they’d been looking for. Since Catherine wasn’t harmed or even rattled, Nick could only conclude that those two gunmen were long gone.
“I think you might have saved my wife’s life,” Nick said. “And the life of Joseph’s son right along with her.”
Stilson shrugged. “I did my best.”
THIRTY-FIVE
When Nick returned to his cabin, his wagon was fully loaded. The top was covered by a tarp, which was strapped down to keep all the things secured in the back. Catherine busied herself that entire day with cleaning up and putting their home back together. That evening, she fixed Nick a dinner that was more like a banquet and served it to him at his regular table in the back of her restaurant on Ninth Street.
Although the cabin was still a mess, they spent the night there enjoying each other’s company in their own home. They didn’t notice what was broken or what shelves still needed to be straightened, since neither one of them spent much time out of the bedroom.
Catherine woke up to an empty bed, threw a robe on and searched for Nick. She found him outside, staring up at the stars that were scattered overhead like a mess of silver dust. He wore his rumpled trousers with the suspenders hanging loosely from the waist. The scars that crossed his naked back and chest showed up like streaks of water in the shimmering starlight.
“Why are you up?” she asked. “What time is it?”
“It’s late,” replied Nick. “That’s all I know.”
Stepping in front of Nick, she leaned back against him and nuzzled in close until she felt his arms wrap around her. “After all we’ve been doing, I’m surprised you have the strength to get out of bed.”
“I wanted to soak in as much of this place as I could…before I left.”
Nick could feel Catherine shrink a bit in his grasp. Her head lowered, but quickly came up again so she could look up at the sky. “Why would you want to do that?”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“I’m not. Actually, I’m just surprised you let me see you before riding off. I always feared waking up one night and having you just be…gone.”
“You’ve been through so much just to be with me,” Nick explained. “And just when things seemed to be settled, this happened.”
“But it didn’t happen to us,” Catherine said sharply. “You took it upon yourself to ride off with Joseph. I think it was a good thing, and Joseph seems like a whole different man now that he’s back, but this was your choice. It’s over now,” she said, gripping Nick’s forearm. “We can get back to the way it was.”
“Do you know how close you were to getting hurt? Jesus, Catherine, I didn’t even know those other two were coming back here. They could have…” Nick trailed off as the terrible speculations ripped through his mind. Not wanting to put a voice to those images, he just said, “…and I wouldn’t have even known until it was too late.”
“There’s always something bad that can happen, Nick. If anything, you should have learned that from Joseph. Bad things can happen just like good things can happen. There’s no way to know what’s coming next or when it’ll get here.”
“As long as I’m here, I know something else will be coming,” Nick said. “Usually, it ain’t good.”
“You’ll be able to take whatever comes. And if you think that I can’t handle myself, you really haven’t been paying attention all this time we’ve been together.”
Nick grinned and held onto her a little tighter. “I know you can handle yourself. That doesn’t give me the right to keep putting you to the test, though.”
“If I didn’t want it, I would have left you by now.”
“I’ll only be gone for a little while, just until I know this thing is over and there isn’t anyone left trying to find me. Sheriff Stilson did a real good job of covering up for me and if I stay here, I’ll ruin it.”