“That remains to be seen, Ben,” Kennedy had replied. “Why don’t we just wait and see what happens?”
What happened was that, for the most part, they remained on their ranch, came to town for supplies and—occasionally—for a meal, and the trouble Ben Carter had been afraid of never materialized. At least, not yet. Still, that didn’t stop Adam Kennedy from talking with any of the Shayes who came into town. Yesterday he’d spoken briefly to Dan. Today, all three of them were in town. Maybe something was finally brewing.
When Kennedy entered the café, his appearance drew the eyes of the other diners to him and away from Dan Shaye and his boys. The lawman wondered how the Shayes could even stand coming to town at all. Not only did they have to deal with his presence every time, but with the stares from the rest of the townsfolk, who—like the mayor—were waiting for lead to fly.
“Sheriff,” Dan Shaye said, “I’ve been expecting you. Have some coffee with us.”
Kennedy pulled out the fourth chair at the table and sat down. He accepted the cup of coffee Thomas Shaye handed him.
“Two days in a row,” Kennedy said to Shaye. “That’s kind of unusual.”
“I guess everyone else must feel the same way,” Shaye said.
“Why don’t they just all come over and join us?” James said. “It’s like they’re sitting with us anyway.”
Kennedy and Shaye exchanged a glance. They were roughly the same age and they both understood the way the people of Winchester felt. Shaye had dealt with it himself as a lawman. Whenever somebody with a reputation came to town, trouble usually followed. However, Shaye was beginning to wonder how long he and the boys had to be part of this community before the stares and the fear went away.
“Anything in particular bring you back?” Kennedy asked.
“Telegrams,” Shaye said. “I had to send a couple. We’re waiting for the replies now.”
“Waitin’ for good news or bad news?”
“Depends on how you look at it,” Shaye said. “We get the right reply for you and the townspeople and we’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“Leaving?” Kennedy asked. “For good?”
“I don’t know,” Shaye said. “Probably not, but for a while. Long enough to give you all a breather.”
Kennedy put his coffee cup down.
“I know it’s been going on a long time, Dan,” he said, then looked at the boys as well. “I kinda thought it would wear off by now.”
“So did I,” James said.
“I didn’t,” Thomas said.
They all looked at him.
“This town hasn’t felt right from the beginning, Pa,” Thomas said. “I didn’t want to say anything, but—”
“You should have said something, Thomas,” his father said, “right from the start. What about you, James?”
“I…agree with Thomas, Pa…b-but I don’t feel as strongly as he does about it.”
“This is a good town,” Kennedy told them. “You may not believe that now, but it is. We’ve just never had anyone like…well, like you living here before.”
Shaye looked at his boys and then at the lawman. Finally, he looked around, saw that although the number of diners had thinned out, they were still the center of attention.
Maybe he should have noticed this from the beginning as well.
Shaye had seen the old Tarver place the first time he’d come to Winchester, tracking Dolph Jordan. Sheriff Kennedy had helped him take Jordan in, but before heading back to Texas with his prisoner, Shaye had seen the run-down ranch and thought it was the kind of place he could take Mary and the boys to. Later, once he’d returned to Epitaph, he’d forgotten about the place—until last year. Once he decided that he and the boys should stop carrying stars, he remembered the vacant Tarver ranch outside of Winchester, Wyoming. When he brought the boys here, he became so enamored with the idea of fixing up the old ranch that he hadn’t seen or felt what they did when they first rode into town.
Now, sitting in the café with the boys and the sheriff, waiting for the answers to his telegrams, he realized what a mistake he’d made. But maybe it was too late, because if it turned out that Belinda Davis’s baby was Matthew’s, they were going to have to have someplace to bring her and the baby, a home for the child to grow up in, someplace that was not so close to the painful memories of Epitaph.
So much depended on what happened with Belinda Davis—and on whether or not it turned out he was a grandfather.
6
“I’m tired of waitin’,” James said.
Sheriff Kennedy had left them and they had ordered another pot of coffee. They were almost to the bottom of that pot and Shaye was talking about ordering still another.
“I can’t drink any more coffee, Pa,” Thomas said.
“Ah…neither can I,” Shaye admitted. “Okay, let’s pay the check and get out of here.”
Thomas and James stopped on the boardwalk outside the café to wait for their father. While they were waiting, they both saw the clerk from the telegraph office crossing the street toward them.
“Hey,” Thomas said as the man started to go by them, “is that the reply for Dan Shaye?”
“Yes, sir,” the man said, “he wanted me to bring it right over to him.”
“That’s okay,” Thomas said, “we’ll take it.”
“But he said—”
“It’s okay,” James said. “We’re his sons.”
“Oh…o-okay.” The clerk handed the telegram to Thomas, turned, and went back across the street.
“You boys ready?” Shaye said, coming out behind them.
Thomas turned to Shaye, holding the telegram.
“You got an answer, Pa.”
Shaye took the yellow piece of paper from his son and unfolded it.
“What’s it say?” James asked.
“Just an answer from Mayor Garnett,” Shaye said. “He says he’ll check on the girl and get back to me later today.”
“Damn,” James said. “So what do we do now?”
“We stay in town and wait.”
“We’re gonna make people nervous, Pa,” Thomas said.
“That’s too bad,” Shaye said, refolding the telegram and putting it in his shirt pocket. “Boys, I’m sorry I’ve been so blind about this town.”
“That’s okay, Pa,” Thomas said. “We know how you feel about the ranch, about wearin’ a badge again.”
“I tell you what we’re going to do,” Shaye said. “Let’s get outfitted to hit the trail.”
“We going to Pearl River Junction?”
“I figure we’re going to have to go, one way or another,” Shaye said. “If she’s not still there, it’s the last place we know she was. Maybe somebody there will be able to tell us where she went. We’ll know better when we hear from Garnett again. Meanwhile, let’s go over to the general store and get some supplies.”
They stepped down from the boardwalk together into the street and started across.
From the window of the sheriff’s office, Deputy Canton watched as the Shayes left the café and crossed the street.
“Looks like they got an answer,” he said over his shoulder to Sheriff Kennedy.
“Lyle, get away from the window.”
Canton turned and looked at the sheriff.
“Don’t you think I should follow them, see where they’re goin’?” he asked. “What they’re gonna do?”
“I think you should leave them alone,” Kennedy said. “I think we should all just leave them alone. They haven’t done a thing wrong since they got here.”
Canton gave Kennedy a funny look.
“Look, Lyle,” the sheriff said, sitting back in his chair, “you want to follow them? Be my guest.”
“Really?”
“Don’t talk to them unless they talk to you,” Kennedy instructed. “Do you understand?”