Tree propped his shoulder in the doorway, admitting to himself that he had let Caroline lead him here by the nose only because it afforded him a cheap excuse to postpone making the inevitable decision and doing what had to be done. He tried to put some show of interest on his face.
Sparrow gave him a twisted glance and said, “She tell you what I told her?”
“No.”
“Are you interested?”
“Why should I be?”
“Because it’s about your brother-how he died.” Sparrow’s city-bred voice was high-pitched, abrasive. “I was there, you weren’t.”
“Sure. Does that guarantee your word’s gospel?”
“Why? Because you expect me to make up a lie that will put the Earp gang in a bad light?”
Tree said, “Your game would be a lot easier if Wyatt Earp was out of your way.”
“So would yours, I imagine,” Sparrow said with his crooked smile. “You and I have a few interests in common, Tree.”
“Is that an offer of help?”
“You could use some, couldn’t you?”
Tree wondered if it was part of Sparrow’s technique always to answer questions with questions. He said, “Offer it and see.”
“I can’t. I’m afraid. Even if I wanted to…The miners are scared green of the Earp crowd, especially after what happened yesterday. I’ve got my hands full just keeping the fires lighted.”
“Your miners scare easy.”
“They’re not gunslingers,” Sparrow said harshly. “Neither am I. I can fight a mob with clubs by using my own mob with clubs, but we haven’t got the kind of money it takes to import hired gunmen. I’ve got a tough enough fight on my hands without taking on Wyatt Earp. All I want is to see him out of town.”
“And you expect me to do that?”
“I don’t expect anything,” Sparrow answered. “Your sister-in-law came to me last night to find out what really happened out on that street. I told her. If you want to hear it, I’ll tell you. Otherwise you can go-I’m busy.”
Tree shrugged, turned, and reached for the door latch. Caroline’s voice grabbed him as if by the elbow and turned him around again: “You’re so damn sure Wyatt Earp told you the truth that you’re not even willing to listen to the other side of the story, is that it?”
He made a face. “What other side of the story?”
“Mine,” said Sparrow. “Like I said-I was there.”
“All right, go ahead, for whatever good you think it will do you.”
Sparrow glanced bleakly at Caroline and said, “I saw all of it when your brother came out on the street. Cooley spotted him first and Cooley turned his gun on your brother. He cocked it and waited for your brother to stop moving so’s he’d have a clear shot. It was cold-blooded and deliberate, he didn’t just shoot in blind reaction. Wyatt Earp watched the whole thing. I can’t prove it but I believe if Earp had cared about seeing an innocent man shot, he’d have had plenty of time to shoot Cooley before Cooley shot your brother. At least he could have told Cooley not to do it. He had time.”
Caroline said in a low tone, “He just didn’t care.”
“Oh, he cared all right,’ Sparrow said. “He cared about Cooley.”
Tree said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Politics,” said Sparrow. “Earp’s using the mining barons for his own political ends and he can’t afford to alienate them. Cooley was brought in here with his gang as a strikebreaker-Cooley works for the mining barons. Cardiff and the rest of those bastards need Cooley, and Earp’s too shrewd to turn against Cooley for the sake of any piddling abstraction like justice. Besides, you made a mistake going over to the Inter Ocean and expecting Earp to turn Cooley over to you just like that. That ain’t the way you operate with a fellow like Earp. You rubbed him the wrong way because he resents having his authority questioned. No, I say Earp could have stopped it, but you don’t have to believe that. What you do have to believe is that Earp saw it happen just like I did, he knew Cooley had a choice. Cooley didn’t have to shoot your brother-your brother didn’t have a gun in his hand. There was time. So when Earp lets Cooley hide behind his skirts, he’s not doing it to protect a man who did the right thing-he’s just proving what a big shot he is by forcing you to back away empty-handed, and he’s cementing his own position with the mining barons. You may think it’s too late for that but I’ve got news for you, that telegram of yours may yet turn out to be worthless, because the Governor may get back from Kansas and get worked over by Earp’s friends and decide to rescind the Lieutenant Governor’s extradition order.”
Tree regarded him unblinkingly. “You’re a shrewd little hairpin, I’ll give you that.”
“Why? Don’t you believe me? Why don’t you ask Earp?”
Caroline said, “There you have it, Jerr. If Earp had cared at all, he could have prevented Rafe’s dying. There’s your big hero for you.”
Sparrow murmured, in his abrasive, insinuating twang, “It changes the picture a little for you, doesn’t it? Before, it was a disagreeable job somebody told you to do, you didn’t think it was just, you had trouble making up your mind whether to do it or not. But this has got to change things for you, Tree. Now you’ve got a personal stake. Earp the same as pulled the trigger that killed your brother.”
“If I believe you.”
“I think you do,” Sparrow said. “You know damned well I’ve got my own ax to grind but you still know I’m not lying. I don’t have to.” He flicked imaginary moisture from the corners of his mouth with thumb and forefinger, and added, “There was one thing I didn’t strictly tell the truth — about. I said none of the miners would help you arrest Earp. That was true, but I do know a couple of men who might give you a hand-hot miners. One’s a foundry worker from the smelter on Bald Hill; he was one of us on the street yesterday, damn near’got killed in the gunfight. He’s mad enough to want to get even, not too bright, but he’ll do. The other man I’ve got in mind is an ex-convict who used to be a cattle thief, ran with the old Clanton gang. He’s a liltle gone to seed but he hates the Earps on principle and he’d go along with you for a cut of the reward money. You asked for help. I can get you those two-not much but better than nothing. I wish I could do more but I’ve got big problems of my own. Morale stinks in my organization after that fiasco yesterday-Warren Earp upset my applecart when he got those miners fired up; the timing was all wrong but I had to go along with them or they’d have lost all respect for me. It’s going to take a while for me to get things built up again. If I told a bunch of miners to go with you right now and face Wyatt Earp, they’d ride me out of town on a rail. But I told you before, I want the Earps out of this town, and if you’re the man who can do it, I’ll do my best to help.”
“I’ll give it some thought,” Tree said, and turned once again to open the door. Caroline got up and followed him out, not speaking. He went downstairs and outside. She trailed along, almost demure, until he stopped on the corner and said to her, “You’d better start back for Arizona.”
“I’m staying.” Her face was set. “What are you going to do?”
“The day after tomorrow,” he said, “is Saturday night That’s when I’ll make my move.”
“Are you going to use those two men he offered?”
“I haven’t got much choice. McKesson’s out of it.”