The prisoner was lying on his back staring at the ceiling.
“Why don’t we start with your name?” Shaye said.
The man didn’t answer.
“You know,” Shaye said, “your friends killed everyone who worked at the bank. That’s a lot of murders, and you’re on the hook for every one of them.”
That got his attention.
“I didn’t kill nobody.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Shaye said, “because you’re the one we caught.”
Joe Samuels sat up and stared at Shaye. “You can’t pin them killings on me!”
“Sure I can,” Shaye said, “especially if you don’t cooperate.”
Samuels thought about that for a while.
“You know,” Shaye said, thinking this might clinch him, “one of the people who worked in the bank and is now dead was the mayor’s daughter. Needless to say, he’s real upset. He just wants somebody to pay.”
The man looked at Shaye. “Samuels,” he said, “Joe Samuels.”
“That’s your name?”
“That’s right.”
“And who were you working for? Ben Cardwell?”
“I guess,” Samuels said. “See, we were all recruited by Simon Jacks, and he works with Cardwell.
“Jacks,” Shaye said, frowning. “I know that name.”
“You should,” Samuels said, “if you’re any kind of lawman. He’s got a rep.”
“What about this other fella, Davis?”
“Davis?” Samuels frowned. “That sonofabitch.”
“He got away, you know.”
“He was supposed to hold the horses,” Samuels said. “I’d like to know what happened to that bastard!”
“And what about Cardwell and Jacks?” Shaye asked. “What was the plan?”
“Cardwell and Jacks were supposed to go into the bank, we was supposed to keep people away—especially law.”
“So what went wrong?”
“I don’t know,” the man said. “There were shots from inside and then you and your deputies came running over. We had to keep you pinned down.”
“But you were pinned down too,” Shaye said. “Didn’t that occur to any of you?”
Samuels frowned.
“How was someone supposed to bring the horses over?” Shaye asked. “How were Cardwell and Jacks supposed to come out the front with the money?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” the man asked testily. “I don’t plan jobs, I just follow orders.”
“Well,” Shaye said, “sounds to me like you and your compadres were supposed to get caught while Cardwell and Jacks went out the back way.”
Samuels frowned.
“See,” Shaye said slowly, “they got out the back after killin’ everybody, and you were supposed to get caught out front—caught or killed, probably.”
It slowly dawned on Joe Samuels, who whispered, “Sonofabitch.” He looked at Shaye. “They set us up!” He said it as if he’d just thought of it himself.
“And now that they’re gone, and everyone else is dead, you’re the one who’s gonna go down for it—all of it.”
“Hey, no, wait…”
Shaye had started to turn around, as if to leave. “What?” he asked.
Samuels got up and came to the front of the cell. He grabbed hold of the bars and his knuckles went white.
“Whataya wanna know?”
“Do you have any idea where Cardwell and Jacks would go after they left here?”
“No,” Samuels said. “Jacks never said.”
“Well, do you know where Cardwell or Jacks are from?” Shaye asked. “Maybe they’d go back home.”
“I don’t know nothin’ about Cardwell,” Samuels said, “but Jacks used to talk at night….” He trailed off and stopped, a crafty look coming into his eyes.
Shaye waited, because he thought he knew what was coming.
“What do I gotta do to walk away from this?” he asked suddenly.
“Mr. Samuels,” Shaye said, then, “or can I call you Joe?”
“Joe’s fine.”
“Joe,” Shaye said, “to tell you the truth, I don’t see any way you’re walkin’ away from this.”
Samuels looked crestfallen. “Then I don’t know why I should help you.”
“Because if you don’t,” Shaye said, “Cardwell and Jacks—and maybe even Davis—are gonna walk away from it…with all that money.”
27
James questioned people in the area around the bank while Thomas went to the hotel where Cardwell had stayed, and spoke not only to the owner of the livery, but people who worked in that area. The brothers joined up in the center of town, across the street from the building where the mayor had his office.
They compared notes and realized that they had a few things to tell their father, and that they probably shouldn’t waste any time telling it.
“The posse,” Thomas said, as if James had reminded him. “How many men did you get?”
“None,” James said.
“That’s what I got.”
“I can’t believe this town is just like Epitaph.”
“Pa tried to explain it to us after we left Texas,” Thomas said. “People hire someone to uphold the law, they think that’s it, they’re done. Why should they lift a finger when somebody’s getting paid to do it?”
“It’s their money that was taken from the bank,” James said. “You’d think they’d want to do somethin’ about gettin’ it back.”
“And all those dead people,” Thomas said. “Their neighbors.”
“I never seen anything like that before,” James said. “How could a man do that, just butcher a bunch of helpless people?”
“It was quiet,” Thomas said. “They probably didn’t want any more shots comin’ from the bank.”
“You know, I don’t care about the money,” James said. “I just want to bring them back to hang for all them killin’s.”
Thomas knew his brother was more upset about Nancy Timmerman than any of those other people. He was just thankful that James had never gotten up the courage to actually start a relationship with the girl. If he had been courting Nancy Timmerman, he’d now be totally devastated by her death.
“James, I think you should stay here.”
“Why?”
“Pa’s gonna need you,” Thomas said. “He’s not gonna be able to get around—”
“I’m comin’ with you, Thomas,” James said, cutting his brother off, “and there’s no way you can stop me.”
Thomas decided to leave the point alone. Maybe James would listen to their father after he calmed down a bit.
“One man,” Thomas told his father, “took two horses from the livery just before the shootin’ started.”
“Only two?” Shaye asked.
“That don’t make sense,” James said. “There was…at least six bank robbers, maybe more.”
“There were eight,” Shaye said, “but at least six of them were not supposed to leave town.”
He related to them the conversation he had with Joe Samuels while they were away.
“So we’re only gonna be lookin’ for two men?” James asked.
“Maybe three,” Shaye said. “We don’t know what happened to this fella Davis.”
“Maybe we do,” Thomas said. “One horse was stolen earlier today. Fella didn’t even know it was missin’ until I started askin’ questions.”
“Okay,” Shaye said, “so Davis brought two horses from the livery, thinkin’ that they’re meant for him and Cardwell, when they’re really meant for Cardwell and Jacks.”
“Jacks,” Thomas said. “That name sounds familiar.”
“Yeah, I thought so too,” Shaye said. He was seated behind his desk again, sitting lopsided to keep pressure off his hip. “Apparently he’s got a rep, although as what I don’t rightly know yet.”
“Okay, okay,” James said, “so we’re lookin’ for three men.”