He checks all his unused mining equipment is stowed securely on the pack horse and then checks the girth after Renault has fitted his saddle.
'What I don't understand,' Renault speaks for the first time since they were in the hotel room, 'is why you're in such a hurry to leave. If you're a deputy, and you say you are and who am I to doubt that, I don't mean to suggest that you're not, but well, being a deputy and all, shouldn't you be staying?'
'It's no business of yours where I go.' Logan says stepping over to the pack horse so suddenly that Renault takes a frightened step backwards. 'And I might not be leaving town. I'm just not staying in a hotel that's run by a thief. I'm sure that's easy for you to understand.'
Renault nods and helps to untie the horses.
Logan has no intention of staying in Walkers Creek. He wants to see Emily again, maybe even to persuade her to leave with him, but even she won't be able to persuade him to stay.
CHAPTER TWENTY
She runs in through the door of the hotel, hoping to find Logan still there in the lobby but there is nobody at all near the door. Even the obsequious little man who normally greets the customers is missing. She steps into the lounge and all the polished wood and brass makes her acutely aware of her dirtiness. She would never normally come here in her working clothes, always in a nice dress and certainly never having slept outside by a fire.
'Miss Nixon!'
She turns to the voice and sees Humby rising from his seat at his usual table. He has been sat alone. The table has an almost empty bottle of whiskey on it. She doesn't respond to him but stands her ground.
'It's so good to see you. I'd heard that something terrible had happened to you.'
'You heard wrong. The only terrible thing that has happened to me was you. Have you been sat here telling yourself you should have taken more care to keep me locked away? Maybe I'd have been okay if you'd just managed to keep me safe?'
'You really don't understand me at all do you?'
'Oh, I understand you. You want to buy the whole town, everything in it, and my ranch was just too tempting for you. Well, you know what, you can buy it now. I'll sell it to you. Why don't we make our way over to the bank and you can pay me for it now?'
Humby shakes his head, swaying a little on his feet.
'You really don't understand me,' he says again.
'What is there to understand? You wanted the ranch so badly you kidnapped me. Are you going to tell me now that you didn't want the ranch after all? Oh, I get it, it isn't that you don't want the ranch, it's that you don't want to pay for it? Is that it?'
Humby takes a step forward and supports himself by leaning against the table. All his aggression and boldness seems to have been dissolved by the whiskey. He still looks her in the eye as he speaks but his tone of voice is pleading.
'Just think back will you? I didn't want to hurt you. I regret what I did, it was bold and stupid but you need to understand me. I love you Emily.'
She laughs. What a ridiculous thing for him to be coming out with. He has no idea what love can feel like.
'Don't laugh at me. I know I don't have the best way of showing it, but I really do love you. I don't care about the ranch. Keep the ranch, just don't take away the possibility of you and me.'
She stops laughing. It seems cruel to laugh at this man exposing his heart. She would normally doubt him and his motives but in his drunken state he seems vulnerable and maybe even honest.
All the same, she can't help thinking of Logan every time that Humby mentions love. She is frustrated at being held up. She has run across the street to try to catch Logan and every moment she spends now talking to Humby seems like a moment when Logan gets further away.
'I'm not staying here,' she says, 'I'm going to sell the ranch and you can be the one to buy it if you want, but don't think you'll get any more of me than that. Who knows, maybe if you'd said those things to me a few months ago when you were sober you might have stood a chance with them, but not now, not after what you've done to me.
'You know, I think I want you to buy the ranch. I want you to have it to remind you of what you could have had. Then maybe you might realize that you can't always get what you want by force.'
'Where will you go?'
'I'm not going to tell you that. But I'm leaving right now. You can put the money for the ranch into the bank for me. We can agree the price of your most recent offer.'
'Whatever you want Emily. I'd give you everything I have if you'd stay here and marry me.'
She pauses for a moment doubting that she has heard him correctly. He's offering her the whole of Walkers Creek. But this is Humby, a man you wouldn't trust to keep his word when he was sober. He could easily claim not to have remembered this conversation at all in the morning. What would she do then? Does she really find the idea of owning so much of the town that attractive?
It occurs to her that even if she convinces him to buy the ranch that he might still feign forgetfulness once he sobered up.
'I'll bet you already have the paperwork drawn up for purchasing the ranch from me.'
'I wouldn't presume to be so forward or to take so much for granted.'
'You really think I'm a fool don't you? You took it so much for granted you kidnapped me. I'm right though aren't I? You've got those papers ready?'
He nods, swaying a little.
'Fine, well maybe we go and get your signature on those papers and pay a visit to the bank.'
'And then you'll marry me?'
'One step at a time. You buy the ranch first. I want to see you keep your word just once.'
Of course she won't marry him but if it helps to motivate him then she'll happily dangle that carrot in front of him for a bit longer.
A sound behind her makes her turn hoping to see Logan coming down the stairs. It is only the barman coming back. She steps over to him and asks him quietly if he has seen Logan.
'Yes, he was just leaving the back way with his saddlebags and everything. If you ask me, he looked to be leaving town right away. I guess if you're quick you might catch him.'
She doesn't want to miss the chance to speak to Logan.
'Come on,' she says to Humby, 'let's go and take a walk. You could use the fresh air.'
He steps forward, lurches and catches himself. Then he steadies and walks out of the hotel with her beside him but not touching him.
On the steps of the hotel she looks across at Mannion's store and her heart sinks. There is only one horse tied up there now. Logan has already gone.
She looks up and down the street looking for him, straining to see the road beyond the creek but she cannot see him. He has gone and what is she left with? She has no home any more, her house and her belongings are all burned. She has lost her best friend, killed on an errand that she sent him on. All the loyal men that worked for her have shown her they have no loyalty at all. Logan or no Logan, she cannot stay in Walkers Creek. She will leave the town, even if it means riding out on her own. Even a lonely, dangerous journey will be better than staying here and marrying Humby.
Missing Logan makes her feel bitter and spiteful and she hurries the drunk Humby up the street, hoping that everyone sees what a fool he looks as he staggers. In his office, his assistant, Haskins, quickly produces the paper and Humby signs without complaint. Haskins looks uncomfortable with the fact that Humby is so clearly drunk, but he doesn't dare comment on it.
Haskins accompanies them to the bank where the manager greets them cordially and then cautiously when he smells what Humby has drunk.
He asks him several times if he is sure this is what he wants to do, but Humby insists and the transaction is complete.