Black Sky (A Mystery-Thriller) Read online

  Andy came up some time later and sat next ta me without a word. We had that kinda relationship. We’d come ta understand our strengths and our weaknesses. He was, far as I knew, the best shot in the entire town. In fact, once, a man had come all the way from El Paso ta challenge him in a gunfight. Imagine that. The reputation of a deputy in a small town in New Mexico reached all the way over ta El Paso.

  The man and Andy walked outside a town. Andy didn’t instigate it but he didn’t wanna stop it neither. He stood there quietly as the other man dismounted and circled round him. The other man had two pistols on him and Andy had the one. The tension was buildin’ as the two stared at each other and then, Andy did the most peculiar thing. He sat down.

  Just right there in the dirt he planted himself and crossed his legs. The other man looked confused but also relieved. He musta thought somethin’ was wrong with Andy’s head. But he wasn’t bout ta turn down a free shot.

  He pulled out his weapon and told Andy once ta get up. Andy said he was fine right where he was. The man said, “Suit yourself.” He waited just a moment and then lifted the pistol ta fire.

  Before the pistol was even up, Andy had fired and hit the man in the throat. He stumbled backward, chokin’ and spittin’, a waterfall a blood rainin’ over the desert sand and paintin’ it black. Andy stood up and let him choke a while. He stood over the man as he died. Someone ran back inta town and got the Doc. He checked the man and came over and told me and Andy that there was nothin’ could be done. The man’s artery had been severed and he was bleedin’ out.

  “Should I put him outta his misery?” Andy said, lookin’ at me.

  “No. You should let the Doc do what he can.”

  The man died a course. Just a few minutes later actually. But I’ll never forget it cause I was lookin’ right at Andy when he fired and I swear I barely saw it. It was a quick movement that I wouldn’t’a even noticed had it not been the situation it twas.

  “Bounty hunters,” Andy said. “Don’t believe it.”

  “I know.”

  “Did you tell him it was a stupid idea?”

  “I did.”

  “And what’d he say?”

  “He has a different opinion.”

  Andy shook his head. “I knew some bounty hunters once. They’d get drunk and shoot up saloons.”

  “I seen worse than that. They a serpentine group all right. Now they mostly ex soldiers from the War. They find it hard ta live in polite group and go from town ta town chasin’ down bounties.”

  “Well, what’re we gonna do?”

  “I went over ta the print shop today and looked at some books ole Roger had. I asked’m a few questions bout the previous sheriff’s and our situation. He said somethin’ interesting.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He said when he was back in Philadelphia, he was watchin’ a court case. He was a writer for the paper back there ya see. And he was watchin’ and the opposing counsel, the defense, brought out someone called an alienist.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “Those were bout my words. He told me it was someone, a doctor, that specializes in the mind a criminals. They come and testify in court bout what criminals do and don’t do. I never heard a such a thing myself so I asked’m more bout it but he didn’t know that much other than this alienist was really good. He said the police force back there hired em ta help solve certain types a crimes.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Alex Haywood. I sent out a telegraph today.”

  “What’d you say?”

  “Just told em bout what was happenin’ and if they’d be interested in comin’ out. I was actually gonna go see if they replied yet.”

  Andy thought a moment. “That sounds as bad as the bounty hunters. All strangers with no connection to the town.”

  “Maybe. I don’t rightly know. But least they won’t be shootin’ up saloons.”

  Andy shook his head and stood up. “May you live in interesting times.”

  “Guess so.”

  “Lemme ask you somethin’, Sheriff. When you was fightin’ for Lincoln’s army, you musta seen a lotta gore and killin’. You tellin’ me you ain’t never seen nothin’ like this?”

  “Oh I seen plenty a killin’ and plenty a gore. But not quite like this. You shoulda seen poor Rebecca. She was torn ta shreds. Looked like somethin’ medical students would be studyin’ in school. Bastard even tore off her nether-regions. What kinda man does somethin’ like that? Anyway, that’s why I need help. Mayor’s right bout that much. I need someone out here ta tell me what the hell I’m lookin’ at.”

  “We could try talkin’ ta everybody.”

  “That’d take longer than we want ta spend. And besides, he, or they, would just deny it and we might end up gettin’ the wrong man.”

  He looked away over the town. “Well, I need a drink. How bout you?”

  “Nah. I’m gonna head over ta Roger’s.”

  “See you tomorrow then, Sheriff.”

  “Yeah.”

  I waited round a little while and then rose and told Betty I’d be right back fore headin’ across town. Roger’s Print was a little farther away than I shoulda walked in my condition but I didn’t feel like bringin’ April out tonight. So I walked. I walked a long time before I had ta sit down on someone’s porch. The infection had taken more outta me than I thought. I was middle aged now and weren’t used ta runnin’ round like in my youth. But hell if I’d feel like an old man.

  I stood up and kept walkin’.

  Bout halfway cross town, I heard somethin’. It sounded like runnin’ water. I looked round but didn’t see anybody. Then I looked up. A dark figure was standin’ on the roof a the house I was walkin’ past. My heart damn near skipped a beat and I reached for my Colt, but I didn’t have my holster. So instead, I shouted, “Who is that?”

  I kept hearin’ the water.

  “Sheriff?”

  “Yeah?”

  “This here’s Ned.”

  “Ned, what in the hell you doin’ up on the Johnson’s roof?”

  “Um, well, Xavier’s passed out drunk over yonder.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So I’m pissin’ on him.”

  “You’re pissin’ on him?”

  “Yessir.”

  “Why are you pissin’ on him, Ned?”

  “He cheated tonight, Sheriff. He got five good hands in a row. You ever heard a somethin’ like that? I been playin’ since I was at my mama’s tit and I never seen a man get five hands in a row. He cheated.”

  “People lose at that game, right Ned?”

  “Yessir, they do.”

  “Well if it’s a game a chance then sometimes people gotta win too. Right? It’s the law a probability.”

  “Guess so.”

  “Well then maybe poor Xavier won your money rightly and now you pissin’ on him.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “So you gonna stop?”

  “Yeah, I ain’t got no more left anyhow.”

  I walked round back a the house and sure nuff saw poor Xavier passed out on the ground, covered in piss. Lord All Mighty if liquor weren’t the devil’s drink. I walked over ta him ta make sure he was still breathin’ and he was though he stunk somethin’ fierce.

  “What you been drinkin’ Ned? He’s smells like a raccoon rolled in shit.”

  Ned didn’t answer and I looked up and saw him on his back on the roof. He was snorin’. I headed out ta Roger’s.

  The lights were off cept for one in the front room. I knocked and waited and Roger came out. He didn’t have his glasses and was squintin’ like moskeetas was in his face.

  “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Jesse.”

  “Jesse who?”

  “The Sheriff you old goat you know me damn six years.”

  “Oh, Sheriff. Glad you came. I have something for you.”

  He walked in and I followed. The room smelled like warm ink and wrinkled papers was over
the floor. I stood there and waited till Roger went ta the back room and came out with a little slip a paper. He handed it ta me and I read it:

  Sheriff Smith,

  The details you have provided prove fascinating.

  My normal fee is $200. I will waive such fee.

  I will come out for research as part of my university position.

  No expenses to you other than meals and lodging if you would be so kind.

  See you soon.

  Dr. Alex Haywood.

  “This it?” I said.

  “You expecting more?”

  “No, guess not. Thank you much.”

  “Oh, Sheriff, heard bout this business with the bounty hunters. When you expecting them out?”

  “Oh, they’ll come from all over real quick. That’s how they operate. They’ll come drunk and full a piss and startin’ fights and shootin’ places up.”

  “Hm. Well, I hope it is just a pack a wolves. Once they taste human flesh they can’t help themselves you know.”

  “I know. And I hope you’re right. But I don’t think so. I think we got us a really sick individual.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Rebecca Wools’ funeral was a day later. I came though nobody invited me. I stood away from the family and the preacher as he read outta the Good Book. A psalm. Real pretty one too. They laid her body down in the cemetery that was just outside a town. I glanced round and saw some a the graves had been disturbed. Wolves and cai-ote could smell the decayin’ flesh and they’d come round and dig up the bodies. Scared the hell outta Mrs. Johnson once when she was walkin’ on the outside a town and saw a cai-ote runnin’ off with a human leg in its mouth. We hunted it down and Andy shot it at about four hundred yards. Never seen a shot like that before or since.

  Mrs. Wools was cryin’ and then she’d stop and stare at the grave and then she’d cry again. At one point in the service when Henry was talkin’ bout what he remembered when Rebecca was young, Mrs. Wools threw herself on the casket. Took a few men ta pull her off. Henry held her the rest a the time a the service.

  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” the preacher said, throwin’ a little dirt on the casket. He nodded ta two men standin’ by and they lowered it inta the grave. Mrs. Wools lost all control at this point and she was hittin’ Henry and cryin’ out ta the sky and in all manner a hysterics. My heart felt for her, but my head wouldn’t let me say anythin’. So I just waited back until everybody started leavin’.

  The preacher was still there and I walked ta him and nodded.

  “How are you, Sheriff?”

  “Been better, Ralston.”

  “I saw your face during the service. You feel other people’s pain deeply.”

  “Well don’t know bout all that but I know what it’s like ta lose a daughter. They gonna be in a haze for a long time ta come. It’ll be all they think bout.”

  “Does it get easier over time?”

  “No, it don’t. But you learn ta function anyway.” I tilted the hat back on my head. “Sometimes it feels like the Good Lord takes the most innocent and the devil’s footsoldiers are allowed ta roam free.”

  “He gives all of us a choice. The devil influences us, but he can’t control us.”

  “Suppose there’s purpose in that. Ta judge us and teach us, suppose.”

  “There is purpose in it. Think of how much you loved your daughter and you will see a glimpse of how much your Heavenly Father loves you.”

  I sighed. “Wish it weren’t so hard.”

  “I do too.”

  I nodded and walked off. I left the cemetery and looked over the town. It looked small from here. Small and inconsequential. All those lives and all em hopes and fears were so little it just broke my heart. Anyway, ta hell with it, I thought. Smarter men than I contemplated such things. Not me.

  As I was walkin’ back somethin’ caught my eye off ta the side. It was like a glimmer. I looked over and saw it again. Just a brief flash, nothin’ more. I shielded my eyes from the sun though I was already wearin’ my hat and tried ta look closer but couldn’t see what it was. I began walkin’ toward it.

  The sand was hot under my boots and I could feel it through the leather. I walked for a while and my stomach felt like someone was inside tryin’ ta punch its way out. The farther I walked the worse the pain got. I had ta stop once and look back ta the town. Then I looked out again at the flash of light and saw that it was stronger now. It was movin’ toward me like I was toward it. I had my pistol with me but I wished I didn’t cause then I’d have ta go back and get it. Maybe April too.

  I kept walkin’ and kept walkin’. I got out past the rocks and past any semblance a civilization. I was sweatin’ now and my stomach was in knots so bad I thought I might shit myself. I looked back ta the town. This was ludicrous. I shouldn’t be out here. No one should be out here. Weren’t people’s land this. This belonged ta the cai-otes and the scorpions and the birds a prey. I was bout ta turn round when I saw the flash again and the figure it was connected to.

  They was on a horse. Single rider. I couldn’t put one foot in front a the other anymore. So I just stood there like an idjut. I stood there as an Indian rode up on me. Apache from the color a him. It was the young boy that had shot an arrow through me.

  I pulled out my Colt and held it at my side. Just obvious enough that he could see it. He came up close, bout ten feet, and then stopped. His horse wasn’t painted red no more and he only had on a few decorations. He wasn’t prepared for battle.

  “Iik’ida koo ya do edina,” he said.

  I looked at him and slowly put the Colt back in the holster. I shook my head. “Don’t speak Apache.”

  He looked frustrated and said, “Akoo, akoo me sa’ki endu.”

  I shook my head again. “What you doin’ near the town? What’s goin’ on?”

  He looked at me in frustration again and then pulled somethin’ off his back. It was a bow. My hand went ta the Colt again. But he threw the bow on the ground in front a me and grinned before turnin’ and ridin’ off.

  It was the same bow he’d shot me with.

  CHAPTER 15

  The bounty hunters began tricklin’ in. It was just a couple at first. Two men from Utah. The mayor had put out a five hundred dollar bounty. I knew for a fact that the town did not have an extra five hundred dollars sittin’ in the treasury. Which meant he was either gonna pay em himself, or not at all. Either way I was uncomfortable with it.

  The trickle slowly turned ta a waterfall as men came out from as far as California. The gold fever out there, they said, was an illusion. Weren’t nothin’ out there but more hard work. So they took ta bountyin’.

  I watched as men streamed inta town. Gunner couldn’t be happier as all his rooms was full. And folks began rentin’ out spare rooms themselves. I thought the folks would be on my side but they couldn’t be happier with the arrangement the mayor had worked out. Money was comin’ inta the town with these killers. Folks have a habit a not lookin’ ta the future I guess.

  The first couple nights was quiet. But on the third night, Gunner’s was packed with folks and Andy and I was sittin’ outside the office in rockin’ chairs so we could hear the goings on a little better. As the night went on, it got rowdier and rowdier and finally we heard a gunshot and people started runnin’ out and fillin’ the streets.

  We got up without a word and trotted down. The two men was in the street now and one was firin’ at the other. Two bounty hunters, so drunk they could barely stand. They each had pistols and was shootin’ off rounds that went inta people’s homes, inta the livery, and broke out a winda at the mercantile. Andy went cross the street and I approached em and said, “Drop your weapons.”

  They stopped and looked at me. A trickle a fear went up my back as I could tell they was contemplatin’ what ta do. I unholstered my Colt.

  “This is the sheriff. Drop your weapons now.”

  Finally one of em, the one nearest Gunner’s, dropped his weapon. The other one that was already in
the street lifted the weapon at me. I raised my Colt but I knew it was too late. He was faster’n me.

  A shot rang out and it clinked on metal and I saw that the man’s pistol had flown outta his hand. Andy had shot it out and he walked over and stood bout ten feet from the man.

  “Pick it up,” he said.

  The man looked at him.

  “Go on,” Andy said, “I’ll let ya. Pick it up.”

  The man didn’t move for a moment and then he glanced ta the gun and then back ta Andy. Then he walked over ta the gun and stood there. Andy put his pistol back in the holster. The man bent down and picked up the weapon. Andy drew and fired and the weapon flew outta the man’s hand again. Now this was in near darkness and I had no idea how he done it.

  “Pick it up.”

  “No.”

  Andy shot by the man’s foot and the man leapt. “Pick it up.”

  “No.”

  I said, “That’s nuff, Andy. Let’s get him back ta the cell.”

  Andy stared at the man, pistol still in hand. I had ta walk over and put my hand on his shoulder. He didn’t take his eyes off the man in front a him but he did reholster his weapon. I grabbed a length a rope from near one a the hitches and we tied their hands behind their backs and began marchin’ em down ta the cell.

  “I can take em,” Andy said.

  “All right, I’ll meet ya down there.”

  I went back ta Gunner’s. A bullethole the size a my finger was in the mirror behind the bar. Spiderweb cracks ran along the length a it. Gunner stood with his hands on his hips starin’ at the damage.

  “Get em boys ta pay for it,” I said.

  “Oh I will.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t even know. They was drinkin’ and havin’ fun one second and then started shootin’ each other the next.”

  “You best hire couple men ta watch the place. Wouldn’t be a bad idea if you made everyone check their weapons at the door neither.”

  “That would not be a bad idea at all.”

  “Well, when they sober up get em ta pay restitution after they see the judge. How much damage you figure?”