Part 19 (1/2)
”There isn't much of one, but it exists. If I were you, I'd worry about that man coming after Blade. If he is a gunfighter, I imagine he'll be anxious to get even. I would.”
Royal looked furious enough to ignore all danger. A groan from Blade made him more angry still. Luke had to think of some way to stop him before he lost all sense of caution.
”Look, you want Melody and that ranch. You can get what you want by starving them out. If they call in the law, I'm leaving. I can keep that man off your back if you control Blade. If he does anything else, he's crow bait.”
”They'd never find a jury that'd convict Blade. This town owes everything to me,” Lantz said. ”Have you forgotten that you protected Billy after he raped that girl? Folks in town hate you for that. Some of them are still convinced Blade was the other man, even though the girl couldn't identify him. I'm sure they'd like a second chance to get Blade.”
Luke rolled another cigarette to give Lantz time to think. The man didn't have any sympathy for Blade's victims or care that the boy had developed evil habits. He was caught between anger that anyone would shoot his son and fear that Blade's actions might hurt him.
Luke meant to play on that fear. He didn't want to be ordered to go after Chet. He also needed to be free to do the job he'd been hired to do, find the rustlers. So far they'd proved remarkably elusive. They always seemed to know where everybody was. Clearly, they had an informant on the inside. Luke never found any trails that weren't cold. He didn't understand it, and he didn't like it. He charged a huge fee. He could do that because of his past success. He didn't want a failure to change that.
Then there was Chet. Luke had never been called upon to go up against his brother. He certainly wasn't going to do it over a spoiled, evilminded brat like Blade Royal. But there was another reason Luke couldn't do it. If he hadn't become a gunfighter, Chet would still be where he belonged, working for Jake, living with a family he'd come to love. But he had given it up to follow Luke, to protect him.
Luke had to keep Lantz from giving him a direct order. Backing down from any confrontation, no matter what the reason, would ruin his reputation and make it difficult for him to earn the kind of living he'd become used to. But he didn't have to face that possibility just yet, not as long as he could convince Lantz that his son was in danger.
”Wake up!”
Luke looked up to see Lantz shaking Blade hard.
”What?” Blade asked, his words slurred, his eyes only half open.
”Luke says that guy who shot you is a gunfighter. You stay in the house, you hear? Luke's going to stay with you. You're not to be out of his sight.”
Blade fought to sit up, but his shoulder wouldn't support him. ”I'm not hiding from any d.a.m.ned gunfighter. And I'm sure as h.e.l.l not letting Luke babysit me.”
”You're staying here until I can figure out what to do about that gunfighter,” Lantz said. ”I'm not losing my only kin to some filthy gunman.”
Luke felt something inside him tighten. He didn't understand why Royal thought he was so much better just because it wasn't his hand that held the gun. He listened absently while Lantz and Blade argued with each other at the top of their lungs. Blade's foolish threats about what he would do when he got up were doing more to convince Lantz he was in danger than anything Luke had said.
”You're staying here, and that's final,” Lantz said. ”If that man can shoot both you and Billy, he can kill you if he catches you alone.”
Blade cursed. Luke wasn't much happier. He didn't like Blade, and loathed being around him. He needed freedom to find out who was behind the rustling. Most of all, he had to find a way to meet Chet and convince him to leave the area.
The whole place was in ferment by the time Chet and Sydney returned to the ranch. Neill, waiting down the trail despite his mother's orders, had seen them coming and rushed back to tell everyone. By the time Chet helped Sydney off his horse, Melody and Bernice had organized the household to receive him. Melody had also sent one of the men for the doctor. Belle was the greatest surprise. After taking one look at the blood on her son and letting out a piercing scream, she pulled herself together and started issuing orders everyone ignored. But she didn't leave his side, nor did she lose control of her emotions again.
”There's a lot of blood,” Chet told Belle as he helped Sydney into the house, ”but he's not seriously hurt.”
”I'll get some of the men to carry you upstairs,” Melody said to Sydney.
”I can walk,” Sydney said, embarra.s.sed and angered at all the fuss. ”I'm not going to die.”
”Who did this to you?” Belle asked.
”Blade,” Sydney said. ”He wanted to humiliate me before he killed me.”
Belle lost some color, but she retained her composure.
”I don't understand. Why would he do such a thing?”
”For the same reason he killed Tom,” Chet said. ”He likes killing.”
They had managed to reach the top of the stairs. Sydney looked close to the end of his endurance. ”Want me to carry you?” Chet asked softly.
”You're wounded yourself,” Sydney replied. ”I'll make it.”
Chet had to give the boy credit. He had bottom. Now if he could just learn that guns weren't the answer to everything, he might make a good cattleman someday. All he really needed was someone to take him in hand, someone who wasn't his mother or his sister. Some man he could respect, try to emulate. Melody's husband. Chet refused to let his thoughts wander in that direction.
Once he had settled Sydney in the bed, he moved back to give Belle and Bernice room to work.
”Did Blade really mean to kill him?” Melody asked.
Chet drew her out into the hall.
”Don't leave,” Belle called to him. ”I want to know everything that happened out there.”
Chet kept moving until he and Melody reached Bob Jordan's office. He motioned her inside and closed the door behind her.
”Why all the secrecy?”
”I don't want to upset Belle.”
”She's already upset. So am I. What could have possessed Blade to shoot Sydney? He's just a boy.”
”According to Sydney, Blade was waiting for him. He challenged him the moment he arrived, then drew on him before he was ready.”
”I can't believe Blade would do anything so cowardly.”
”I should have told you before. It was Blade who shot me. From behind.” Melody looked as if she could hardly believe what he'd told her. ”But why?”
”He likes bullying people. I don't think he sees it as wrong, just getting what he wants.”
”What does he want?”
”To be the big man around here, to have everybody fear him. I don't like Lantz, but he does have some scruples. Blade doesn't. He had Sydney down on the ground. Any other man would have left things at that, even offered to take care of him. Blade was taunting him, trying to get him to draw again.”
”That's practically the same as murder.”
”I have a feeling Blade can't help it. I don't think he's right in his head.”
”I've got to tell Lantz. He's got to do something.”
”Do you think he's going to believe anything like this about his son?”
”But if his men back up what we say”
”They won't. Lantz is paying their wages, not you. Besides, they might be afraid of what Blade will do to them.”
”Then I'll call the sheriff.”
”Do, but don't be surprised if nothing happens. You weren't a witness.”