Part 15 (1/2)

'Bryce Scobell had a wife an' child Ah don't believe he ever loved either of them Ah don't believe he's capable of love But ah think he came closer to real emotion with them than with anyone else Maybe it was more like possessiveness a ah don't know for sure But the thing that happened e cornered Scobell an' his bodyguards at a farmhouse in Phoenix They started firin' when they saw us, an' we fired back In the crossfire, two of mah people were killed, and so were Scobell's wife an' son We'd had no idea they were there Scobell escaped, like he always did, but he took an oath that day that he would rie arrived for me It was from Scobell He told me that he'd kill mah wife an' mah child an' he'd make me watch He toldthat would occur to any normal, God-fearin' person, but ah knew Scobell a ah knew that once he set hiswould happen With the permission of President Johnson ah took a leave of absence from mah duties an' came here'

'And now he's followed you,' Sherlock said in the silence that followed Crowe's admission

'As ah said, once he sets hishappens'

'You could have asked for help,' Rufus Stone pointed out 'Mycroft Hole, I'm sure If not, we could have recruited so?' Crowe asked 'Even if Mr Holuards, he couldn't keep thee they would have been taken away an' placed on more important duties' He shook his head 'Bryce Scobell is a patient man Patient, and very, very clever He would have waited until everyone had gotten bored an' tired, an' then he would have struck'

'But you've faced dangerous men before,' Sherlock pointed out He was confused He didn't understand why Aht Crowe had always seemed to Sherlock to be aaway from it Secretly he felt a bit disappointed 'I was there in the tunnels beneath Waterloo Station when you took on that man anted to kill htest bit frightened What's so different about Scobell?'

'Ah have faced dangerous ainst sohest, hardest men in the world in mah time, but Bryce Scobell is a different bucket of catfish entirely' He sighed 'It's difficult to describe, but there's sonot human about hied, an' that gives you an advantage in a fight, but he ain't He just don't care Ah'm not sayin' he don't feel pain, cos he does, but he just shrugs it off It don't interest him An' he don't remember the pain neither If you punch a norh tiain, but Scobell a hit him the first time an' he'll remember the fact that he was hit, but he don't seem to learn from the pain He don't seek to avoid it next tiain, an' again He keeps comin' back at you, like some kind of mechanical creation' He shook his head 'Ah'm not makin' much sense, ah know, but facin' Bryce Scobell is like facin' some dark force of nature He's unstoppable That would be bad enough if he was stupid, but he's one of the cleverest men ah know He thinks several athers people around him who are like him'

'I don't understand about the nainia said suddenly She had been quiet up until that point 'Why would he do that? What does it mean?'

'It's a fixation with him,' her father replied darkly 'Ah was told that when he joined the Confederate Army he only had three names, tattooed on his arm Someone asked him what they were He said they were the names of men he'd killed' He paused and shook his head sadly 'He was only eighteen He'd had the with the dates Said he wanted to ed 'Course, in war you rarely know the naap an' do his best to find out who they were, where they were froiment After the end of the War Between the States he spent a considerable suet the names of all the Union soldiers who died in particular places, at particular times He even tried to find out the names of the Indians he killed Had Black Kettle's naht across the nape of his neck He's obsessed with the idea'

'What about the ones in red?' Rufus Stone asked 'As if I didn't know'

Crowe eyed hi Rufus not toto kill but hasn't got around to yet,' he said slowly 'Planning for the future, ah guess He's makin' a statement that there are people out there whose days are nuone, he has the naain 'Ah'ht where he can see it every day'

Rufus Stone was frowning 'For a supposedly intelligent man,' he mused, 'this Bryce Scobell seems to have missed a trick I mean, he's on the run from you, he's on the run from the whole US Governnizable If I was hiht, not tattoo more and more names on myself'

'It's a compulsion,' Crowe explained 'The loves an' soe make-up on the face an' neck can accomplish'

'So what's the plan?' Matty asked 'What do we do?'

'We don't do anythin',' Crowe replied 'Ginnie an' I, we leave the country Head soe our descriptions, as et about us'

The words hit Sherlock like blows His gaze slipped across to Virginia 'I don't think we can do that,' he said quietly

Rufus Stone frowned 'I don't understand Why did you leave the clues to bring us to Edinburgh if you don't want our help?'

Crowe closed his eyes oodbye properly,' he said 'An' because ah wanted to explain, face to face, why ah was runnin' away Ah wanted you to understand the scale of what ah'ainst Scobell will keep comin', an' keep comin', and keep comin' until he succeeds An' even if ah try to turn the tables an' hunt him down, he's too clever He'll cover his tracks an' hide until I stop lookin'; or worse: he'll lure me into a trap'

A silence followed as each of the

'There's two problems with all that,' Sherlock said eventually

Crowe raised an eyebrow 'An' what're they then?'

'The first,' Sherlock continued, not put off by Crowe's attitude, 'is that thisafter you If he's as clever and as dedicated as that, then he will find you wherever you go, no ht,' Rufus Stone said, nodding

'What's the other proble this like you would treat any hunt' Sherlock paused for a hts into soht me, that you treatthem you try to predict their ns of their presence a the signs they can't help leaving, the way that animals leave tracks'

'Ah've always believed that mankind is just a different kind of animal,' Crowe conceded, 'an' e What's your point?'

'My point is that Bryce Scobell isn't an ani you as the ani you, and that's spooked you Your usual way of dealing with a situation won't work The ga he's cleverer thanbeneath his bushy grey brows

'Yes,' Sherlock said siame If Scobell is a better hunter than you, let's not aae the rules'

'Easier said than done, young ested that Sherlock had surprised hi for you,' Sherlock said, 'then don't hide Don't do what he expects Stay in the open He'll wonder what you're doing He'll assume it's a trap and he'll back away'

'And then what?' Crowe challenged

'And then he'll make a mistake, and you can turn the tables on hiae the rules'

'When the ainst is cleverer and more ruthless than you,' Sherlock aa the cleverest or the most ruthless'

Crowe s, but there was a sudden thuaze snapped upward, his hand already on the pistol, then he looked through theagain Sherlock followed his gaze The narrow enclosed hillside that sloped away in front of the cottage was eed A s

'Smoke!' he said 'I smell smoke'

Amyus Crowe moved swiftly across to the'Nothin' out here'

Sherlock looked towards the door out to the rest of the cottage Was it his iination, or was there a faint haze in the atmosphere out there?

'It's Scobell,' he said 'He's set fire to the cottage!'

'But how?' Rufus snapped 'nobody's come near! And how on earth did he find us?'

'They didn't have to co on to the thatched roof froo up in seconds!'

CHAPTER THIRTEEN