Bad Moon over Devil's Ridge by I. J. Parnham

Author:I. J. Parnham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2023-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

The light had just gone off in Annie’s window. From high up on Devil’s Ridge, Cassidy narrowed his eyes against the bright twilight. As he expected, that light came and went twice more.

It was the same signal as the one she’d provided late last night, except that tonight Annie had barely waited until the sun had set before she’d given it. This suggested an urgency to which Emerson would have to respond – if he ever would.

Moving silently, Cassidy made his way down the side of the ridge, keeping in the shadows that the strong moonlight cast. At ground level, below the looming Devil’s Ridge, it was dark enough to move more freely and he took the route he’d planned during the daylight hours to reach the ranch’s fence.

He slipped beneath the fence and took up a position between the stable wall and a horse trough some thirty yards to the side of Annie’s window. Here Emerson would be clearly in view when he approached her window; no matter from which direction he came.

An hour passed without any sign of him making that attempt, but when movement came, it happened in a rush. First, a rustling sounded to his right. Then a shape flittered through the shadows.

When the movement came again, a man emerged from the shadows. A murmur sounded which to Cassidy sounded like a demand to get down and accordingly the shape dropped out of sight.

Cassidy had just decided that the voice he’d heard was Bret’s, which meant the other person would be Chalk, when in the opposite direction a man edged forward in the shadows with his back pressed against the barn wall and facing Annie’s window. Cassidy got to his feet and headed toward him, silently placing his feet to the ground and keeping out of his line of sight.

He was several paces away when the man flinched, his body darting forward as he decided to make a run for Annie’s window. Cassidy took two long paces. Then he lunged and looped an arm around the man’s chest while slapping a hand over his mouth.

He dragged him back into the darkest shadows and then to his knees. He held him firmly, but the man struggled, trying to escape. So Cassidy released his hand from his mouth and spun him around. The man’s fist rose, aiming to clip his chin, as Cassidy had known it would, and he had his hand in place to catch the fist and hold it.

“Howdy, Emerson,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

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