Deadly Is the Night by Dusty Richards

Author:Dusty Richards [Richards, Dusty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-08-12T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Light snow fell all day. They stopped for the night at a roadhouse for freighters who were headed south for Fort Apache. Chet felt cold despite his layered clothing that was usually sufficient to keep him warm. They had the horses put up and headed for the bar and diner for supper. In the big noisy room of people he felt the heat hit his face. He hoped he wasn’t taking a cold. That was all he needed.

They ordered food—the man who waited on them said they had beef, potatoes, and carrots. That included bread and coffee. The meal price was fifty cents, which was double café prices in civilized places, but they were not there and this place had no competition. He unbuttoned his coat and rose to put it on the chair back. Sometimes these chases were hell. Chet recalled Jesus’s complaints of that cold run, coming back from Utah with all the prisoners and Ben Ivor’s second wife-to-be Kathrin. He was so pleased with the success of that trip he never noticed the low temperatures.

The coffee was not good. Their meals came in a bowl as thin stew, and the bread was like the French made that you tore off in chunks and dumped in the liquid. It was not a select spot to spend the night when he could have been in his own warm house with his wife and eating Monica’s meals. After he finished, he sat back, realized that Utah was Jesus’s worst trip and this might be his worst so far.

Morning they had pancakes and thin sugar syrup. Chet didn’t even try the coffee. They loaded the packhorses and saddled up to head south. Clear, cold mountain air swept his face and they rode. They reached the village of Snow Flake mid-morning and found the Yavapai County deputy.

Steve Knowles was the man in charge. After their introductions, Knowles asked, “What happened to Cates?”

“He resigned before we closed the Farrell murder case and left for parts unknown.”

“Was he a suspect?”

“We have one unanswered part he played. He cashed a five-hundred-dollar bill around the time Farrell was murdered, and that drew suspicion on him. Nothing was done about it. It looked bad, but I had no evidence that large bill came from Farrell’s money.”

“Did you see it? The bill?”

“No, but the banker at Holbrook said he had to look up a picture of it. He didn’t know the person pictured on it, but it was valid.

“We had a bloody shoot-out with Robbie Clements and his hired guns, and by the time we came out unscathed, Cates had gone.”

Knowles shook his head. “Hell, they said that the guy killed was an old skinflint.”

“His brother who died owned the Candy Cane Mine at Silver City, and Farrell received near a hundred thousand dollars in inheritance money.”

“What was your take on it all?”

“I don’t take reward money.”

Everyone laughed.

“Well, you solved that one. Now I hope you find my killer. He, or they, have murdered four families. We are a pretty close-knit community here.

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