Gunmans Rhapsody by Parker Robert B

Author:Parker, Robert B. [Parker, Robert B.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-03-15T17:29:47+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Wyatt and Ike Clanton had a drink together at the Oriental in the late afternoon with the heat still oppressive. Ike was drinking whiskey with a beer chaser. Wyatt nursed a cup of coffee. Ike was a fancy-looking man, Wyatt thought. Curly hair and a tricky little Vandyke beard. His mouth seemed somehow loose as he talked, and the fine network of broken veins that spidered his sun-darkened face suggested how much beer and whiskey he'd drunk in a lifetime of ranch work and saloons.

I want the credit for capturing those three boys, Wyatt said. Be a big help to me if I run for sheriff, and it'll take the pressure off Doc.

Meaning you'll get them to confess and it'll clear Doc's name, Clanton said.

He had on a white cotton shirt. He had rolled the sleeves up and unbuttoned the collar.

Sweat was glossy on his neck and his bare arms. He swallowed a shot of whiskey and some beer.

That's about right, Wyatt said.

But I get the reward, Clanton said.

You get them back here where I can grab them and you get the money.

Secret.

If that's how you want it, Wyatt said.

If I was to do this at all, Clanton said, it's got to be that way. They ride with Brocius and Ringo. They was to find out I turned them boys in, I ain't got a snowball's chance in hell of living to spend the money.

Nobody will know, Wyatt said. Except my brothers.

Say I go over there, Clanton said. With Joe Hill, maybe Frank McLaury, and we get these boys to come back. And we get them out of New Mexico and bring them to, say, Frank's ranch. Then what?

Then I'm waiting with a posse and we take them and you get the reward money.

They'll make a fight, Clanton said. You're going to have to kill them.

Wyatt shrugged.

How do I know Wells Fargo will pay the reward if they're dead?

You got my word, Wyatt said.

No offense, but I don't know if Wells Fargo will stand by your word.

I'll get a telegram, Wyatt said. I'll have Marshal Williams put it in writing that they pay for Leonard, Head, and Crane or their corpses.

Ike poured more whiskey into his shot glass and drank it off, then drank the rest of his beer and motioned toward the barman that he wanted another one.

I'd just as soon see Billy Leonard out of the way, he said. I got a ranch in New Mexico that he says is his and he won't give it up.

So you get the reward money and settle the, ah, land dispute, Wyatt said.

Clanton drank again. He looked at Earp over the glass rim as he did. Hard man to figure, Ike thought. His face never showed anything. He never seemed to say more than he had to. You always had the sense that he had some cards held back and that what you were talking about was only part of what he was thinking.

How do I know you're leveling with me? Ike said.

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