Pray for Death by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2020-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Inside the saloon it became strangely quiet. Etta Grice stood by the table, now empty of diners, baffled by the absence of the two people who had gone outside to contact Teddy. With no motivation to start cleaning up her kitchen, she remained in the saloon, watching the two obviously desperate men, aware of the mounting tension between them. Finally, after what seemed an inordinate amount of time since Bud went out the door, Jace spoke. “What in the hell is goin’ on? He shoulda been back here by now.”

“He’s out there,” Cobb declared solemnly. “Tanner, that’s what’s happened to ’em. He’s out there and he’s waitin’ for us to come get him. But he’s still a dead man if he tries to come in here to get us.”

“I’m wastin’ my time lookin’ out this front window,” Jace decided. “It’s plain that he ain’t in the front. He’s back by the corral. That’s where we sent everybody, and they ain’t come back.” To emphasize his belief, he returned to the bar. “The thing we ain’t thought about is the fact that he’s settin’ down there at the corral with all our horses. We can’t get outta here without walkin’ into that rifle of his.”

“We ain’t wantin’ to get outta here,” Cobb insisted. “We can sure as hell wait him out. We’ve got food and somebody to cook it. We’ll wait him out till he gets hungry and tired of settin’ down there by the corral. Then when he decides he’s gonna try to come get us, we’ll be waitin’ for him.”

“What if he decides to run our horses off?” Jace asked, still skeptical of their situation. “We was plannin’ to leave here and go to the Arbuckles. I’d sure hate to have to walk there.”

“He ain’t gonna run the horses off,” Cobb replied, not sure of it, since Jace brought it up, but reluctant to admit the possibility. “Stayin’ right here where we can cut him down, if he finally does get up the guts to come in here after us, is the best thing to do.” He glanced over at Etta, still standing, listening to the discussion. “Like I said, we’ve got food and somebody to cook it for us. We’re in good shape. Ain’t we, Etta?”

She didn’t answer his question, making a statement instead. “I reckon I’d best get in there and clean up my kitchen,” she said.

“And put on another pot of coffee,” Cobb called after her as she disappeared through the door to the kitchen.

“Right!” Etta yelled back at him.

Back to Jace then, Cobb said, “We need to make sure we don’t get sleepy till after we take care of Tanner. I swear, though, I’ve drunk so much coffee already that I might need to tell Etta to find me another fruit jar.” He forced a chuckle in appreciation for his humor.

Jace made an effort to join in, but found nothing humorous about the situation the two of them found themselves in. He walked back

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