Red River Vengeance by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2021-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

After turning the Ranger and his posseman’s horses back in the corral, they remained there at the stable with Prince until Bill Simmons arrived to take care of Leonard’s body. “Afternoon, gents,” Simmons greeted them. Looking around the group standing there, he naturally asked McQueen who his benefactor was for this piece of business. “Who done for this one, Sheriff?” When told it was Perley who had done the shooting, he nodded as if he suspected as much. “This poor soul was your prisoner, wasn’t he?” McQueen nodded, so Simmons said, “Then I reckon he ain’t got anything on him of any value. Will the town be paying for his burial?”

“Yeah, I reckon so,” McQueen replied, “since he was in the town jail. The usual fee for puttin’ him in the ground.”

“I appreciate that,” Grady Prince spoke up. “I figured I’d have to pay to get a hole dug for him, but I reckon, since he never got inside my jail wagon, he wasn’t ever officially in my custody.” When no one disagreed, he said, “In that case, I’m sure I owe for a couple rounds of drinks.” His statement was met with a welcome grunt of approval from the small group of men standing with him. “I know I especially owe Mr. Perley Gates a drink,” Prince added.

Since Simmons’s son wasn’t with him, Possum helped Bill load the body onto his wagon. Then they started back down the street to Patton’s Saloon, and Perley moved up beside Prince. “I ’preciate the offer of a drink,” Perley said, “but if you don’t mind, I’ll take you up on it a little later. I promised a young lady I’d call on her just before supper and I don’t wanna show up with whiskey on my breath. She’s a real proper young lady and I don’t want her to think poorly of me.”

The stoic lawman looked at Perley in amazement. Then he couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “Hell, good for you, Perley,” he said. “Matter of fact, it’s a good idea to let ’em find out about your drinkin’ after you tie the knot. You know where we’ll be when you’re done.” Prince continued on toward the saloon, still chuckling over the thought of the man whose lightning-like reflexes had just saved his life.

Raymond Patton was there to welcome them when they walked into his saloon, which was not that common a practice. No one was aware of that more than Benny Grimes, who told Possum that Patton was making his appearances more often since Redmond Quinn had arrived. And his guess was that it was because Quinn had come to represent the ownership of the saloon since he was there most of the time and he acted as if he was the official greeter. Benny said Raymond couldn’t complain because they were selling more whiskey since Quinn arrived.

They pulled a couple of tables together to make one big one with Patton’s help. Grady Prince, Willie James, McQueen, Perley, Possum, and Walt Carver all took a seat.

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