Slow Pike: A Western Frontier Adventure by Robert Peecher

Author:Robert Peecher [Peecher, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mooncalf Press
Published: 2022-10-04T04:00:00+00:00

Pike stood by the door to one of the back rooms, rifle in hand, the door cracked slightly, his foot covering it so that no one would be able to easily push it open.

Deputy Towns stood in a back corner of the room. He also had his rifle in his hand.

Constance Martin sat in a chair, partially hidden behind a wardrobe.

Pike glanced in her direction. If Murdock's lawyer made it through the door, she would not be an easy target to hit. That might buy Towns time enough to shoot the lawyer. Of course, if Murdock's lawyer made it through the door, that would mean that he'd managed to kill Pike.

What worried him wasn't the lawyer coming through the door, though. What worried him was the deputy's bare head.

"Where's your hat?" Pike hissed at the deputy.

Towns shook his head, perplexed. To avoid being overheard, Pike was mouthing the words at him, and the deputy did not read lips.

"Your hat, deputy," Pike tried again, keeping his voice silent. "Where is your hat?"

But Towns offered only a shrug and a blank expression in return, and Pike didn't know if the man had lost his hat or if he still failed to understand what Pike was saying.

Through the cracked door, Pike could hear voices coming from the front room, though he could not make out what they were saying, catching only a word or phrase here and there. He heard the noise of fork scraping against plate. The rise and fall of the conversation suggested pleasant banter, small talk, and it sounded like Helm and his wife were doing most of the talking. It also sounded to Pike that only the lawyer was eating. He could imagine the scene – Helm standing near the front door, hoping to keep the lawyer's attention focused in that direction. Aggie, probably with little George on her hip, standing ready to get the lawyer anything he needed – more beans, more drink, more bread. Raymond, he figured, was tending to the horse.

Miss Connie leaned forward to where she could see Pike. She smiled to him and he gave her back a sour grin.

Every heartbeat seemed to take minutes as they waited out the moment to see what disaster might come.

As best as Pike could tell, the lawyer was alone. Pike reckoned there was small chance that he would try anything on his own, and smaller chance that he would be successful if he did. But it defied reason that Murdock's lawyer was out here by chance.

Was he looking for the two imbeciles whom Pike had dispatched on the ride out – Wendell and Cork? Was he looking for the rest of the outfit, camped upstream from the station and presumably still avoiding the posse that was seeking them? Did he know? Did the lawyer somehow know that the sole witness against his client was here at the stagecoach station? And if he did know, would he alert the rest of the outfit and send them down here?

Five men.

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