Dark Canyon (1963) by L'amour Louis

Author:L'amour, Louis [L'amour, Louis]
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2010-12-12T06:26:17.171000+00:00

McCarty knew from previous experience that when Larsen would not talk there was no use trying to get anything from him. He glanced around the room. "I haven't seen young Riley in town lately." "No."

Just then Dan Shattuck opened the door for Marie and they entered the room, speaking to first one and then another. McCarty, who was at heart a romantic, noted the quick look around by Marie, and her evident disappointment.

"Somebody else," he commented to Larsen, "misses our friend Riley."

Larsen did not reply, and McCarty's eyes followed the sheriff's toward Spooner, who was staring at Marie. The expression in his eyes was both insolent and somehow possessive.

Dan Shattuck looked up and Spooner's eyes swung away, but not so quickly that Shattuck did not notice. McCarty saw the rancher's face darken with anger, but at a whispered word from Marie he turned his attention to her.

McCarty reviewed the situation in his mind and liked none of it. News there would be, and he was interested in news, but this situation looked like news . Of a kind he could do without. There were too many elements, too many threads . . . and some of those whom he both liked and respected were sure to be hurt.

Pico entered, and crossed to Shattuck's table and joined him. The big Mexican had been almost a member of Shattuck's family for many years, since long before Marie was born. It was well known in the community that Pico had long considered himself a sort of guardian for Marie.

Shattuck said something to Pico, and Marie seemed to be protesting. Pico's eyes lifted, and across the room they met the eyes of Strat Spooner, but the big gunman merely gave the Mexican a taunting smile and looked away.

McCarty was puzzled over Spooner's change of attitude. He had been around town for some time, but he had always been careful, had avoided contact with the people of the town, and had rarely left Hardcastle's saloon unless on some errand for Hard-castle. Now he seemed almost to invite trouble. Strat Spooner's manner, the whispers of impending trouble for Shattuck, and the mysterious drifters who kept passing through town or reappearing in town worried McCarty. He was a friendly man, and the people of Rimrock he counted as his friends, yet even Larsen, under his placid exterior, was obviously worried.

Larsen had been going about more. He seemed never to sleep, and there were few evenings now when he was not dropping into the restaurant or one of the saloons. He was present, without fail, when Shattuck came into town, though he only watched and said nothing.

Several days passed after this evening in the restaurant, and McCarty was making up his paper. Suddenly a shadow fell across his window, and the door opened. It was Gaylord Riley.

He bought a newspaper, chatted a bit, then stepped outside. What happened then, McCarty observed with interest. Peg Oliver walked by and cut Riley dead. Eyes straight to the front, chin lifted, she walked right by him.

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