Lonesome Death of Joe Savage by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480487383
Publisher: Open Road Media

SEVEN

The night sky was clear, hung with stars so bright that it seemed there were a hundred candelabra suspended there. The moon was a dying presence in the west. Tracy ached; his head throbbed still as he rode east toward the only place he could think of where he might find refuge and a soft bed to sleep on: the Rafter T.

He didn’t think Amos Tucker would be upset by his sudden appearance at the ranch. It was early enough in the evening that he would not be disturbing the cattleman. Tracy still believed that Tucker could tell him more about the Joe Savage affair. But not on this night. Tracy was in no mood for a long conversation. He would only show up, apologize for arriving uninvited and ask for a bunk to sleep on. This day had gone on long enough.

When Tracy swung down at the fountain in the Rafter T yard, he was stiff enough that it was labor to do so. The chill night air was beginning to swirl around him as a night wind rose. He made his way to the heavy door through which he had been admitted before and knocked loudly. There was no sound from within. He rapped again and finally heard the faint shuffle of approaching footsteps. He hoped that he hadn’t awakened Amos Tucker after all.

The door swung open a few inches and Tracy found himself looking into the eyes of a strange-looking little man. He was dressed in white linen like those a Mexican peon would wear, but this man was not Spanish or Indian. He was shaped like a pear. His red hair was cut in a burr, and the skimpy mustache he wore on his upper lip looked as if it had been newly, roughly sheared.

‘I’d like to see Mr Tucker,’ Tracy told him. From deep within the house a voice, recognizable as Tucker’s, called out.

‘Who is it, Jeffrey?’

‘Not somebody I know,’ the little man said in a strangely accented voice.

‘It’s Tracy Keyes,’ Tracy called over the little man’s shoulder. That seemed to irritate him, but Tracy was beyond such petty concerns on this night.

‘Tracy? Show him in, Jeffrey!’

Glumly, Jeffrey opened the door wide enough for Tracy to enter. He followed the shuffling Jeffrey across the tiled floor, his boot heels clicking. They found Amos Tucker in the same room Tracy had visited before. There was a fire in the hearth. Not enough to warm the room, but enough to make the chilly night more comfortable for a man sitting near it. Tucker’s eyes flickered toward Tracy as he approached.

‘Sit down,’ Amos Tucker invited, gesturing with a hand. He placed a thick, leather-bound book aside. Tracy was near enough to see that it was a Bible. He seated himself carefully under Tucker’s observant gaze.

‘Who was it? Porky Goode again?’ Tucker asked with a faint smile.

‘No. I made a new friend. I was trying to mind my own business and stay out of trouble. But the men in Eagle Rock don’t make that easy.

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