Murder Range by David Alan

Author:David, Alan [David, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

THE LITTLE COURT house was packed to suffocation that hot afternoon, and those of the townsfolk who could not get into the stifling building stood outside and waited impatiently for news. An ominous muttering ran through the crowd when Reuben Ridge, surrounded by his six gunmen, waddled along the sidewalk, pushed through the congregation and entered the court-room.

Gruber, in his wheelchair, headed the law party into the court. Olly and Barr walked behind the sheriff, and Lobo brought along his two prisoners. A ragged cheer greeted Lobo when he was seen, and his prisoners were jeered and pushed and manhandled by the crowd.

Inside the court the air was blue with cigarette smoke. Lobo wrinkled his nose at the animal smell coming from the closely packed bodies. He followed his prisoners and sat behind them to the left of the table on the dais at the front of the court. Gruber wheeled himself into position behind the prisoners, and Olly positioned himself at the sheriff’s side.

Ridge’s party seated itself in the front of the court. Lobo studied faces, and saw Stella seated opposite. Page was not present, was probably squiring Ginny. Lobo considered that fact, and found he did not like it. Was he falling in love with Ridge’s daughter, he wondered? He thought of Stella and was undecided. He felt something for both women, but whether pity for Stella and love for Ginny he did not know.

His musing was interrupted by the entrance of Judge Carter. The court rose and sat, and near silence descended. The judge was impatient to get to grips with the main case; the enquiry into the killing of the Staddens, and the public were of a similar mind.

Lobo’s two prisoners were dealt with summarily. Both pleaded guilty to the charge of obstructing a peace officer in the execution of his duty, and the judge fined them each fifty dollars. Reuben Ridge paid their fines and Lobo turned the two men loose.

‘You can pick up your guns from my office when the court rises,’ Gruber told them. ‘And don’t cause any more trouble or you may find yourselves in prison or dead. The law is being enforced in Pommel now. My advice to you is stay out of town.’

The gunman with the shattered hand looked venomously at Lobo.

‘When this paw is healed I shall come looking for you,’ he snarled.

‘Next time I’ll shoot to kill,’ Lobo promised.

‘Now get out of here,’ Gruber ordered.

The gunmen departed, and Lobo saw them stop and speak to Buck Page, who had appeared in the doorway.

Evidence of the identity of the dead gunmen was presented to the court by Pommel’s lawyer, and Lobo watched Stella as she gave her evidence in a quiet toneless voice. She described how her father and brother had been shot down; how the gunman, Rawlins, had chased her and shot her mount from under her, and how chance had permitted this to happen near the spot Ben Johnson sat his horse.

When Reuben Ridge took the

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