Never Seen Deader by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone [Johnstone, William W.; Johnsto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2020-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Sam Knight wasn’t in a particular hurry to return to the Lucky Draw. He had too much to think over. After leaving Buffalo Springs, his plan to become a gambler had worked just fine—for a week or so. He was good at poker, but he realized he had played only miners with no sense of winning. They played for the release it gave them, the companionship that had nothing to do with swinging a pickax, and, he realized, the thrill of maybe winning. There were only a couple miners who had ever sat across from him that had any idea what to do with their money if they’d won. Most would gamble away a windfall until it was lost, buy a round or two of drinks for the house, or go off to find a lady of the night to steal the money from them.

In spite of the long and tiring hours, in spite of the smoky and noisy surroundings, Knight had enjoyed his stint as a gambler. His nimble fingers handled the cards well, and he was a rarity among professionals. He refused to cheat, even when it was easy. Too many of the miners almost begged him to lie about what he held as he laid down the cards, being too drunk to see straight. Everything on the table before them was seen in pairs because of doubled vision. His code of honor was set in stone. He played to win, but he also played fair.

That notion rose repeatedly as he rode back to the Lucky Draw mine. All that he had encountered, all that he had endured, he always played fair. He wasn’t sure he had come close to giving Gerald Donnelly his due back in Pine Knob, but he felt no guilt about crippling the man. If anything, Donnelly deserved more punishment than he had received. And Victoria? Knight’s thoughts of his former wife were confused. She and Donnelly deserved each other, but he had real regrets about Amelia Parker. Leaving her as he had tore at his heart, and he knew it had hers, too, but it had been necessary.

Hector Alton had been a gunfighter intent on killing Knight and anyone near him. He had tried to match Knight’s speed and accuracy with a gun and had fallen short. Milo Hannigan had been worse. He had once counted Knight as a friend, and turning on him for a few dollars hadn’t bothered him one iota. Gunning him down had been more self-defense and defense of others whose lives Knight valued than anything else, but it proved one thing. Gerald Donnelly would keep sending killers. Knight might be lucky a few more times in stopping them with a quick draw and accurate shot, but eventually one would end his life. Or worse, begin killing those Knight loved most.

Amelia Parker didn’t realize it, but he had done the right thing by leaving without so much as a whisper in her ear. If she didn’t know where he was, Donnelly’s killers would ignore her.

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