The Hanged Man (The Lawmen Western #5) by J.B. Dancer

Author:J.B. Dancer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: westerns, zane grey, louis lamour, john harvey, piccadilly publishing, lawmen outlaws, westerns ebooks, angus wells, western lawmen, b n rundell
Publisher: Piccadilly

Chapter Eight

FISHER WALKED BRISKLY down the slope of the main street and away from the noise and glitter of the Golden Queen. Behind him light spilled out onto the boardwalk and the hard-packed dirt of the street. Fisher imagined for an instant that he could hear the notes of the piano playing a tune that was strangely familiar, but he knew it was unlikely to be so.

He had no topcoat and hunched his shoulders as he walked; hands pushed down into the pockets of his suit jacket. Soon he would be back at the small rooming house where he had a bed.

There was no girl this night: not after talking to Emma. Not after being so close to her. Fisher would never admit the possibility of a feeling he would have been loath to even name as love. To him that represented a weakness and nothing more. But there was something about her that stirred him and not only in his loins.

Fisher scowled in the darkness of the street and kicked at the ground.

The sound that followed was something different.

Something not of his own making.

Lee Fisher stopped, hands in his pockets no longer, the left one opening the front of his coat, the right brushing the well-worn butt of his Colt Navy.

His hearing strained against the backdrop from the saloon, the noises from other places where lights still burned.

“Mister!”

It was a high whisper from across the street. Fisher turned his head, levered the gun out from his holster and began to step slowly, cautiously across.

“Mister!”

There was an alley alongside the barber shop and a veil of darkness cut it off from the street itself. Down there was someone who spoke and moved fractionally; someone who waited.

Fisher went fast to the nearest wall and stood flat against it. As he glanced back up the street, he saw the fall of light as men pushed open the batwing doors of the Golden Queen.

“Mister!”

“What?”

“Got a message for you.”

Fisher shifted his ground. “Show yourself.”

There was the quick, sharp scratch and hiss of a match. Fisher looked around the edge of the wall and saw the face of the youngster who had tried to rob him in the snow.

Fisher gestured with his Colt, “What in hell’s name you want?”

“Never mind that,” replied Rance with a sign of his former temper. “Some people want to see you.”

Fisher felt himself go tense. “Who? Where?”

The youth pointed left. “Outside town. They didn’t give no names. Asked for you right enough. Described you so’s I couldn’t mistake you.”

“Tell them they want to talk to me …

The boy came towards him. “Said they wouldn’t come into town. Ain’t hard to reason why.”

“Go on.”

“I guess they’re from Plummer’s Gang. That’s what I’d say.”

“That what they say?”

Rance shook his head. “They didn’t say nothing. Except fetch you.” He put one hand in his pocket. “They paid me. More when you come back to ’em.”

Men walked along the street and Fisher moved back into the shadows, making the youngster do the same.

When the footsteps had passed, Fisher put up his gun “An’ you don’t know what they want?”

“No.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.