Chapter Eight
Beth’s Colt snapped to her hands.
Her arms out. Her aim straight.
The cowboy started to raise his gun.
She fired.
Twice.
He spun and dropped.
The sounds of the gunshots echoed off the hills. Only the rush of blood in her ears threatened to drown it out. Her breath came hard.
“My God!” Rose exclaimed.
Lieutenant Tompkins was already running toward the fallen man with his own gun drawn. Beth looked around—she didn’t see anyone else. She hurried to catch up with him.
He quickly knelt by the man and touched his cheek. Then he rolled him onto his back. His head flopped lifelessly. His shirt was already soaked with blood and the stain was spreading fast.
“Right through the heart,” Lieutenant Tompkins muttered.
Beth stared at the cowboy. His mouth had fallen open, his tongue partly out. His glassy eyes saw nothing. The blood on his chest continued to spread.
Her stomach twisted and heaved. She turned aside, dropped to her knees, and started vomiting.
“Whoa,” Lieutenant Tompkins said. “Are you all right?”
She nodded as best she could as she continued to empty her stomach.
“Oh, dearie,” Rose said from somewhere behind her. “Let’s move back a bit.”
Beth felt her friend take her hand and gently pull. She let herself be led at a half crouch to a small rock where they sat down together. Beth’s stomach continued to heave, but nothing more came out.
“Want something to drink, missy?” Jeb asked from somewhere nearby. His dirty bottle appeared in front of her face. He’d taken the stopper out.
“Rinse your mouth out,” Rose urged. “It’ll help.”
Beth nodded. Between heaves, she grasped the bottle and took a swig. The moonshine burned her gums, but it made the bile go away. She swished and spit.
Very unladylike, she couldn’t help thinking.
She finally looked up. Lieutenant Tompkins had finished with the body and was walking toward them.
“First kill?” he asked when he’d come close.
She tiredly shook her head. “Second. But I didn’t get sick the first time. I think it was all the blood this time.”
“It gets easier, I’m afraid. The killing.”
She sensed his black humor but only managed half a chuckle. “That’s what I’ve heard.”
“He didn’t have much on him,” Lieutenant Tompkins continued. “A few coins and this.” He held out a leather bag and then loosened its drawstring. Then he tilted it over and poured several gold nuggets of various sizes into his open palm.
“Oh, my!” Jeb yelped. “Oh, my! That’s a lot of gold! A lot of gold!”
“Several thousand dollars’ worth,” Lieutenant Tompkins agreed. “There’s no way a cowboy living in shantytown came by this honestly.”
“They were paid,” Rose said.
“They,” Beth said. Her stomach had settled to a low burble and she could breathe normally. “We need to find his friend, and quick. There’s no way he didn’t hear the gunfire.”
Lieutenant Tompkins nodded grimly. He slid the nuggets back into the bag and extended a hand to help Beth to her feet.
Jeb and Rose decided to stay on the small ridge near the body. It had a clear view all around, and Rose promised they’d run if they saw trouble. Beth and Lieutenant Tompkins headed down the trail, both with guns out.
Beth kicked a loose rock through the dirt. It skittered past a row of thistles and sent a small field mouse running. But that was it—nothing moved in the few remaining shanties ahead. About twenty feet from the closest, Lieutenant Tompkins pulled up short. He shaded his eyes and looked west, up the slope, at a cluster of pines. Nothing moved there. They studied the broken-down shack, which was little more than a pole, a wall, and a tarp. Nothing moved there either.
“Circle around,” Lieutenant Tompkins said. He gestured for her to go right, up the slope. When she started that way, he went left.
Still nothing moved in the lean-to.
Where was the other cowboy?
She could see three other shelters, here at the edge of town. No one moved near any of them. One looked completely abandoned. The others might’ve been, but it was hard to tell.
She also couldn’t hear anything. No yells. No one running.
Lieutenant Tompkins crept closer to the shanty. He peered in and frowned in disgust. Then he waved Beth toward the next one.
This one was sturdier than the others. Three log walls and a plank roof implied it had once been a small cabin or barn, though it wasn’t wider than maybe ten feet. Weeds already covered the side facing Beth.
She carefully circled around until she could see inside. No people, but some lumps. She waved Lieutenant Tompkins forward. Still looking left and right for any surprises, she went to investigate.
Two bedrolls and a couple of worn haversacks sat near a cold fire pit. Food scraps and chicken bones filled a corner of the shack. It smelled stale and overripe.
Lieutenant Tompkins joined her. He pointed at the haversacks. “Those are old, from the War Between the States. I’m surprised they’re not falling apart.”
He glanced around and then knelt by them. It took him a minute to undo the knots and look inside the first one.
“Rock hammer,” he said, “mining pan, small drill …” He glanced sideways and pointed to a small wooden box by the back wall. “That’s a rocker box. It looks like they were looking for gold.”
“Not successfully,” Beth said, “or they wouldn’t live here.”
“True,” he said. “I think this is where those cowboys were living, but we should have Jeb look at this stuff. He’ll know.” He stood and dusted off his pants. “But we should check out that last shack first.”
They approached it with the same care as the others. It didn’t take long to tell it was abandoned, though. The tattered canvas “roof” flapped in the light breeze and the walls creaked as they swayed. Tall weeds filled the inside.
With nothing in it, they stood at the entrance and slowly looked around the rest of the area. The valley between the South Table Mesa and the mountains continued its slow sprawl south. The scrub bushes and occasional pine scattered the land, but there weren’t any more dwellings. The rutted trail leading south was empty as well. More sparse trees and bushes dotted the slopes, but no people.
“Let’s talk to Jeb,” Beth said.
They found the old miner and Rose waiting nervously on the rise. Rose kept glancing at the nearby body with a horrified look of disgust. Lieutenant Tompkins briefly described the tools they’d found and then they led Jeb and Rose to the old shack.
Jeb took one look at the rocker box. “Oh, my. That was Old Joe’s.”
“Old Joe’s?” Beth asked.
“Yup. He said he sold it to some yokels. That was … last week, it was. Yup. Last week.”
“Where’s Old Joe now?” Lieutenant Tompkins asked.
“Used the money to buy a stagecoach ticket to Santa Fe. That’s all he got for it though.”
Beth frowned. She looked at Lieutenant Tompkins. “If the cowboys bought this from Old Joe last week, then they were here before you arrived. They couldn’t’ve been following you.”
“They were hired.” He tapped the pouch of gold nuggets. “I doubt they could’ve mined this much in a week.”
“Not that much around here,” Jeb agreed. “No sirree.”
“The horses were stolen by the people who hired them,” Beth concluded. “They’re probably gone, leaving their hired guns behind.”
“So what now?” Rose asked.
Lieutenant Tompkins grimaced. “We go back to town and I find a few men to help me bury the one Miss Armstrong shot.” He snorted softly and smiled at her. “Good shooting, by the way.”
Her gut still churned over the memory of the man falling. And of his lifeless face. But Beth couldn’t help thinking, Yeah, Hickok would’ve been proud.
Beth’s group found Boggs and Mr. Lake on Washington Street in front of Mr. Dooley’s place. The men who’d helped carry the coffins sat in the bed of the now-empty wagon and talked quietly among themselves. Boggs and Mr. Lake looked up from their own conversation as Beth’s party approached. Boggs took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his brow.
“We’ve got another body for you,” Lieutenant Tompkins said. “One of Mr. Dooley’s killers was hiding down in Shantytown. Jeb here recognized him.”
The men in the wagon fell silent. Mr. Lake and Boggs stared at the lieutenant.
“You said ‘body,’” Boggs said. “What happened?”
“He tried to draw on us,” Lieutenant Tompkins said. He tilted his head toward Beth. “But Miss Armstrong was faster. Got him straight through the heart.”
“That girl?” scoffed one of the men in the wagon.
“No way!” added another.
“He must’ve been slow,” Boggs muttered.
“He was not!” Rose interjected. “His gun was already out before she touched hers.”
“Bull,” one of the men said. He turned and spat.
“Was too!” Beth snapped. Without thinking, her hand dropped to her Colt.
“Now hold on, Miss Armstrong,” Mr. Lake said. “There’s no need for that.”
She turned on him. “You’ve seen me! You know Hickok trained me!”
“Yeah, but that don’t make you a gunfighter,” Boggs said.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because you’re a girl.”
Beth saw red. Her blood raced. Her muscles tensed. She narrowed her eyes, but then Rose put a hand on her arm.
“We do need some help with the body,” Rose said sweetly to Boggs. “If you big, strong men could help us, we’d be much obliged.” She smiled sunnily at him and then the men in the wagon.
Breathe, Beth thought. Deep breaths. Hickok said to never shoot angry—it messed up your aim.
She forced herself to concentrate on her breathing and on calming herself down.
While she was counting her breaths, Lieutenant Tompkins arranged for the men to go retrieve the body. The path was too narrow and rocky for the wagon, so they went looking for a gurney. Meanwhile, Rose sweet-talked Mr. Lake into letting Jeb stay at the Astor.
“For his own safety,” she said. “Besides, there won’t be any boarders with you closing it up, so he won’t be in the way.”
After Mr. Lake acquiesced, Rose turned to Beth. “Let’s get him settled,” she said quietly. “Then we can plan our next move.”
“Our?” Beth’s eyebrows went up.
“You’re not foolish enough to think you don’t need my help, are you?” Rose teased. “Let’s go.”
At the Astor, Rose set about getting the big wash tub set up in one of the now-vacated rooms. She started heating water in kettles down in the kitchen and told Jeb that if he was going to stay at the Astor, he needed a bath. He nodded, wide-eyed. For once he seemed at a loss for words.
Beth helped tote the kettles to the room. They took a dozen trips until the tub was filled deep enough to at least pass for a bathtub, though more of Jeb would be out of the water than in. Then they left him and retreated to the now deserted parlor. Rose brought out a teapot and two cups. The two of them settled comfortably at the table by the piano.
“So what’s the plan?” Rose asked.
Beth blinked. “You’re asking me?”
“Ghosts and killers are your job.” Rose gestured toward Beth’s gun. “I wouldn’t even know how to begin to use that.”
“I could teach you.”
“No … no. Well, not now.”
Beth nodded. There’d be time later, if needed.
“So figuring out what we do next is your job,” Rose continued.
“I thought you wanted me to stay out of it and let the men handle it.”
“And how well did they do?” Rose arched her eyebrow and kept it there until Beth nodded in agreement.
“Besides,” Rose continued, “the army and most of the men are leaving town tomorrow. They’re no help. But we’ve still got killers out there, and stolen horses.”
“Don’t forget the ghost,” Beth said. “We still need to find the right one.”
“Right. And Raven’s ghost. Do you think she could help?”
Beth paused. “I … I don’t know. I don’t know how to talk to her.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, well. She just appears. I can’t summon her or anything. At least I don’t think I can.”
“Hmmm.” Rose leaned back in her chair and took another sip of tea. She stared out into space and pursed her lips.
“I think we should start by finding the ghost,” Beth said. “That’s what Raven would want.”
“Right,” Rose said. “If the other killer hasn’t left yet, he probably will once he hears about his friend. And whoever stole the horses should be long gone. So that ghost is the only one we know is still here.”
“If he ever was.”
Rose shrugged. “You’ll just have to look for him tonight.”
“That’s tonight. I wanna do something now.”
“Well … there is something you should do. You haven’t been home in, what, three, four days?”
Beth grimaced.
“You need to talk to her. You know your ma will be worried.”
“I suppose you’re right.” She let out a ragged sigh. “Just how upset do you think she’ll be?”