“We’re just testing my skills at direction, friend, but I appreciate the concern. We didn’t mean to disturb your sleep.”
“I’m not your friend,” the man shouted. He wavered from side to side as if still drunk on last night’s whiskey.
To Em’s surprise, Lewton Paterson smiled and said, “You don’t want to be my enemy, sir.”
The man looked as confused as Emily felt. Was Lewt threatening him or advising him? If Lewt wasn’t going to be frightened, a robbery might not work unless the man before them was a cold killer. She could see the man stagger, unsure what to do next. He pushed the gun high as if to make sure Lewt saw it.
Lewt said casually, “Put down the weapon before someone gets hurt.”
For a second, the barrel lowered a few inches, and then the drifter changed his mind and waved it.
“I think I’ll take the horse before I go,” the stranger said, trying to keep his voice steady. “When the deputy told me to leave town last night, he didn’t seem to care that I was walking.”
“I don’t think I can give her up.” Lewt patted his mount. “The horse is not mine to give.”
“Get off that horse or I’ll shoot you off it.”
Em fought down a scream. No wonder Lewt’s family never came out in the daytime. They were too dumb to survive in the real world.
Just as she reached for his arm, she heard Lewt say, “All right. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Lewt stood in the saddle and pulled one foot from the stirrup. “I was really hoping we could be friends. It’s always so much better for one of us.”
What happened next was a blur to Em. Lewt seemed to make a great show of swinging his leg over the horse. The tail of his coat flew in the air like a huge bat wing. As he leaned, his free hand moved down the side of his leg, still in the stirrup. A heartbeat later, a knife flew through the air and landed in the robber’s hand.
The stranger yelled in pain as he dropped the gun he’d been pointing at them.
Lewt’s new boots hit the ground. In two steps he was in front of the robber. He picked up the bumbling bandit’s gun with one hand and retrieved his knife with the other.
The outlaw screamed as the blade pulled back through his flesh and his knees buckled beneath him. He cupped his bleeding hand in his unharmed palm. “Look what you did!” he wailed. “It went all the way through.” He cried and babbled on about how bad it hurt. Blood filled his unharmed hand and was dripping in the dirt.
Lewt jerked the bandanna hanging loosely around his neck and began wrapping the wound. “Sorry about that, but I did warn you.”
The stranger looked like he might pass out. He glared, glassy-eyed, at Lewt as if he could no longer understand the language.
“Come on. We’ll get you to a doctor.” Lewt helped the robber onto his horse, climbed up behind him, and looked at Em for guidance. “Lead the way,” he snapped, as if waking her with a slap. “There must be a doctor in town.”
Em jerked into action. She kicked the horse and rushed toward a big white house at the edge of town. There, her aunt had run a small clinic for almost twenty years; Em knew the shortcut and she took it as fast as she thought Lewt could manage.
Five minutes later they were in the doctor’s office. The nurse, Bonnie Faye, started to greet Em when she hit the door but reconsidered when she saw the blood on the man who followed her in. She began barking orders to all, including the doctor. This was an emergency, and emergencies were Bonnie Faye’s specialty.
Dr. Hutchison was an old man who usually helped Aunt Sage out only occasionally, but with Sage gone, he took over in the office. He’d seen enough to no longer be curious. He simply directed them into the inner office, cleaned the entry and exit wounds, put three stitches in the palm and four on the back of the robber’s hand without bothering with any painkiller, and wrapped the wound.
The robber screamed awhile and then cried.
Em watched as Lewt stepped to the doorway and talked softly to the nurse. The city slicker probably couldn’t take the sight of blood, even if he was the one who caused the bleeding. All she could figure out was the guy must have