Wyatt got caught by lookouts around the ranch where the roadhouse stood, he’d say he was alone and wait for the other three to come get him.
Em thought it a better plan to storm the roadhouse firing and demand Duncan back, but Sumner reminded her that they had only a gambler’s word that Duncan was there, and everyone knows what that’s worth.
Lewt glared at the old man, but didn’t comment.
Sumner talked them into making camp in a grove of trees an hour before dark. He said that if his memory hadn’t failed him, the roadhouse was about three more miles and this would be a safe distance to camp. With the wind from the west and the low cloud cover threatening rain, they all decided to risk a small fire.
Wyatt rode in with the sunset and told them he’d circled the place twice. He thought he saw a few men who might be guards posted around Three Forks but none on horseback patrolling the area. He didn’t go in because with his years in the rangers, there was a good chance someone might recognize him.
Sumner offered to go, claiming he’d been out so many years any outlaws who knew him were long dead. Em thought of telling them she’d go into the place and act like she was looking for directions or something, but a woman traveling alone in these parts would be too rare to be normal.
“I’ll go in,” Lewt said from the tree line where he’d disappeared while Em and Sumner made camp.
Em turned to argue, but her words caught in her throat. Lewt Paterson stood before her, all six feet of him, dressed in a tailored white suit made of fine wool and a gold vest that reflected the firelight. As he had in the black suit he first wore, the wrangler clothes she’d given him, and the expensive western wear he’d bought in town, Lewt Paterson looked like he belonged in what he wore.
He hooked a finger into his vest pocket as if he’d done so a thousand times.
“Evening, Gambler.” Wyatt laughed. “I was wondering when you’d decide to shed your skin and let your true colors fly.”
Sumner stood. “You should be able to convince them you’re there to play cards in that outfit, son, but can you handle the game of poker?”
“I’ll manage.” Lewt’s slow smile had a glint of the maverick in it. “No one knows me this far south. I’m the only one of you who can walk into the place and not draw too much attention. I’ll ride over tonight and see what I can find out. If Duncan is being held there, someone will know. Folks talk more at night when they’re drinking than they do in the morning when they’re hung over. All I got to do is play a few hands and listen.”
Em wondered if Lewt could pull off such a disguise, and then she remembered how he’d once told her that the only conversation he’d had with a woman involved asking, How much do you charge for an hour? Apparently, the rich mole family who raised him and never taught him to ride but let him play with a knife in church also let him gamble and carry on conversations with women who sold their time by the hour.
“You’ll need a gun belt,” Sumner said. “I noticed all you brought with you was that rifle I lent you the other day.”
“No,” Lewt said. “I’ll go in unarmed. A gambler with a gun is just asking to be called out if his card playing comes into question. If I’m unarmed, men are more likely to want to settle any argument with fists.” He glanced at Sumner. “Before you ask, I can handle myself.”
Wyatt smiled. “At least as far as they know, you’re unarmed, right? Duncan told me once that you can halve a fly in flight from across the room with one of your thin knives.”
“One of?” Em echoed. It never occurred to her that the bumbling man who could barely ride a horse might carry two or more weapons.
He met her stare. “Em, I’ll be all right. It may take me all night, but I’ll find out what we need to know. I’m the only logical one to ride in. If we all tried it at once, we’d be cut down.”
Wyatt reached for his horse’s reins. “I’ll ride with you as far as I can, but once you go over that hill, you’re on your own.”
Lewt moved to