The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,40

of the Bolins and their horses, and paid no attention to what they were packing.

Caitie had been missing for more than an hour when Edward Pevehouse came back to the stables to find his employee gone, as well as a customer’s horse. Certain that the youth had committed a theft, he ran toward the sheriff’s office to make a report.

As he came up Main Street, Pevehouse saw the sheriff in front of the saloon with that gunslinger, Breed. He paused, but only briefly. Whatever they were discussing could not be as important as what he had to say.

“Sheriff! I say, Sheriff!” Fully aware of the imperious quality in his voice, he narrowed the distance between them, complaining with every step. “I want to report a crime.”

Bud Williams turned, staring intently at the portly man heading his way. “Well, hell,” he muttered.

Joe Redhawk grinned. “You’re the man who wanted this job.”

Bud rolled his eyes. “Why didn’t you just shoot me then and put me out of my misery?”

Joe’s grin widened.

Pevehouse gave Joe a look of dismissal with apologizing for his interruption.

“Sheriff! I want to report a crime.”

“What crime?” Bud asked.

“My stable boy has stolen a horse. I want a posse formed and I want him brought back and hanged.”

Bud frowned. He’d seen the kid around town and was vaguely surprised by the accusation.

“Are you sure it was him?” he asked. “Maybe he fell asleep on the job and someone just rode out without paying.”

“No! He’s missing, as are his belongings and one of my horses. I want a posse formed now.”

Joe was in doubt from the first words out of Pevehouse’s mouth, and the more the man talked, the angrier he became. He kept thinking of yesterday’s incident with the Bolin Brothers and suspected there was more to her disappearance than a stolen horse.

When Pevehouse finally paused to take a breath, Joe chose the moment to interrupt. “Hey, Bud. Before you go off half-cocked, you might want to check and see if Milt and Art Bolin are still in town.”

Bud looked surprised. “Why?”

“I ain’t tellin’ you how to do your job, but I pissed the Bolins off real big yesterday while they were in the act of trying to mess with the kid. Could be they decided they needed revenge.”

Pevehouse poked at the star on Bud William’s shirt. “Now see here, I helped put you in office. You can go out the same—”

Bud grabbed his finger, warning thick in his voice. “Don’t remind me. And I’ll do this my way,” he added. “If Joe thinks there’s more to this, I believe him.”

Pevehouse yanked his hand out of the sheriff’s grasp. “Damn half-breed. How can he know anything, when he doesn’t even know who his own father was?”

Joe’s hand was on his gun before he had time to think, but a quiet warning from Bud made him turn and walk away.

Bud frowned. When he could trust himself to talk without cursing the man, he gave Pevehouse a cold, blue stare.

“You know, Pevehouse, if you choose to judge a man by something as insignificant as his birth, then I guess in your eyes, Joe has an excuse. What the hell is yours?”

He left before Pevehouse could answer. The way he was feeling, it wasn’t safe to stay and say any more. He caught up with Joe at the hitching post where his horse was tied.

“Hey, Joe!”

Redhawk paused in the act of tightening the girth and looked up.

“Sorry about that,” Bud said.

Joe shrugged. His eyes were dark with anger, but his voice was low and even. “You got nothing to apologize for.”

“Then why are you leaving? I thought we were going hunting tonight.”

“I’m still gonna hunt. Just not for deer.”

Bud frowned. “What are you getting at?”

Joe swung a leg up and over his horse, sliding the toe of his boots in the stirrups and testing them for length. “That stable boy is no boy. She’s a girl.”

Bud’s mouth went slack. “The hell you say!”

Joe yanked his hat down low until nothing was visible but the lower half of his face. If his hunch was right, he’d be riding straight into a setting sun.

“If the Bolins have discovered her secret, she’s in for real trouble and I’ve got to find her. I walked away yesterday knowing I should have stayed. It don’t pay to think about what they’ll do to her.”

Bud paled and then turned red in anger. Mistreating a woman was something a real man did not abide. He shook his head in disbelief.