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Episode Four
concluded with:
Both men skidded down the slope. Dehner palmed his Colt and
smoked a shot into Tully’s chest seconds before the outlaw collided with the
boulder Dehner had been crouched behind.
Tully Brooks dropped his gun; a second explosion from Dehner’s pistol landed
near the fallen weapon. The detective hurried onto his feet and retrieved
Brooks’ Smith and Wesson. “You won’t be needing this anymore, Tully.”
“‘Fraid you’re right.” The outlaw leaned his upper torso against the rock, then
closed his eyes and slid downwards.
Episode Five
***
Tully
Brooks opened his eyes and thought he was in hell. Bright flames dominated his
vision, and a terrible pain twisted through his body. But the cup handed to him
changed his mind.
“Guess they
don’t serve coffee in hell,” Brooks spoke as he slowly sat up, accepted the
cup, and leaned against the tree that was behind him.
“If they
do, it probably tastes like mine,” Rance Dehner said.
Tully took
a sip. “It might at that.”
“Getting
you off that mountain was no easy job,” Dehner looked back at the mountain as he
sipped from his own cup. “Your wound is serious. Tomorrow morning I’ll ride
into Hard Stone and bring back a doctor.”
“What about
Grinder?”
“Who?”
“My horse,
Grinder, I know he took a bad fall…”
The anxious
quality in Tully’s voice caused Dehner to speak softly. “He had a broken leg.
I’m sorry.”
Brooks
looked away for a moment. “You know, Grinder was a little past his prime,
shoulda got me a new horse. But…he was the only friend I had. Just couldn’t
give him up.”
The
detective allowed his prisoner a few moments of silence, then helped him out
with a question. “You seemed to be riding toward Hard Stone. Why?”
Tully
laughed carefully; he was in too much pain not to be cautious. “Funny… I’ve
lived a pretty useless life… the one time I decide to do somethin’ decent, I
end up gettin’ shot.”
Dehner
remained on his feet and looked at Tully curiously. If the prisoner wanted to
talk, Dehner would listen.
“How did
you happen on my trail, Rance?”
“The Lowrie
Agency has what you might call a standing order on you.”
Once again,
Tully laughed softly. “Bet it’s from Wells Fargo,--those hold ups I pulled last
year.”
Dehner
nodded his head. “I was finishing up a case in Denver when I got word you had
been there. Decided to look into it. You’ve made a fool out of me in the past,
Tully. Guess I got sort of a bug in my ear about capturing you.”
“I was the
fool in Denver, just went there to have a good time. Made one big mistake.”
“What was
that?”
“Read a
newspaper.” Tully Brooks paused for several moments. He tried to look calm but
his body trembled. The outlaw seemed to be battling a terrible wave of pain.
The wave
passed, or at least subsided. “Tell me Rance, hear anything about a bank hold
up in Hard Stone two weeks ago?”
“Can’t say
I have.”
“That was
my last job; helped a banker rob his own bank.”
Brooks
enjoyed the surprised expression on Dehner’s face. He explained about his
experience in Hard Stone.
“Sounds
crazy,” Dehner stared into the fire as if there might be some answers there. He
looked back at Tully Brooks. “You said there was something in a Denver paper
about all this?”
“That’s why
I was ridin’ back to Hard Stone,” Tully took a long sip of coffee and waited for
it to settle. “The paper says they got a man in jail for pulling that
robbery. George Conklin, the banker, has
positively identified him as the guy who pulled the hold up.”
“Sounds like there was more to your
last job than you thought.” Dehner gave
his prisoner a cockeyed expression. “Don’t tell me you were going back to Hard
Stone to confess to the crime!”
“Don’t know exactly, I sure don’t
want Conklin gettin’ away with framin’ an innocent man.” Tully raised the cup
of java to his lips, this time taking only a small sip. He seemed to be using
the gesture to collect his thoughts. “Know why I became an outlaw, Rance?”
Tomorrow: Episode Six of Last Job