Now Playing: The Songbird of the West
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Episode Five concluded with:
The singer glanced
briefly at the two corpses. Her voice was a whisper. “Why? Those two men had
their hands in the air. They were no threat…”
The outlaw standing beside her continued to speak in a mock friendly manner.
“Well, Miss Whiting, we’re about to begin some very important business talks
regarding you. It’s mighty important that the people we talk to understand
we’re serious. They can’t hang a man twice. We’re already murderers. We killed
a couple of ranchers, but that ain’t enough. The law has to know we’re killers
and that we got us nothin’ to lose by killing you. Get on the horse, Miss
Whiting. Now!”
Episode Six
***
Rance Dehner and the two lawmen from
Dry River reined up beside the stagecoach. They quickly dismounted and checked
the bodies that lay on the ground. Dehner began to pace about with the feeling
of helplessness and anger that always plagued him when he arrived at a scene
too late.
The detective took a deep breath and
brought his emotions under control. He had been hired to protect Carrie
Whiting. He was doing her no good by acting like a sullen school boy.
Sheriff Tal Streeter examined the
ground. “Looks like there were six horses in all. They obviously took Carrie
Whiting, but where? The ground here abouts is hard. Won't be easy to follow the trail. We’ll just
hav'ta do the best--”
“Maybe not!” His deputy interrupted.
“What do you mean?” Dehner asked.
“Last Sunday afternoon, I was jawin’
with Hiram Jones, the owner of the General Store. He’s a talkative old
codger--”
“He can’t talk more than you!” The
sheriff yelled, “Get to the point!”
Deputy Curt Weldon had an oval face,
brown hair and a carefully tended brown mustache. He nervously caressed that mustache before
speaking again. “Hiram tole me that Bert and Patricia Kimball didn’t come into
town last Saturday to pick up supplies like they usually do. The Kimballs
always look forward to Saturdays and getting’ away from that ten head ranch
of--”
“So!?” The sheriff continued to yell.
“I see Curt’s point,” Dehner
interjected. “Do the Kimballs have hired hands?”
The deputy shook his head. “Can’t
afford help. Live by themselfes on the ranch.”
Dehner’s voice gained intensity.
“We’re dealing with killers.They’d
think nothing of killing a poor ranch couple to use their place as a hideout.
Do you know where the Kimball place is, Curt?”
“Sure. Not too far off. The sheriff
and I have been there a few times.”
The detective looked at the sheriff
as he spoke. “I think we should check it out.”
Tal pushed back his hat and
scratched his head. “Now, hold on. Don’t you think we should try pickin’ up
their trail before it gets cold?”
With Rance on his side, the deputy
had gained new confidence. Still, he spoke carefully and with respect to his
boss. “You’re right that the trail will be real hard to follow, boss. Let’s give my notion a chance.”
Tal shrugged his shoulders. “Okay.
We’ll ride out to the Kimball place.”
As they mounted, Dehner mused that
he had worked with Sheriff Tal Streeter only once before and then very briefly.
Streeter was short tempered and didn’t like to admit he was wrong. But the
sheriff’s temper usually cooled quickly. Rance hoped that Tal would eventually
apologize to this deputy for yelling at him for no reason.
But the two men would have to work
that out later. Right now, there was a life to save.
Tomorrow: Episode Seven of The Songbird
of the West
