He was just another man arriving in Bennsonn on business of his own. Most of the people who looked his way didn’t find enough of interest to keep their eyes on him. Those who watched him longer than that were encouraged to turn another way when the man returned their stare with cold, dark eyes. &...
Glenna made a head and face on the pillowcase and they sewed an old hat on it. Carter built the hangman’s noose and that was applied to the dummy’s neck and stitched on too so it didn’t pull the head off when they hung the whole thing up. Slocum punched holes in rusty tin ...
Don’t go back. I forbid it!” Sarah Jane grabbed his arm and dug in her fingernails until she drew blood. Slocum pulled away. “I just spent the past few days babysitting your mistress. That’s not something I’m looking forward to doing with you.” “Oh,...
Ned, the wiry older man who ventured outside with him, gestured with his pipe at the snowy mounds before him. “There’s something over here. Can’t quite see what, though.” Slocum brought the lantern in low just as an errant gust filled in a track that at its bottom looked a...
Bert spoke through clenched teeth while the local doctor, Herman Alcorn, cleaned the wound in his leg. “The man ain’t human,” Bert said. “Hold your leg still,” Doc Alcorn said. He held a reeking wad of cotton in one hand, a long slender probe in the...
Several times, Slocum thought it was more fitting to say they rode like a wind being pushed in front of a storm with an even bigger wind behind it. The ground they covered was familiar at first, but Sanchez quickly veered off onto a trail that Slocum had never seen before. It seemed to be broken ...
Being six feet tall put him half a head above most men. Seeing his battered Stetson bobbing along might draw unwanted attention from Jack or, more worrisome for Slocum, Tamara Crittenden. She was the wild card in a hand he played in a game without knowing the rules. She had obviously played a rol...
shouted the man Slocum took to be the leader. “Boys, get ready to shoot. He don’t look like he’s the surrendering kind.” A quick glance left and right confirmed Slocum’s worst fears. He was already caught in a cross fire. The deputies on either flank had a clean shot at him. He might take out one...
muttered Slocum. “Yeah, they owe us,” said Dupree, obviously trying to convince himself. Then both men stared at Slocum and, as one, asked, “How do we do it?” The two of them laughed nervously before Rawlins went on. “We ain’...
The big Swede was dead, cut down by a stranger’s bullets. Thorson’s lifeless face was sallow, drained of blood, and there was a black hole in his forehead that was turning purple at the edges. Wu Chen stood next to Hiram Littlepage. He held a white handkerchief to his nose. Thorson’s sphincter mu...
It fluttered just beyond his fingers. He started to fall. His rifle tumbled away, but he concentrated completely on the rope hanging from the loft pulley. As he fell, he twisted. Behind in the loft came angry cries as the Deutsch brothers scrambled through the trapdoor in pursuit. &nb...
The kid was in charge of the four packhorses for the day. He’d been in high spirits with the outfit. “I’m going back to herd cows, lady and gentlemen. And I think I am ready.” “It will be hard for you to adjust,” Gordon said over his shoulder as the...