Slocum in Shot Creek Read online

  “Hey, Slocum,” one of the Bartlet hands said, “where you going?”

  “We’re all out of booze, boys,” he said. “I’m going to turn in.”

  “Hell,” said another one. “It ain’t dark yet.”

  “That’s right,” Slocum said, as he shut the door behind him, leaving the prisoners unattended. He walked out into the street, headed for his hotel room. At that same time, Terri Sue came out of the eatery. When she saw Slocum, she started walking toward him. They met in front of the hotel. Slocum tipped his hat.

  “Howdy,” he said. “You just lock up for the day?”

  “Just now,” she said. “Are you turning in so early?”

  “Thought I would. Tommy’s got everything under control, I guess.” He realized as he said it that he did not know just exactly where Tommy was. He did not give a damn, though. He had already worked things out. He was not expecting any trouble.

  “I don’t suppose you’d want any company?” Terri Sue said.

  “In my room?” he said.

  “That was my meaning.”

  Just inside the Fancy Pants saloon, Melvin was standing at the front window. He saw Slocum leave the jail. He walked back to the bar, where Red was standing with Tommy, and he sidled up to Red.

  “Slocum just left the jail,” he said in a whisper.

  Red glanced at Tommy standing on his other side. “The deputy’s out, too,” he said. “I guess the jail ain’t guarded.” He tossed down what remained of his drink and turned to walk out through the batwing doors. Melvin followed him. As they left, Tommy picked up his shotgun and fondled it. He waited a couple of minutes. Then he followed the two cowboys out the door.

  Out on the road, two more cowhands bit the dust beside Bartlet. Bartlet got off another shot at Oates and hit him in the chest. Oates grabbed at his chest with both hands, dropping his weapon to the ground. He fell back, sitting down hard on his foot that was already underneath him from kneeling. His other leg was sticking out straight in front. His face wore a surprised expression. He had been totally shot, and Bartlet had done it. He had always believed that he would kill Bartlet. Now it appeared that things had turned out the other way around. He was astonished more than he was hurt.

  Bartlet snapped off another round, which dropped Oates dead. At just about the same instant, three Oates hands fired into Bartlet. All of their bullets hit him, and he twitched and squirmed and twisted and at last fell over dead. There were two men left standing on the Bartlet side and three on the Oates side. They stood still, guns pointed at one another. They looked from one to the other. At last, one of the Oates men spoke.

  “It’s over,” he said.

  “Think so?” said a Bartlet man.

  “Ain’t no one left to pay us,” said the first.

  Church and Fall came riding up just then. When they saw what had happened, they stopped their horses. They sat in their saddles and looked down on the terrible scene before them. The five standing cowboys all holstered their guns. Church dismounted and walked to Bartlet’s body. It didn’t take much examination to tell that Bartlet was dead. Then he walked across the way to where Oates was lying. He found him dead as well. He stood up and looked around at all the cowboys.

  “Well,” he said. “I guess it’s all over and done now.”

  “I reckon,” said one of the hands.

  “I guess you boys will all be moving on now,” Church said. “Looking for jobs.”

  “What’ll become of the ranches?” said a cowboy.

  Church shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “The court’ll have to figure it out.”

  “I’ll be riding out,” said a cowboy. He walked toward his horse. Slowly, one at a time, the others followed his lead. Soon Church and Fall were left standing alone on the road in the midst of all the bodies.

  “We’ll have to tell Gool to bring a wagon out here,” Fall said.

  “He’ll want to know who’ll pay,” said Church.

  Slocum and Terri Sue were in Slocum’s room. She was lying on her back in the middle of his bed. He was between her legs, pumping for all he was worth. Terri Sue clasped her ankles together at the small of Slocum’s back, and each time he thrust downward, she thrust up to meet him. Their bodies slapped together rhythmically. Whop. Whop. Whop. Terri Sue moaned with each slap. “Oh,” she said. “Oh. Oh. Oh.” Slocum pounded until he was almost worn out with the pounding. Then he stopped. He breathed deeply for a few seconds. Then he pulled out.

  Terri Sue wondered what was wrong. Why had he stopped? Then he took hold of her waist with both hands and turned her over. She scrambled up onto her knees and reached back between her legs to find his still-rigid tool. Then she guided it back into her hole. “Ahh, yes,” she said. Slocum began pounding again. The rhythmic slapping resumed.

  Down below, Red and Melvin approached the jailhouse door. They stopped and looked at one another. Then Red opened the door and walked in with his six-gun drawn. There was no one in the office, only the five men in the two cells. Melvin followed Red inside and shut the door.

  “Red. Melvin,” said one of the Bartlet boys.

  “Hey, get us out of here.”

  “Get the keys, Melvin,” said Red.

  Melvin ran to the desk and rummaged a minute or so for the keys. He found them and ran to the cell to unlock the door. The four Bartlet boys were out in no time.

  “Where are your guns?” said Red.

  “In the desk,” said one of them. Without waiting for anyone else to make a move, he went to the desk and found them. Pulling them out of the drawer one at a time, he passed them around to their owners. As the cowhands strapped on their guns, Red took the keys to the next cell and walked to the door.

  “What are you doing?” said Sammy.

  “I’m fixing to let you out of that cell, boy,” said Red.

  “No.”

  “You want your trial, do you?”

  “No. I—yes.”

  Red unlocked the door.

  “I guess the trial tomorrow will be pretty calm,” Fall said to Church as they approached Shot Creek.

  “I imagine that it will be,” said Church. “With Oates out of the way, there won’t be anyone to oppose it.”

  “There’s only one way it can go,” said Fall.

  “We can’t ever say that,” Church said. “In this country, a man is innocent until he’s proven guilty. He can have his witnesses and his defense lawyer. And he’ll have a jury, too. We’ll just have to wait and see what the jury’s decision is.”

  “It will be ‘guilty,’ ” Fall said.

  The town was just ahead. In no time they would be riding past the livery stable. The sun was getting low in the sky, and the town seemed unusually quiet.

  Upstairs in his hotel room, Slocum had just finished with his lustful work. Terri Sue was still lying in the middle of the mattress with a smile on her face. Slocum sat up on the edge of the bed. He found a cigar and lit it. He walked to the window and looked out. Tommy was still on the sidewalk close to the saloon. Slocum did not see him. What he saw was a very quiet street. It did not make sense to him. He began to get dressed.

  “Slocum?” said Terri Sue.

  “What?”

  “Is anything wrong?”

  “Not with you,” he said.

  “What is it?”

  “I just ain’t sleepy no more,” he said. “I’m going out. You just stay here and take it easy. I’ll see you later.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she said. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  Slocum finished strapping on his gunbelt. He got his hat off the peg on the wall and set it on his head. He gave Terri Sue a last look. “It’s just too damn quiet out there,” he said. “I’m going to take a look.”

  Inside the jail, Red had unlocked the door to Sammy Hyde’s cell. Hyde had pressed himself against the far wall, so Red and Melvin had gone inside. When they came close to him, Sammy kicked at them.

  “I ain’t going with you,” he said.
“I’m in jail. You can’t do this.”

  He kicked out again, and Red grabbed his foot and pulled him down onto his back. Melvin took hold of the other foot to keep Sammy from kicking. The other cowhands crowded into the cell and secured Sammy’s arms. Then they jerked him to his feet, but his knees grew weak and he collapsed. They heaved him to his feet again and held him up.

  “Get him outside,” Red said.

  They started dragging him out of the cell. When they started to go through the door, Sammy suddenly found some more strength. He managed to grab hold of the bars and tried his best to keep the men from getting him through the door.

  “Let me go,” he screamed.

  Outside, Tommy heard the scream. He had not planned it this way. Someone else might hear. He had to do something, and he had to do it quick. He cocked the shotgun and started to run toward the jail.

  Slocum had heard it, too, and he started moving fast from the front door of the hotel. As he moved, he pulled out his Colt. The mayor and the councilman had just ridden in front of the livery stable. They heard the screams of Sammy Hyde and saw the two lawmen running toward the jail. They halted their horses and looked at one another.

  “Who could it be?” said Fall.

  “Let’s just wait here,” Church said. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

  There were two more watching, unknown to the rest. In Slocum’s room, Terri Sue stood at the window. She heard the shouts coming from the jail, and she saw Tommy run, and then Slocum. She wondered what was up. Slocum had been wrong about something, for he had thought that everything was all right. What could it be?

  And just inside the Fat Back saloon, standing at the front window, Mo Diamond stood watching.

  21

  Tommy came to an abrupt halt when he saw the cowhands crowding their way out the front door with poor sniveling Hyde in their grasp. Hyde was using his hands and feet in a vain attempt to keep them from getting him through the door. Tommy stood for a moment, hesitant, trying to decide what the hell to do. He sensed that he had but an instant to make up his mind. The cowboys were taking the prisoner out of jail. He would be justified. He would even be hailed as a hero for preventing the jailbreak. He raised the shotgun and blasted them. Hyde, being in the middle of the crowd, took the brunt of the shot. His face and chest were a mess of blood, and he went limp in the arms of the cowboys.

  “Tommy, you damn fool,” Slocum shouted.

  The two cowboys closest to Hyde were also hit by the blast. They, too, went limp and sagged to their knees, one falling forward onto the sidewalk. The remaining boys, including Melvin and Red, were a little peppered. They scrambled back into the jail, pulling out their six-guns. Red tried to shut the door, but the fallen men were blocking the way. The cowboy who had been on Hyde’s left was hit bad, but he was still alive. Red grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him inside.

  Melvin saw Slocum out in the street, and he fired a shot. Slocum ducked into the darkness of a doorway. Just at that moment, the three remaining Oates cowhands rode into town. Fall and Church heard them coming and turned in their saddles.

  “What are you men doing here?” said Church.

  “What’s going on?” was the answer he got.

  “We don’t know,” said Fall. “We just got here.”

  “That was a gunshot,” said a cowhand.

  “We could tell that,” Fall said.

  “Well, let’s ride on in and see what’s up.”

  “We’re staying right here till it’s over,” said Church.

  “Well, I’m going on in,” said the cowhand. He looked at his two buddies. “What about you?”

  “Let’s go,” said one of them.

  The three cowhands kicked their horses and headed on into town toward the sound of the shot.

  Red grabbed Melvin and pulled him back.

  “You damn fool,” he said.

  “It’s that Slocum,” Melvin said. “He was coming this way.”

  “We might’ve tried talking to him,” said Red.

  “His goddamn deputy has already double-crossed us, ain’t he?” Melvin said. “He was supposed to stay out of the way.”

  “He’s out there now,” Red said. “I ought to kill him right now.”

  “There’s Slocum and Tommy out there,” said Melvin. “We’ve got them outnumbered.”

  “Gabe ain’t worth much right now,” said Red.

  The three Oates cowhands rode up just then and spotted Tommy, who had moved back to the sidewalk across the street from the jail. Slocum was a couple of doors down, still in the doorway.

  “Get out of the street,” he shouted.

  One of the cowboys looked in the direction of the voice. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

  “Jailbreak,” Tommy shouted. “Get out of the way.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Bartlet’s men,” Tommy answered. “Get out of the street.”

  The cowboys rode to a hitch rail and dismounted. They stepped up on the sidewalk and stared across the street at the jail.

  “You in the jail,” Slocum called out. “Toss out your weapons.”

  “The hell,” shouted Melvin.

  “Shut up, Melvin,” said Red. “Hey, Slocum.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “What’s the deal?”

  “No deal,” Slocum said. “Just toss out your guns.”

  “Then what happens?”

  “Then you go to jail,” Slocum said, “and wait for your trial.”

  “They’re goddamned anxious to have a fucking trial in this town,” Melvin said.

  “Shut up, Melvin,” said Red. “Hey, Slocum. We got a hurt man in here.”

  “Toss out your guns, and we’ll get him tended to.”

  “He might bleed to death.”

  “It’s on your head. Toss them out.”

  “We ain’t tossing out our guns, but I’m sending Gabe out. He needs help.”

  “Don’t do it,” Tommy shouted.

  Red turned to Gabe. “Can you stand up and walk?” he asked.

  “I think so.”

  “Leave your gun here. They won’t shoot an unarmed and hurt man. Go on now.”

  Gabe stood unsteadily on his feet. Melvin pulled the gun out of Gabe’s holster. Red helped hold him steady and pushed him toward the door. Gabe stepped in the doorway. He stood for a moment wobbling.

  “Here he comes, Slocum. Don’t shoot. He’s wounded.”

  Tommy raised a six-gun and fired. The bullet hit Gabe in the sternum, splattering blood back on Red and Melvin. Gabe’s body fell back into the doorway. Red caught it in his arms.

  “Goddamn,” he said. “They killed him dead.”

  “It was that damned deputy,” said the third cowboy.

  “What’ll we do, Red?” said Melvin. “We’re damn sure outnumbered now, and if they’ll shoot a man like Gabe, they’ll kill us for sure.”

  Red looked around. “Let’s go out the back door,” he said. “Maybe we can sneak around and pick up some horses.”

  “Maybe we can sneak up behind that damn deputy and blast his ass to hell,” said Melvin.

  “Maybe so,” Red said.

  He fired a shot out the front door, and then crouched low and ran to the back door. Melvin and the third cowboy followed him. The next few minutes were deathly quiet. Slocum stepped out on the sidewalk, Colt in hand. No shots came from the jail.

  “Tommy,” he said, “get over there and check things out.”

  “Me?” said Tommy.

  “You, you little shit. Get on over there.”

  Tommy stepped cautiously into the street.

  “Go on,” said Slocum.

  Tommy crossed the street with slow and tentative steps. It seemed to take him forever to get over to the other sidewalk. He then stepped quickly up on the boards and pressed himself against the wall away from the jailhouse door. Then he sidled down to the doorway. There were two bodies in his way, but he managed to step over them to get inside. The back door was
standing open. No one was inside. Leaning over the corpses, he called out the front door. “They’re gone,” he said. “No one’s here.”

  Slocum stepped out into the street, and then the three Oates cowboys followed him. They all walked across to the jail. Sammy Hyde was dead. So were two of the Bartlet cowhands. Outside, Church and Fall rode up. When they saw the five men on the street investigating the jailhouse, they dismounted and joined them.

  “What happened here?” Church asked.

  Slocum looked at Tommy and said, “You tell him. You caused it.” Then aloud, he said, “Someone go fetch Gool and get this mess cleaned up.”

  “Well, Mayor,” Tommy said, “I was just coming back to the jail when I seen a bunch of cowhands coming out with Sammy—”

  “You left him unguarded?” said Church.

  “Well, just for a minute. I—”

  “There’s two dead cowhands here,” said Slocum, interrupting. “How many are left?”

  “There was four in jail,” Tommy said. “Two come in to break them out.”

  “Two dead. That leaves four. Tommy?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you see the two come riding in? Did you see them go in the jail?”

  “No. I, uh, I never seen them till they was coming out with Sammy. That’s when I seen them.”

  “And that’s when you shot,” said Slocum.

  “Yeah. Well, I had to think fast. I—”

  “How do you know it was two men who come in to break them out?”

  “Hell, I seen them. I—”

  “Never mind,” Slocum said. “We’ll take it up later. Right now, we have four cowboys to locate.”

  “You want some help, Marshal?” asked one of the Oates hands.

  “Not from you, pardner,” Slocum said. “You three get your ass off the streets. I recommend the Fancy Pants saloon.”

  The cowboys looked at one another and then headed for the Fancy Pants. Slocum turned to Tommy. He gestured to his left.

  “Get yourself down to that end of the block and check around the corner. Look back in the alley. Be careful.”