Outlaw Dalton, page 4
Marshal Latimer was at the front questioning people, so he mounted up and rode at a walking pace to the edge of town where he stopped. He was surprised that Wenlock was riding toward him down the other side of the main drag. Dalton moved around the side of the last building in town and waited.
“I have to go, but you don’t,” Dalton said when Wenlock joined him.
“I don’t have a choice either,” Wenlock said. “Hacket and Proctor broke into the office through the front door. When they saw the two dead bodies, they didn’t believe my claim that I was the only one left in the building. They reckoned you and the surviving Rafferty brothers were there and they’re now searching the office, but they made it clear I have questions to answer.”
“The people on the main drag will probably tell Mayor Quantrill and Marshal Latimer that they saw me and the brothers, so do what we agreed and answer all allegations by blaming everything on me.”
Wenlock shook his head. “That won’t work. They said that they’ve not trusted me for a while so I reckon they’ll set the marshal against me.”
Dalton accepted Wenlock’s gloomy assessment of his situation with a nod. Then he beckoned for Wenlock to join him in leaving town, but he stayed where he was when Gillespie and Knox rode around the backs of the buildings toward them.
“You’re both joining us, are you?” Gillespie called, his comment making Knox sneer.
“That depends,” Dalton said. “Where are you going?”
“We’re heading back home. It’s in Ludlow Town, this small place a few hours away from Clear Creek.”
Dalton had only asked his question so he could make sure their paths never crossed again, but this answer took him aback. Gillespie and Knox didn’t wait for him to decide what he wanted to do and they rode past him.
“I assume that means we’re going in the opposite direction,” Wenlock said.
“No,” Dalton said. “We’re going with them.”
“Why?”
Figuring he shouldn’t delay leaving, Dalton moved his horse on after the two men. Wenlock rode with him.
“Because they’re heading to a town near Clear Creek,” Dalton said when they were a quarter-mile out of town. “That’s the place where I was sent to as a child.”
Wenlock shrugged. “That’s only a coincidence.”
“I’m sure it is, but maybe Clear Creek is somewhere I have to visit before I leave the area.”
Wenlock sighed, but when he didn’t reply, they sped up until they joined the other two men. Gillespie and Knox didn’t look surprised, but when Gillespie checked behind him, he murmured to himself and stopped.
The other men stopped and turned around. In the town people were scurrying around on the main drag, although as yet they were showing no sign of mounting a pursuit. The reason soon became clear.
“The mayor’s office is on fire,” Dalton said.
“Again,” Gillespie said.
Knox laughed and turned his horse away to speed into the night.
Chapter Seven
Midnight found the four men huddled together in a cave to the east of Independence Town that Gillespie had directed them to. As yet there had been no sign of a pursuit, but Gillespie had reckoned this was the best place for them to hide for the night before they resumed their journey to Ludlow Town the next day.
“It seems we were once neighbors,” Dalton said, breaking the silence they’d adopted since holing up. “You lived in Ludlow Town and I got placed in Clear Creek.”
Knox rounded on him, his wide eyes reflecting the weak light filtering into the cave.
“Be quiet,” he snapped.
“Leave him alone, Knox,” Gillespie said. “Talking will pass the time until we can get some sleep and we’ll still hear anyone coming long before they hear us.”
“Talk all you like, then, but I’m sure not feel neighborly.”
Gillespie snorted a laugh and turned to Dalton.
“You’ve probably already guessed it, but we’re not eager to talk about our past because we had the same kind of upbringing as you had. We were at the orphanage until we ended up at Ludlow Town.”
Dalton nodded as Gillespie confirmed one of the possible reasons for their behavior that he’d considered.
“Can I assume your reason for breaking into the mayor’s office has something to do with that?”
“You can.” Gillespie rubbed his jaw and Dalton reckoned he wouldn’t offer any further explanation, which was fine with him, but then, with a sigh, he shuffled closer to him. “I guess others will soon get to know about this, so it doesn’t matter if we start talking about it. Tonight we reclaimed our inheritance.”
He turned to Knox, who didn’t speak up, so he turned back to Dalton.
“What was that inheritance and why was it locked in the mayor’s office?”
“It’s the land on which we were raised and it should be ours, except Mayor Quantrill cheated Jarren and Kathleen Rafferty, our guardians.” Gillespie slapped his pocket. “Now we have it back.”
Dalton had heard enough to understand the situation so he didn’t press for more details, but to his surprise Knox spoke up.
“Quantrill gave money to the orphanage,” he said. “He only did it to make him look benevolent and it must have worked as he got elected mayor. Then he took advantage of his position. He kept in touch with the people who’d adopted children and wormed his way into their confidence. Then he used them.”
“He gave Jarren and Kathleen a loan with their land as insurance,” Gillespie said, continuing the story. “Except the fine print made sure that Quantrill got the land.”
“That’s a sorry tale,” Dalton said. Then, although nobody had asked, he felt an urge to share some details of his own history. “I got placed with two other boys, Upton and Raymond, at this farm around a mile outside of Clear Creek. We got a roof over our heads, but we were treated like cheap labor.”
Gillespie murmured a sympathetic grunt. “Did the mayor cheat your guardians, too?”
Dalton shook his head. “The couple that took us in was poor, as was their land. A few years later they both died. We boys split up and I never saw either of them again. I was too young to make my way in the world, but I did it anyhow. Then again, I guess the tough life I’d had with them helped me to survive.”
“Why did you sneak into the office?”
“I have a blood relation somewhere. I’d like to trace her. The information I wanted was in the office, but now I have it.”
He would have said more, but Knox had started snoring, either feigned or real. Gillespie then shuffled down while even the silent Wenlock changed position. Dalton reckoned they’d had the right idea so he settled down on his side.
Presently, he managed to doze and he didn’t wake up until first light was flooding the cave. Without delay, they slipped outside. All was still so they resumed they journey eastward. They traveled at a quick pace while frequently checking for signs of the pursuit that would surely come, but as the day wore on they slowed down and stopped looking back so often.
After exchanging details about their pasts the previous night, Gillespie and Knox were more talkative and less confrontational than they had been before, although Wenlock rarely spoke and when he did his tone was maudlin. That night they were confident they’d left any pursuers far behind them so they built a fire.
“It’s just over another day to Ludlow Town,” Gillespie reported when they’d settled down around the fire. “I don’t reckon we’ll see any sign of a pursuit before then.”
“I agree, but what then?” Dalton asked.
“We’re stopping there. You can do whatever you want.”
“I’ll be moving on. It’d be madness to stop so near to Independence Town and in the first place anyone would expect you to go.”
Gillespie shrugged. “I reckon you’re right. Before long, Mayor Quantrill’s hired guns or Marshal Latimer will surely pay us a visit. The mayor won’t like our response as once we’re holed up on our land, he’ll never remove us, but we’ll give the lawman all the answers he needs.”
Knox grunted that he agreed and slapped his holster for emphasis.
“I admire your confidence, but. . . .” Dalton trailed off as he figured out why they weren’t concerned about being dragged back to Independence Town to face justice. “You’re going to blame Theobald for what happened back in the mayor’s office, aren’t you?”
Knox nodded eagerly while Gillespie turned to the flames at least suggesting this plan troubled him.
“I’ll tell Marshal Latimer that Deputy Thorne and Theobald shot each other,” Knox said. “Theobald sure won’t disagree with me, which means there was only one witness and I expect him to back up that story.”
Wenlock took a moment before with a flinch he registered he was being talked about.
“I left town before the marshal got a chance to talk to me,” he said with a small voice. “If he ever questions me, I’ll tell him the truth.”
“Oh?” Knox said, his hand straying toward his holster.
“I was hiding in the corner with my head down and I didn’t look up until the shooting had stopped. Then I saw that Theobald and Deputy Thorne were dead.”
Knox shrugged. “I guess the truth might work.”
Everyone then sat quietly until Dalton spoke up.
“And what is the truth about their deaths and the fire?” he said.
Knox leaned forward. “The lawman and Theobald shot each other up, Wenlock had his head down and nobody knows how the fire started. That’s what I’ll tell anyone who asks, and so will you.”
“I can’t tell them that.” Dalton flashed a thin smile. “I was upstairs at the time.”
Knox gave a curt nod. Then Wenlock shuffled away from the fire for a short distance to settle down for the night, and after a while, everyone followed his lead. When Dalton lay down, he rested his head on his saddlebag.
He hadn’t had a chance yet to open the ledger, but despite his burning desire to resolve his problem, he didn’t welcome the thought of reading it while the surly Knox was with him. He resolved to examine it only after the group had split up, and having made that decision, Clear Creek felt like the right place to do it.
The next day they again set off early. With everyone having said everything they needed to say to each other the previous night, they rode in silence, a state of affairs that continued that night and the following morning.
It was approaching noon when they reached Ludlow Town. They avoided the town and carried on to the land that Gillespie and Knox now owned. The creek that would later meander on past Clear Creek skirted around a semicircle of land with a house built from logs in the middle.
The roof had partially collapsed into the house, the logs were crumbling away, the surrounding land was unkempt and most of the land near the creek was muddy, so it wasn’t obvious to Dalton why these men had been so keen to claim it. As he was just pleased they could now part company, he didn’t question them.
The four men stopped and when Gillespie and Knox had dismounted, Gillespie wished them well while Knox sneered at Wenlock as a warning to keep to his story about events in the mayor’s office. Then, without offering any encouragement for them to stay, the two men headed into the house. Dalton and Wenlock shrugged before they moved on, and they didn’t speak until the house was no longer visible behind them.
“If it’s all right with you, I’ll ride with you for a while,” Wenlock said.
“I’ve got no objection,” Dalton said. “Except very soon I hope I’ll be embarking on a new journey, and that could take me far from here.”
Wenlock shivered. “I just hope you get that chance.”
Chapter Eight
“Is this where you used to live?” Wenlock asked.
Dalton stood before the rising patch of bare earth that stretched from the creek to the treeline.
“It was around here somewhere,” Dalton said and then shrugged. “I remember it as being a few miles out of Clear Creek, but I guess the exact spot doesn’t matter.”
He and Wenlock rode on toward the trees. They stopped at a convenient high point and dismounted to survey the scene. As he still failed to produce any useful memories of his time spent in this place, he set about collecting wood for a fire while Wenlock took care of their horses. By the time they’d finished it was still several hours before sundown, so he returned to considering the lie of the land.
“You can’t put it off forever,” Wenlock said, breaking Dalton out of his reverie.
Dalton smiled when Wenlock pointed at the saddlebag where he’d stored the ledger.
“I guess you’re right. I’ve been waiting for so long to learn the truth I thought I wouldn’t be able to resist reading the ledger the moment I found it. Except ever since I got it I’ve found excuses to delay opening it.”
“It’s understandable. There’s a lot at stake.” Wenlock laughed when Dalton still didn’t move toward the saddlebag. “I’ll read it for you if you want.”
“No. I’ll do it.”
Dalton took a deep breath and collected the ledger. For a short while he sat with it on his lap and then opened it up to reveal the lists of names that were written in an ornate style that was hard to read even in good light. It took him several minutes to decipher the first few names and there were dozens on the page with the ledger itself having nearly a hundred pages.
“Are you sure you don’t want my help?” Wenlock asked. “After all, reading documents like that used to be my job.”
For the first time since they’d left Independence Town Wenlock wasn’t looking scared, so Dalton waved him over. Wenlock sat beside him and he began reading aloud the details without stumbling.
After a few names, Dalton passed the ledger to him and sat back against a rock. He listened to the list of names, all unfamiliar, waiting to hear the only ones that interested him. After a dozen pages, Wenlock paused to get a drink of water.
“How long do you reckon it’ll take?” Dalton asked.
Wenlock held up the ledger and showed him how many pages were left to be read.
“There are a lot of names, but no dates, so I’ll have to go through every page. Even if you’re at the back, I’ll still finish before nightfall and I can already tell you one thing.” Wenlock frowned. “Your sister was unlikely to have been placed in the nearby area.”
“How do you know that?”
“So far, everyone came from the big cities in the east and they were taken farther west. I’ve not come across anyone who ended up near to Independence Town. So you and the Rafferty brothers are likely to be the exceptions, which ties in with the little I know about the orphanage. It was a place where children usually stayed for only a short while before they were moved on to their final destination.”
Dalton rubbed his jaw as he thought back and then nodded.
“It’s possible as I don’t reckon I was there for long, and it might explain why there are so many children listed.”
Wenlock coughed and gnawed at his bottom lip, seemingly concerned about replying.
“There’s one other thing. You need to prepare yourself for a disappointment. Not everyone who took a child provided a name and location. Some just made a mark beside the comment that the child had left the orphanage.”
“Understood,” Dalton said with a gulp.
Wenlock returned to reading names. He worked down the list and turned to the next page, his pace never varying. With every new page feeling as if it might be the one that would give him what he wanted to hear or, if he was unlucky, dash his hopes, Dalton breathed steadily to keep his mounting tension under control.
Later, as the pages left became fewer than those already read, his pulse raced as a feeling of dread that he might never hear his name overcame him. He gripped his hands tightly as he tried to keep that fear at bay. His mood remained tense even when Wenlock found the Rafferty brothers, but then he mentioned a familiar name making him sigh with relief.
Wenlock stopped reading. “Do you know this Tremain Ashdown?”
“I never met him, but he was the guardian of Melville, the man who told me I had a sister and started me on this quest. We were at the orphanage at the same time, so you must be close to finding us now.”
Wenlock smiled and began reading again. With renewed hope, Dalton leaned forward, but after another two pages, Wenlock stopped reading. He gave a worried expression and turned the ledger around to show Dalton that the list stopped halfway down the current page. Then he showed him the remaining pages, which were blank.
“I’m sorry, but that’s it,” he said with a low voice. “You’re not in here.”
“I don’t care about me!” Dalton said, leaping to his feet. “You were supposed to be looking for my sister.”
“I know that, but we needed to find you first and hope there would be some details we could use to—”
“I know that,” Dalton said with a snarl. He paced back and forth twice before he faced Wenlock. “I’m just angry. I could have accepted it if your warning turned out to be right and there weren’t any useful details, but how could I and the other two children who got sent here not even be listed?”
Wenlock flicked back through the pages to the beginning.
“Someone could have made an error when they recorded your names, or I could have missed them.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ll go through it again tomorrow.”
“You could have made a mistake, but I doubt it.” Dalton mustered a thin smile. “After all, reading documents like that was your job, so it’s more likely we never got recorded in the first place.”
Wenlock read the first page intently as he clearly tried to avoid reacting and showing he thought this was the most likely explanation. Then he slammed the book shut and held it out to Dalton.
“What do you intend to do now?”
Dalton sighed and took the book. “I don’t reckon that word of what happened in Independence Town will have spread this far yet, so a few glasses of strong liquor might help right now.”
