“By who?”
“By the man who killed your father and then tried to pin it on a professional killer called the Baron.”
“Who are you talking about?” Frenchie asked.
“Who first brought up the Baron’s name?”
Decker knew the answer, and as he watched Frenchie he saw the truth dawn on him, also.
“Reno.”
“Jeff Reno?” Dani said. “But why?”
“Maybe he figured he’d take over once your father was dead,” Decker said.
“But he didn’t. I came along. Why not try to kill me?”
“He couldn’t,” Decker said. “He had to first find out if I was dead or if I had reached the Baron. He couldn’t kill you and blame the Baron if the killer had been caught or killed himself.”
“Reno,” Frenchie said from between clenched teeth.
“Where is he?” Decker asked.
Dani looked at Frenchie.
“He’s on the south slope,” Frenchie said.
“Show me—” Decker said.
“Wait,” Frenchie said. “He won’t have a gun there, Decker. Let me handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
Frenchie smiled a terrible smile and said, “I’m very sure.”
He walked off, and a bunch of men trotted after him, not wanting to miss the fight that was sure to follow.
“Dani, Reno’s pretty big—”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Frenchie’s never been beaten, and he won’t be beaten by Jeff Reno.”
“Still—”
“Come inside and have a cup of coffee,” she said. “Do you want to spend the night?”
He looked at her face, but she had asked the question in total innocence, unaware of how it had sounded.
“I guess,” Decker said. “I’ll have to get started early in the morning, though. Do you want me to take Reno with me?”
“We heard that the marshal will be here at the beginning of the week,” Dani said. “We can hold Reno until then.”
A man took both horses from Decker, and he followed Dani to her cabin.
“Tell the marshal I’ll be glad to come back if he needs me.”
She stopped at the door, and before opening it, turned and said, “How about if I need you?”
He wondered if that had been said with the same innocence as her previous remark.
Epilogue II
Decker pulled his horse up in front of the sheriff’s office in Douglas, Wyoming. He dismounted and tied off the horse that was hauling the Baron’s body.
The bounty hunter mounted the boardwalk and pounded on the door. Moments later Sheriff Calder came rushing out.
“What the hell—” he said, and then stopped short when he saw Decker.
“I brought you something,” Decker said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the second horse.
Calder looked at him, then walked over to the horse and held up the dead man’s head so he could see him.
“You ever meet the Baron?” Decker asked.
“Once,” Calder said, studying the dead man’s face.
“Is that him?” Decker asked.
Calder dropped the man’s head and said, “That’s him, all right. You got him.”
“I got him.”
“And you brought him all the way down here to me?”
“Yep,” Decker said.
The sheriff mounted the boardwalk, and Decker looked him right in the eye.
“I want signing my chit for the bounty on the Baron to be your last official act as sheriff of Douglas, Wyoming.”
High Praise for Robert J. Randisi!
“Randisi always turns out a traditional Western with plenty of gunplay and interesting characters”
—Roundup
“Each of Randisi’s novels is better than its entertaining predecessor.”
—Booklist
“Everybody seems to be looking for the next Louis L’Amour. To me, they need look no further than Randisi.”
—Jake Foster, author of Three Rode South
“Randisi knows his stuff and brings it to life.”
—Preview Magazine
“Randisi has a definite ability to construct a believable plot around his characters.”
—Booklist