Glaring at the younger man, Wesley said, “You could’a gone up there any time you wanted. Hell, I bet Stephanie would’ve gone up there on her own if she knew where to dig.”
“Shut your damn mouth, Wes. I swear I’ll—”
“You’ll what?”
Pat took a swing at Wesley that clipped him on the chin. The older man’s beard seemed to have absorbed most of the blow, since Wesley wasted no time in lunging at his cousin and knocking him off the porch. Both men, covered in spilled lemonade, landed on the ground, a pile of thrashing arms and legs. In no time at all, they were kicking up enough dirt to form a small cloud.
Setting down his glass, Lester jumped off the porch and waded into the brawl between his two cousins. He caught a few glancing blows for his trouble, but managed to get between the two men and pull them apart.
“You were right to stay out of there,” Lester said just before Wesley’s elbow buried itself in his gut. Doubling over, Lester lashed out with one foot and caught Wesley in the shin.
Although both cousins still had plenty of fight left in them, they pulled themselves back simply because Lester was in their way.
Hacking painfully, Lester said, “You were right. You hear me? You were right to keep your distance from there.”
“See?” Wesley sneered. “I told you so!”
Before he could stop himself, Lester turned and smacked his older cousin across the face. Wesley looked more shocked than hurt by the blow and stared at him with his mouth hanging open. It was the only time that Lester had ever seen the man speechless.
“And you were wrong for going after it at all,” Lester said. “I don’t know about the rest of the men Cobb worked with, but one of them is a killer like I’ve never seen. You heard of Nick Graves?”
Pat nodded. “Yeah. Cobb used to mention him.”
“Well I’ve heard plenty about Graves and I think all of it’s true. I’ve seen Graves and he’d gun you down just as soon as he’d look at you.”
Shoving Lester back as a way to regain his posture, Wesley asked, “When have you ever seen Nick Graves?”
“Maybe a day ago and he was in the Badlands at Cobb’s grave.”
Now, both of Lester’s cousins were speechless. Pat turned white as a sheet and then squatted with his hands on his knees. Wesley ran his fingers over his head and then sifted through the tangled mess of his beard.
“Nick Graves is here?” Pat asked breathlessly.
“He was in the Badlands,” Lester repeated. “At Cobb’s grave. He’s the one who buried him there.”
“And you were there, too?”
Wesley’s eyes snapped toward Lester. He lunged toward his cousin and grabbed him by the front of his shirt with both hands. “Are you working with Graves? You stupid son of a bitch, he’ll kill all of us to get them jewels!”
To his credit, Lester tried his best to smack Wesley’s hands away. Unfortunately, his best wasn’t quite strong enough to do the job. After a few more attempts, Lester wound up simply grabbing Wesley’s wrists. “I wasn’t working with him,” he said while tugging at his cousin’s wrists. “He…he forced me to take him to the grave.”
“But he already knew where it was.”
“Not Graves. I mean another man forced me to take him there. A bounty hunter named Alan Kinman.”
“So Kinman’s here and not Graves?” Pat asked.
Lester squirmed at the end of Wesley’s fists like a worm on a fishing line. “Actually, they’re both here.”
Wesley nodded slowly and ran his tongue over cracked lips. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah. I barely got away.”
“Did they follow you here?”
“I don’t…think so.”
Wesley’s fist slammed into Lester’s chin hard enough to snap his head back like a rag doll. The impact wasn’t enough to knock Lester out, but it sure took away plenty of his steam.
“You don’t think so?” Wesley growled. “What kind of damned fool’s answer is that? What the hell were you thinking, coming here with a couple of killers on your tail? And one of ’em’s a bounty hunter? I should kill you right now, God dammit!”
Although Lester’s jaw wasn’t broken, he wasn’t anxious to move it any more than he had to. “You’re my family,” he blubbered. “I thought I could…I thought…”
“You didn’t think,” Wesley interrupted. “That’s the damn problem.”
Suddenly, Lester’s eyes cleared and the fear vanished from his face. “I thought I could warn you,” he said calmly. “I heard all the talk you’ve been spreading all the way out in Oregon.”
“We’re not the only ones that have been talking about them jewels. It’s been in the newspaper, for Christ’s sake.”
“You’re the one that called it the Reaper’s Fee,” Pat pointed out.”
Wesley grinned proudly and puffed out his chest. “I might’ve had something to do with that.”
“Exactly,” Lester said. “And now that folks have had enough time to spread their rumors, tell their own stories, Graves caught wind of it. Kinman’s heard about it, too, and both of them are after that Reaper’s Fee.” Lester wasn’t about to tell his cousins that he’d offered to bring Kinman this far to save his own neck and was relieved when neither of the other men asked about it.
Reluctantly, Wesley let Lester go.
“Is it still here?” Lester asked.
Both cousins looked at each other. Wesley spat onto the ground as Pat nodded.
“Yeah,” Pat told him. “Most of it is.”
“Let’s see it.”
“Why?”
“Because I came all this way,” Lester said. “I’m your kin and I would have helped you go after it if you would have given me the chance. The least you can do is let me get a look at what all this fuss is about.”
Pat looked over to Wesley, who eventually nodded.
“Go on and show him,” the oldest cousin said. “Don’t let Stephanie see what you’re up to or she’ll make you hand over another portion of your share.”
“Kiss my ass,” Pat muttered as he walked back to the barn.
Wesley grabbed hold of Lester once more, but not like the last time. Instead, he took hold of the back of Lester’s neck and pulled him in under his arm. “You all right, cousin?”
“Yeah. I could use something to eat.”
“The women will fix you up just fine. Is that true what you said before? About those men coming after you and all?”
“Yeah,” Lester said. “I’m afraid it is. Are you gonna kick me out of here?”
“Nah. I may want to, but you’re right. You’re kin. Besides, you’ve got a bigger price on your head than me and Pat combined. I checked. That Mexican must really have it in for you.”
“Texan.”
“Whatever.”
After another minute or two, Pat returned from the barn carrying a bundle in one arm as if it was his firstborn. Made up of battered leather tied up by a few lengths of twine, the bundle wasn’t any bigger than a small loaf of bread. Pat kept his eyes on the house at all times. When he made it back to where Wesley and Lester were standing, he turned his back to the house and held the bundle out in one hand.
Pat peeled back the top layer of leather, and Lester could see the treasure that everyone had talked about. It wasn’t as much as some had claimed, but seeing all those glittering diamonds, gold nuggets and bundles of cash was enough to take Lester’s breath away.
“That’s the Reaper’s Fee?” Lester gasped. “It was really in that grave?”
Wesley nodded, admiring the bundle in Pat’s hand. “Sure was. It was stuffed in Cobb’s pockets.”
“You…sifted through a dead man’s pockets?”
“Sure. How else was I gonna get it out of there?”