“Marshal Eaves?”
Nodding, Lester wrote another word on the envelope and handed it over. “I want this delivered to Marshal Eaves, but—”
“You can hand it over yourself. His office isn’t far from here.”
“I know, but I want it delivered. He shouldn’t read it until later.”
“You could have something to eat while you wait.”
Resisting the urge to jump across the counter and throttle the old man, Lester said, “I’m not going to wait. I’ve got things to do. I need this delivered to the marshal a bit later.”
The old man looked at Lester as if he smelled dung stuck to the bottom of his boot. “I was just trying to save you the postage.”
“Here,” Lester said as he took out some of the money Pat had given him to help buy the shotgun and rifle ammunition. “Take this as your fee. Just deliver the letter to the marshal and say it came in today’s mail. Do whatever you need to make the envelope look genuine.”
The old man snatched the money away with a speed that would have been impressive for a fellow half his age. “When do you want the marshal to get it?”
Lester pulled in a breath to steel himself. “Tonight should be fine. Say around five o’clock. No…better make it four.”
“Four it is.” Taking the letter, the old man tossed it onto an empty burlap sack folded on the floor behind him. He then placed both hands flat upon the counter and showed Lester a friendly smile.
Already on his way out the door, Lester shook his head. “That’s all I need. At least, I sure hope it is. It damn well better be.” He was still muttering as he left the store and headed for Smith’s Firearms.
TWENTY-SIX
The tracks took a few meandering turns, but led them toward Hackett. More than once, Nick played with the idea of breaking away from Kinman to do the rest of the tracking on his own, but that would have meant leaving the bounty hunter to his own devices. There were ways to make sure Kinman stayed put, but Nick didn’t want to waste time on following those through. Besides, there was still a bit of time for Kinman to prove himself useful.
Nick could see a good portion of the town as Kinman reined his horse to a stop. They’d been riding a bit quicker than the day before, but not quite up to full speed. Kazys was breathing somewhat heavily, but Kinman’s horse stood by without even shifting its hooves.
“You want to check the town?” Kinman asked.
“Do the tracks lead there?”
“Not as such, but Lester would’ve had to get some supplies and he might not be able to get everything from his cousins.”
“We’re here for Lester, so we’ll follow his tracks,” Nick said. “We’ve come too far to be thrown off the scent now.”
“All right, then.” Kinman shifted so he could look directly at Nick. He crossed one hand over the other as he let out a smooth breath. “Let’s get something straight. If those jewels are there, we’re splitting them right down the middle.”
“We already negotiated this.”
“That’s when I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to find Lester or not. Now that we’re here I want to get all of this out of the way before there’s any commotion.”
Nick’s voice was smooth and even as ice on a freshly frozen pond. “There’s going to be a commotion right here and now if you push this too far.”
“Then let’s get it out of the way,” Kinman declared, while shifting his coat aside so he could better reach his pistol.
“Or I could just follow the marked tracks that lead past that town and head straight to wherever Lester’s holed up.”
Kinman was taken aback, but it didn’t last long. He regained his composure in a heartbeat and actually smiled good-naturedly. “You saw those, huh?”
“Yeah. I saw ’em.”
“Then our original deal stands.”
Nick nodded without moving more than the few muscles required to perform the action. Although the rest of him was still, the muscles were tensed like bowstrings beneath his skin.
Kinman kept still as well.
The next few seconds felt as if the world around them was holding its breath.
“How about we finish up one matter before moving on to the next?” Nick finally said.
“Fine with me.”
To show he was the better man, Nick took his hand away from his holster and placed it casually upon his saddle horn. Kinman did the same.
“If Lester’s still with his cousins, he’ll probably be waiting for us,” Kinman said.
“They’re probably all waiting for us. That is, if they haven’t already moved along by now.”
Kinman craned his neck to look in the direction that the marked tracks led. “Lester’s tired. He’s been running for a while and has been hiding out for over a year. Once he gets around family, he’ll settle in for a bit.”
But Nick was thinking of a bit more than Lester wanting to rest up and get a hot meal in his belly. Nick knew a thing or two about being on the run and he also knew about what it was like to be hunted. There was a time when the prey wanted nothing more than to turn the tables and take a bite at its pursuers. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that now would be that time for Lester. Nick could feel it just as surely as he could feel the impulse to take a shot at Kinman.
Since there was still an outside chance that there was a bit of tracking to be done, Nick nodded and said, “I think you’re right. Lester probably spent his first couple hours eating or sleeping. By that time, he’s got to know that we’d be after him.”
“He knows, all right,” Kinman said with a grin. “The only question now is what he intends to do about it.”
Glancing overhead to take note of the crisp, blue sky, Nick said, “It’ll be dark in a while. Lester’s probably not going to move until after the sun goes down.”
“You really think he’ll wait that long?”
Nick was nodding as if he’d only heard that question in the back of his mind. “He’s dug in, so there’s no reason to do anything when he can still be sighted. Riding at night will make it easier for him to slip away and try to regain his lead on us. That is, unless he’s already long gone.”
“Riding at night will also make it easier for him to trip up or stumble somewhere along the way,” Kinman offered.
Nick shook his head. “He knows this land better than we do. The dark will only work to his advantage.”
“Lester’s been hiding out in Oregon for half a year or more. Before that, he was working his way up from Texas.”
“He still knows this area. Even if he’s been here once before, that’s once more than me. What about you?”
Kinman shrugged and shifted his gaze forward. “I see your point. How do you want to approach him?”
“Let’s find him first and work out the rest once we get there.”
Both men snapped their reins and rode in a path that skirted Hackett’s limits.
It didn’t take long for them to ride close enough to catch sight of the run-down spread inhabited by Lester’s cousins. Of course, finding it was doubly easy, since there were four sets of marked tracks that all led to the same spot. Two sets were headed toward the spread and two headed away, each like individual strands of a web that were all connected to the same central point.
“Jesus Christ,” Kinman muttered from his spot in the grass well away from the house. “No wonder Lester came here.”
Nick lay stretched out on his belly directly beside Kinman. Both of them squinted through spyglasses as various members of the household in front of them went about their business. Every cousin was armed.
“You see Lester yet?” Nick asked.