The two gunnies didn't come until the rain was little more than a mist. Prine and Neville were already in their bedroll over in the corner. Most of the passengers were still at the tables, talking, though by now the words had gotten muffled from drowsiness. The majority of them would be asleep within half an hour.
Neville had the back of his hand over his eyes. He wasn't trying to sleep. Just rest.
"Bogstad and Case," Prine whispered to him.
"What?" Neville said.
Prine leaned down on an elbow and spoke softly. "I saw those two in town one day talking to Tolan. I got curious about them. They're gunnies and bounty hunters, it turns out."
"You think they had anything to do with the kidnapping?" Neville started to sit up, but Prine pushed him back down.
"Let's see what they're doing here. I doubt they had anything to do with the killing, or they wouldn't be around this close to town. But let's see why they're here."
Bogstad and Case were loud and insulting. They complained about the coffee, the food, the fire not being built up, and the lack of good-looking women on the stage. One of the male passengers spoke up in defense of his female traveling partners, but Case just told him to shut up or he'd be sorry.
They were wet and cold, they said, otherwise they'd leave this little hellhole. They looked like brothers—short, heavy, grimy, in need of a shave, a bath, and more than a little redemption. Prine had run dozens of men like Bogstad and Case into jail dozens of times. They just couldn't stand to see a peaceful situation, people getting along, enjoying themselves. Their pleasure was other people's misery. And they damned well made people miserable, too, threatening them, insulting them, humiliating them. They were especially good at embarrassing a man in front of his woman.
And that's where they got to around nine o'clock that night.
Frank and Beth sat at one of the tables with the passengers. They were talking about the forthcoming senatorial election. Everybody agreed that both men made pretty bad candidates.
Bogstad came up behind Beth and said, "I'd like the pleasure of this dance, lady."
She stayed sweet. "But there isn't any music."
"Don't need music. Now, stand up."
"I'd prefer to sit here with my husband and our guests."
Bogstad looked back at his partner and said, "She won't dance with me, Case. What should I do?"
"Kill her." He laughed.
"That sounds about right," Bogstad said.
An old woman at the table said, "We were having a nice conversation."
"Well, excuse me all to hell, old lady. But I want to dance with this here gal."
Bogstad had apparently assumed that nobody at the table would present him with any problem. Frank Barstow surprised everybody, maybe even himself.
Barstow brought up an early-model Colt that looked to weigh twenty-eight pounds. There were a lot better updated Colts on the market, but this one would do just fine, thank you. This close to his target, Barstow could put a considerable hole in Bogstad's chest.
"You and your friend git now. And I mean now." Bogstad grinned. "You shouldn't ever threaten a man when your hand is shakin' like that."
Prine saw what was going to happen and decided to step in. The first thing he did was stand up and quickly cross over to the chair where Case was sitting. Case was ready to draw when he thought he was needed. Prine showed him his badge and forced him to turn over both his gun and his Bowie knife.
Neville was up, too. He walked over to Bogstad and said, "Put the gun down. Your partner's covered. Nobody here to help you. Put the gun down and walk out of here, just as Mr. Barstow said. You understand?"
Bogstad wasn't a man of pride. He wouldn't fight on principle when he was outnumbered. He'd surrender his gun and his person, knowing that if you didn't kill Prine and Neville now, he would someday, some way have an opportunity to shoot them in the back and overtake them with a band of gunnies like himself. Patience was every bit as much a weapon as a six-gun. Prine always laughed at the dime-novel gunfights when they faced off many yards apart. Most gunfights involved the front of a pistol and the back of a human. Or an assassin in shadow. Most gunfighters were like Bogstad here. Cowards with Colts.
Bogstad handed his weapon to Prine. "Now, don't you go sellin' that on me. My ma gave me that for my third birthday." Since he didn't get a laugh, he said, "You're Prine. That deputy from Claybank. Maybe you should know that me 'n' Case over there're on the same side you are."
He turned around, faced Prine.
"Yeah, how's that?"
"We're after Tolan and Rooney, too. We don't think it's right that the pretty young gal shoulda been done that way."
"Of course, this wouldn't have anything to do with the reward, now, would it?"
Bogstad snorted. "Now, just because I don't look too good or smell too good or talk too good, don't mean I don't care about my fellow human beings."
"Where'd you get a line like that?"
"Theater," Case said from the back of the room. He pronounced it "thee-ater."
"Outside Kansas City. We was laughin' for days about it. Funniest daggone line I ever heard me."
Prine ignored him. "You have any idea where Tolan and Ronney are?"
Bogstad said, "Now, why would you think that?"
"Because I saw you talking to them at least twice in Claybank. Right before the kidnapping."
"We know 'em, sure," Bogstad said.
"From where?"
"Here and there. Around."
"That isn't very specific."
"We're sort of in the same line of work, you might say."
"But you wouldn't happen to know where they might have headed?"
"We got just about as much information as you do, Deputy."
Prine drove his fist hard into Bogstad's stomach. Bogstad doubled over. He looked shocked as well as pained. "What the hell was that for?"
"For interrupting these people. They were just having a nice time, and you had to ruin it for them."
He picked up Bogstad's six-shooter and emptied it of bullets, which he set on the table. "Now you and your partner get out of here, the way Mr. Barstow said." He handed Bogstad his empty gun.
Bogstad walked with some difficulty. He still couldn't stand up quite straight. The pain in his stomach was obviously still severe. He went to the door, and Case joined him there. Case preceded Bogstad outside.
Neville came up. "You're just letting them walk away? They may know something."
"I'm sure they do," Prine said. "And that's why we're going to follow them."
Chapter Fourteen
Bogstad and Case took the route Prine had assumed they would. A town named Picaro lay twenty miles due north of here. It was the remnants of a boomtown notorious even among boomtowns for its violence and corruption. It was still innocent of any real law, so it would be a good place for two men on the run to put up for a while.
They climbed into the foothills again, the terrain rougher now, rocky on the one hand, muddy on the other. Bogstad and Case didn't make good time, nor did Prine and Neville.
When they were able to ride side by side, Neville said, "I didn't treat her very well."
"You did what you could. Raising a kid when you're a kid isn't easy."
"She always said I didn't take her seriously, and now that I think about it, I think she was right. I just keep thinking of all the ways I could've treated her better. I was a piss-poor brother."
Prine knew there was no point in arguing, trying to make Neville feel better. Dawn was turning out the stars. Pumas and wild dogs and wolves were waking, making growling morning noises, padding about their immediate areas searching for food. Best to listen to their voices and forget Neville. He was at the stage in his grieving where he had to be honest with himself, had to admit that the way he'd handled his sister had been wrong. She been more nuisance than sister to him, something he needed to control because it would look bad for his peacock ego if he didn't. Prine knew what he was going through. Prine was going through something of the same thing. He'd learned a lot about himself last night. Learned that his dreams of wealth and prominence were the dreams of a child, not of an adult. Maybe he could've saved Cassie's life if he hadn't been so foolish; and maybe he wouldn't have had to break Lucy's heart because he was so selfish.