Hell's Gate (Ben Blue Book 8) Read online

  I swung into the saddle and was getting my feet and seat settled when Grossman asked, “Now tell me, Marshal, how you can afford a horse like this’n on a government salary?”

  “I caught him wild as a yearling…You should see his brother… a full hand taller, and about as close to perfect as a horse ever was. That one’s never been ridden, and probably won’t if I have anything to say… You come by the MB connected if you ever get to Taos, and I’ll show you some horses.

  He stood there stroking Smoke’s neck, and then the light of recognition came to his eyes, “Oh, you’re that Blue… I heard he was a quiet peaceful sort of fella.” We rode off while he was still laughing.

  On the way back to town, I was pondering what information I’d gotten from Grossman and his foreman. After his initial attitude and our little confrontation, everything changed and he became open and friendly. I asked him some blunt questions and he answered them with the same frankness. I began to think he was cut from the same cloth that most honest western men were cut from. And I was no closer to finding the outlaws than I was a week ago.

  We were riding along at a shambling trot, we were in no hurry, and each man was lost in his own thoughts. I looked over at Sandy Corbel, and was puzzled by the look on his face.

  “You all right, Sandy? Maybe you shouldn’t have come after all.”

  “Hu… Oh… no. I was just tryin’ to remember something… You know how it is when you see someone and you can’t remember who he is or where you knowed him from? Well, there was a feller back there at the Ladder 6 I’d seen somewhere before, and it’s drivin’ me crazy.”

  “What’d he look like?”

  “Bout my size, long black hair, bushy eyebrows, droopy mustache, and he was wearin’ a pinto vest. I remembered the vest ‘cause I had one like it, back when I thought it would attract the gals… it didn’t help.”

  Flynn had ridden up on the other side of Corbel and joined in, “I saw him there… thought for a minute, he was a bloody red coat and I would get to shoot him, but he slipped away around the house.”

  “Yeah,” Corbel said, “he just slid out of sight.”

  “Sorry, I can’t help you with that one, Sandy… I was kinda busy at the time.” I told him.

  I didn’t see the humor, but everyone else got a good laugh out of my aches and bruises. They finally chalked it up to one of those mysteries of life that may never be answered this side of the Pearly Gates.

  It was well past noon and too close to supper to be eating anything, Misses Gladstone set a fine supper table, and she took offense if a man didn’t dig in and eat up. And we never wanted to offend a cook. So we didn’t stop at the diner, but went straight to the jail instead. The front door was wide open. It had been closed when we left. Someone must have come in to drop off his list of unfavorable characters and left it open when he left.

  Sure enough, there were four sheets of paper on the desk. Looking them over quickly, I found they all had the same five names that Rufus Franklin had given me. There were others, but only a couple of them showed up more than once.

  My intent was to go back and give those lucky five men the good news that nobody wanted them in Junction City. So the least they were facing was to be run out of town. But when I opened the cell block door, I found my plan had been changed.

  There wasn’t a solitary living soul in either cell. Five men were missing. The only one there was Rufus Franklin, and he was no longer a living soul. Someone had choked the life out of him with his own belt. It was still wrapped around his neck as he lay there on the floor. The back door was unbarred and wide open.

  Had they not dealt with Rufus the way they did, I would have probably said good riddance and not spent a lot of effort worrying about it. They were lowdown and miserable characters capable of almost anything. But none of them had been carrying any real money when we pulled them in the day before. Unless someone was holding the money until things calmed down before they made a split. There could be others.

  It was no use to start a hunt this late in the day, so the best I could do was scout around and find where their horses had been waiting, and where they’d been before that. There was no doubt; they had help from at least one other man. These men were important to someone either for what they could tell or for future use.

  After a quick search for where the horses had been waiting, I found it and tracked it back to the town’s only livery stable. The stable owner had noticed that the horses were gone, but had no idea who had got them… He just assumed the men came and got them from the corral and would be back later. Or that they had stiffed him for what they owed.

  “I ain’t too worried about it,” he said, “they disappeared like that a couple of weeks ago, but they were back that afternoon.”

  Stopping at the hotel on my way back to the boardinghouse, I asked the clerk if Mr. Woodcock was in.

  “Sorry, Marshal, but Mister Woodcock checked out this morning around ten o’clock.” He told me.

  Now what’s Ethan up to? I asked myself, but I got no answer. So I walked on up to the boardinghouse. Coaker was sitting on the front porch smoking and whittling, when I arrived.

  “The new Sheriff, got the undertaker to haul off the body. The creepy old goat said there was enough money in the old Marshal’s pocket to pay the bill.” He volunteered as I climbed the steps.

  I thanked him and went inside to wait for supper. As I walked into the parlor, there sat Deputy US Marshal Claybrook, who was sometimes called Woodcock sitting in an easy chair with his legs crossed reading a week old newspaper.

  “Well, if it isn’t Mister Woodcock…or am I mistaken?”

  “That’s correct, Marshal… uh… uh… Green isn’t it, or was it Gray?”

  “Blue… Marshal Ben Blue. I thought you were stayin’ at the hotel.”

  “I was until I learned there was an opening here for a few pennies more and two meals a day. So I grabbed it.”

  “Now Woodcock, I don’t know much about mining, but I saw a few rock formations that looked mighty interesting out on the range this morning. I went by your hotel to tell you about it and found out that you’d left… Now here you are sittin’ in Misses Gladstone’s parlor.”

  “I’d sure like to find something of interest. I’ve been kicking around here for nigh on to a week and haven’t found a thing worth explorin’… let’s step outside for a cigar and you can tell me about it.”

  We went outside to keep from having to whisper in front of the two other guests in the parlor. They were already way too interested in our conversation. I was pretty sure they were expecting to hear about the next big bonanza gold rush, and I didn’t want to bore them with talk of a jailbreak and a killin’.

  After I told him about rounding up the five least wanted and jailed them, only to come back to find five of them gone and one man dead.

  “There’s no way they could have gotten the keys from the other room. Someone came in and set them free. Any one of them could have killed Franklin. I believe that was just a spontaneous act by one of the men… Someone figured it out that he gave them up. It’s kind of ironic that he gave me their names to keep from hanging, and he wound up gettin’ choked anyway.”

  “I had a nice visit with Bull Grossman.” I told him.

  He chuckled and said, “I kinda figured you did from the look of that eye.”

  “You didn’t tell me he was a fighter. The man’s a bully who can back it up… From the way he marked me up, you’d never guess it ended with him sprawled out on the porch… But we’re old friends now. He admitted that he was just being a bully askin’ Buck to stay another day… It was just a dumb act of arrogance.”

  “I came away feelin’ he didn’t have anything to do with it. He’s got a nice spread and a solid foreman and crew. Most of them are long timers. He may have a lot of bad qualities, but I’d venture to say he also has a lot of quality qualities.”

  “What have you got planned?”

  “In the morning, we’ll do a little
trackin’, and see where their trail leads us. I tend to think, whoever set ‘em free, has got more plans for ‘em.

  Chapter 9

  After supper, Claybrook and I walked down to the Lucky Lady Saloon. The only time I’d been there was when I took Rio Sanchez from the lovin’ arms of Fat Sally. I needed to see a little more of the place. It was jumping with what looked like mostly townspeople and a few cowhands. There seemed to be more gaming than the other saloon. Almost all the tables had a card game going, or they were empty.

  We stood at the bar, and soon Fat Sally slid in next to me, and gave me a sideways bump with here more than ample hip. “Hey there big’un. Did you come back to sample the merchandise?”

  “Not tonight, Princess, but my friend here might be lookin’ for some adventure.”

  “Oh… and he’s a pretty one ain’t he? What do ya say Handsome?”

  While Claybrook was fumbling around for a polite way to say no thank you, another saloon gal, but one who showed a good deal more beauty and class walked up to Sally and said, “Sally, these gentlemen might need some special attention…why don’t you let me deal with them.”

  Sally stomped off in a huff, and the other gal moved into her vacated spot. She hailed the bartender and told him, “George…Two more for these gentlemen, and I’ll have my usual.”

  “Hello Rose.” Claybrook said over my left shoulder.

  “When I heard there was a Marshal in town, I hoped it was you, Ethan, but when they told me he was a big handsome red head, I sighed and went on with my life.”

  “I take it you two know each other from some past life… Ma’am, I’m Ben Blue.”

  “Ben, I want you to say hello to a real Desert Rose… Rose Malone… A sweeter flower never bloomed.”

  I tipped my hat, and she said, “Would you listen to him… No wonder my poor little heart goes pitty pat, when he walks into the room”.

  We took our drinks over to a table that didn’t have a card game being played on it, in other words it was empty.

  “I reckon, I’ll have to come out in the open, Ben… I’ve been found out. I’m sure Rose won’t give me away, but others might. I had to turn my face when George took our order at the bar…. You wouldn’t give me away, would you?”

  “Well, it all depends on how you treat me.” She said with a coquettish smile.

  “I’m not getting anywhere undercover anyway; I might as well start buttin’ heads and kickin’ butts.”

  “Rose,” I said, “Ethan and I are here with two separate but connected missions. And we didn’t even know the other was coming… but we’ve been known to work well together… Officially, he’s in charge… I’m really just a rancher with a badge. Maybe next time I try to give it back to Jasper Stewart… he’ll take it.”

  “This territory is just opening up to settlement,” Claybrook took over for me, “and it got off to a good start, but the riff-raff got a toe hold and seem to want to make it a safe haven for the lawless. They’ve already killed the Sheriff… and now they’ve killed the town Marshal. Even though, he was as bad as most of them.”

  “Ben put five of them in jail yesterday, and someone broke them out today… I just want to give you a little warning. When I put this badge on, anyone I care about will be at risk. So if you want to keep your distance, I’ll understand.”

  She looked him straight in the eye and said, “I’ll see who I want, and there’s not a man in this territory who has anything to say about it… And that includes the US Marshal’s office.”

  He held both hands up and said, “Easy, Rosie… I’m on your side… I just wanted to let you know how it was.”

  She had already taken total control of the situation. She knew perfectly well that he was only thinking of her safety, but she needed to keep him off balance… He hadn’t learned yet that there wasn’t any way to come out ahead in that game.

  Being an old married man, I could just sit back and enjoy his squirming. But the batwing doors flew open and Flynn stepped in. He stood there a few seconds looking the crowd over. I started to rise when he spotted me. He came directly across the floor, and I met him a few strides away from our table.

  “Boss… you need to come quick! It’s that Sandy lad. He’s speakin’ crazy talk.”

  I turned to let Ethan and Rose know I had to leave, and we headed for the door nearly running over a couple of boys on their way in.

  “He was worn out and went to bed right after supper. I was sittin’ on the porch cleanin’ me gun, when he started yellin’ like a banshee was after him… Stevens and me got him calmed down, but he was talkin’ babble and nonsense.”

  Claybrook caught up with us at the porch and we went in together. Mrs. Gladstone and Stevens were with him when we entered the room. He was laying in the bed and Mrs. Gladstone was wiping his face with a damp cloth and speaking softly to him.

  He was awake even though his eyes were closed; I could tell by the way he was clutching the blanket, and he was taking only short shallow breaths.

  “Does he have a fever?” I asked.

  She looked up and said, “No… and he barely picked at his supper.”

  “Is that you, Ben?” he asked as he pushed the damp cloth from his eyes.

  “I’m here, Sandy… What is it… What’s the matter?”

  “Saw him, Ben… I saw him standing there shooting into Kelly. I was turning to shoot him when I got hit… he was pumping lead into Kelly like he was killin’ a snake.”

  “Who was it? Who did the shooting?” Claybrook asked.

  Sandy’s eyes turned to Ethan and I told him it was all right to answer.

  “Don’t know his name, but he was the one with the pinto vest out at the Ladder 6… the one I couldn’t remember…Ben, Kelly’s dead ain’t he…and Flanders… and Buck?”

  “I’m sorry, Sandy, Kelly and Flanders are gone. But Buck made it through. You got him on his horse and brought him in… You saved him… He could be up and around in a few days with Misses Gladstone’s good cookin’. You can see him tomorrow… Flynn and me will be at the Ladder 6 come daybreak. Right now, you get some rest… we’re gonna need you.”

  As we walked into the parlor, Ethan asked, “Do you think he’s got it right?”

  “Yeah… I had a .44 slug bounce off my skull a few years back. The doc told me I might lose some memory, but bits and pieces will come back… Sometimes when it comes back, it temporarily blocks out newer stuff. He says they just don’t know much about the brain. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s got it right.”

  “When my head was all muddled up, I tried to forget about the bills I owed, but them that was waitin’ for payment all had good memories.”

  An hour before dawn, Mrs. Gladstone had coffee and egg on the stove, and we were out the door shortly after. Claybrook wanted to come with us, but I suggested he stay in town and start putting pressure on some of the business people… I suspected there was more than met the eye in Junction City.

  It didn’t seem right that a town could have that many full time hardcases living there, and not have any problems. None of those five men had jobs or any way of making a living, but they all spent money freely. And there were other names on the lists that didn’t show up as often as the first five. Claybrook had his work cut out for him.

  We were at Bull Grossman’s front door as the sun was showing its face across the eastern horizon. Grossman seemed a bit confused when he saw us standing on his porch.

  “Didn’t expect to see you boys so soon… I was planning to send you a message this mornin’.”

  “Oh… What’s the message?”

  “Just wanted you to know that two of my newer hands up and drew their time right after you left… thought it was a might peculiar.”

  “One of them wearin’ a vest that made him look like a pinto pony?”

  “Yeah that’d be Parsons, and the other one’s Glover… You think they’re part of it?”

  “Don’t know about Glover but I got Parsons dead to rights… he’ll likely hang
, if the acting Sheriff here don’t shoot him first… got any idea which way they went.”

  “Come on in and have some coffee while I get my boots on and I’ll find the trail for ya.”

  In a few minutes time it took for Grossman to get his boots and belt on, we poured down some hot coffee and downed a few biscuits with honey. At that moment I was mighty happy we hadn’t beat each other to death.

  When we went through the kitchen door, I saw Fess Painter at the corral give an order to one of the men, and by the time we’d gathered our horses, they had a saddle on a horse for Grossman. He knows how to run a cattle ranch.

  Grossman led off at a trot. “When they rode out they started off this way… Course it’s all chewed up here, but I watched them ride on till they was out of sight. The whole time I was watchin’ ‘em, I was thinkin’… good riddance.”

  “They were a worthless pair, but we needed men when I hired ‘em, and I just never got around to firin’ ‘em.”

  About a half a mile out, we found where they left the well traveled areas and headed northwest at a pretty good speed.

  “This is about where they started raisin’ dust… Don’t know what they were so eager to get to… there ain’t nothin’ up that way but some Injuns and sand. I ain’t never been there, but it gets kinda hilly and rough up that way… supposed to be a little two bit squatter town up in the hills after you cross the San Juan goin’ west they call Hell’s Gate. They say it’s the gateway to hell, ‘cause beyond it is the dryest a stretch of hell as you’ll never want to cross.”

  “I appreciate this, Bull. It puts another piece of the puzzle together. I’ll need to ride back to town and have a pow wow with Marshal Claybrook. He’s workin’ on the other end of things.”

  “Claybrook? He that eastern fella from up in Denver?”

  “That’s him, but he’s been out here long enough to earn his spurs. He ain’t much with a rope and a cuttin’ horse, but he’ll stand when the lead starts flyin’. I like to tell folks I taught him how to be a western Marshal.”