Slocum and the Glitter Girls at Gravel Gulch (9781101619513) by Jake Logan Page A

there’s several of them.”
    “We’ll just have to see how it all works out,” Slocum said.
    “You sound sure of yourself,” Harvey said.
    “But he doesn’t know how dangerous Canby is,” she said.
    “Time will tell,” Slocum said and turned to walk away.
    Laurie ran after him. She grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged at his arm.
    “Will you promise me one thing, John?” she said.
    “If I can,” he said.
    “Stay with me tonight.”
    “I’m going hunting tonight,” he said.
    “So long,” Harvey called. “Take care, John.”
    Laurie and Slocum turned and waved good-bye to Harvey.
    He waved back.
    “After you’re through hunting,” she said as they continued to walk along the creek, “just promise me you’ll come back to my cabin. I’ll leave the door unlocked.”
    “It would be a pleasure,” he said. She leaned close to him and he smelled the perfume in her hair.
    “If I come back,” he said.
    She squeezed his arm and her touch felt good to him.
    He didn’t know how far he would get with his mission that night, but he was going to try and confront as many of Canby’s men as he could.
    And he wanted to check on the two women, Bonnie and Renata. If his hunch was right, they were already in Canby’s clutches.
    That was one more item on Slocum’s list.

15
    Orson Canby sat in a large chair in the center of his hotel suite.
    To Johnny Crowell, who was shaking in his boots, he looked like a bloated bullfrog on a lily pad.
    Hack and Boze flanked Steve Beck on the large plush couch made of Moroccan leather. Johnny had heard it all from Beck, as had Canby, and now he knew the whole story of the jailbreak.
    Beck was on the hot seat, Johnny knew. Canby’s criticism of the jailer was scathing.
    “You little twerp,” Canby said to Beck. “You are paid to guard prisoners. You let yourself be bushwhacked by this Slocum bastard. Can you give me one good reason why you shouldn’t be thrashed for your dereliction?”
    “Boss, that Slocum feller caught me by surprise. He was on me before I could do anything. He grabbed my scattergun and I thought he was goin’ to shoot me dead.”
    “Beck, you make me want to puke,” Canby said.
    There was a knock at the door.
    “Come in,” Canby said in a loud tone of voice.
    Two men entered the living quarters.
    Both seemed out of breath.
    Roddie Nehring and Earl Cassaway clumped across the rug. Canby waved them to single chairs near the divan.
    “He ain’t left town,” Earl said.
    “Leastways, his horse is still in a stall at the livery,” Roddie said as both men sat down.
    “This is a fine kettle of fish,” Canby said as he looked at his four henchmen.
    “He just don’t seem to be nowhere,” Hack ventured.
    “Shut up, Hack,” Canby said.
    Orson rubbed four fingers and his thumb, bringing them together on his forehead as if he were summoning thought and, perhaps, wisdom.
    “Sorry,” Hack said, then clamped his mouth shut.
    “Well, he’s somewhere,” Canby said. “And you’re all out of ideas. And he’s got that bastard Hornaday with him. Hornaday’s due to be hanged, and by God, he’s going to hang. Slocum, too, if we can find him. Jailbreaking is a crime no matter where it happens. That right, Beck?”
    Beck appeared flustered.
    “If you say so, Orson,” Beck said.
    “Well, here’s what you’re going to do, boys, and you pass the word along to Rodrigo and Salazar. You cover both ends of Main Street this afternoon. One man at each corner. Got that?”
    The four gunmen nodded.
    “Hack, you get Rodrigo on one corner. I want you to find a dark corner in the Wild Horse and sit there until it closes. Don’t get drunk. Just sit there like you was a stump.”
    “Got it, Orson,” Hack said.
    “Bose, you put Salazar on a corner opposite Rodrigoand you prowl Main Street. Check Mrs. Hobbs’s boardinghouse every so often, and the hotel here. Slocum’s got to light somewhere.”
    Boze squirmed on the divan.
    “Orson. Maybe Slocum took