[Texas Rangers 04] - Ranger's Trail by Elmer Kelton Page B

Josie Monahan.”
    Bessie felt as if a bullet had struck her . She struggled to control herself lest Shannon read the dismay she felt. “ Josie Monahan?”
    “ That’s what I said.”
    Bessie began to shake in spite of a determined effort to take a grip on her emotions.
    Shannon seemed to read her thoughts. “I guess you thought it was Alice. But Corey shot the wrong woman.”
    Bessie’s mind raced as she considered the implications of the mistake. Shannon was clearly in a killing mood. It was a good thing Corey had left. Shannon was prepared to kill him or die in the effort. But there was another complication. Alice might or might not have talked before, but her sister’s death would make her eager to tell everything she knew about the Bascoms.
    Shannon stared at her with a severity she could not handle. She looked away from his blazing eyes. He said, “I’m askin’ you again, where’s Corey?”
    Newley said, “Corey didn’t—”
    Ma cut him off short. “Shut your mouth, Newley.”
    Andy brought his rifle to bear on the brothers, and Evan followed his lead with the shotgun. Andy said, “We’ll keep these boys off of your back if you want to go search the house.”
    Without answering, Shannon rode close to the picket house and dismounted, keeping the horse between himself and the dwelling. Rifle in hand, he walked to the door and kicked it open. He rushed inside.
    Bessie said to the other two, “Told him Corey ain’t here. He left, and I doubt he’s comin’ back. Ever.”
    Andy said, “Won’t do him any good. Rusty’ll hunt ’til he finds him.”
    “ Shannon ain’t a Monahan, and neither are you. What was that Josie woman to you-all?”
    “ Rusty and her were fixin’ to get married.”
    Bessie had no time or inclination to feel sorry for people outside of her own, but she recognized that this made Shannon a lethal threat. She had seen with Corey how much store a man could place in a woman whether she deserved it or not. The mood he was in, Shannon was as dangerous as a den of rattlesnakes. She hoped neither Lacey nor little Anse was foolish enough to try a move against him, not right now. Shannon could probably kill them both and not lose a minute’s sleep over it. She did not have to worry about Newley. At the first shot he would probably turn and run like a dog.
    Shannon remounted his dun and returned, his eyes as threatening as before. “Whichaway was he goin’ when he left here?”
    She said, “You know we wouldn’t tell you. Look for yourself. Maybe you can find his tracks.” She had little concern on that score. There were so many horse tracks around here that he could have no idea which were left by Corey’s mount.
    Shannon said, “I’ll find him. Consider him dead, because I’ll find him no matter how long it takes.” He jerked his head at his two companions. They rode away in the general direction of Fort Griffin. That was the course Corey had been taking when she last saw him.
    Newley was the first to speak. He had looked relieved when he found out Alice was still alive. “Ma, you let them go on thinkin’ Corey done it when it was really Lacey.”
    She lashed him with the quirt. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that again. They’d have killed Lacey as sure as he’s standin’ there.”
    “ But they’ll kill Corey if they find him.”
    “ Corey can take care of himself better than Lacey. He’s a better shot. But we stand together, us Bascoms. We take care of one another, and we don’t point a finger at any of our own. Now gather close and listen.” She looked around as if she thought some outsider might hear. They had let Alice hear too much. “You boys have got a job of work to do. Lacey, you heard what he said. You shot the wrong woman.”
    Lacey was immediately defensive, raising his hands as if he expected her to take the quirt to him. “You know we couldn’t get real close to the house. She looked like Alice, the best I could see in the lamplight.”
    “ You