whoever else she has in mind?â
âI suppose. Again, what difference does it make? I wonât lose any sleep over it and neither should you.â
No, Fargo wouldnât, but he continued to the east.
âWhy are you doing this?â Carmody asked. âIf they get hold of you, theyâll slap a leg iron on and youâll be digging ditches and planting crops from now until doomsday.â
Fargo didnât answer.
âDamn it,â Carmody snapped. âI donât understand, and Iâd like to.â
âI already told you.â
âBecause she has your stupid rifle?â
Fargo grunted.
âWhat kind of reason is that? I refuseâyou hear me? I refuse to go back there and be chained like some animal all over again.â
âNo one is forcing you.â
âPlease donât.â
âHead west if you want. In six or seven days youâll reach a settlement called Travis.â
âGo all that way by my lonesome? With Comanches and God knows what else out there?â Carmody glared. âI hate this. I pray you know what in hell youâre doing.â
Fargo didnât say anything, but so did he.
15
Half a mile farther they heard more shots. Four blasts in quick cadenceâ
bam, bam, bam, bam
âwhich hinted to Fargo that the shooter was sure of his target.
They spied the bodies from a hundred yards out, four sprawled figures at the side of the road.
Fargo drew his Colt and they cautiously advanced. He didnât need to examine the fallen to be sure they were dead. All four had been shot in the head.
Dismounting, he roved about, reconstructing the sign. Two horses were off in the grass, grazing. The other two had run off.
Carmody stayed on her mount, her features a mirror of disbelief. âAlice did this?â
âAppears so,â Fargo said.
âSweet, quiet, little Alice?â
âItâs the posse that man we found earlier was with. He went on ahead while they stopped to rest and waited for him to report back, remember?â
âI donât see the marshal.â
âMako wasnât with it.â Fargo rolled one of the bodies over. âThis one was.â
âDeputy Clyde!â Carmody exclaimed.
The weasel had been hit smack between the eyes. In death he was even uglier than in life.
Fargo noticed something else. âSee that watch lying there? And that folding knife? She went through their pockets and pokes.â
âShe robbed them?â
Fargo came to the last man. A revolver lay next to him, but he wasnât wearing a gun belt. The revolver was the same caliber as Fargoâs Henry. âShe got hold of more ammunition.â
âAnd rode on to town?â Carmody gazed eastward. âDear God. What does she think she can do?â
âHavenât you been paying attention? Sheâs out for revenge.â
âAlice is one woman against a whole town,â Carmody said. âShe doesnât stand a prayer.â
âSheâs killed five men in an hourâs time,â Fargo said. âThatâs a damn good start.â Climbing on the Ovaro, he flicked the reins.
âWhy wasnât the marshal with them?â
âHeâs probably overseeing the search for the rest and sent Clyde and those other four after us.â
âToo bad,â Carmody said. âIf heâd been with them, heâd be dead, too, and Alice would have her vengeance.â
âYouâre forgetting the mayor and Gwendolyn and whoever else sheâs out to kill.â
âYou donât thinkââ Carmody stopped, as if her thought surprised her. âYou donât think sheâs out to make the whole town suffer, do you? She wouldnât do something like poison their water, would she?â
âWhat makes you say that?â
âShe mentioned a few times how much she hated the town and everyone in it. Said as how sheâd like it if all of them were
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