sneered.
‘I ain’t interested in hearing anything those two have to say.’ Kurt raised his eyebrows. ‘And I’m surprised at you. I thought you’d looked after prisoners for long enough not to believe their lies, especially when they’re just days from the gallows.’
Shackleton’s abashed frown suggested he thought it highly likely that Kurt was right.
Over the last two days Nathaniel had tried and failed several times to talk to them. Now that they’d used up nearly half of their allotted seven days following leads on Javier Rodriguez, all of which had led nowhere, he had hoped they were in just the right frame of mind to listen to his offer.
‘Despite that, just listen to what he has to say,’ Shackleton said. ‘If you don’t like it, I’ll take them down to Mayor Maxwell.’
Kurt accepted these terms with a short nod, then stood over Nathaniel, who looked up at him and took a deep breath.
‘It’s like this,’ Nathaniel said, ‘I got wrongly accused of killing a man in Beaver Ridge jail and—’
‘If that’s what you’re going to whine about,’ Kurt snapped, ‘I ain’t wasting my time listening.’
‘Then I’ll give you the ending. I can take you to Javier Rodriguez.’
Kurt snorted. ‘So what they say about you is true. You would sell anyone out to save yourself.’
‘That ain’t the way it is. Turner Jackson sold everyone out, including me. I was after him because only the truth from him can save me from the gallows.’
‘All right, I believe you,’ Kurt said in a sneering tone that suggested the opposite. ‘So go on. Tell me where I can find Turner Jackson and Javier Rodriguez and I’ll make him tell the truth and save your neck from a stretching.’
‘I’ll do that but I want to be there, helping to get them. That’s part of the deal, or you won’t ever find him.’
‘As I thought. The deal is we free your bonds and then we ride around for days following your dubious directions while you look for a chance to run. That don’t sound like a good deal to me.’
‘Except I’ll take you directly to him.’
Kurt pursed his lips, as if were taking this offer seriously .
‘How far?’
Nathaniel sat back then raised his bound hands.
Kurt was just starting to shake his head when Shackleton spoke up.
‘You’ll have to give us something more than that, Nathaniel, as a show of faith, before we give you some leeway. Otherwise, I’ll take you down to the mayor myself and he’s determined to stretch someone’s neck in front of the governor whether they were wrongly accused or not.’
‘If you want something more, you’ll have to free The Preacher too,’ Nathaniel said, surprising himself with his comment. But now that he’d said it, it sounded right. The Preacher had saved his life, after all. ‘He’s the one who knows where Javier Rodriguez is.’
This comment made Kurt’s eyes open wide then snap round to look at The Preacher.
‘How can he possibly know that? He’s been our prisoner for the last two days.’
‘To be honest I don’t exactly know how, but hewent to Baxter’s Point without making any detours or even looking as if he was following a trail. I reckon he can do the same again.’
‘But he’s a babbling madman.’
‘He ain’t. The Preacher’s intelligent. He’s remembered every line in the Bible and can quote them all, but because he does that people think him a madman. So they ignore him and talk openly in front of him. I reckon he hears it all and remembers, and that means in jail he heard Javier’s plans for what he’d do if he ever got free and that let him work out his weaknesses and motivations.’
Kurt shrugged and lowered his tone as if he were accepting this.
‘Javier’s motivation is simple. He’s an evil varmint. I don’t need no loco Bible man to tell me that.’
‘Except it’s more complicated than that. I can talk with him, sort of.’
‘So you can talk with a madman.’ Kurt snorted. ‘That don’t make me
‘I ain’t interested in hearing anything those two have to say.’ Kurt raised his eyebrows. ‘And I’m surprised at you. I thought you’d looked after prisoners for long enough not to believe their lies, especially when they’re just days from the gallows.’
Shackleton’s abashed frown suggested he thought it highly likely that Kurt was right.
Over the last two days Nathaniel had tried and failed several times to talk to them. Now that they’d used up nearly half of their allotted seven days following leads on Javier Rodriguez, all of which had led nowhere, he had hoped they were in just the right frame of mind to listen to his offer.
‘Despite that, just listen to what he has to say,’ Shackleton said. ‘If you don’t like it, I’ll take them down to Mayor Maxwell.’
Kurt accepted these terms with a short nod, then stood over Nathaniel, who looked up at him and took a deep breath.
‘It’s like this,’ Nathaniel said, ‘I got wrongly accused of killing a man in Beaver Ridge jail and—’
‘If that’s what you’re going to whine about,’ Kurt snapped, ‘I ain’t wasting my time listening.’
‘Then I’ll give you the ending. I can take you to Javier Rodriguez.’
Kurt snorted. ‘So what they say about you is true. You would sell anyone out to save yourself.’
‘That ain’t the way it is. Turner Jackson sold everyone out, including me. I was after him because only the truth from him can save me from the gallows.’
‘All right, I believe you,’ Kurt said in a sneering tone that suggested the opposite. ‘So go on. Tell me where I can find Turner Jackson and Javier Rodriguez and I’ll make him tell the truth and save your neck from a stretching.’
‘I’ll do that but I want to be there, helping to get them. That’s part of the deal, or you won’t ever find him.’
‘As I thought. The deal is we free your bonds and then we ride around for days following your dubious directions while you look for a chance to run. That don’t sound like a good deal to me.’
‘Except I’ll take you directly to him.’
Kurt pursed his lips, as if were taking this offer seriously .
‘How far?’
Nathaniel sat back then raised his bound hands.
Kurt was just starting to shake his head when Shackleton spoke up.
‘You’ll have to give us something more than that, Nathaniel, as a show of faith, before we give you some leeway. Otherwise, I’ll take you down to the mayor myself and he’s determined to stretch someone’s neck in front of the governor whether they were wrongly accused or not.’
‘If you want something more, you’ll have to free The Preacher too,’ Nathaniel said, surprising himself with his comment. But now that he’d said it, it sounded right. The Preacher had saved his life, after all. ‘He’s the one who knows where Javier Rodriguez is.’
This comment made Kurt’s eyes open wide then snap round to look at The Preacher.
‘How can he possibly know that? He’s been our prisoner for the last two days.’
‘To be honest I don’t exactly know how, but hewent to Baxter’s Point without making any detours or even looking as if he was following a trail. I reckon he can do the same again.’
‘But he’s a babbling madman.’
‘He ain’t. The Preacher’s intelligent. He’s remembered every line in the Bible and can quote them all, but because he does that people think him a madman. So they ignore him and talk openly in front of him. I reckon he hears it all and remembers, and that means in jail he heard Javier’s plans for what he’d do if he ever got free and that let him work out his weaknesses and motivations.’
Kurt shrugged and lowered his tone as if he were accepting this.
‘Javier’s motivation is simple. He’s an evil varmint. I don’t need no loco Bible man to tell me that.’
‘Except it’s more complicated than that. I can talk with him, sort of.’
‘So you can talk with a madman.’ Kurt snorted. ‘That don’t make me
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