Keeper of the Books (Keeper of the Books, Book 1) Read Free

was brought in dead or alive. The reward was the same. This particular bank robbery would have brought Nate to a place he had robbed not twice, but three times. Had he gone with the group, he would have been captured before the job even started.  
    Joe turned his back to Nate and leaned against the porch railing, staring out into the dusty yard. “What do you think we ought to do?”
    Nate thought for a moment as he looked into the sun drenched yard. Finally, he got up from the chair and stood next to his brother.  
    “We can’t stay here,” Nate said. “It won’t be long before Amos gives up our location.”
    “You think we ought to run?”
    Nate nodded and looked at the book in his hands. Joe stared at it but took a step to the side as if it might explode.  
    “Get yourself cleaned up,” Nate said. “We’re going to meet with Tyler Montgomery.”
    “Forget the book,” Joe pleaded. “It’s more dangerous carrying that thing around than staying here and waiting for Levi Thompson.”
    “This is my last job,” Nate said. “I intend to get paid for it.”

Levi

    Summer, 1882 A.D.

    “Nathaniel Cole is going to hang from a tree,” Levi Thompson said to Amos. “And you can either hang next to him, or tell me where he is. His fate is secure, but yours…” he shook his head, “yours is up in the air. I’m sure we can work all this out if you agree to tell me where he is.”
    Amos swallowed as a bead of sweat crawled next to his eye. “I don’t want to be prosecuted for no crimes.”
    “Yer kiddin’ yourself if you think you ain’t gonna be prosecuted,” Sheriff Marston said.  
    Levi had to keep himself from shaking his head. These locals never understood criminals the way he did. None of them were even close to as good at tracking them down as Levi was, but the lawmen always had to have their way. Technically speaking, Amos wasn’t Levi’s prisoner, but the sheriff would let Levi have him until the outlaw led him to the Cole brothers—more importantly, Nathaniel. Levi would make whatever promises he needed to make so long as Amos led him to Nathaniel. Amnesty was a promise that Levi wasn’t authorized to give, but when outlaws like the Cole brothers were within grasp, the bounty hunter would promise just about anything, whether it was true or not.  
    He looked back at the sheriff of Penrod. “Mr. Marston, do you have any matches?”
    Marston looked at Levi with a curious stare, unsure of what the bounty hunter had in mind. “And just what are you planning to do if I told you I did?”
    Levi lifted a hand in the air, a thick brown roll of tobacco was tucked between two fingers. Oftentimes Levi would simply chew the end of a cigar for the flavor, but when the sweet smoke entered his lungs and exited through his nostrils or lips, he felt like his thoughts were clearer. More concise. Levi rarely formulated a plan without a cigar in his mouth, the tendrils of smoke gathering into white clouds around his head. “Just for this,” he said, holding up the fat cigar.  
    Marston sucked on the bottom of his lip as he walked to the front of his desk, opened the top drawer, and pulled out a single match for Levi to use. Levi took the match from him with a nod and a forced smile.  
    “Now,” Levi said, “could you excuse the two of us for a moment?”
    “Nope,” the sheriff said. “I ain’t gonna be pushed outta my own office. Especially by a bounty hunter.”
    “No one is pushing you out,” Levi said, offering a more genuine-looking smile. “The Cole brothers are the most wanted criminals this side of the Rio Grande. If you want them to be captured, you have to let me do my job. I need to speak with Amos alone, please.” He waited a moment as Marston considered his words.
    Marston was an unpleasant man. His hair strung out in mats under the brim of his hat which was spotted with sweat. He smelled of stout alcohol and he needed a bath worse than some of the cattle rustlers Levi had rounded