Massacre Canyon Read Free

theirs?”
    â€œI have no idea,” Luke replied honestly. “I just spotted Mordecai on the street a little while ago. He had that young woman with him and appeared to be drunk, so I decided to follow him and see if I might have a chance to take him into custody.”
    â€œYou don’t really talk like most bounty hunters I’ve run into,” the lawman said with a slight frown.
    â€œI read a lot,” Luke said simply.
    That was true. He always had several books stuck in his saddlebags, and he picked up more whenever and wherever he had a chance. In the lonely existence he had led, sometimes it seemed like books were his only friends. They were certainly the only ones who were always there for him.
    The marshal’s thoughts must have gone back to what he had been talking about before. He said, “You must not’ve been able to get the drop on him like you hoped.”
    â€œHe must have spotted me following him,” Luke said, and once again that note of bitterness was in his voice. “He forced the girl to make the bedsprings bounce and squeal like they were busy. Then when I kicked the door in, he was ready and cut loose at me with that greener. I barely got out of the way.”
    â€œYeah, but Sheila didn’t,” the marshal said with a gloomy expression on his face. He shook his head.
    â€œThat was her name? Sheila?”
    â€œYeah. Not a bad sort, for a whore. She seemed to genuinely like folks. I reckon she probably would’ve stopped feelin’ like that if she’d stayed in the business long enough. Maybe it’s a blessin’ that she didn’t have the chance.”
    Luke couldn’t bring himself to feel that way. Any life cut short before its time was a bad thing. But he wasn’t going to argue philosophy with the local badge-toter in an Arizona cowtown.
    â€œWe’d better get Kroll locked up while we’ve got the chance,” he said.
    â€œYeah, we don’t want the others to show up while we’re takin’ him down the street.” The marshal sounded like it would have been all right with him if Luke hadn’t captured the infamous outlaw. Now he had to worry about the rest of the Kroll gang riding into town to bust Mordecai out of jail. With a sigh, he added, “I’ll have to get the undertaker up here to take care of Sheila, too. Not to mention the damage to the hotel from the blood and the buckshot and the bullets and such.”
    Luke would have been willing to bet that this wasn’t the first time blood had been spilled in the Sullivan House, nor were those bullet holes the first ones that had been put in the walls. He would pay the proprietor for the damages, though. With the rewards he would collect for capturing Mordecai, he could easily afford the expense.
    He rolled Mordecai onto his belly and took a strip of rawhide from his pocket. Some bounty hunters carried handcuffs, and Luke had a pair of the metal bracelets in his saddlebags, but the rawhide served well for tying a prisoner’s wrists together, too, with the advantage of being compact and lightweight. It wouldn’t clink against something at a bad time and give away his presence when stealth was important, either.
    Mordecai started to come around as Luke jerked his arms behind his back and lashed his wrists together with the rawhide. He pulled the knot good and tight and wasn’t any too gentle about it. Then he took hold of Mordecai’s arms and hauled the outlaw to his feet.
    Mordecai yelped in pain and cursed.
    â€œCareful,” he said.
    â€œLike you were careful when you practically blew poor Sheila’s head off?”
    â€œWas that her name? Hell, if she don’t have sense to duck, it ain’t my fault, is it?”
    Luke drew his right-hand Remington, pressed the muzzle to Mordecai’s head just behind the right ear, and pulled back the hammer.
    â€œIf my thumb happens to slip, it’s not my fault, is