The Dead Man: Kill Them All Read Free Page B

crevice between her full breasts. Matt tried not to follow it with his eyes, looking up, busying himself with adjusting the ax and pack. A dust devil twirled by behind her sunburned shoulder.
    “Sure,” Sally said. “But answer me this: Why the hell would you want to go back out there?”
    Matt shrugged. “Why not?”
    “You really want to know? Because Zeke and Hog work on the spread right next to Kearns.”
    “Oh.”
    “Look, those two are bad enough, but there are also some new strangers out that way. Four guys that showed up crack of dawn this morning.”
    “So?”
    “So they are damned spooky. They came in for breakfast and they were armed to the teeth. Looking for someone, I’d expect. They’re so mean, they make Zeke and Hog nervous.”
    Matt frowned. She had his attention. “What did they look like?”
    “Desperados, with buzz-cut hair and a shitload of muscles. Their leader, Scotty, was cute, but he has Zeke’s kind of eyes, like a predator who gets off on the suffering of others. Know what I mean?”
    “I think so.” Matt felt his pulse twitch. He had no reason to believe this had anything to do with him, but still…He shifted his pack, ax, and bedroll to the opposite shoulder. “These men—did they actually hurt anybody?”
    She shook her head. “Not yet. No, nothing bad happened, but they made sure we all got the feeling something might if we don’t behave. I think they wanted us to know that, to feel spooked. They are up to something.”
    “Do folks spook easily around here?”
    “They are my friends and like family,” she said, “but they all live in fear. They’d back down from a dog with a hard-on. That sort of mind-set tends to encourage bad guys, if you know what I mean.”
    “Yes, Sally,” Matt Cahill said with a laugh. “I know what you mean.” He wiped his forehead. “Did anyone try to stand up to them?”
    “Sheriff Pickens walked up and had a talk with the one called Scotty, but as you know, our sheriff’s getting on in years. Those teenage kids keep him young since his wife died, but hell, his chest dropped into his gut when Bill Clinton was president. Put it this way—these guys were professionals. They didn’t seem too intimidated.”
    The passed the closed movie theater and Matt peeked inside. The furniture was covered with blankets and drop cloths, and the John Wayne posters on the wall were decades old. What an interesting old town.
    “Sally, I still don’t see why that has anything to do with me just revisiting the Kearns place.”
    “And I still don’t see why you’d want to go back there.”
    He couldn’t tell her about the Dark Man. Kearns had likely just been raving from drugs. Still, Matt had to follow anything that looked like a valid lead. Maybe it would come to nothing. Perhaps the man was just another crazed redneck cooking speed in a shack who’d imagined the whole thing. Still, just in case, Matt needed to get this thing over with. He had to find and stop the Dark Man. And hopefully return to the life he once had.
    But he didn’t tell her that. What he said was: “I want to talk with him about living alone in the desert.”
    “You writing a book or something?”
    “Or something,” he said. “Look, thanks for the concern, but I can take care of myself.”
    Sally sighed. “I figured that part out.”
    A bald head appeared in the window of a storefront. They both jumped. “Jesus, Bert. You scared me half to death.”
    Matt saw that the bald man was wearing a white apron stained with blood and juices of some kind. The sign outside said he was a grocer. Bert had a large, red-veined nose and a twitch under one eye.
    “Howdy, mister,” Bert said. “Thanks for what you did for Suzie Pickens. Whole town is buzzing about it.” His curious eyes gave him away as desperate for human contact and maybe a bit of gossip.
    “Howdy.” Matt again opted to avoid introducing himself. Sally hadn’t made the connection, but even way out here in the