The Murdock's Law Read Free Page A

rather I didn’t know about until I’m pinned to that pretty gold badge.”
    â€œYou see?” Mather told the Frenchman. “We should have come right out with it at the beginning, like I said.”

    The Marquis sighed. Why did I have the feeling I was watching a carefully rehearsed play?
    â€œIt is not really much of a revelation, since you have been inquiring around about it before this,” he said. “You know that a certain man, a certain gunman, is expected here shortly.”
    â€œShedwell.”
    â€œYes. But you do not know why, and neither do we. For some weeks past, there have been difficulties here. Perhaps you have heard something of them in Helena.”
    â€œRange war,” I acknowledged.
    â€œYes, but only a little one.” He emphasized how little with his thumb and forefinger. “The small ranchers, they are jealous of the big ranchers and the grass and water we control. Until now the situation has been of small consequence—a fight with the fists between cowboys from different spreads, an occasional bullet through a window, aimed high so that no one is hurt. The presence of a hired killer, however, changes everything.”
    â€œWho’s hiring him?”
    He spread his delicate hands, hunching his shoulders at the same time in a Latin show of befuddlement. “Your guess is equal to mine, monsieur. Certainly not we. We have our suspicions, of course.”
    â€œI’ll bet you do.”
    Mather said, “We can’t have this kind of thing happening. If the small ranchers start hiring iron we’ll have to retaliate, and then we’ve got a full-scale war on our hands. The next thing you know, the
army will step in like they did in Lincoln County, and then everybody loses.”
    â€œWhat do you want me to do? I’m planning to arrest Shedwell anyway.”
    â€œThat is precisely what we do not want,” spoke up Périgueux. “These small fry, as I believe they are sometimes called, crave a lesson in competition. As a servant of the federal government, your duty is simply to take him into custody. As city marshal and keeper of the local peace, you would be expected to deliver a somewhat more stringent message to those who would endanger it.”
    I invested the better part of a minute picking apart his speech and turning the pieces over in my head before I grinned and said, “Mr. Marquis—”
    â€œPlease. Périgueux.”
    â€œThat’s got to be the politest way anyone ever tried to hire someone else to kill a man.”
    The mood in the room changed, grew lighter. The pair exchanged triumphant looks. Said the Frenchman: “Then may we assume that we have reached accord?”
    â€œYou may assume that if you aren’t out of this room in two minutes I’ll pump you both so full of lead you’ll reach the lobby without using the stairs.”
    There was a very long pause. It might have gone even longer had not someone knocked at the door. I looked questioningly at Périgueux, who shook his head stiffly. His face had turned the color of old blood. I called out to the visitor to identify himself.
    â€œMessenger, sir,” came the muffled reply from the hallway. “Telegram for Deputy Murdock.”
    Some more time went by. I was still looking at the
Marquis. “If he has anything in his hand besides a telegram, you’ll get the answer quicker than anything Western Union ever delivered.”
    I drew the Colt and sidled up to the door, opening it at arm’s length with my back to the wall. A boy in worn overalls leaned in to stare at me around the jamb. He was holding an envelope and nothing else. I holstered the gun to accept it and gave him too much money to make up for feeling like a jackass.
    â€œI had to make sure no accidents were arranged in case I turned you down,” I told the ranchers, after the boy had gone. I tore open the envelope. The wire was brief, the way the