Роберт Паркер - Robert B. Parker's Revelation

“Hard to say,” I said.

“Damn shame,” Book said.

“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” I said.

“Hope so,” Book said.

“We ready?”

“Pretty much. Just loading everything up.”

I looked to the office.

“Virgil here?”

Book shook his head.

“Not yet,” he said as he continued to pack the panniers with supplies that he had laid out on the boardwalk. “Got you enough rations to make the trip over and back.”

“Hard to say what direction we’ll go once we get there.”

“Well, I got you all kinds of stuff. A good amount — coffee, dried figs, carrots, biscuits, fatback, canned sardines, jerky, hardtack, beans...”

“Damn, Book, not going to China.”

“Well, no reason not to be prepared.”

“You got whiskey in there?”

“I do,” Book said.

“Good man.”

Book started back toward the office but paused before stepping inside and turned to me.

“This is bad.”

“What?”

“These prisoners.”

“Not good.”

“What do you make of what the Dobbin fella said about how they got out?”

“Don’t have a real clear picture.”

“No, I know, that’s what I mean. It’s hard to conceive just how this happened.”

“Don’t think we will really get a clear understanding until we get some information directly from the prison.”

“Well,” Book said, “hard to figure how the whole of them overpowered the guards and just walked out.”

“It does, I won’t deny you that.”

“What if you come across them on the way?”

“Could happen.”

“Damn, Everett, maybe some of us should go with you?”

“Think we’ll be all right, Book.”

“And you and Virgil know one of the men on the list,” he said. “Charlie...”

“Yep,” I said. “Ravenscroft. Charlie Ravenscroft, a no-good son of a bitch. We caught him after he killed two policemen. Claimed it was self-defense.”

“He’s not one of the three you’re after, now, though,” Book said. “He’s with the other bunch, the bunch Sheriff Stringer is after.”

I nodded.

“What we know,” I said. “That’s what the Dobbin fella offered up, anyway.”

“Well, if you want, I will go... I mean, if Sheriff Chastain thinks it’s okay.”

“You’re needed here, Book. All of you. No telling about the other that got away from Meserole’s and what kind of fallout may happen. Maybe you guys can figure out something about the tall fella that Meserole shot, too.”

Book shook his head some. “That was a hell of a storm we had,” he said.

“Was,” I said.

“Brought in some trouble,” he said.

“Did,” I said.

Book walked back toward the office but stopped before entering and looked off down the street.

It was dark, but I could make out someone walking up the street carrying a rifle. After he got a bit closer and stepped up on the boardwalk I saw clearly it was Virgil carrying his Winchester. Book entered the office, then came back out with a handful of supplies and looked to Virgil walking up.

“Morning,” Book said as Virgil came into the spilling light of the sconce hanging by the office door.

“Morning back,” he said with a yawn. “Coffee?”

“You bet,” Book said, then hurried back to the mule and put the supplies in the panniers. “I’ll get you some... Everett, you, too, coffee?”

“Sure,” I said.

Book walked back into the office.

“Sleep?” I said.

“No,” he said. “You?”

“Like a fish outta water,” I said.

Virgil nodded, set the butt of his rifle on the floor, and leaned the barrel on the wall as Book came back out with coffee.

“Fresh and hot,” Book said as he handed Virgil a cup, then handed a cup to me.

“That’ll work,” Virgil said.

I sat on the hitch with my back to the horses and put my boots on the edge of the boardwalk. I blew on the cup’s steaming surface before taking a sip.

“You pack some whiskey in those bags, Book?” Virgil said, then took a sip of coffee.

Book looked at me and smiled a little.

“I did,” he said.

Virgil nodded.

“Good,” he said, then sipped some more coffee and sat on the bench under the lamp.

“I got just a few more things to load and you’ll be good to go,” Book said, then stepped back into the office.

“I kept waking up thinking about the men from compound C,” I said.

Virgil yawned and shook his head some.

“Yeah, they were running around in my sleep, too.”

Book came out and held up a few small bags. “Pecans and walnuts,” he said with a smile, then put them in the panniers.

Book buckled the pannier flaps and came back toward the office but stopped with a foot on the step and looked to Virgil.

“I told Everett I’d be happy to come along.”

“Happy?” Virgil said.

“Well, you know,” he said.

“Me and Everett will be just fine, Book, but we appreciate the notion.”

“Well, okay,” Book said and started back into the office but stopped shy of entering and turned, looking to Virgil, then me.

“Hard to figure how that many men got out and on the loose like this,” Book said.

“Is,” Virgil said.

Book walked back into the office as Virgil and I sipped our coffee thinking about that very thing — the same very thing that kept us from having decent sleep.

Book came out of the office with a small fry pan and bean pot. “Almost forgot this stuff,” he said as he unbuckled the panniers and put the cooking gear inside, then secured the flap again.

“Appreciate it, Book,” Virgil said.

“That should do it,” he said, then pulled a packing list from his pocket and read it as he walked back into the office. After a moment Book came to the door with a cup of coffee and leaned on the doorjamb.

“How will you know what to do?” Book said. “Once you are to Vadito?”

Virgil looked to Book.

“Just have to figure that out as we go along.”

“Do you think the three you’re after will all stay together?”

Virgil shook his head.

“Hard to know just what they’ll do.”

“Seems to me they’d all go in separate directions,” Book said. “So not to draw attention to themselves.”

Virgil nodded a bit.

“Might well be.”

“And you don’t figure that they will stay away from towns?” Book said.

“No,” I said.

“Don’t, either,” Virgil said.

“I would...” Book said. “I think.”

Virgil shook his head some.

“Vadito gives them all the things they’ve not been able to have... pussy, whiskey, food, the basics, and Stringer said they took money, too, so they will have money to spend.”

I nodded.

“Money is something they’ve not had in a long time,” I said.

“So many people come here to Appaloosa these days... They could waltz in here and we wouldn’t know them from the normal folk,” Book said.

“That’s correct,” Virgil said.

“Appaloosa is closer than a lot of other towns to that prison,” Book said.

“Is,” Virgil said.

“You think they could come here?”

“Very well could,” Virgil said.

“Hard to say about those that went east. If they got horses or not, and if so, if they do have horses and they stayed at a pace they could cover a lot of ground.”

Book frowned a bit and said, “For all we know, they could be here by now.”

Virgil looked to me.

“Could,” he said.

“All the more reason for you, the sheriff, and all the Appaloosa deputies to be here and keep close watch,” I said.

“Is,” Virgil said.

Book stared off up the dark street. He turned, looking in the other direction as if he heard something, then back to me.