Ralph Cotton - Midnight Rider

“Yeah, I remember,” said Simon with a wince, holding the wet cloth to his face. “My brain works fine. “Who’s the stinking bastard beside you?” he asked. “The way he’s breathing, he’s taking up the air of three normal-sized men—sounds like a damn blacksmith’s bellows.”

The Stillwater Giant and Casings looked at each other.

“I’m Garth Oliver,” said the Giant, the sound of his deep, strong voice causing Simon to jerk back in a start. “Most folks call me the—”

“The Stillwater Giant ,” said Simon, cutting him off, finishing his words for him. “I’ve heard of you. You are one big sumbitch, aren’t you?”

“Bigger than most,” said the Giant. “I can ride two horses side by side,” he added.

“I bet either horse appreciates the other,” Simon said with a chuckle.

The Giant looked puzzled for a second until he understood. He grinned.

“Yeah, I suspect they do,” he said.

Rochenbach watched and listened.

“What do we need to do with you, Simon?” he asked.

“Put a bullet in my head,” Simon said bluntly. “We lost here, fair and square. I beg no man’s mercy.”

“But you weren’t with Macon Ray and his men when they robbed us,” Casings cut in, still in a raised voice.

Blind Simon winced and lowered the wet cloth from his face.

“Will you tell this loudmouthed son of a bitch that I’m blind, not deaf ?” he said to Rochenbach.

“He hears you,” said Rochenbach. “But Pres is right—you weren’t with Macon Ray. We don’t want to kill you.” He paused and looked at Casings and the Giant. “We might need to hide out here ourselves sometime. You never know.”

“You killed my pals, Hobbs and Karr,” said Blind Simon. “They didn’t rob you either.”

“They were shooting at us,” said Casings, his voice down to a normal volume.

Rochenbach noted that Casings didn’t want to tell the man he’d killed one of his own pals.

“So was I,” Blind Simon replied.

Rochenbach cut in, saying, “One of your pals shot himself. He was running with a cocked shotgun.”

“That would be Hobbs,” said Simon. As he spoke, he’d fished a pair of dark-lens wire-rim spectacles from his shirt pocket and put them on. “He was prone to that—a terrible practice.” He shook his head in regret. “Who shot Karr?” He fished one of the cigars Macon Ray had given him from his shirt pocket and stuck it in his mouth.

Instead of answering, Rochenbach looked at Casings, judging how he would treat the matter.

“That’s hard to call,” said Casings, “everybody shooting the way we were.”

Simon read the tone and pitch of his words.

“I hear you,” he said. “You’re telling me I killed him.”

The three stood in silence while Simon sorted through it in his mind.

“Well,” he said finally, taking a match from his shirt pocket, “if you’re not going to shoot me, get the hell on out of here. I’m going to search around, find any whiskey left inside. Get myself drunk enough to monkey-pound a she polecat if I feel like it.”

“You can ride into Central City with us,” said Casings, “or on to Denver City, as far as that goes.”

“Denver City, ha! ” said Simon. “You know where they stick a blind man if they find one? The crazy house , is where.” He struck the match and ran a finger out the length of the cigar. Finding the end of the cigar, he stuck the flame to it and puffed.

“We wouldn’t let them,” said Casings.

“Huh…,” Simon chuffed dubiously. “I’ve heard that before.” He blew out a stream of smoke.

“I’d give you my word,” said Casings.

“Obliged,” said Simon, “but I’ll stick here. I’m alone here most times anyway. You just came by when Karr and Hobbs happened to be lying low with me. You want to do something kind for a poor old blind man , help me sort this shack into shape before you leave.”

“We can do that,” said Casings, “but you ought to think about our offer.”

“I ever want to mosey down to Denver City, I know my way,” said Simon. He gave a crooked smile, the cigar planted firmly between his teeth.

Casings and the Stillwater Giant looked at Rochenbach, as if asking if they should persist on the matter. But Rochenbach shook his head and nodded toward the shack.

“Come on, then, Simon, show us inside,” he said. “We’ll set this place up, but only if you’ll allow us to stay here, we ever need to lie low.”

“You’ve got a deal, ex- lawman,” said Simon, leaning his chair forward and rising to his feet.

Chapter 13

On their way back to Denver City, the three avoided the trail they’d taken through Central City, lest someone recognize them and associate them with the bodies of Lonnie Bonham and Turley Batts left lying in the trail up at Apostle Camp. Instead, they rode wide of Central City and made camp outside the town of Idaho Springs.

The following morning, they rose early and rode east. Without pushing their horses, they saw the outskirts of Denver City rise in the long shadows of evening.

“Are we of one accord on everything, Giant?” Casings asked as the three rode abreast, watching the town grow up taller and wider atop the roll of the earth.

“Yeah, we’re good,” came the Giant’s deep voice. “I’m not going to say anything I shouldn’t, if that’s something you’re worried about.”

“I’m not worried ,” Casings said. “But I am concerned.”

“Ain’t that about the same thing, Rock?” the Giant asked.

“It’s close,” Rochenbach said. “Pay attention, Giant. Hear him out.”

“You got it,” said the Giant. “I’m with you fellows. Whatever you tell me to say is how I’ll tell it.” He gave his wide, toothy grin. “Being big doesn’t make me stupid.”

Casings looked at Rochenbach, then back at the Giant.

“I know that, Giant,” said Casings. “But we’ve got to go over this thing again—make sure we’re all three telling Grolin the same thing. You’ve seen what he’ll do to a man to get the truth out of him.”

“Yeah, I know,” said the Giant, his grin vanishing, replaced by a dead-serious expression.

“So,” Casings continued, “we tell everything just like it happened, except we never knew exactly how much money was there… and it was on the trail behind Apostle Camp where we found the saddlebags. We all three found them with the money missing, instead of Rock finding them alone and taking all the suspicion on himself.”

“I’ve been thinking about it, Casings,” Rock said. “I don’t mind telling Grolin that I found the bags on my own. He’s not going to do anything to me, leastwise not until I’ve opened the safe for him.”

“No dice,” Casings said, shaking his head. “We all three took a cut, we all three put our necks on the same block. Right, Giant?”

“Right,” Giant said. “Only, don’t use a chopping block as an example.” He gave a grin as he rubbed his thick neck.

“Sorry,” Casings said with a short laugh.

Rochenbach looked at the two of them, almost feeling guilty that they were willing to lie for him.

“Obliged,” he said quietly, not wanting to push the matter any further.

It was his job to gain their confidence. Still, deceiving men who had trusted him always left a bad feeling in his gut. He had to remind himself that in this case, it was not these two men he was after. In a sense, it wasn’t even Andrew Grolin he was out to get.

He wanted to bring down the man who fed Grolin the information from inside the mint. That helped, he told himself. If there was any way for him to let these two off the hook when the time came, he would do so.