Branwick

Part One - The Widow's Claim

Sheriff Abe Branwick saw the rider before anyone else in Vulture City did.

The man came down the northern road shortly after sunrise, bent low over a tired horse. Dust covered his coat and hat. One hand held the reins while the other remained pressed against his side.

Abe stood outside the sheriff's office with a cup of coffee in his hand. He watched the horse pass the livery without stopping.

Something was wrong.

The rider made it another twenty feet before he fell.

Abe put his coffee on the railing and crossed the street.

Mae Branwick came through the sheriff's office door behind him. She had been cleaning her rifle at Abe's desk and still carried it in one hand.

"Alive?" she asked.

"For the moment."

Abe knelt beside the man.

Blood had soaked through the left side of his shirt. The wound was several hours old. Abe opened the man's coat and found another patch of dried blood across his back.

"Bullet went through," he said.

"That's something."

"Depends what it went through first."

The man's eyes opened.

"Sheriff?"

"Abe Branwick."

The rider grabbed Abe's sleeve.

"Ruth Calder sent me."

Abe knew Ruth and Jacob Calder. Most people in Vulture City did. The Calders worked a mining claim west of town where the open desert gave way to the red hills. They had spent six years digging into rock that had produced little more than enough gold to keep them digging.

"What happened?"

"Men came yesterday."

"Whose men?"

"Crowe's."

Mae crouched beside Abe.

"How many?"

"Six."

The man's breathing became uneven.

Abe leaned closer.

"Where's Ruth?"

"Cabin."

"And Jacob?"

The rider closed his eyes.

"Dead."

Mae looked at Abe.

"How?"

"Shot."

"By who?"

"Snake-Eyes."

That name Abe knew too.

Snake-Eyes had worked for Thaddeus Crowe for nearly two years. Nobody seemed certain where he had come from. Texas according to one story. New Mexico according to another. Abe only knew that wherever Crowe had a problem that could not be solved with money, Snake-Eyes usually appeared.

The wounded man reached inside his coat.

Mae caught his wrist.

"Easy."

"Paper."

Abe reached into the coat and removed a folded sheet.

"Jacob gave it to me. Told me to take it to Judge Morton if something happened."

Abe unfolded it.

It was a mining survey.

Lines marked the Calder property and several surrounding claims. Abe understood enough about mining maps to recognize the dark line Jacob had added through the northern section.

Mae leaned closer.

"That what I think it is?"

"Gold vein."

"Big?"

"Big enough."

At the bottom of the survey, Jacob had written several sentences.

Abe read them twice.

Mae noticed his expression.

"What?"

He handed her the paper.

She read the note aloud.

"'The vein begins beneath our claim and runs north. Crowe knows it. He offered to purchase the property. I refused. If I am killed, it was no accident.'"

Mae stopped.

"Well."

"Yeah."

"That's inconvenient."

"For Crowe."

"I was thinking for Jacob."

Abe looked at the wounded rider.

"Did Crowe's men know you had this?"

"They do now."

The man's eyes closed.

Mae checked his neck.

"Still alive."

Abe stood.

"Get Webb."

Two men had already come from the Silver Spur and were watching from the boardwalk.

Abe pointed at them.

"Help her."

They hurried over.

The door of the general store opened as they carried the wounded man toward Doctor Webb's office.

Abigail Branwick stepped outside with a bundle under one arm.

She stopped when she saw the blood.

Abigail was the quieter of Abe's daughters. Mae usually announced her opinion before anyone asked for it. Abigail preferred to listen until she had something worth saying.

She crossed the street.

"Who?"

"Man from Widow's Cut," Abe said.

"Jacob?"

"Dead."

Her expression tightened.

Abe handed her the survey.

Abigail read Jacob's note.

"Ruth?"

"Still there."

She handed the paper back.

"We should go."

Mae returned from the doctor's office.

"I already told him that."

Abigail looked at her sister.

"Did he listen?"

"Does he ever?"

"I'm standing right here."

"We know."

Abe folded the survey and placed it inside his coat.

"Get the horses."

They left Vulture City twenty minutes later.

The road west remained empty.

Abigail rode ahead. Her eyes moved constantly between the road and the surrounding ground.

Mae carried her Winchester across the saddle.

"How much gold?" she asked.

"Enough for Crowe to kill a man."

"That doesn't narrow it down much."

"No."

They had ridden several miles when Abigail raised her hand.

The others stopped.

She dismounted.

Something lay beside the road ahead.

Abe knew what it was before they reached it.

A man rested on his back beside a patch of dry brush. His hat had been placed over his face. His revolver remained in its holster.

Abe removed the hat.

Jacob Calder stared up at him.

Mae dismounted.

"How long?"

"Yesterday, maybe."

Abigail crouched several feet away and studied the ground.

Abe examined the wound in Jacob's chest.

One bullet.

Close range.

"Didn't draw," Mae said.

"No."

Abigail walked toward a cluster of rocks.

"Three men."

Abe looked at her.

"You sure?"

"Two came down the road. One waited there."

She pointed toward the rocks.

"Jacob stopped his horse. He got down."

"Why?"

"He knew them."

Mae looked at Jacob.

"Snake-Eyes?"

"Maybe."

Abigail continued examining the tracks.

"He stood here. One man stood in front of him."

She pointed at the ground.

"The third stayed behind him."

Abe looked at Jacob's holstered revolver.

"This wasn't a gunfight."

Abigail stood.

"No."

Mae put Jacob's hat back over his face.

"We taking him?"

"On the way back."

Abe mounted.

They continued toward Widow's Cut.

The Calder cabin appeared shortly before noon.

Four horses stood outside.

Four armed men waited near the porch.

Ruth Calder stood behind them.

Her lip was split. A bruise covered the left side of her face.

The man standing in front of her wore two revolvers.

His left eye was pale and damaged.

Snake-Eyes smiled as the Branwicks approached.

"Sheriff."

Abe stopped his horse thirty feet away.

"Mrs. Calder."

Ruth stepped forward.

One of Crowe's men blocked her.

Abe looked at him.

"Move."

The man glanced at Snake-Eyes.

Snake-Eyes nodded.

He moved.

Ruth came down from the porch.

"They want the claim."

"I figured."

"They say Jacob sold it."

Abe looked at Snake-Eyes.

"Got a deed?"

"Got a debt."

"That's not what I asked."

Snake-Eyes smiled.

"Crowe owns everything Jacob owed against."

"Not his wife's property."

"That'll be for a judge to decide."

"Good. Then you won't mind explaining it to Morton."

Abe reached into his coat.

Snake-Eyes' hand moved toward his revolver.

Mae raised her rifle.

Abigail already had an arrow against her bow.

Nobody moved.

Abe slowly removed Jacob's survey.

Snake-Eyes stared at it.

His smile disappeared.

Abe noticed.

That told him more than anything Snake-Eyes could have said.

"Jacob knew why Crowe wanted this place," Abe said.

Snake-Eyes looked at Ruth.

"Five hundred dollars."

Ruth stared at him.

"What?"

"Take five hundred and leave. Today."

"My husband is dead."

"That's why I'm talking to you."

Ruth stepped toward him.

"You murdered him."

Snake-Eyes' good eye narrowed.

Abe drew his revolver.

"That's enough."

Mae's rifle settled against her shoulder.

Abigail drew the bowstring.

Abe pointed his Colt at Snake-Eyes.

"You and your men are leaving."

Snake-Eyes looked at the three Branwicks.

"You willing to die over a widow's hole in the ground?"

Abe kept the Colt steady.

"I'm willing to do my job."

Snake-Eyes studied him for several seconds.

Then he smiled again.

"All right."

He motioned to his men.

They mounted.

Before leaving, Snake-Eyes looked at Ruth.

"We'll be back."

Ruth wiped blood from her lip.

"I'll still be here."

The riders headed south.

Abe waited until they disappeared between the hills.

Abigail remained beside her horse, staring at the ground.

Mae noticed.

"What?"

Abigail walked toward the road and crouched beside several hoofprints.

"Six riders came here."

Abe looked south.

"Four left."

Abigail nodded.

Mae slowly raised her rifle.

"Where are the other two?"

Abigail looked toward the rocks above the mine.

"Still here."

The rifle fired.

The bullet struck the porch post beside Abe's head.