He squeezed the trigger, and Caleb Dawkins buckled.

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

Dawkins fell forward across the table, tipping it, sliding to the floor, carrying the plate and cup and utensils with him. An agonized groan came from deep inside.

Rusty stiffened in shock. “James, for God’s sake . . .”

The shouting from the yard grew louder. James grabbed Rusty’s arm. “Come on, we’d better git!”

Rusty had no time to think. He acted by instinct, following James out the back door. His leg threatened to cave beneath him.

He heard a woman’s piercing scream from inside the kitchen. He doubted that the slave woman had gotten back so quickly. The scream must have come from Dawkins’s wife.

He had given little thought to the possibility that the colonel might have a wife and perhaps other family besides Pete.

Vince Purdy had brought the horses up to the steps. “What happened to the colonel?”

James declared, “He’s halfway to hell. I tied my horse out yonder. We’d better ride fast.” He sprinted away.

Rusty had trouble getting into the saddle. Purdy reached down and grabbed his arm, helping lift him. Angry voices arose in the kitchen. The door burst open, and someone fired a shot into the night. Rusty imagined he could hear the bullet whisper by his ear. He fired a quick shot in the direction of the house to discourage pursuit, then spurred Alamo into a hard run. Purdy was close behind him.

The woman’s scream seemed to echo in Rusty’s ears.

James cut in beside his grandfather. He said, “Let’s ride north awhile. Lead them away from our place so they won’t know it was a Monahan done it.”

Rusty began to regain his composure, and with it came anger. “Don’t you know you’ll be the first one they think of?”

“If you’ve got any notion that I regret what I done, you’re wrong. I’ve killed snakes and felt sorrier for it.”

“You’ve left a woman a widow back there.”

“My mother’s a widow.”

“What’s more, you’ve outlawed yourself. You’ll find every man’s hand turned against you.”

James’s voice had a brutal edge Rusty had not heard in it before. “Anybody tries to stop me, they’ll get what I gave Caleb Dawkins.”

As the sun appeared, they reached a creek. Rusty looked back. He saw no pursuit, but he sensed that it was coming.

James reined up. “I’m goin’ north a ways to lead them astray. You-all ride in the creek to cover your tracks ‘I’ll it’s safe to go back to the farm.” He frowned at Rusty. “Unless you feel like you’ve got to try and take me in. I’d advise against it.”

Rusty swallowed. If he let James go, he would have to lie to the company captain, or at least fail to tell him the whole truth. That went against everything Daddy Mike had drilled into him about duty. “What you did was wrong. I think the world of your mother and your sister”—he glanced at Vince Purdy—”and your granddaddy. But I’ve got a duty. I’m arrestin’ you for shootin’ Caleb Dawkins.”