Booth answered her with an indifferent smirk. “I don’t know,” he said, “maybe because he didn’t knock before he walked in.” His retort triggered another laugh from his brother.

By this time, the sound of the gunfire had brought Bodine and Tom running to see the cause of it. “What tha . . . ?” Bodine blurted as soon as he saw Mose crumpled up on the floor.

“I swear . . .” Tom started. “Old Mose . . . He just got his horse fixed up.”

“What happened?” Bodine addressed his question to Dinah Belle and she told him how the harmless old man came to be gunned down when he walked in the door. Bodine looked first at Booth and then at Jesse, shaking his head slowly in disgust. “Hawk has got you two so spooked till you’re shootin’ at shadows. Who you gonna shoot next?”

“Maybe you, old man,” Booth answered, “if I take a notion.”

“Maybe it’s time for you and your brother to pack up your mess and get outta here,” Dinah Belle blurted since her husband was reluctant to do it. “See how you do outside where there’s somebody to shoot back at you. One man’s got the two of you so scared you can’t walk out the door.”

Her remark brought an angry glare from both brothers and a warning from Booth. “You’d best put a bridle on that wife of yours, Bodine, or I’m gonna do it for you.”

Bodine was as disgusted as his wife, but her angry remarks had placed him in a bad spot. He took her by the arm and pulled her away from Mose’s body. “Go on back in the kitchen, you and Josie, before one of ’em decides to shoot you.” Though reluctant to do so, Dinah Belle did as he said, and Josie went with her. Once they were gone, Bodine decided it was time to stand up to the notorious outlaw. “I reckon my wife is my business and none of yours,” he told Booth. “I ’preciate the business you and Jesse brought me, but you also brought a world of trouble I didn’t have before you came.”

It was obvious to Booth that Bodine was trying to work up to the point where he told them to get out, so he interrupted him before he got that far. Calm now, he said, “You want us to leave, and we wanna leave, so I’ll make you a deal. Me and Jesse will stay two more days. We’ll pay you for everything we owe, plus we’ll leave you the extra horses that belonged to Trip, Tater, and Blue. Now, that’s a pretty good deal for you. You just make sure your wife does the cookin’ like she’s supposed to, and we’ll be gone in two more days.”