Chapter 8 - The Silver Rattlesnake
Jed did not intend to fight five men.
Alandre realized that when he opened the rear trapdoor.
“Tunnel?” she whispered.
“Root cellar.”
“That goes nowhere.”
“Goes downhill.”
Clayton swore softly.
Jed looked pleased.
“You forgot about this place?”
“I was never fond of rat holes.”
“Tonight you are.”
Jed untied Clayton from the post only to bind his hands in front.
They descended into darkness while Clayton’s riders hammered on the front door.
The cellar wall contained a narrow opening half-buried by snow.
Jed kicked through it.
Cold air rushed inside.
They crawled beneath low branches.
Behind them, the shelter door splintered.
Alandre slid down an embankment, clutching Thomas’s documents beneath her coat.
Jed followed.
Clayton came last, cursing.
For an hour they moved through trees.
Finally Jed stopped beside a frozen creek.
“We turn east.”
Clayton laughed.
“East goes nowhere.”
“That’s why we’re going.”
Alandre watched the two men.
“You know his habits.”
Jed nodded.
“So does he.”
Clayton’s smile returned.
“We were good together once.”
“I was never good with you.”
“You were magnificent.”
Alandre saw Jed’s shoulders tighten.
Clayton continued.
“Fastest gun in three territories.”
“The past isn’t a compliment.”
“No. But pretending you aren’t that man doesn’t erase him.”
Alandre looked at Jed.
Clayton was trying to wound him.
The disturbing part was that some of it was true.
By dawn, they reached a rocky overhang where they could rest.
Alandre took Thomas’s papers out again.
One page listed weapons purchased for Clayton’s group years earlier.
Among them:
Custom silver Colt — pearl grip — serpent engraving — Boone.
She looked at Jed.
“The revolver really was yours.”
“Yes.”
“When did Clayton take it?”
“The night I left Silver Creek.”
Clayton leaned against the rock.
“You threw it down.”
Jed corrected him.
“I threw down my gun belt because I was finished.”
“And I rescued a valuable object from the mud.”
Alandre understood.
“You kept it for years.”
Clayton nodded.
“Sentiment.”
“No,” she said. “Insurance.”
Clayton looked impressed.
“Go on.”
“You used a weapon everyone associated with Jed. If crimes needed someone else’s name attached, you had the perfect signature.”
Jed looked at her.
Clayton’s smile faded.
Alandre continued.
“The wanted poster wasn’t just because Jed left. You needed him blamed for whatever you continued doing.”
“Thomas married well.”
Alandre’s anger sharpened.
“Do not say his name like you knew him.”
Clayton tilted his head.
“I knew enough.”
“What does that mean?”
He did not answer.
Jed stepped closer.
“What haven’t you told us?”
Clayton looked toward the trees.
Nothing.
Jed grabbed his coat.
“Clayton.”
“All right.”
Clayton laughed.
“Thomas did something neither of you knows.”
Alandre’s heart began racing.
“What?”
“He offered me a bargain.”
She stared.
“Lie.”
“Ask Jed. Thomas loved bargains.”
Jed said nothing.
Alandre looked at him.
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
Clayton leaned forward.
“The night before the attack, Thomas met me.”
Alandre shook her head.
“We were together.”
“Until midnight.”
She remembered waking alone briefly.
Thomas had said he went to check the horses.
Clayton continued.
“He told me he would hand over the records if I guaranteed your safety.”
“Then why did you attack us?”
“Because he gave me false documents.”
Despite herself, pride moved through her grief.
Of course he had.
Clayton smiled without warmth.
“He thought he was clever.”
“He was.”
“He was dead.”
Jed moved so fast Alandre barely saw him.
He grabbed Clayton by the throat.
“Say that again.”
Alandre stepped between them.
“Jed.”
He released Clayton.
Clayton coughed.
Alandre looked at him.
“You murdered Thomas because he tricked you.”
“I punished a betrayal.”
“You murdered a man because you couldn’t control him.”
Clayton’s eyes became cold.
“No, Mrs. Collins. I killed a man because he threatened everything I built.”
She stared.
For months, Thomas’s death had seemed enormous, almost supernatural.
The result of some dark force she could not understand.
Now she saw it clearly.
Clayton was not a monster from a nightmare.
He was a selfish man who believed his wants mattered more than another person’s life.
Making him smaller did not make what he had done less terrible.
But it made Alandre less afraid.
She stepped closer.
“You’ve spent three months trying to frighten a grieving woman.”
Clayton watched her.
“You should’ve made certain she stayed frightened.”
Something changed in his expression.
For the first time, Alandre saw uncertainty.
Jed saw it too.
Then horses sounded in the distance.
Clayton’s men had found the creek.
Jed grabbed the reins.
“Move.”
They pushed east until the mountain narrowed into a steep gorge.
At the far side stood an old rope bridge.
Clayton stared.
“No.”
Jed smiled.
“Now you remember.”
The bridge looked barely capable of carrying one person.
Alandre looked down.
A frozen river lay far below.
“You expect us to cross that?”
“Yes.”
Clayton shook his head.
“I’m not.”
Jed untied his hands.
Clayton looked surprised.
“You’re letting me go?”
“No.”
Jed handed him the silver revolver.
Alandre stared.
“Jed.”
The gun was unloaded.
Jed knew.
Clayton did not.
“Make your choice,” Jed said. “Cross with us and face a judge. Stay and explain yourself to the men whose payroll gold you never shared.”
Clayton’s face changed.
Behind them, distant riders shouted.
For the first time, the charming outlaw looked genuinely frightened.
He stepped onto the bridge.
Alandre almost smiled.
They crossed one at a time.
Halfway over, Clayton discovered the revolver was empty.
His expression became murderous.
“You always did enjoy a performance.”
Jed looked across the gorge.
“Learned from you.”
Once they reached the far side, Jed cut the bridge rope.
It fell away before the riders arrived.
They had bought several hours.
Maybe a day.
Alandre thought that meant they were finally ahead.
Then Clayton said quietly:
“You’re running toward Pine Hollow, aren’t you?”
Jed stopped.
Clayton smiled.
“The marshal there is Samuel Pike.”
Jed’s face went pale.
Alandre noticed.
“Who is Samuel Pike?”
Clayton’s smile widened.
May you like
“The man whose signature is on half the papers in your coat.”
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