Free Killing Time In Eternity - Edge Series 4 by George G. Gilman Page A

Childs defence as she climbed into her saddle. ‘I didn’t mean that! He stayed home so much because whenever he went out socially people were always bothering him for free advice about what ailed them. So he hardly ever mixed with other – ‘
    Edge cut in: ‘I wasn’t being serious, lady.’
    ‘Oh? Oh yes, of course. I’m sorry.’ She attempted an insecure smile of her own but did not feel comfortable with it. ‘The doc played chess with Mr Gannon every Sunday. And he was kind of courting the Widow Whittier.’ She shrugged. ‘What I’m trying to say, I suppose, is that now Doc Childs is dead, there’s nobody close left to grieve for Billy.’
    ‘And these two aren’t out here to do that?’ Edge nodded toward the riders. They were still some distance off, but close enough now for him to guess from the build of one and the garb of the other that they were the tall and heavy marshal and the black clad, near emaciated bounty hunter who got off this morning’s train. She squinted into the distance. ‘I’m sorry. I’m a little short-sighted. Which is because of all the clerical work I’ve done, I suppose.’
    ‘It’s the town marshal and a feller named Clay Warner,’ Edge supplied. She grimaced at mention of the bounty hunter’s name and predicted bitterly: ‘It’s for sure that neither of them has come out here to mourn for Billy.’
    ‘No love lost?’
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    ‘Flynt is a lazy good for nothing man. And he hasn’t got the disposition to have strong feelings about anybody, I’d say. He wouldn’t put himself out to do much about anything. And if he’s taken up with that hired killer Warner again, well, I don’t . . . ‘ She sighed. ‘Folks are entitled to pick their friends, I’ll allow. But when a man’s as mean and unscrupulous as Clay Warner, some of it’s bound to rub off on people who associate with him.’
    ‘I heard he was a deputy in Eternity at one time?’
    She scowled her disdain. ‘Ward Flynt gave him a badge and that’s the title he had for awhile. He broke a few heads and once he shot a man, but he didn’t kill him, thankfully.’
    ‘In the line of duty?’ Edge asked.
    ‘It was one of those times when some Texas drovers were in town and raising their usual Cain. It almost caused a riot, the way Warner was so fast to pull a gun and crack men over the head with it. Then he shot the wrangler and local people organised a petition.’ She shook her head reflectively. ‘Which claimed that if word was spread that Eternity had a lawman who just up and shot noisy drunks the cattlemen would head for some other Kansas railhead town to ship their beef in future. So the marshal fired that trigger happy gunslinger and Warner left town before sundown.’
    ‘But now he’s back,’ Edge said as the two riders drew close enough for their expressions to be read. And vice versa.
    Warner was smiling at the glowering Sue Ellen. Flynt looked uncomfortably around at everyone. Edge was impassive.
    ‘Sue Ellen, Mr Edge,’ the lawman greeted without warmth. ‘Do you mind telling me what the two of you are doing out here?’
    ‘It’s a free country and this is open range, marshal,’ the woman replied frostily. ‘But if you truly feel it has anything to do with you, I came here to see if the doc’s wreath for Billy needed replacing.’
    Flynt looked even more disconcerted and cleared his throat noisily. ‘It’s just that this is a dangerous stretch of railroad line, Sue Ellen. As you surely know after what happened to Billy.’
    Edge peered pointedly in both directions, the gesture tacitly implying that on a morning with weather as clear as this, it was possible to see for long distances to both far horizons and so be warned in good time of the approach of a train. Sue Ellen’s deep set, pale blue eyes fixed Warner with a glare and her tone was acid as she accused through pursed lips: ‘As I recall, anywhere can be a dangerous place if this hot tempered gunslinger is close