Free Deadly Road to Yuma by William W. Johnstone Page B

waitin’ for a judge to come all the way from Tucson. He said why bother with a trial when Shade’s just gonna hang anyway.”
    “And I’ll bet people listened to him, didn’t they?” Sam said.
    Flagg shrugged. “Like I told you, Stan’s one o’ the big skookum he-wolves around here. Folks want to stay on his good side. And if he rides into town with a dozen tough, gun-hung cowboys right behind him, ready to back his play, some of the good citizens o’ Arrowhead will find it mighty easy to fall in with ’em.”
    “When do you think this is liable to happen?” Matt asked.
    “Wouldn’t surprise me if it was tonight.”
    “We’ll just have to put a stop to it then,” Sam said.
    “You’re talkin’ three men against forty or fifty,” Flagg pointed out.
    “I’ll admit, those aren’t very good odds. But we have the law on our side.”
    Matt grunted. “That won’t stop a bullet…not unless you’ve got a big thick law book stuck in your pocket.” He turned to Flagg. “You could always just step aside and let them have Shade.”
    Flagg scratched his beard and nodded, then said, “Yeah, but let me ask you somethin’, Bodine. If you’d done swore an oath to uphold the law, would you step aside?”
    “The things that Shade has done, I might, yeah.”
    “No, you wouldn’t,” Sam said. “I know you, Matt. You’re too stubborn to ever do anything like that.”
    Matt had to grin. “Well, you’re probably right about that. But we didn’t swear an oath, now did we?”
    “We told the sheriff we’d help him. That’s giving our word. It’s the same thing.”
    “Damn it, Sam! I hate it when you’re right.” Matt looked at Flagg. “We’ll stick, Sheriff.”
    “Nobody’d think any less of you if you didn’t…” Flagg began.
    “We would,” Sam said.
    “We’ll stick,” Matt said again.

Chapter 12
    The settlement had been so crowded because of the mass funeral held that afternoon that no one had paid any attention to Tom Peterson as he mingled with the townspeople and talked to everyone he could. Most of the folks in Arrowhead knew Tom, so they didn’t think anything of it when he asked about what was going to happen to the notorious prisoner who was locked up in the town jail.
    Now as he rode back toward his hardscrabble ranch, fear filled Tom. Frannie and the boys and little, seven-year-old Abigail had been out there at the ranch alone with those outlaws all day, and there was no telling what might have happened while he was gone.
    He’d had a long talk with Beau and Chad before he rode out that morning and told them to cooperate with the owlhoots. The boys were scared, but they were also mad that anybody would ride in and take over like that bunch had done. Tom didn’t want them trying anything that might get them killed.
    He didn’t even allow himself to think about what might have happened to Frannie while he was gone. As long as they hadn’t killed her, anything else could be gotten over, or at least put in the past. That’s what he’d been telling himself all day, to the point where he almost believed it.
    Maybe nothing had happened. That man Garth seemed to be in charge of the gang, and he kept a pretty tight hand on the reins as far as Tom could see. He had told Tom all they wanted was to know everything he could find out about Joshua Shade. Since Tom had information to report, that gave him a shred of hope.
    But it wasn’t good news he was going to give to Garth, and that prospect worried him greatly.
    Everything looked peaceful as he came in sight of the ranch. A tendril of smoke curled up from the stone chimney, just as it normally would. The outlaws had put their horses in the barn the night before, so there was no sign of them.
    Tom rode up to the house, reined his mount to a halt, and swung down from the saddle, nervously eyeing the house as he did so. Normally, he would have tended to his horse before doing anything else, but he was too anxious to do that. He dropped