Free Hard Luck Money by J.A. Johnstone

bored rich man he used to be. He could go back to Boston or San Francisco and actually resume the identity of Conrad Browning again, something he had sworn he would never do.
    Or he could go along with the Rangers’ plan and maybe wind up dead.
    But if he didn’t wind up dead, he might be able to get to the bottom of the mystery and put a gang of brutal killers out of business. That would be a good thing.
    And so would taking some of the pain out of this young woman’s eyes.
    Those thoughts flashed through his mind in a matter of seconds. He looked across the table at Katherine Lupo and said, “Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll talk to Culhane again.”

Chapter 10
    “Didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Kid,” Asa Culhane said.
    “Someone came to see me at my hotel,” The Kid said.
    “The girl?”
    “You didn’t put her up to it, did you?” The Kid watched Culhane’s rough-hewn face intently as he asked the question.
    “No, sir, I did not,” the Ranger replied, sounding a little offended by the idea. “I knew she’d been here and talked to the cap’n, and I figured he told her you said no to the idea, but that’s all I know about it. Cap’n Hughes wouldn’t have sent her to beg you to help, neither. He ain’t got an underhanded bone in his body.”
    The Kid smiled. “That’s the impression I got, too. Miss Lupo’s really determined to clear her father’s name, at least as much as that’s possible considering his history.”
    Culhane nodded. “Can’t blame her for feelin’ that way about her pa.”
    “The same thought occurred to me,” The Kid agreed. He’d caught up to Culhane at the headquarters of the Frontier Battlion. Even though the grizzled old Ranger claimed to be surprised to see him again, The Kid thought Culhane didn’t really look all that surprised, as if he’d suspected all along The Kid wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge.
    “Let’s go in the office and talk,” Culhane suggested. The Kid nodded.
    They went into the adobe building. Culhane rapped his knuckles on the open door of Captain Hughes’s office and was told to come in.
    Hughes raised his eyebrows when he saw The Kid. He looked genuinely surprised.
    “The Kid’s had second thoughts about our plan,” Culhane said.
    “I wouldn’t go quite that far,” The Kid corrected him. “But I’m willing to discuss it some more. Miss Lupo said you had some ideas about how to cut down on the danger for the man who goes into the prison.”
    “Miss Lupo came to see you?” Hughes asked.
    “She found me at the Menger Hotel.”
    “I didn’t send her there, Mr. Morgan.”
    “That’s what Sergeant Culhane told me. I believe you, Captain.”
    “Well, in that case,” Hughes said, “sit down and we’ll talk about this.”
    “We’d have to keep who you really are mighty quiet,” Culhane said after he and The Kid took seats in front of Hughes’s desk, “since we figure somebody inside the prison is workin’ with the gang and we don’t know who.”
    Hughes said, “Just about the only person who’s above suspicion is the warden.”
    “You’re sure of him?” The Kid asked.
    “I’ve known Preston Jennings for more than twenty years,” Hughes said. “He’s incorruptible.”
    The Kid wasn’t sure anybody fell into that category, but since he was going to have to trust somebody if he became a part of this, he supposed he might as well trust the captain’s judgment. Nodding, he said, “Go on.”
    “We’d let Jennings know who you really are and that you’re working with us. We’ll leave it up to him to tell one subordinate he trusts.”
    “Just in case somethin’ happened to the warden,” Culhane added. “We wouldn’t want you to wind up gettin’ stuck behind bars for any longer than you had to be there.”
    “I wouldn’t want that, either,” The Kid commented with a smile.
    “Other than that, though,” Hughes continued, “everybody inside the prison would believe you’re actually Waco