Free Sheriff on the Spot by Brett Halliday Page A

ain’t never right, even if it does look like a good idea at the time.”
    Color came swiftly to Kitty’s cheeks. “I didn’t mean that,” she protested. “I wouldn’t think of trying to bribe you, Sheriff.”
    Joe Deems stuck his head in the door and announced, “I’ve got those keys, Sheriff.”
    Pat went out, followed by Harold Morgan and Kitty. Deems inserted a key in the door on the other side of the hall, and opened the door with a flourish as though he were pulling rabbits out of a silk hat. He stepped back to let Pat enter the room first.
    Pat stopped on the threshold and said, “Sam!” sharply.
    There was no response from the dark room. Pat struck a match and walked in, found a candle on the bureau and lit it. The others crowded in through the doorway as he turned and lifted the flickering candle high above his head.
    The bed was rumpled and unmade, and there was a litter of Sam’s clothing on chairs and on the floor. But there was no Sam. Pat even got down and peered under the bed, pulled the curtain aside that made a clothes closet out of one corner of the room.
    â€œMust be in the next room with Ezra,” Deems grated in a disappointed tone. “Want me to unlock that door, Sheriff?”
    Knowing full well that Ezra was at that moment riding southward with money stolen from the bank, Pat had to play the farce out as though he actually thought Ezra was in the next room. He said hastily, “Better let me knock first. If he’s protectin’ Sam, he’ll more’n likely send lead through the door if he hears somebody unlockin’ it.”
    He went out and handed the candle to Morgan, stepped to the next door and knocked loudly.
    â€œEzra!” he called. “Open up, Ezra. This is Pat.” He waited a moment, then added loudly, “It’s Pat. I’m comin’ in, Ezra. Don’t make things worse by shooting.” He stepped back and nodded for Deems to unlock the door.
    Deems cautiously stood far back to one side and held the key at arm’s length as he inserted it in the lock. Pat took the candle from Morgan and walked in.
    Ezra’s room also was empty. It bore more signs of hurried flight than had Sam’s. The bureau drawers were open and emptied on the floor, and everything was in the utmost confusion.
    â€œBoth of them gone,” Deems muttered in an awed voice to Pat. “How you reckon they got out?”
    â€œAre you sure they didn’t go down the back stairs?”
    â€œThey couldn’t. The stairs lead right into the kitchen an’ dining room where the help eat. There’s always someone there. Looks like they just plain evaporated.”
    The single window in the room was open from the bottom. Pat went to it and uttered an exclamation, then leaned out and held the flickering candle to look down toward the ground. Deems hurried to his side and saw the lariat with one end tied to the foot of the bed and running to the window and out.
    â€œSo that’s how they did it?” he said bitterly. “Got clean away while we were sitting around talking. You better get after them in a hurry, Sheriff.”
    Pat said, “I don’t need you to tell me my business, Deems. If you’d told me as soon as you knew something was wrong, this wouldn’t have happened.”
    He pulled himself back inside and set the candle down on the bureau. “If I know Sam an’ Ezra they’ll be plenty of miles away from Dutch Springs by now.”
    â€œDo you intend to just stand there and let them escape?” Deems demanded.
    Pat didn’t pay any attention to him. He said to Morgan, “You’ll have to stay deputized. You’ve heard everything that went on here tonight an’ you’ll be able to swear to it.”
    Morgan said, “All right, Pat. What are you going to do?”
    â€œI’ll be plenty busy—with a bank robbery and a murder all in one