Free Wolf Moon by Ed Gorman Page A

saw me praying-I mean, I was down on my knees with my hands folded, just like I was in church- and she asked me what I was praying for, and I told her that I was praying for Pop, that Pop would always do the right thing."
        The miners got paid on Fridays. On Friday morning the bank always got extra cash for payroll. Today was Friday. Lundgren and Mars would hit the bank today sometime.
        "You hear me, Chase? About my praying?"
        "You know I love you and Annie."
        "It'll come to no good, Chase. Men like Reeves just go on and on. I hate to say this, but sometimes evil is more powerful than good. I don't understand why God would let that be, but He does."
        Just the darkness, and Gillian next to me…
        I wanted to be content and peaceful. I really did. But I just kept thinking of how easy it would be to take that money from Lundgren and Mars.
        I started coughing hard, the way I'd been doing lately. She held me tight, as if she could make my illness go away. Sometimes she was so sweet I didn't know what to do with myself. Because I wasn't sweet at all.
        "Chase, I want you to go see the doc tomorrow. I mean it. No more excuses."
        I didn't say anything.
        I lay back.
        The sweat was cold on me. I was shivering.
        "Chase. There's something that needs saying."
        I didn't say anything.
        "You listening, Chase?"
        "Uh-huh."
        "Chase, if you go through with this, I'll take Annie and leave. I swear."
        I wanted to cry-just plain goddamn bawl-and I wasn't even sure why.
        "I love you, Gillian."
        But then I went and ruined it all by coughing so hard I had to throw my legs over the side of the bed and just sit there hacking. Maybe Gillian was right. Maybe I needed to see the doc.
        When I finally laid back down again, Gillian had rolled over to face the wall.
        "Honey? Gillian?"
        But she wasn't speaking anymore.
        Both of us knew what was going to happen, and there wasn't much to be said now.
        "You're going to do it, Chase," she said after a time. And I drew her to me and held her. And I could smell her warm tears as I kissed her cheek. "I know you are, Chase. I know you are."
        

15
        
        I got up early, before the ice on the creek had melted off, put on street clothes and went into town. My bones ached but I tried not to notice. The sounds of roosters and waking dogs filled the chill air. The sky was a perfect blue and the fallen leaves were bright as copper pennies at the bottom of a clear stream. The fever had waned. I felt pretty good.
        I went directly to the restaurant, ordered breakfast and took up my place by the window. I wanted to keep a careful eye on the street. I knew what was going to happen this morning.
        Reeves arrived first, riding a big chestnut. In his black suit and white Stetson he was trying, as usual, to impress everybody, including himself.
        He dismounted at the livery, left his horse off and then came back up the street to the bank. Ordinarily, like most of the merchants, he stopped in here for coffee before the business day started.
        But today he took a key from his vest pocket and walked around to the alley on the west side of the bank, and then vanished inside.
        I had more coffee and rolled a cigarette and listened reluctantly as a waitress told me about a terrible incident next county over where a two-year-old had crawled into a pig pen where two boars promptly ripped him apart and then ate him. She had a sure way of getting your day off to a happy start.
        The stagecoach came in twenty minutes later, a dusty, creaking Concord with a bearded Jehu and two guards up top bearing Winchesters. If you hadn't already guessed that they were transporting money, the two men with the rifles certainly gave you a big hint.
        The Concord stopped right in front of the