Free Slocum and the Warm Reception by Jake Logan Page A

from the reaches of the law. Even if there were a few well-meaning sheriffs scattered throughout the other neighboring towns, their reach didn’t extend far enough to help the people there. Hartley got to do what he pleased, and when a man as cruel as him was given that kind of leverage, it didn’t bode well for anyone who got in his way.
    Locking horns with Hartley hadn’t been easy. In the end, however, Slocum was the one who walked away from it with his life and Hartley was dumped into a shallow hole. A fitting end for a man who’d created so much misery in an already miserable world.
    The people in Mescaline had been grateful. They’d heaped their praises upon Slocum’s shoulders and waved tearfully when he left. While Slocum wouldn’t have minded reaping a bigger reward, he hadn’t taken on Hartley for that. He’d done it because he simply had no tolerance for small men imposing their will upon good people. Also, he wasn’t about to become a smaller man himself by staying around like a dog that had worn out its welcome just so he could lap up a bit more attention. On the other hand, being known as something other than a vagrant or stranger in a place could serve a man well.
    Slocum did have business to conduct, and selling gold with someone who was playing straight was a much brighter prospect than trading with a man looking to put one over on someone. Also, there was Anna Redlinger. Slocum had spent plenty of nights with her while he’d been in Mescaline. They were nights a man dreamt about when he was forced to sleep alone on a bedroll beside a dying fire surrounded by all manner of vermin and inclement weather. Even after the night he’d spent with Vivienne, Slocum still had a smile to spare when he thought back to his time with Anna.
    Any of those reasons would have been enough to bring him back to Mescaline. On top of that, he was also curious to see how the folks he’d befriended there were doing after they’d been given their lives back. Slocum was feeling downright cheery when he spotted the first angular shapes in the distance marking a spot where the desert gave way to civilization. Dusk was swiftly approaching and there was a mighty hunger gnawing at his belly.
    Tapping his heels against his horse’s sides, Slocum allowed the gelding to run as fast as it liked for the last stretch. With an animal as spirited as his, it was all Slocum could do to keep his grip on the reins as the horse charged toward Mescaline. When he pulled back on the leather straps, Slocum felt as if he was arriving in a cloud of dust like something that had rolled all the way down from a mountaintop. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone there to appreciate his dramatic flair.
    In fact, he couldn’t see anyone there at all.
    Slocum rode slowly down the street leading straight through the middle of town. Although the buildings on either side were vaguely familiar, none of them matched his memories of the place. Rather than take time to ponder the many ways he could have embellished things while thinking back on them, he steered toward the closest place that looked as if it could offer him a good meal. The place called Slim’s had been there on his first visit, and if he remembered correctly, it served a fine cut of steak.
    The smile on Slocum’s face appeared for two reasons: hunger and the fact that Anna Redlinger had been working at Slim’s when he’d first met her. The water trough in front of the place had recently been filled, so he tied the gelding there and walked inside.
    Slim’s was just as he’d remembered it. A dining room the size of a closet that was filled with the aromas of cooking meat. There was one other customer inside, so Slocum tipped his hat to him and found a seat at a table away from the front window.
    The woman who stepped out from the kitchen was not Anna Redlinger. In fact, she was large enough to be two Anna Redlingers. She