Free Slocum 419 by Jake Logan

Snowden with you. But this better work. Slocum’s one big pain in my ass.”
    â€œOh, it’ll work all right. Just make sure them boys don’t shoot my girls.”
    â€œHaw,” Wolf laughed. “You tell ’em to keep out of the way.”
    â€œOh, I will.”
    â€œWhat are you goin’ to do?” Wolf asked.
    â€œI’ll keep watch out front of the hotel, and when the gals walk to Slocum’s room, I’ll send Rafe and Jake after him. After a little wait, of course.”
    â€œYou go with them, Clemson. Make sure they got the right man. I want Slocum dead as a stone, hear?”
    â€œI hear you, Wolf,” Clemson said. “Uh, should I wait around for Jake and Rafe?”
    â€œNo, go on over to the hotel. I’ll send ’em by after the sun goes down.”
    â€œI reckon that’s when Slocum will be comin’ in,” Clemson said. “I don’t know where he is right now, but he’ll want to clean hisself up some before he hits the saloon after dark.”
    â€œYou got him figured, have you?” Wolf said.
    â€œNo, but Clara has. She knows men like she knows the back of her hand.”
    â€œWell, she didn’t learn about ’em from you, did she?”
    Clemson’s face flushed a soft rose and he looked sheepish.
    â€œClara’s had some experiences here and there.”
    â€œYeah, I imagine she has. She’s smart, I’ll say that for her. Cagey, even.”
    â€œYeah, she is that,” Clemson said.
    â€œWell, you better hightail it. Won’t be long before that sun drops behind the mountains. You’d better be right about this. I don’t want to lose any more men and I don’t want Slocum stirrin’ up trouble while I’m grabbin’ up minin’ claims.”
    Clemson left then, and Wolf snorted as the door closed behind him.
    â€œWhat do you think, Hobart?” Wolf asked.
    â€œClemson ain’t the brightest spoon in the drawer, but his old lady’s smart as a whip.”
    â€œI agree. I think Clara just stays with him because she can boss him around. She looks quiet, but that woman’s got more balls than a Brahma bull.”
    â€œYeah. She gives me the willies sometimes. She can tame Clemson with just one look. A look like a damned dagger.”
    â€œThat’s why she’s at the center of this whole claims thing. Did you know she killed her first husband?”
    â€œNo, Wolf, I didn’t.”
    â€œHe cheated on her. She cut him up with a butcher knife.”
    â€œHow do you know all this?” Hobart asked.
    â€œMy older brother, Hans, was married to her.”
    â€œDid she get arrested and thrown in the hoosegow?”
    Wolf rose from his seat and walked to the window. He looked out at all the buildings across the street, the dark corridors in between.
    â€œNo, she didn’t,” Wolf said as he watched the shadows gather and crawl up the sides of the cabins across the way.
    â€œHow so?” Hobart asked.
    â€œShe claimed self-defense,” Wolf said.
    â€œBut . . .”
    â€œIt was self-defense. Hans made the mistake of hitting her in the mouth. Puffed up her lips. He hit her again and split her cheek. That’s when Clara charged straight at him and buried a knife in his gut, clear to the hilt.”
    â€œAnd you don’t hold no grudge against her?”
    Wolf laughed.
    â€œHell no. Hans was a bastard. He was mean and he treated that woman like dirt. Just like he treated our ma. He was no good from the start. I learned a lot from him, but I didn’t give a damn that Clara killed him. He deserved it.”
    â€œJesus,” Loomis exclaimed across the room.
    Wolf turned to him.
    â€œWas that a prayer, Bert, or a curse?” Wolf asked.
    Hobart guffawed.
    Wolf peered into the dark spaces between each of the buildings across the street. Shadows crawled up the fronts of them and pooled up in between each one