“On the count of three shoot blind and cover me and I’ll try to work out where he is.”

  Wright did as he’d been ordered and when Cassidy risked moving to the side he didn’t get fired upon letting him pick out several spots where Kelly could be. When Wright stopped firing he moved back, but at the last moment he glimpsed movement as Kelly rose up to shoot at them.

  “Did that help?” Wright called.

  “He’s between the place where we were settled down and ground level.”

  Wright whistled. “That’s some distance away. We’ll need plenty of luck to shoot him.”

  “Especially as he has no problems aiming accurately at us from that far away.”

  “Then they’ve pinned us down here.”

  Cassidy couldn’t argue with that assessment, so he turned to the debris behind them as he tried to find the way through that Verne had used earlier. He soon spotted a gap beneath a length of wood that was large enough to let him crawl underneath and which would presumably let him reach the other side.

  “I reckon I’ve found a way out,” he said, keeping his voice low.

  “Then you’re luckier than me as I’m hemmed in.” A thud could be heard suggesting that Wright had kicked the wood that surrounded him. “Use it and see what you can do.”

  Cassidy wasted no more time before trying to move on and when he dropped down on to his front he was able to wriggle forward. A body-length farther on the gap became higher letting him crawl along and then stand up.

  He muttered a quick confirmation of his success to Wright and then hurried on, reaching the end of the gap after a dozen paces. On emerging into clear space he turned toward the hollow Wright had been monitoring only to find that Verne was taking advantage of their being pinned down to move closer.

  Verne fired off a quick shot at Cassidy without breaking his stride and that forced him to move back. With Wright being unable to move far the deputy would struggle to prevail against Kelly so Cassidy turned around to retrace his steps, but then another burst of gunfire ripped out, this time most of the shots coming from beyond the winch.

  Then a cry of alarm sounded nearby. Hoping that this wasn’t a distraction, Cassidy turned back and to his delight Verne had come to a sudden halt and he was clutching a bloodied side while sporting a pained expression.

  Cassidy wouldn’t have thought that Wright was in a position where he could make such a shot, but he took advantage of this unexpected development and fired at Verne, downing him with a gunshot to the neck.

  Verne had yet to hit the ground when Cassidy set off around the edge of the debris. He figured that as Wright had been pinned down and the second burst of gunfire had come from some distance away from him, someone had to have helped them.

  It also meant that his own wild gunfire earlier while trapped under the wall hadn’t caused Kelly and Verne to retreat, not that he minded finding out that he’d been ineffective. He figured that Sheriff Murphy was the most likely candidate for being their helper and, as gunfire rattled away from somewhere out of his view, he reached the building at the corner. Then he had to skid to a halt as Wright came running toward him.

  “I accepted that we’d gotten some help and made a run for it,” the deputy said as he hunkered down beside him.

  “You got that right, but I’m not sure where our savior is now,” Cassidy said and then pointed in several directions. “The firing started over there, came closer and then carried on somewhere on the other side of this debris.”

  “It sounds as if he’s going after the gunmen one at a time, in which case Kelly will be a trickier one to get.”

  Cassidy grunted that he agreed and then the two men moved on. When they reached the front of the building where they had been fired upon earlier it was quiet and still. There hadn’t been enough time since Kelly had last fired at them from the higher ground to move far so it was likely that now he was the one who was pinned down.

  Although they had yet to espy their savior they hurried away and scooted down into one of the hollows that Verne had been using. They dropped down on to their fronts and lay beneath the lip of the hollow facing the higher ground.

  Then for the first time Murphy appeared. He rose up at the base of the rise and waved at them and then at a point around fifty yards away from him, showing that even though they hadn’t spotted him before he knew what they’d been doing and he’d also pinpointed Kelly’s position.

  Cassidy and Wright levelled their guns on the area Murphy had indicated. Then they waited. Several minutes passed and then a gunshot blasted out from somewhere ahead. When a second shot sounded smoke rose up from behind a rock at the base of the rise, this being some distance from both Murphy’s location and the place where he’d reckoned Kelly had holed up.

  “Cover me if you see Kelly,” Cassidy said, reckoning that this development meant the situation was about to come to a head.

  Then he scrambled out of the hollow and with his head down he ran toward the base of the rise. Without incident he reached a point around twenty yards from the rock and hunkered down.

  Wright then began firing, although his target wasn’t visible to Cassidy. Murphy used the distraction to rise up and join in the shooting before ducking down, having not moved position. Then Murphy appeared a second time, but he dropped down before firing, the quick speed of his movement suggesting he could have been hit.

  With the possibility that the outnumbered Kelly might still prevail Cassidy leaped to his feet and ran toward the rock. He had halved the distance to it when Kelly rose up and levelled his gun on the hollow where Wright was lying, but then he jerked around to face Cassidy, having clearly not been aware that he had come closer.

  Both men hammered off quick shots that flew wide and then Kelly dropped down. Cassidy ran on until he reached the rock where he leaned back against it.

  “It’s time to give yourself up,” Murphy called.

  “We know you won’t let that happen,” Kelly shouted.

  His voice had come from the far side of the boulder and several yards away from the place where he’d appeared, so Cassidy tracked around the rock, but he’d covered only two paces when Kelly loomed up before him. Kelly must have heard him coming as he’d already aimed his gun low.

  From only a few feet away Kelly couldn’t miss hitting him, but then he flinched backward as shards sprayed from the rock beside him, Wright having come close to winging him. Cassidy took advantage of his deputy’s effective shooting and turned his gun on Kelly.

  He fired, catching Kelly in the stomach and making him double-over before in self-preservation he half-fell, half-threw himself behind the rock. For a few moments Cassidy waited with his gun thrust out in case Kelly reappeared, and then moved forward using slow paces.

  “As Sheriff Murphy said, it’s time for you to surrender,” he said.

  “It might be worth trying, but I’ll only hand myself over to you,” Kelly said.

  “Throw out your gun and I’ll—”

  A gunshot blasted and a thud sounded behind the rock that was loud enough to suggest that Kelly had fallen over. Then rapid footfalls approached from Murphy’s position so Cassidy skirted around the rock, finding Kelly lying on his front only a few paces away with a gunshot wound marring his back.

  “He wasn’t going to surrender,” Murphy called as he slipped along the back of the rock. “He was sneaking up on you so I had to kill him.”

  Cassidy couldn’t help but recall that the current situation had started when he’d arrested Kelly and he’d claimed that Sheriff Murphy was corrupt, and from Kelly’s last words it was clear that he genuinely had a problem with him. Despite that the posture of the body showed that Murphy had been right to shoot him in the back.

  “You did what you had to do,” Cassidy said. “The only question now is whether this puts an end to the possibility of there being a raid.”

  “It does. All the loose ends have been tied up, but not in the way we might have wanted.”

  Murphy sighed, but he didn’t explain any further and instead he beckoned for Cassidy to join him in heading back toward the mine. They picked up Wright on the way and after thanking him for his success in distracting Kelly, Cassidy updated the deputy on events.

  Murphy led them around the debris and then on toward a hole that Cassidy hadn’t noticed before. When Cassidy stood beside it he discovered that it was deeper than it had first appeared, its bottom lost in the shadows below.

  “Is this what you wanted me to see?” he asked.

  “It’s a part of it.” Murphy pointed at several planks that had been nailed together so that they resembled a coffin lid. “I reckon that was lying over the hole before being moved aside.”

  Murphy then pointed out marks that had been scraped out in the ground that supported his idea and once he’d noticed them Cassidy picked out another set of marks that trailed along to a nearby hollow. He started to follow them, but Murphy’s somber expression made him stop.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Murphy gnawed at his bottom lip, seemingly reluctant to reply, and then shrugged.

  “You should just see for yourself.”

  Cassidy nodded and moved on, and when he reached the hollow it was clear what had concerned the sheriff. Two bloodied bodies were lying beside the central mound. He didn’t recognize the nearest man, but the other man was Garfield Cooke.

  “They appear to have been shot and then dragged here, but why would Garfield even come to the mine?”

  “I don’t know, but it looks to me as if they were exploring the mine and they found that hole over there, but then Kelly and his men got them.”

  “I guess it does look that way,” Cassidy said.

  Murphy frowned. “With everyone else dead I reckon it’ll have to remain a mystery as to whether that is what actually happened.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cassidy walked over to the other man and kneeled down beside him. He found documents in his jacket that identified him as being Troy Burns, a railroad man, which probably explained why he was here.

  He then moved on to Garfield and stood over him as he tried to think of a reason for his presence. The only explanation he could come up with was that he had been searching for Roscoe, another man who could have been involved in recent events.

  Murphy had now left him, presumably to try to make sense of the situation, and Wright was on the lip of the hollow facing away from him and watching Murphy. Then Cassidy heard an odd sound, like a low moan.

  He turned on the spot until he identified that Garfield had made the noise. He dropped down to his knees beside him, finding that his earlier understanding of the situation was only partially correct as Garfield had been shot repeatedly but he was still breathing.

  “Rest up and we’ll get you some help,” Cassidy said, trying to sound optimistic.

  “It’s too late for that,” Garfield murmured, his voice barely audible. “Just make Murphy. . . .”

  Garfield spoke some more, but his voice had faded to silence.

  “What should I get Sheriff Murphy to do?”

  Garfield’s lips moved. Cassidy couldn’t hear what he said, but when he leaned over him he was able to work out that he was repeating the same few words. With that thought in mind Cassidy discerned what he appeared to be saying.

  Then Garfield’s lips stopped moving. Cassidy rocked back on his haunches and waited, but Garfield remained still. With his mistake on his mind he headed over to Troy’s body. He confirmed that he was dead and with his skin being cold he must have been dead for some time, perhaps from even before they had arrived at the mine.

  “What’s wrong?” Wright said, coming down into the hollow to join him.

  “Clearly you couldn’t tell from up there, but Garfield was still clinging on to life,” Cassidy said.

  Wright stood over the body of Garfield and frowned.

  “It’s a pity he couldn’t have clung on for a while longer. It might have helped us explain what’s been going on.”

  “He might have already done that.” Cassidy stood up. “Before he died he tried to tell me something. I reckon it was: Murphy got me.”

  Wright turned around to consider the scene before facing Cassidy.

  “Do you reckon you heard right and the sheriff could have killed them?”

  “I’ve changed my mind about him several times, but on this it’s possible. Troy was killed a while ago, but before Murphy took on Kelly, I heard gunfire over this way. That could have been when Garfield was shot, and Verne wasn’t over here.”

  Wright walked a few paces up the slope and then returned.

  “There’s only one set of tracks heading this way, so Kelly could have shot them beside the hole from afar some other time. Then Garfield dragged the other man over here before collapsing.”

  “A simpler version of events would be that as Troy died here Murphy dragged Garfield along to make it look. . . .” Cassidy trailed off and sighed. “I guess we’ll need more before we can get to the truth.”

  “This situation appears to be over, so how do we do that?”

  “We’re lawmen. We’ll investigate.”

  Cassidy gave an encouraging smile and then set off out of the hollow. Murphy was now some distance away, pottering around and appearing as if he was doing what Cassidy had suggested and investigating the scene.

  Cassidy traced the tracks back to the hole and stood over it. Murphy had offered the theory that the dead men had found the hole and then been shot, but it was also possible they’d come out of the hole, possibly as part of Garfield’s mission to deal with Roscoe.

  If he was right that meant Roscoe could be here somewhere and after all the shooting he couldn’t blame him for keeping out of sight until the trouble was over. He kneeled down beside the hole and noted that its pitted sides veered away to one side suggesting that it might be natural and that it could be climbed.

  “I hope you’re not thinking of investigating down there,” Wright said.

  “I wasn’t,” Cassidy said. “I was thinking of sending you down there to investigate.”

  Cassidy smiled to show he hadn’t been serious, although he couldn’t shake off the feeling that the hole was important and going down there would perhaps be the only way to be sure about what had happened here. Then Wright drew Cassidy’s attention to Murphy who was striding back toward them.

  “I’ve not found anything else of interest,” Murphy called. “I reckon we shouldn’t waste any more of our time here.”

  “I don’t agree,” Cassidy said. “Wright was just telling me he wants to climb down into this hole and see what he can find.”

  Cassidy would have explored down there himself, but Murphy’s alarmed look showed that he’d happened upon something important.

  “There’s no need to risk doing that,” he said with a loud voice. “The hole is deep and dangerous and I doubt he’d get out again.”

  Cassidy shrugged. “I reckon the dead folks climbed out of the hole and I’d like to find out where they came from.”

  “I can’t see no point in doing that, but this place is riddled with holes if you want to explore underground.” Murphy beckoned Cassidy and then moved away. “I’ll show you a safer place I found.”

  Murphy kept walking for a few paces, but when he realized that Cassidy wasn’t following him he stopped and then hunched over as he appeared to collect his thoughts. Slowly he turned around and gave a brief nod.

  With Murphy’s odd behavior making it clear that he knew something that he didn’t want to reveal, Cassidy put his thoughts to whether he really should explore the hole. He kneeled down and picked out potential handholds that could be used for the first dozen yards after which the vertical shaft became less steep and potentially less tricky to negotiate.

  He raised a hand to Wright, requesting that he help him lower himself into the hole, but Wright turned away from him. The deputy then turned back and gave Cassidy a significant look.

  “I’ll go down,” he said. “You should carry on investigating up here.”

  Cassidy pondered on Wright’s change of heart and that led him to turn in the direction the deputy had done, letting him spot what had interested him. A rock a few feet below ground level had blood on it, possibly confirming Cassidy’s belief that at least one of the dead men had been killed while climbing out of the hole.

  Wright then set about working out for himself how he’d get down. He faced the hole and then turned his back on it before pacing around. Then he headed over to the planks that had been covering the hole and dragged them closer although they could provide no possible help.

  His actions made Cassidy smile as clearly he was delaying going down in the hope of irritating Murphy and perhaps making him reveal something. This plan appeared to work when Wright placed the cover at the edge of the hole, shook his head and then repeated his previous actions of facing the hole and turning away from it.

  “Either go down or don’t,” Murphy snapped, moving closer to them.

  “I’ll go down in my own good time, although your help would be welcome,” Wright said as he kneeled down on the edge.

  “I can’t help. I’ve never been down that hole before.”

  “So you’ve been down the other holes here, have you?”

  Wright had spoken levelly in a manner that hadn’t sounded accusatory, but Cassidy feared that he’d been too direct, and he was proved correct when Murphy snarled and took long steps forward. Wright rose up to meet him, but Murphy thumped him in the stomach and then grabbed hold of his arm.

  Then Murphy swung the deputy around and launched him toward the hole. Wright put a foot down on the edge, but then, as another step forward would result in a fall, he didn’t try to stop himself and instead he leaped forward.

  Wright waved his arms as he hurtled over the gap while still dropping. For a horrible moment Cassidy thought he wouldn’t make it, but then he slammed into the other side and folded over to leave the upper half of his body on the ground and his legs dangling.

 

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