shit oh shit oh shit. The words roared through Ed’s brain, and it was all he could do not to yell them out loud.
He had heard of Joshua Shade. Everybody in this part of the territory had heard of the crazy owlhoot leader. Hell, probably everybody in the whole territory had heard of him. He and his men had been on a killing spree for months.
Shade was still smiling. He said, “I see you’ve heard of me, Brother Ed.”
Ed’s tongue felt as big and floppy and dry as a saddle blanket in his mouth. He struggled to say, “N-no, sorry, Mr. Shade, I n-never heard nothin’ about you.”
“Reverend Shade,” the man corrected gently.
“Sorry. I mean Rev’rend Shade. But I still d-don’t know who you are.”
Shade came closer, reached out, and put a big hand on Ed’s shoulder. “Are you a God-fearing man, Brother Ed?”
“Y-yeah,” Ed husked. “I like to think I am.”
“Then you know that by lying you’re breaking one of the Lord’s commandments.”
“I ain’t lyin’. I—”
Shade’s hand tightened painfully on the old prospector’s shoulder. “Don’t make your sin worse by denying it, brother.”
Ed choked back a sob and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry. The Lord will forgive you and welcome you into His house. He has many mansions in heaven for us all, you know.”
“Y-yeah, I…I heard a p-preacher say that once.”
“And today you’ll know the truth of it for yourself.”
Ed’s eyes widened in horror. “Today?” he croaked.
“Unless you’re lying again, in which case I’m sure the Devil will have a…warm…welcome for you.”
Shade looked at the man standing behind Ed and nodded.
Ed just had time to think that he’d already met the Devil before he yelled, “Wait! Oh, God, wait!”
Shade raised a hand, and the man behind Ed paused in whatever he’d been about to do.
“Why should we wait in carrying out the Lord’s judgment, Brother Ed?” Shade asked.
Ed thought fast, remembering everything he had heard about Joshua Shade. He said, “If you l-let me live, I…I can help you.”
“What can you possibly do for us, brother?”
“I remember…I remember hearin’ how you like to send a man into a town before you…”
Ed couldn’t bring himself to say it. He was too scared.
Shade smiled. “Before we deliver the word of the Lord unto them?” he asked.
“Y-yeah. That’s what I mean. But folks know that about you now. They’ve figured it out. There’s a settlement not far from here, but if you send some of your men there, folks’ll be suspicious of ’em. Folks watch ever’ stranger now mighty close.”
Shade was beginning to look interested. “Go on,” he urged.
“I can do it for you,” Ed said. “They know me there. They think I’m just a harmless old coot.” He let out a hollow cackle. “And up to now that’s all I been, I reckon. But now I can help you, Rev’rend. I can help you do the Lord’s work.”
What he was doing was dooming a lot of innocent folks, Ed thought…but he was also saving his own life. A fella had to do what he could to save his own life, didn’t he, even if it meant that other folks got hurt?
A smile spread across Shade’s face. “I’ve always said that the Lord provides a solution to every problem, if only we open our hearts and our eyes and are prepared to see it.” He rested his hand on Ed’s shoulder again. “And now He has sent you to us, Brother Ed. Praise the Lord.”
“Praise the Lord,” Ed agreed in a weak, croaking voice.
Shade gestured to his men with his other hand. “Go on about your business, brothers. I’ll talk to our new friend here.” He steered Ed toward the tent from which he had emerged a few minutes earlier. “What’s the name of this settlement you mentioned, Brother Ed?”
“It…it’s called Arrowhead.”
“Arrowhead,” Shade repeated, rolling the name on his tongue. “Named after a weapon of the heathen redskins. It sounds to me as if the people there really need a visit from the messengers of the Lord…”
Ed hoped that Shade couldn’t feel the tiny shudder that went through him at the sound of the evil in the man’s voice.
Yeah, he had already met the Devil…
And the Devil’s name was Joshua Shade.
Chapter 4
Amelia was persistent, and Sam Two Wolves was as human as the next fella. By evening, she had worn down his resistance and talked him into taking her back to one of the little rooms behind the Ten Grand.
That left Matt to take care of putting their horses up at the livery stable and renting a couple of rooms for them at the local hotel, which was one of only two two-story buildings in town, the other being the bank, which was built solidly out of red brick.
Matt didn’t mind tending to those chores. Sam would have done the same if the situation had been reversed. In fact, he had done the same many times when it was reversed, which it usually was.
When he was finished with that, he wandered back to the Ten Grand. No sign of Sam and Amelia in the barroom, so he figured they were still occupied out back. Matt went over to the bar and nodded to the portly bartender, Archie Cochran, whose acquaintance he and Sam had made during the afternoon.
“Give me a beer, Archie,” Matt told him. He dropped a coin on the hardwood to pay for it. He and Sam weren’t short of money, only supplies, and if they needed to, they could have more dinero wired to them the next time they came to a settlement that had a telegraph office.
“There you go, Mr. Bodine,” Archie said as he placed the mug in front of Matt.
“I see Sam’s not back yet.”
Archie smiled. “Amelia’s a mighty inventive gal when she wants to be. She can come up with all sorts of pleasant ways for a gent to pass some time.”
“I’ll bet.” Matt took a drink of the cool beer. “What’s the best place around here to get something to eat?”
“Got a jar of pickled eggs down at the end of the bar,” Archie suggested.
Matt frowned and shook his head. “I was thinkin’ of something a little more substantial, like a steak maybe.”
“Try Hernando’s,
