A Time For Hanging Read Online Free PDF Page A

her?'
    "Don't know that.   Guess the doc'll have to tell us."
    "I thought you caught him in the act."
    Turley shook his head and looked stubborn.   "We did, kind of.   We caught him tryin' to get away, and that's the same thing.   There just ain't no doubt he done it."
    "Was Jack with you?" Vincent asked, hoping that Turley would tell him that the deputy was at the preacher's house breaking the bad news.
    "He's standin' guard with the prisoner and the body, waitin' for you to come out there.   He said you'd have to be the one to go and tell the preacher."
    Vincent had been afraid of that.   He sighed and got off the desk.   There was no use putting it off.
    On the other hand, maybe he should go out to the scene and see if Turley was right in saying that Lizzie Randall was dead.   There was always a chance that he was wrong, and it wouldn't be right to give the Randalls a false report only to find out that there had been some kind of mistake.   Maybe the girl was just badly beaten.
    "Where'd you say she was?" he asked
    "Didn't say.   But she's out in that grove of trees over to the west of town."
    "Let's go," Vincent said.
    "Ain't you gonna wait for the doc?"
    "He's here," Vincent said, and then Turley too heard the sound of a buggy driving up outside the jail.
    They went out, where Doc Bigby and Lane Harper were waiting, Harper on horseback and Bigby in the buggy.   Bigby was the most cheerful man in Dry Springs.   Vincent had never seen him without a smile or a chipper remark to make.
    "Howdy there, Sheriff," Bigby sang out as the two men came out of the jail.   "You ever see such a fine night at this time of they ear?   I swear, the air's like ambrosia."   Bigby took a deep breath, and Vincent could see his teeth shining in the starlight.
    Bigby was a short, dapper man, with a fringe of white hair showing under the brim of his hat.   It was just about all the hair he had.   Vincent liked the man, in spite of his constant good cheer.   Vincent couldn't quite figure out how anybody could be that happy all the time.
    It wasn't his practice, that was for sure.   Most of the people in Dry Springs knew that Bigby wasn't a real doctor, and though he seemed   to know a little something about most ailments, they would often just as soon trust their own remedies as to call on him.
    Whenever there was a real emergency, however, or whenever somebody needed a tooth pulled that took a little looking or an extra pair of hands, or even whenever there was a really sick horse or cow that just didn't seem to be getting any better, Bigby was the man they looked for.   Sometimes his cures worked, and sometimes they didn't, but he did well enough to keep from scaring everyone completely away.   Besides, he was the closest thing Dry Springs had to a doctor, and the closest they were likely to get.   And at least he wasn't overly fond of cutting off your body parts, like some doctors Vincent had run into over they years.
    He looked a little less than dapper this evening, and when Vincent asked, he explained that a horse had foaled out at the Stuart place and there'd been a pretty rough time of it.
    "But I understand you folks got you a real problem," Bigby said, still smiling.
    "That's right," Vincent told him.   "If what I've heard is right, we got some trouble."
    "Well, let's get on out there and see.   You might's well ride with me, Sheriff.   I could use the company, and you could tell me what's goin' on."
    Vincent tied his horse to the back of the buggy and climbed in, making the springs squeak.
    "Could use some grease, I guess," Bigby said.   His teeth flashed.
    "You fellas go on ahead," Vincent told Turley and Harper.   "We'll follow along after you."
    The horses walked around the buggy and the two men started for the west side of town.   Bigby slapped the reins on the neck of his little bay, and the buggy moved off after them.
    "Harper says that Lizzie Randall's been murdered in cold blood," Bigby said as the