Dead of Winter Read Online Free PDF

wages with a few rounds, but her reputation started calling ahead of her, turning the gunmen yellow about facing her. Not much of a loss, really. She and Ben were set for cash from the jobs they did, and the quiet left her more time for gambling. Hearsay still couldn't keep the occasional young buck from trying to make a name for himself by besting her in a match, though.
      "I doubt even the Lord's rich enough to give every new baby a silver shooter," Ben said, picking up his book.
      "Good thing He ain't, or we'd have to settle for regular work like tilling a farm or digging in a mountain somewhere."
      Ben grunted in agreement. "Speaking of, did that marshal say anything useful?"
      "Mentioned some feller named Bill Hicks. Said he was the one that told him and the deputy about the killings that morning. Seems this Hicks is one of those retired miner types, like old Jules Bartlett from a few years back."
      "Which one was he?"
      "He's the one that made Sheriff Jim Barnes jump out of his boots for fear of vampires last time we was through here."
      "That's right," Ben said. His memory was sharp except when it came to names. "Took a liking to lurking around at night for his meat instead of during the day like most folk. Good thing he had himself that full beard, or you'd have shot him for a vampire anyway."
      "Hunting at night ain't natural for any folk except the unnatural ones."
      "You damn near pulled that beard off the poor ass when you dragged him in to the sheriff."
      "Shouldn't have been about at that hour, plain and simple," Cora said with a small shrug. The revolver clicked as she turned the cylinder with her fingers. "He's damn lucky we found him before something else did. Never did thank us for that, now that I think about it."
      "Thank us?" Ben raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "He looked right ready to put his pick through your hat with your head still in it."
      Cora could still see the miner's face, his eyes blazing above his gray beard as he stood next to her at the door of the sheriff's station. The sheriff himself was disheveled, having been roused from a good sleep by the pounding on his door. When he opened up, Cora had Jules Bartlett in one hand and the miner's big Henry rifle in the other. Marching past the bewildered lawman, she had set the rifle on the desk before propping the miner up like a prize stag.
      Jules had balked when Cora told the sheriff she'd found his vampire, but Jim Barnes looked as though he couldn't decide whether to laugh or apologize. The miner's confusion turned to anger, and he'd demanded that Barnes arrest her for making sport of him. Cora had laughed at that notion, telling the old man that he was lucky she'd left Ben with the horses or he'd have laid him out for such talk. Both men flushed red, and Cora had left them to it after telling the sheriff she'd settle accounts with him the next morning.
      "All the same, I reckon we should look him up and get our due gratitude," she said. "For all he knew, Barnes could have been right about a vampire in the area. A sucker would've made a short meal of that old codger, though I'm not sure it would've bothered. He didn't look like he had more than a pint of blood in the whole of himself."
      Ben nodded. He was sinking back into his book when a thought hit him, bringing his head up again. "Maybe Barnes was right all along and we just dragged in the wrong fool. What if there is a real vampire around here, and it's started acting up again? Think a vampire could've done those wolfers in?"
      "Not a chance," Cora replied, shaking her head. "A vampire could've done that kind of damage, sure, but the sign was all wrong. Wouldn't do one any good to spill that much blood on the ground. Besides, that fool marshal said the bodies was torn to bits, so much that he couldn't find anything recognizable. Vampires usually leave shriveled stiffs behind, all curled up and panicky-looking."
      "At least until the