come back,â a voice said from the darkness, sending Frankâs hand toward his gun.
âDonât shoot me. I ainât armed.â
A shadow moved in the pines west of the graveyard.
âWho the hell are you?â Frank demanded.
âWe talked when you rode into town, mister. I was here when you said you saw one of the Old Ones.â
Frankâs gun hand relaxed. âWhat the hell are you doing out here this time of night, old-timer?â he asked.
âVisitinâ my daughter.â
âYour daughter?â
âSheâs buried here. Died from the consumption. Sometimes I come out here just soâs I can be close to her. Makes me feel better.â
The old man heâd seen beside the fence earlier in the day walked up to him.
âSorry about your daughter,â Frank said.
âItâs been two years, nearly. Canât sleep at night without thinkinâ about her before I drop off.â
âThe galloping consumption is a hard thing . . . a rough way to die,â Frank said.
âShe went fast. Lessân two months after we found out she came down with it.â
Frank understood the old manâs grief . . . heâd lost a wife to a cowardâs bullet. âItâs hard to lose a loved one, no matter what the cause.â
âI asked around in town after you got here, mister. They say youâre Frank Morgan the gunfighter. Olâ Man Barnes at the hotel told me. Anâ Smitty recognized you when you came to the hotel.â
âI donât make a living with a gun now,â Frank said. âI gave all that up years ago.â
âBut you was askinâ about Ned Pine anâ Vic Vanbergen. That donât sound like you come here with peaceable intentions, if you pardon me for sayinâ so.â
It had begun to seem that Frankâs past would haunt him for the rest of his life. He stared across the moonlit cemetery a moment. âThey killed my wife and took my son hostage. I got my boy back, but I still owe them a debt... a blood debt, and I aim to see that they pay it.â
âThen you are a killer.â
Frankâs jaw muscles went tight. âIf I can find Vanbergen and Pine, I intend to kill them for what they did to my Vivian, and to Conrad.â
âCould be I can tell you where to find âem,â the old man said.
Frank turned around abruptly. âWhere?â
The man aimed a thumb toward the snow-clad peaks north of Glenwood Springs. âUp yonder. Doc . . . thatâs Doc Holliday, he knows where theyâre at.â
âWould he tell me?â Frank asked, feeling his blood begin to boil.
âCanât say fer sure, Mr. Morgan. But you can ask him for yourself, if youâve a mind to.â
âWhere is Holliday?â
âAt the sanitarium.â
âWhere is it?â
âJust ride down to the river anâ turn east. Youâll see it plain as day.â
âIâll do it first thing in the morning.â
âDoc, heâs cranky as hell, but heâs in a lot of pain, so they say.â
âAll I want to know is where I can find Vanbergen and Pine,â Frank explained.
âDoc knows âem. Leastways he knows where they go to hide out from the law.â
âI appreciate what youâve told me,â Frank said.
The old-timer turned toward town. âThat Ned Pine, he ainât no good. If thereâs a sumbitch in Colorado who deserves to die, itâs him.â
âWhatâs your name?â Frank asked as the old man walked off.
âThey call me George. I reckon thatâs all you need to know.â
A moment later George was out of sight around a bend in the road. Frank made up his mind to talk to Doc Holliday right after sunrise.
As he was about to head back to the hotel he saw a slight movement in the pine trees behind the burial ground. Again, he reached for his pistol.
A shape appeared, a slender man dressed in
Phoebe Rivers and Erin McGuire