Name On The Bullet - Edge Series 6 Read Online Free PDF

emotion.
    ‘Hold it, blacksmith!’ Edge ordered coldly as he kept his Winchester levelled at the shocked couple but scowled at the glowering O’Brian who was clearly just a moment away from firing the sixgun he held in a rock steady grip.
    ‘Yeah, Arnie!’ Mann whined. ‘We can’t just shoot them down like coyotes.’ He clenched his wide-spaced teeth, maybe to keep them from chattering with nervousness. Costigan seemed reluctant to speak, maybe afraid of what his voice would sound like. O’Brian continued in the same unsteady tone, his cold-eyed stare fixed on the embracing couple: ‘Why not? That’s exactly what they did to Wendell Quaid, damnit! And maybe they would’ve run down a couple of little kids if one of them hadn’t – ‘
    ‘We’re going to do this the lawful way!’ Hooper’s tone was as ice cold as the light in the squinting eyes of the almost out of control blacksmith. ‘And anyone who don’t abide by that will answer to me!’
    ‘What the hell is this all about?’ The good looking green-eyed blonde managed to keep her tone even and her full lips from trembling as she clung tightly to the man at her side.
    ‘What’s the goddamn difference?’ O’Brian looked toward Hooper and Edge then delved for a plug of tobacco and bit off a piece. ‘What’s it matter if they get what they got coming to them here or back in town: or after some half ass trial in a court at the county seat?
    They’re sure gonna die for what they did to Wendell and I can’t see no point in not getting it over and done with quick.’
    ‘Vic?’ The woman’s lips quivered now as her wide-eyed gaze shifted from the line of five men in front of her to the one at her side.
    ‘Easy, honey.’ He released the bedroll he carried and patted her hand as he gently extricated himself from her forceful grip. ‘This here’s a posse, looks like, even if none of them is wearing a badge.’
    ‘Frigging right that’s what it is!’ Costigan grinned, clearly pleased by how tough he sounded.
    ‘A posse that one of them is itching to turn into a lynch mob,’ Vic went on in the same even tone, only the ashen pallor of his face that contrasted so starkly with his all black clothes suggesting he was afraid.
    ‘You can ignore that crazy talk,’ Hooper assured. ‘I’m the Brogan Falls marshal and these guys are my volunteer deputies. If you want to see badges, I’ll show you them when we get back to town. When folks get invited to a wedding around here they don’t expect to have to – ‘
    Vic ignored Hooper and pressed on, addressing the woman: ‘Whatever, they don’t know they’ve got the wrong people for a killing, honey. Now look, you guys, I’ll admit I – ‘
    ‘Save your confession for the judge when you get to court!’ Hooper cut back in. ‘It seems real clear to me that you and her are the pair who rode into Brogan Falls and killed Wendell Quaid outside the church. And my deputies and me are gonna take you back to town and lock you up for doing that. Fix for a legal trial to be held just as soon as that can be arranged.’
    ‘Look, I was going to tell you that I admit I – ‘
    ‘The marshal told you to save it!’ Costigan snarled.
    Vic sighed his resignation. He was forty years old with dark hair that had started to grey but still had a way to go before most of the original colour faded. His narrow, straight moustache was still solid black. Light blue eyes shone from out of a pale complexion that was maybe not entirely due to fear: perhaps signalled he had not spent long in the open recently. Once perhaps, his six feet tall frame had been well built, but sickness or hunger had extracted a toll and he looked close to emaciated. After he recovered from being so badly startled so soon after taking his pleasure with the woman he had shown a degree of self-control that suggested he had been in tight situations before and learned how to face them calmly.
    ‘Look, there ain’t any purpose to be served by us