Payback at Big Silver Read Online Free PDF Page B

granddaughters is with her back there, settling her down.” He gestured toward the living quarters behind the cantina. “That was close. Had one of those gunmen shot her, it would have been self-defense.”
    â€œI know it,” Sam said. “She’s lucky you saw it and stopped it when you did.”
    Stone stood silent for a moment.
    â€œCan I tell you something, Ranger, and you won’t call me crazy for saying it?” he said finally.
    The Ranger looked him up and down.
    â€œI didn’t call you crazy when you said you were a wolf,” Sam said. “What else have you got for me?”
    Stone looked a little embarrassed.
    â€œAll right, I admit, turning myself into a wolf was just the ramblings of a fool,” he said. “But this is different. There’s times when I see myself involved in things before they happen. It’s like I see the future.” He stared at the Ranger for a response.
    See the future . . . ?
    Sam stared back at him, letting it sink in. The smell of stale rye and mescal loomed about them. Noting it, and realizing Stone’s struggle with liquor, he nodded toward the open door before the hesitant sheriff could speak. Behind the bar, the bartender raised a shot glass of amber rye to his lips.
    â€œLet’s get out of here—get ourselves some fresh air,” Sam said quietly.
    Stone looked over at the bartender.
    â€œBeing around it doesn’t bother me none, if that’s what you’re thinking, Ranger,” Stone said, the two of them turning, walking out of the whiskey-scented cantina.
    â€œI understand,” Sam replied. “Tell me about seeing the future, Sheriff.” He stepped out off the boardwalk and looked down the empty street at the new sign atop the Silver Palace. Stone walked alongside him.
    â€œI shouldn’t have said anything,” Stone said.
    â€œMaybe not,” Sam replied, “but you did, so go on with it. Whatever you say is between us.”
    â€œI’m glad to know that.” Stone nodded. “Maybe I shouldn’t call it seeing the future. There are times when things happen, and I know I’ve seen it all and heard it all before, the whole situation, every detail, every word spoken.” He scratched his jaw. “Maybe instead of calling it
seeing the future
I should call it seeing things I know have happened before?” He squeezed his eyes shut in confusion.
    Sam considered it and shook his head.
    â€œI’d stick with
seeing the future
if I were you,” he said quietly. “It might be easier to explain—”
    â€œThat’s it, poke fun,” Stone said, cutting him off. “I should’ve kept it to myself, same as I should about changing into a wolf.”
    â€œI wasn’t poking fun,” Sam said somberly. He gave it a second, then asked, “Is this something you were already doing, or did you just start after you quit drinking?”
    â€œI did it some before,” Stone said. “But it seems like I began doing it more once I started riding dry.”
    â€œAny chance that’s got something to do with it?” Sam ventured.
    â€œNo,” said Stone. “Whether I’m drunk or sober has nothing to do with it. It happened out there today—Mama Belleza and her shotgun—and I haven’t drunk a drop of rye in over a month.”
    Sam looked off toward the Silver Palace, watching customers hitch their horses to the hitch rail or park their wagons and walk into the saloon.
    â€œTell me all about it, Sheriff,” he said.
    â€œIt’s hard to explain,” Stone said. “Sometimes I’ll be doing something, saying something to somebody, and I’ll know what they were going to say before they said it. Then I’ll say something back and know it’s all the same way it happened before—same words, same person saying them, everything. It’s eerie.”
    Sam just stared at