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them in a saloon here the other night and Pepper broke his nose and knocked out three of his teeth. And the woman who runs the whorehouse said there’s no doubt they like the ladies.”
    “They’re tough boys. But I want to keep them away from Tom Daly. You got a handle on folks who come through town?”
    “If Daly’s a little guy with a big mouth, I can tell you right where to find him.”
    “That doesn’t sound good.”
    He leaned back in his office chair. It needed some grease. “Nothing big. Nothing even worth running him in for. But he’s been here about a week and he’s already been kicked out of two boardinghouses.”
    “You happen to know where I’d find him now?”
    “As of yesterday, he was staying with a woman named Emma Landers. She’s a widow lady who runs a boardinghouse for railroad men. I asked her to take him.” He smiled. “I’m a chicken. Scares me to run a federal man in, even if he is a drunk. I’ve got a wife and a baby to support.”
    I looked again at the photographs behind him.Wife in all three; him in one. But no evidence of a child.
    “I won’t get you involved unless I need to. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to do already with this Mike Chaney.”
    “I’ve got two part-time deputies looking for him now. Plus Connelly and Pepper. No luck so far.”
    “How about a full-out manhunt?”
    He shook his head. “For one thing, Western Union told me that there are a lot of bad storms headed this way. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a mountain storm before, but it’s about the most dangerous thing I can think of. You get caught in an avalanche, you probably won’t survive. I don’t want to have a lot of men caught out there in that. And for another—” He paused. “He’s a hero to a lot of people who wouldn’t have ranches and farms today if he hadn’t robbed those banks.”
    “And this Flannery Jr. is the villain?”
    He frowned. “He’s a businessman. He has a chance to make a lot of money selling land that people can’t pay for. He’s within his rights.”
    “So he hasn’t done anything illegal?”
    “If you mean has he burned them out or run their cattle off or cut off access to water—all the things you usually hear about—no. He’s scared of failing his old man. That’s what it comes down to. I don’t know if Junior would do all this if his old man didn’t expect him to. A lot of people who inherit businesses do a damned good job with them. I think the ones who don’t live up to their fathers are probably in the minority. Right here in the valley we’ve got three businesses run by Juniors. And they all do fine.”
    “Tell me about Flannery Jr.”
    “Little bit of a bully. Ladies’ man, too, though Mike Chaney’s that also. And he’s got a personal grudge against Chaney.”
    “What would that be?”
    “A young woman that they both wanted to marry. Flannery married her but the gossip is she isn’t happy and thinks maybe she should have married Chaney. And now Chaney’s robbing all Junior’s banks and getting away with it.”
    “Maybe Junior deserves it.”
    He laughed. “You sound like you’ve thrown in with the others, Ford.”
    That was when I heard footsteps slapping the floor on their way back there. The deputy who sat out front said, “Nolan’s here. He thinks he spotted Mike Chaney about an hour ago up near Indian Nook Pass. Nolan’s out back with his horse.”
    Nordberg exploded from his chair. “You’ll excuse me, Mr. Ford. I need to take care of this.”
    He didn’t wait for me to say anything.
    I slipped on my Stetson, shifted my gunbelt to a more comfortable position, and then walked to the front where a young woman sat.
    She was a tall, slim woman of about twenty-two. The dark eyes gave the classical face a forlorn look.
    She was reading but lowered the magazine when I came out. I hadn’t noticed her anxiety until she spoke in a trembling voice: “Did they find Mike?”
    “The deputy said somebody named Nolan thought