TREASURE KILLS (Legends of Tsalagee Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

the sheriff regarded Ed as a no ’count and mean little bastard, he had tried to make Belle stop the whipping. But she pulled a pistol on him and said it was between her and Ed, and she’d shoot him, meaning the sheriff, if he interfered. Everyone knew about Belle’s explosive temperament, and it didn’t take much imagination to believe she would do what she said. The man cared much more about his life than Belle’s and Ed’s differences, so he’d stepped back.
    The sheriff figured Ed Reed was a prime suspect in Belle’s killing; on the other hand, so were about ten other people. Belle wasn’t a popular woman around those parts, and there wouldn’t be much mourning at her passing. It didn’t seem to him that investigating her murder would be a good use of his time. But he did have a civic duty to uphold the law, and there was an election coming up, so he decided he’d arrest Ed Reed for the murder of Belle Starr, the next time he saw him. And that’s what he told everyone, including Pearl.
    When Pearl returned to Younger’s Bend from Porum after depositing her mother’s body at the undertaker’s, she found Ed in the cabin sitting in front of the fire staring into it.
    “Ma’s dead,” Pearl told her brother.
    “Yeah, I heard,” Ed said.
    “How’d you hear?” Pearl asked. She wasn’t entirely unsuspicious of her brother.
    “Cecil Loudcrow told me,” he said.
    “How did Cecil Loudcrow know?”
    Ed shrugged and didn’t say anything for a few seconds, continuing to stare into the fire. Finally, he said, “He says he talks to crows. Maybe they told him.”
    Pearl walked to the fireplace and put her hands out to warm them. “Sheriff Connelly said he was going to arrest you for killing Ma,” she said. “Did you kill her?”
    Ed didn’t say anything, so she looked back at him. “Did you, Ed?” she asked again.
    Ed looked up at her, his eyes dark and sunken in his fire-lit face. “Cain’t say the thought never crossed my mind, but no, Pearl, I didn’t kill her.”
    Pearl nodded and turned back to face the fire. They both kept silent for several minutes, and then Pearl said, “I wonder who did?”
    The only sound in the cabin for half a minute was the pop and hiss of the burning wood. “I think you better leave here, Ed,” Pearl continued. “That stupid sheriff in Porum may decide to get up a posse and come after you. He’s lazy, and I don’t think he much likes you. He’d just as soon see you hang for Ma’s killin’ as anyone.”
    “I’ve already been thinking about that, Pearl. I’m riding out in the morning. But before I go, I want to settle up with you. You know, Ma had a lot of loot stashed around here. She told me where she kept most of it. Well, I divvied up what I could find, and I put your share in on your bed. I kept a little more than I gave you, but that’s because I want you to have all the land and live stock and the house here at Younger’s Bend. I figure you’ll get a pretty fair price if you decide to sell.”
    “How much you leaving me, Ed?” Pearl asked.
    “Close to fifty thousand dollars, I reckon. That ought to keep you going for a good long while.”
    “Well,” Pearl said. She turned her backside to the fire. “I expect so.” Then she added, “Where you going to go?”
    “I thought I’d head up north a ways; see if I can’t mix in among some of them Starrs up around Tahlequah; some of old Sam’s kin. I’m gonna take Clod to pack my stuff. I figure John Christie will sell you another mule.”
    Just before daybreak, Ed had all his belongings, along with his share of Belle’s gold, silver, and paper money, packed up on Clod. He tightened the cinch on his gelding, and then turned to Pearl. He looked at the ground, then the sky, then his sister. “Well, goodbye, Pearl,” he said. Neither was sure they’d ever see the other again.
    “I think I’m gonna bury Ma out here under that hickory tree, rather than in town,” Pearl said. She turned and