Turnback Creek (Widowmaker) Read Online Free PDF

she asked. “Two days, maybe. I need you to get up there as quickly as possible.”
    “Why?”
    “Rain,” she said. “It’s been raining harder in the mountains than it has here. That’s why our streets are soaked, from the runoff. We built the town far enough away from the mountain to keep from getting flooded. But there’s still one major storm coming, and we’ve got to beat that up the mountain.”
    “Is it pretty far up?”
    “Yes, and it’s a rough road to get there,” she said. “Not much road at all, in some spots. I’ve given the marshal two or three different routes.”
    “You got your mining equipment up there.”
    “Yes, and lost some men to accidents doing that.”
    “Wait a minute,” Locke said, mentally kicking himself. He was so concerned about Cooper that he was missing some obvious questions. “Why do we even need a buckboard?” he asked. “What’s the amount of the payroll?”
    Molly Shillstone bit her lip and said, “Eighty thousand.”
    “Eighty?” Locke was surprised, but still … “Even for that much, we shouldn’t need a buckboard.”
    “Marshal Cooper didn’t tell you?” she asked.
    Locke closed his eyes for a minute. There was a surprise coming, and he hated surprises. “Tell me what, Mrs. Shillstone?”
    “My miners are nervous and distrustful,” she said. “They want their money in gold.”
    Shit, he thought.
    “And it’s Molly.”

NINE
     
    “W hy didn’t you tell me this payroll was in gold?”
    Locke asked Cooper later in the café. Cooper “ had wanted to go to the saloon, but Locke vetoed the idea. Now they were seated over cups of coffee instead of glasses of whiskey or mugs of beer.
    “I didn’t think of it,” Cooper said. “I didn’t think it would be a problem—do you?”
    “Not a problem?” Locke asked. “Do you have any idea what eighty thousand dollars in gold weighs?”
    “No.”
    “Well, neither do I,” Locke said, “but it probably is going to take a buckboard to get it up there. That adds a day or more to the trip from Kingdom Junction, and who knows how many days going up the mountain. There’s no telling how many times we’ll have to turn back to find another way up when we’re blocked.”
    “They’ll give us different routes,” Cooper said.
    “It’s a mountain, Coop,” Locke said. “Rocks shift and block routes all the time.”
    “Maybe we can load the gold onto a packhorse,” the ex-marshal suggested. “Or two.”
    “Maybe,” Locke said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
    “John,” Cooper said, “we’re getting paid enough to deal with the problems, don’t you think?”
    “I don’t know, Coop,” Locke said. “I’ll let you know after we’ve encountered all the problems.”

    Leaving the café, they parted company. Locke was going to the general store to stock up on ammunition and to purchase other items for the ride, including a good blanket and a slicker. The weather looked as if it was going to continue to rain—another damn problem to overcome.
    What they didn’t know was that there was another problem keeping an eye on them at the moment.
    Robert Bailey huddled in his chosen doorway and watched the two men separate. He left the doorway then and headed for the saloon, where he found two men waiting for him.

    When Bailey entered the saloon Hoke Benson and Eli Jordan both looked up from their two-handed game of stud poker. In the middle of the table, at their pot, was a pile of lucifer matchsticks. At each of their elbows was a full mug of beer.
    Bailey stopped at the bar to get himself a beer before joining them. “Deal me in.”
    He took a handful of matches from his vest pocket.
    “Well?” Hoke asked.
    “Cooper’s got John Locke to help him.”
    Eli gathered up the cards and shuffled them. “That’s for sure?” he asked, dealing out three hands of draw poker. They knew that Locke had arrived in town, but they didn’t know why.
    “Yeah,” Bailey said. “I heard ’em talkin’