Chapin came in, and after him, Colonel D’Arcy. I knew him at once. Right behind them was Jake Booker. He looked smug around the eyes.
They had scarcely seated themselves when Jim Finder came in.
“Glad to see you, Jim,” I said, and could see the shock of the words reflected in his eyes. “We’ve been fighting somebody else’s battle.”
He stood with his hands on his hips, looking around the room. Chapin he knew, D’Arcy he had heard about. If he knew Booker there was no evidence of it.
Turning my head, I looked at Booker. “This is a peace conference, Booker. The fighting in this area ends today.”
He looked at me, his eyes blinking slowly. He was a thin-faced man with the skin tight across his cheekbones. He was disturbed, I could see that. He was a man who liked to know a little bit more about what was happening than anyone else. And this was a surprise, and as yet he had not decided what to make of it.
“I ain’t said nothing about peace,” Finder said flatly. “I come in because I figured you were ready to sell.”
“No—no sale. The ranch is mine. I mean to keep it. But we are organizing a peace move. Key Chapin and Sheriff Tharp are in it. Chapin has lined up the town’s merchants and businessmen.
“You can come in or you can stay out, but if you don’t join us you’ll have to buy supplies in Silver Reef. This town will be closed to you. Each of us in this fight will put up a bond to keep the peace, effective at daybreak tomorrow.”
“You killed my brother.”
“He came hunting me. That makes a difference. Look,” I said, “this fight has cost you. You need money, so do we all. You sign up, or you can’t ship cattle. Everybody knows you’ve nerve enough to face me, but what will it prove?”
He stared stubbornly at the table, but what I had said made sense, and he knew it. Finally he said, “I’ll think it over. It’ll take some time.”
“It will take you just two minutes.”
He lifted his eyes and stared hard at me. Of the two of us, he knew I was the faster man with a gun. And yet it was I who was talking peace. I knew this war had cost him heavily and no sane man would want to continue it.
Suddenly his mouth twisted in a wry sort of grin. Reluctantly, he shrugged. “You ride a man hard, Brennan. But peace it is.”
“Thanks.” My hand went out. He looked at it, then accepted it. Katie O’Hara filled his cup. He looked at the coffee, then at me.
“I’ve got to make a drive. The only way with water is across your place.”
“What’s wrong with that? Just so it doesn’t take you more than a week to get ’em across.”
The door opened and Fox came in, supporting Canaval. He was pale and drawn, but his eyes were alert and interested.
“Miss Moira could sign for me. She’s the owner,” he said. “But I’m for peace.”
“You sign, too,” I insisted. “We want to cover every thing.”
Jake Booker had been taking it all in, wary and a little uncertain of what to think.
Now he decided to speak. “This is utter nonsense, as you all know. Both ranches belong to me. You have twenty-four hours to yield possession.”
Sheriff Tharp had come into the room as Boolcer spoke. He sat down, saying nothing. He took out his pipe with deliberation. He was an old man, but a careful man, and shrewd.
“We aren’t moving, Booker. And you’ll never move us.”
“Are you threatening me?” He was vastly pleased that the sheriff had heard.
Ignoring the question, I made a point of filling my cup, stalling a little.
“On what basis does your claim to the Boxed M rest?”
“Bill of sale,” he said promptly. “The ranch was deeded to Jay Coffins, the gunfighter. Collins was killed. Collins’ nephew inherited. I bought the Boxed M from him, and all appurtenances thereto.”
Canaval looked at me. He smiled a little, and nodded, “So that was why.”
“Jake,” I said, “let me introduce you to Jay Collins.”
Booker looked at Canaval as I gestured toward him. He looked and his face went two shades whiter. He started to speak, but the words stumbled and took no form. He tried to find the words and they would not come out. But any one could see that he did not doubt what I said was true. Undoubtedly Canaval tied in with what he had known of Collins.
Moira was staring at Canaval, and he looked over at her and smiled. “That’s why I knew so much about your mother. She was the only person I really loved—until I met my niece.”
“Mother told me about you, but I never thought—”
Turning my eyes away from her, I looked across the table at Booker. In a matter of minutes half his plan had come to nothing, and I knew that in this case half was almost as good as all.
Yet Booker was searching desperately for a way out. He knew we would not be bluffing, that if the claim we made for Canaval was tested in court it would stand up.
He looked down at his hands, and I could almost feel his thoughts.
Now where? Now what?
TWENTY-THREE
It was a showdown, but from here on I was working in the dark. Counting on the shock of what I had just told him, I hoped he would believe that I knew more than I did. What I was about to say I was sure was true, but I had no proof.
“As for the Two-Bar, I’ve witnesses and my claim will stand in court.” So much was possible, at least. Now—”Not that it will matter to you, Booker.”
He was worried now, as I wanted him to be. He was not sure what I was holding back. The fact that Jay Collins was alive was an eventuality to which he had given no thought.
He looked up at me, his eyes veiled. But there was a little tic at the corner of his eye that betrayed his nervousness.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll hang, Booker. For murder.”
Nobody said anything. Booker inhaled sharply, but he gave no other indication. He did not even protest, he just waited.
“You killed Rud Maclaren because Park’s way was too slow for you. You also killed one of Slade’s men from ambush.
“We can trail your horse to the scene of that crime, Booker, and if you believe the western jury won’t take the word of an Apache tracker, you’re wrong.”
Jake Booker straightened in his chair. He glanced around the room and found no friendliness there, but he was not a man who relied on friendships.
“Lies,” he said, with a wave of dismissal, “all lies. I knew Maclaren only by sight. I had no reason to kill the man—and no opportunity.”
Canaval looked doubtfully at me. Tharp was merely waiting, but a little impatiently now. If there was any one there who believed in me it was only Mulvaney.
The room was still. I could hear the clock ticking, and Katie O’Hara was standing in the door of her kitchen listening.
I felt their eyes on me, and knew the spot I was in. Yet I was sure. Carefully, I began to build. I knew that if they were to be convinced, it must be now. If Booker left this room he would escape. If I failed to prove my point, the peace we had planned would fall through.
“How Booker got him out of the house, I do not know. Probably on some pretext. Perhaps to show him the silver, perhaps to show him something I was planning.
“The mere fact that Booker, whom Maclaren knew only by reputation, would ride all that way to talk in secret would be enough to get Maclaren out.
“It does not matter what excuse was used. Booker shot him, loaded him on a horse and carried the body to my place. Then he shot Maclaren again, hoping the shot would draw me into the vicinity so I would leave tracks around the body.”
Moira was watching me closely now, and Tom Fox had moved up beside me, looking across the table at Booker. Two other Boxed M hands had shifted, one to the outer door, one to a place behind Jake Booker.
Nobody seemed aware of the moves but Booker and myself. Sweat broke out on his brow. His eyes shifted to Will Tharp, but if the sheriff noticed he did not indicate it.
“Arnold D’Arcy had found the silver lode and filed a claim. Morgan Park trailed D’Arcy to kill him. He was fiercely jealous, as we all know, but that was the least of it. Sooner or later Arnold D’Arcy would see him and would realize who he was.