Killing Halfbreed (12 page)

Dunagan's eyes opened wide when he recognized the face before him.

"Talbot!  Why of all the sneaky underhanded….what in the name of all that’s good are you doing breaking into my house in the middle of the night?  You've got three seconds to make a believer out of me before I blow you apart as your stinkin' carcass deserves!"

Beads of sweat broke out across my forehead.  I didn’t like scatterguns, even less at this close a range.

"I came here to talk with you peaceably, Dunagan."

"Bull!"  His finger tightened on the trigger.

"You can kill me if you want, but that's the truth."

"What'd you really come here for, Talbot?  To rob me?  Kill my family?"

"No, calm down…”

“Don’t you tell me to calm down!”

Dunagan lifted the twelve gauge threateningly.

“Look, I just came to talk to you.  I need to speak with
you
because no one else can answer my questions.  I only snuck in because I didn't want one of your hands seeing me and blowing me away.  Half the people on your ranch would shoot me on sight.  I
need
to ask you what happened that night before my hanging."

He considered this and let his grip on the trigger relax.  In spite of what happened with Tom Logan, Dunagan had always seemed to like and respect me.  Still, it was hard to lend a lot of credence to a known murderer who was breaking into your home in the middle of the night.

"You want to know about that night?  Why?"

"Because it's driving me crazy!  I can't sleep, I can't eat.  Any other town would have hung me.  They were dead set on it, but they hung that other guy instead.  I don't even know who he was, or why they hung him.  Why did he die when I was supposed to?"

"Sit down, Jake."  His tone softened along with his eyes.  He motioned to the breakfast table.  "But take your guns out first and drop them on the floor.  I'm going to put this shotgun down, but I'm going to take my .45 out and keep you covered while we talk.  Hope you understand."

I nodded and we both sat down.

"Listen, Jake, you know I always took a liking to you, but I sure didn't cotton to what you did.  Tom was my friend, and you shooting him was mighty wrong.  Mighty wrong!"  He thumped his fist down on the table in emphasis, but softly so as to not wake his family.

"Still, I have to admit what Tom did was mighty foolish.  You just don't go unarmed to accuse a drunk man of rustlin’ cattle.  As for that, I don't think you're a rustler, nor do I think your brother was.

“I did at first, mind you, and I'll tell you what, all the hands on my ranch are convinced you are.  So's Bill Hartford and all his hires.  Tom obviously did too.  I don't.  Call it intuition if you will, but I think something funny is going on, and I think we're all getting taken.

"To me, you're the man who murdered my friend, so don't think all's forgiven.  I wouldn't even be talking to you now except for what happened that night.  I think you've got a right to know.

"The night before your execution, we were all sitting in the bar talking and playing poker.  By we, I mean the town council.  We were enjoying ourselves pretty well at the thought of you gettin' what you deserved….and there was this boy there, you see, well, he wasn't really a boy.  He was a man I'd say, especially after what he did.

"We shot the breeze a little with him, found out his name was Joshua Miller, that he was in town from up Colorado way with his sister.  More than that, he wouldn't allow, just kind of kept quiet.  Watched us more than anything.  Not in a way that would make you uncomfortable, mind you.  He was a very likable fellow.

"After a while, he just got up and left.  I noticed, but didn't really pay it no mind.  He came back a little later and sat with us until we all threw in our chips and headed home.  He stayed after we left.

"I wouldn't have known any more about where he'd gone if the sheriff hadn't told us later.  It seems that when he left, he went to visit Sheriff McCraigh.

"McCraigh said Miller strolled into his office just like anybody else and then calmly announced that he wanted to be hung in your place, but only if he could be guaranteed that you'd be spared.

"Well, needless to say, McCraigh just stared at him for a minute, mouth agape, and then burst into laughter.  In all his years, why, in all our years, I don't think anybody's ever heard of such a thing.  I mean, imagine it!

“It ain't every day someone waltzes into a sheriff's office and offers to die in the place of a criminal.  Pretty bizarre if you ask me."

Dunagan chuckled softly at the idea, then straightened up quick again, remembering I was sitting across the table.

"The Sheriff thought so too, and he sent that boy packing, laughing at him all the way out.  He figured the boy was crazy, or drunk, or just pulling some joke.  Even if he had been sincere, there was absolutely no way on earth the sheriff or anyone else in town was going to let you get away with murder and hang some innocent kid.  At least, that's what you would think, huh?

“Well, anyway, we didn't know anything about what had happened between Miller and the sheriff.  Joshua came back to the saloon and sat there a while longer, without us being any the wiser.

"I went home that night, beat tired.  The minute I hit the pillow, I was out cold.  Until about three-thirty in the morning that is, when I jerked awake, as if from a nightmare.  I sat bolt upright in bed, one solitary thought racing through my mind, over and over and over again.  Actually, it was more like a conviction than a thought.

"Joshua shall go in place of Jacob.  Joshua shall go in place of Jacob
.
 Joshua shall go in place of Jacob.

“It was like a relentless mantra echoing in my head.  The words literally boomed in my mind like a giant voice.  It wasn't till I saw my wife asleep next to me that I realized I was the only one who could hear it.  After a couple minutes, the mantra slowly quieted until I couldn't hear it anymore.

"I hadn't spoken with Joshua Miller much that evening, didn’t even know his first name yet, but his face was in my mind as clear as day.  I'd never heard you called Jacob before either, but I knew who the message was talking about.

“I call it a message because that's what it was, a message.  I knew deep in my core, without a doubt, that it was a message from God.

“I tell you, Talbot, I'm a God-fearing man.  I know when He's spoken to me or not, and this was a case where there could be no doubt.  I felt like He'd taken me and shaken my bones around until I had no choice but to obey.

“I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't.  After an hour or so, I got up, dressed and headed back into town only to find the rest of the town council waiting for me in the saloon.  The sheriff was there too, wide awake and drinking a mug full o’ joe.

“Each of them had the same astonished look on their faces, the same look I imagined would have been on mine if I'd looked in a mirror.

“Sheriff McCraigh had a similar experience to mine, but his message was slightly different.  He said the words that filled his thoughts were
‘The Innocent for the Guilty’.  
Even though his ‘message’ hadn't even mentioned the hanging, he'd understood what it'd meant just as clearly as I had.

“The others had even stronger visions.  They, to a man, claimed that the Angel of the Lord had come to them in their sleep and commanded them to hang Joshua in your place.  The shocked, frightened looks on their faces convinced me they were telling the truth.

“Now, we had no idea if it was legal or not, or if we even had the right to do it, but we knew we had no choice but to do what we'd been told to do.  Only one man voted the other way.  He said it had been some kind of mass hallucination and we were crazy to give in to it.

“The rest of us were under no such illusion.  We knew it wasn't coincidence that had brought that boy to town and had caused him to request his own death before we ever went to sleep.  Reservations filled our hearts and muddled our minds. My goodness, we were considering killing an innocent man.  No rationalization we could think of changed that.

"We knew Tom's family would never understand.  We knew many in the town might even hate us.  Heck, we figured we might even catch some kind of legal problems later, but after all was said and done we couldn't argue our conclusion away.

"A deep conviction burned inside each one of us.  What we had to do went flatly against our hearts and what we thought was right.  Yet, we were left with no choice.

"Bright and early, Joshua showed back up at the sheriff's door, smiling, as if he already knew what had happened to us.  He didn't even speak, just stood there looking at the sheriff expectantly, waiting for him to announce our decision.

“When McCraigh told him we'd accepted his offer, he didn't even blink.  He just asked to have time to say good-bye to his sister, and you know the rest."

Dunagan reclined back in his chair, watching me as I took it all in.

I sat speechless, incredulous.  In my wildest imagination, I'd never dreamed of a story so unbelievable.  I couldn't….wouldn't believe my ears.  I was brimming with questions, so full of them I didn't know where to begin.  I started with the wrong one.

"Which member of the council voted against letting him do it?"

"Talbot, every time I find myself starting to like you, you find a new way to disgust me.  What kind of a question is that?  Is that all you care about?  Well, I'm not going to answer it.  You don't need to know, but I will tell you it wasn't me.  Get out of here before I lose my temper and finish what we almost did that day.  This conversation is over!"

He raised his pistol threateningly.  I knew it would be no use to pursue the issue any further.  I stood, scooped up my guns, and silently went out the window I'd come in.

***

I hurried away from Dunagan's, not wanting a random ranch hand to find me on the property and start a fight or worse.

I had no idea where I was headed.  I didn't want to go back to Ben’s ranch right now.  It was lonely there by myself, and when I felt as bad as I did right now, I wanted to be around people.

I found myself aimed for the saloon and realized that too often I was heading to drinks and a good time when I had problems.  Against my better judgment, I went in and ordered a couple of drinks.  My vow to never touch a drop of whiskey again hadn’t lasted very long.  I determined to convert my conviction into a promise to never get drunk again.  Red wasn’t going to let me hang out very long if I didn’t have a drink.

Besides myself and Red, who still wasn't talking about what he knew of the rustlers, there was only one other gent in the bar.  Hadn't met him before, but he was a kindly sort, and we played poker for a little while.

The night grew long, and I decided that lonely or not, it was time to head back to the ranch.  So, I excused myself from the game, and said goodnight.

The night outside was brisk, and a crisp breeze ruffled my hair.  The sight of the bright, white stars set against the dark blue sky were enough to lift a man’s heart.  I took a deep breath of the fresh night air and started walking.

"Where you going, Jake?"

Her flowery voice was sultry, smooth, and seductive, and it startled me.  It belonged to Renee DuBois.  She wasn't your everyday barmaid.  Her voice alone was enough to arouse and capture my full attention.  I was sure any other man would have reacted the same.

She wore a red, silky dress that hugged her curves in a tantalizing way.  Few men could resist Renee.  She drew them like moths to a flame.

Rumor was that Renee would do special favors for men who could pay, but seeing her angelic face framed in long tresses of wavy hair and accentuated by her pouty, red lips, it was hard to think poorly of her.  One look into her emerald green eyes and some men would forget where they even were.

I turned to face her.

"Fixin' to go bed down,” I replied.  Oops.  Bad phrasing.

"I'm sure I could help you with that.  Wouldn't you like some company?"

She smiled seductively, slightly parting her lips, a very attractive gesture.  She stroked my cheek lightly with the back of her hand, and I felt my blood pressure rise sharply.

"Wouldn't you like some company, Jake?"

One thing I was sure of was that Renee would make excellent company.  No doubt about that.  "I have been feeling kind of lonely lately..."  She was like a strong magnet pulling me to her in a way I couldn’t resist. 

"I can fix that.  We could go over to the hotel and be together."  She moved into me slightly, letting me feel the firm curve of her hip.

My mythical halves drew their swords and began battling.  Physical urges and the need to be close to a woman ran strong, pushing me to accept.

"Renee, I was going to finish by saying that I didn't think it’d be a very good idea.  I've got enough problems without involving you in them."

Her pouty lips grew fuller as they turned down in mock disappointment.  It was hard to imagine a more desirable woman.

"Jake, your problems don't bother me.  C'mon, I think we'd be great together."

"Sure, it’d be good for a night or two, but what about after that?  It’d just hurt us both in the long run."

"Whatever you say, Jake."  She patted my cheek.  "I'm certainly not going to beg.  If you change your mind, come let me know."

It took a lot of strength to pull myself away, but I did.  I smiled weakly in a way I hoped told her how much I appreciated her flattering offer.  It would take even more strength to stay away when the night seemed to grow eternally long.