Trail of the Hanged Man Read online

  ‘I don’t mind,’ Lawless said.

  ‘I do,’ Sven said. ‘By golly, it’s been a long dry spell since we’ve had any guests around here. And I’ll be truthful with you, Ben, since the ’Paches put on paint and the surveyor work dried up, I’ve missed not having other men to talk to, maybe play poker with, or down a beer or two—’

  ‘Sweetheart,’ Ingrid interrupted gently, ‘I think Mr Lawless knows what you mean.’

  ‘Yes, yes, ’course he does.’ Sven grinned sheepishly, a boy in a man’s body. ‘Don’t mind me, Ben. Like Ingrid says: I tend to get overly enthusiastic at times and then I ramble on and on.’ Before Lawless could say anything, the big Norwegian grabbed one of Violet and Joey’s trunks from the wagon and carried it effortlessly indoors.

  Ingrid smiled shyly at Lawless. ‘It’s been hard on him,’ she said. ‘He loved his work and feels lost without it—’

  ‘No need to apologize, ma’am. Your husband’s a fine man. Maybe the finest I’ve met.’

  ‘I know that, Mr Lawless. And I wasn’t apologizing. I just wanted you to understand why he’s so pleased you’re here.’ Turning, she slipped her arm around Joey’s waist, ‘C’mon, let’s get you inside.’ Violet did the same and together they helped him into the house.

  Lawless clucked the horses into action and drove the heavily loaded wagon to the barn. It was only a short distance but several times the wheels became stuck in the mud. But each time at his urging the team managed to pull them free and finally Lawless reined up outside the barn.

  Jumping down he unhitched the traces and led the big mud-spattered horses inside. There, as he was about to remove the harnesses, he glimpsed something move in the hayloft above him. He dived behind the horses, Colt leaping into his hand, and rolled into the nearest stall. He lay motionless on the hay, heart thudding, waiting for whatever it was to move again. The memory of shooting Joey was vivid in his mind and he warned himself to make sure he saw his target clearly before he pulled the trigger.

  When nothing stirred, he inched forward on his belly and elbows and peered around the wooden divider.

  Instantly a small round stone smacked against the wood dangerously close to his head.

  Lawless flinched and ducked back behind the divider.

  He heard a faint giggle. ‘No need to be scared,’ a girl’s voice said above him. ‘If I’d wanted to hit you, I would’ve.’

  Lawless relaxed, lowered the hammer on his Colt and got to his feet. ‘Show yourself, girl. C’mon,’ he added when no one appeared. ‘No more games.’

  Raven stepped from behind a roof support, holding a home-made slingshot and chewing on piece of straw. Resting one bare foot on the top rung of the loft-ladder, she stared at him insolently.

  Lawless holstered his six-gun and nudged his hat back on his head. ‘Your folks think you’re out in the desert.’

  ‘I was. Now I’m here.’

  ‘Don’t be impertinent.’

  ‘What’s that mean?’

  ‘Cheeky – disrespectful.’

  ‘That weren’t my intention. I was just answering you, not sassing you.’ She continued to stare at him, head cocked sideways like an inquisitive crow, her short hair just as black and shiny, as if trying to make up her mind about him.

  ‘When you’re all done staring,’ he said, ‘come on down.’

  ‘Wasn’t staring. Was wondering.…’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘Why you shot Joey.’

  He frowned, wondering how she knew.

  ‘Don’t look so surprised, mister. Anything goes on at the reservation, I mostly hear about it.’

  ‘Then you already have your answer, so why ask me to repeat it?’

  Raven was stumped for an answer. Tucking the slingshot into her jeans, she climbed down the ladder until she got halfway then pretended to lose her footing, gave a cry and fell backward. Lawless lunged to grab her. But it was all an act. Twisting in midair, she landed catlike on her feet on a pile of hay.

  ‘See,’ she said. ‘I can move fast too.’

  He felt like spanking her. But he said only: ‘Let’s see how fast you can help me with these horses.’

  That night it was crowded around the table. Supper was just stew and bread, with Ingrid apologizing for not having a pie or even wild berries for dessert. ‘If only you’d only told me earlier you were coming,’ she lamented. ‘I—’ She broke off, realizing how insensitive her remark was, and then pressed her hand fondly over Violet’s. ‘I’m so sorry, dear. Forgive me. I wasn’t thinking.…’

  ‘It’s all right, Mrs Bjorkman.’ Violet fought back her tears. ‘I know you didn’t mean anything by it. Besides, this is a wonderful meal. Far better than what I used to cook for Joey or the men. Right, Joey?’

  Her brother nodded and continued mopping up his gravy with a hunk of bread. He could only use his right hand. The left arm was now held in a sling made from one of Sven’s old work shirts and any abrupt movement made him wince with pain.

  ‘Why do think I married her?’ Sven said, trying to lighten to mood. ‘There were plenty of other women to choose from in the village. But none of them could bake bread or charm a pie out of the oven like my Ingrid.’

  ‘Why, Sven Bjorkman! And here all along I thought it was because of my dowry.’

  ‘Dowry!’ Sven thumped the table with his beefy hand so hard it rattled the dishes. ‘If it was money or possessions I was after, woman, I would’ve stayed in Norway and married the widow Johanssen. Her dowry came with a castle.’

  ‘Sweetheart, I was only teasing—’

  ‘No, no,’ he said, as if she hadn’t spoken, ‘dowries had nothing to do with why I asked you to be my wife, begged you in fact, and I think you know that … have known it all along.’

  Ingrid smiled, faintly embarrassed, and raising his hand to her lips kissed his fingers, one at a time. ‘You’re a dear sweet man, my husband,’ she said softly.

  Watching them from across the table, Lawless realized for the first time in his life he envied another man. It was a feeling he didn’t like and thanking Ingrid for the meal he excused himself, saying it was time he bedded down.

  ‘So early?’ Sven said. ‘I was hoping we could play some two-handed whiskey poker before turning in.’

  ‘Another time,’ Lawless said. He went out.

  ‘Did I say something to offend him?’ Sven asked his wife. ‘If I did I surely didn’t mean to.’

  ‘No,’ she assured him. ‘He’s just tired, like all of us.’

  ‘That ain’t it,’ Raven said sullenly. It was the first time she’d spoken since they all sat down to eat and everyone looked at her. ‘He just wanted to be alone.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ said her father. ‘Did he say something to you about it?’

  ‘Didn’t have to. I just know.’

  ‘Oh, Raven, for goodness sake stop trying to be mysterious,’ her mother said. ‘You’ve only just met Mr Lawless, same as the rest of us. There’s no possible way you know what he’s thinking.’

  ‘That’s what you think,’ Raven said. ‘But you’re wrong. I talked to him in the barn while we were taking care of the horses. I knew it then and I know it now. I can tell. He’s just like me, wants to be alone. So there.’

  ‘Raven!’ her father said sternly. ‘Don’t talk to your mother like that. Now apologize. You hear?’

  Raven looked at her father, then her mother, her huge black eyes blazing with resentment. ‘I’ll apologize,’ she said, ‘but I won’t mean it. And you can’t make me.’ She turned to her mother, ‘I’m sorry,’ and pushing back from the table, ran into her bedroom.

  Sven stared after her as if unable to believe what had just happened. He then asked Violet and Joey to excuse Raven’s bad manners, adding that something must have upset her. She wasn’t usually like that. ‘I’ll go talk to her,’ he added to Ingrid.

  ‘Leave her be,’ she said. ‘Tomorrow’s soon enough.’ Rising, she began collecting the dirty dishes. Violet immediately
jumped up and helped her. Joey looked across the table at Sven. ‘When I’m better, Mr Bjorkman, I’ll play cards with you. Or even checkers. Pa taught how before he … he was killed.’

  Sven smiled and affectionately tousled Joey’s hair. ‘I’ll look forward to that, son.’

  ‘Me, too,’ said Joey. Then, as Sven got his pipe and tobacco from a cupboard beside the pantry and returned to the table, he added, ‘Pa used to smoke a pipe just like that, Mr Bjorkman. Same kind of tobacco, too.’

  ‘I know,’ Sven said. ‘He’s the one who got me started using it.’

  ‘Thank goodness he did,’ put in Ingrid. ‘I never liked that other blend you used. Smelled like old socks burning.’

  Sven rolled his eyes, gave Joey a ‘we-men-must-stick-together’ wink, and began patiently packing his pipe.

  Joey beamed. It was one of the few times he had smiled since losing his father and Violet, watching her brother as she stacked the dirty dishes, felt a sense of relief. Maybe some good would come out of losing their home after all.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The next morning, before the first rooster crowed, Lawless stood with his arms resting on a corral fence watching the sky lightening above the hills in the east. It was cold, desert-cold, and a wind blowing up from Mexico tugged at his hair and chilled the back of his neck. Unable to chase Ingrid from his mind, he’d slept little during the night and his eyes felt raw and gritty. Finishing his third cigarette since rising, he flipped it into the empty corral and for the umpteenth time promised himself that right after breakfast he would ask Sven to take him into nearby Santa Rosa. There, hopefully he could find some kind of temporary work until he had enough money to buy a horse and saddle, and then head for Arizona.

  Footsteps behind him interrupted his thoughts. He turned and saw Ingrid, a basket of eggs on her arm, leaving the barn. She waved to him, took a few more steps toward the house then stopped, turned, and came up to him.

  ‘Good morning.’

  ‘’Morning, ma’am.’

  ‘I hope you got some sleep. Sven’s been meaning to fix those loose boards that bang around when the wind blows, but—’

  ‘I slept just fine, thanks,’ Lawless said. He noticed she’d left her long tawny hair hanging loose and he couldn’t help thinking how fresh and pretty she looked with the wind blowing through it.

  His steady gaze made her self-conscious. She brushed some loose strands back from her face, saying, ‘I must look an awful mess. But Sven likes it when I let my hair down at night and.…’ Her voice trailed off.

  There was an awkward silence. It wasn’t that they didn’t know what to say, just how to say it.

  ‘He’s a lucky man,’ Lawless said quietly.

  ‘No, I’m a lucky woman,’ Ingrid said. ‘What Sven said at supper was true: there were plenty of other women available in our village. All of them eager to marry him.’

  ‘Not you, though.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He said he begged you to marry him.’

  ‘Oh … that.’ She blushed, as if caught in a lie, said quickly, ‘Sven was just joking. Believe me, he was a truly fine catch.’

  ‘That why you married him?’

  ‘I married him,’ she said firmly, ‘because I loved him, Mr Lawless.’

  ‘Ahh.’

  ‘You don’t believe me?’

  ‘Why would you lie?’

  ‘I wouldn’t.’ She looked away and shifted uneasily on her feet.

  Lawless waited for her to continue. But she didn’t and there was another awkward silence.

  ‘Well,’ she said finally, ‘I must go make breakfast. Sven’s one of those men who can’t start the day without a good meal inside him. I swear,’ she added, ‘you could tell him Geronimo was on the warpath again and he’d say, “Please, Ingrid, not before I’ve eaten”.’

  Lawless smiled. ‘I feel the same way about coffee, ma’am.’

  ‘In that case, I’ll be sure to have a cup waiting for you.’ She turned away, took a few hesitant steps and then looked back at him. ‘You’re leaving us today, aren’t you?’

  His tight-lipped silence confirmed she was right.

  She hesitated, teeth torturing her lower lip, then said: ‘I know it’s none of my business, Mr Lawless, but may I ask what your reason is for going so soon?’

  ‘Got things to do.’

  ‘Things?’

  He nodded.

  ‘In Arizona?’

  ‘Yes. How’d you know?’

  ‘Sven told me. Last night before we went to sleep. Said if Joey hadn’t shot your horse, you’d be in Arizona by now.’

  ‘I meant, about my leaving?’

  ‘Oh-h … I … It was something my daughter said.’

  ‘Raven?’

  ‘Yes. She’s only a child but she’s very astute that way. I don’t know why, certainly neither Sven nor I are intuitive … but Raven, well, she’s always been able to sense how people are feeling.…’

  Lawless didn’t doubt that.

  ‘I wish you wouldn’t,’ Ingrid said.

  He frowned, surprised. ‘You asking me to stay?’

  ‘Y-yes … Not for me, you understand – for my husband.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Last night was the happiest I’ve seen him in weeks, months even.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with me?’

  ‘Well, it’s hard to explain, but.…’

  ‘On account of his penchant for male company?’

  ‘Penchant?’

  ‘His love of.’

  ‘Oh. Yes … you could put it that way.’ She studied him for a moment, wondering who he really was and where he was from, then lowered her eyes and ran her fingers gently over the eggs.

  ‘I wouldn’t worry about that anymore, ma’am. He has the boy now. He’ll be fine.’

  ‘I hope so. It’s just.…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He so admires you, enjoys being with you, having you around to talk to and … I mean … you see it’s a man’s company he needs, not a boy’s. It seems to fire him up. Last night he was talking how he wants you to help him fix things up around here. Of course he’ll pay you. It won’t be much but— Do you really have to leave today?’ she pressed. ‘I mean couldn’t you stay a little longer – just a few days even?’

  He looked into her upturned face, her pleading blue eyes, and saw nothing but trouble ahead. But despite the warning, he heard himself say: ‘A few days?’

  She nodded, willing to accept any offer that would keep him there.

  He shrugged. ‘Reckon I can do that.’

  ‘Oh, that’s wonderful. Thank you, Mr Lawless.’

  ‘Ben.’

  ‘Of course – Ben. And please, call me Ingrid.’ She frowned, suddenly worried, said, ‘You won’t say anything to Sven about—?’

  ‘No,’ Lawless said. ‘Not a word.’

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  After breakfast, Lawless helped Sven nail down the loose boards in the barn. A few had rotted beyond repair. With no spare wood available to replace them and Sven’s credit in Santa Rosa all dried up, Lawless suggested they use the fencing from one of the two corrals, keeping the other intact for the horses. Sven was delighted by the idea and they soon had enough wood to repair not only walls of the barn, but a small leak in the roof as well. ‘By golly,’ he exclaimed when they were finished. ‘Will Ingrid be surprised when she sees what we’ve done!’ He slapped Lawless on the back, adding: ‘We make a great team, you and me.’

  Lawless grinned, warmed by the big Norwegian’s enthusiasm. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt as happy and relaxed as he did now. But at the same time he knew it couldn’t last, not with the way he felt about Ingrid, and he warned himself not to get too comfortable or content.

  After they finished repairing the roof, they climbed down to the hayloft and collected all the old junk that Sven sheepishly admitted he had hidden there so Ingrid wouldn’t know he hadn’t thrown it away like she’d ins
isted. Among the items were a pitchfork with two prongs missing, a rusted saw with no handle, a surveyor’s tripod with only one leg, and an old harness, its leather so deteriorated it broke when they tried to untangle it. ‘Heaven only knows why I kept all this stuff,’ he said. ‘I knew I’d never use it when I was hiding it here. Guess I’m just a pack rat, like Ingrid says.’

  ‘I’m the opposite,’ Lawless said. ‘I get rid of things too quickly.’ Including people, he thought.

  ‘I inherited the trait from my father,’ Sven said as they carried the junk out behind the barn. ‘“Possessions”, he used to say, “are like memories, to be stored away and cherished later”. My mother, on the other hand, was like you. “Out with the old, in with the new”, was her motto.’ He chuckled, adding, ‘Caused some dreadful arguments. “The Battling Bjorkmans” they were known as.’ He paused, saddened by the thought of his parents, then said, ‘I still miss them, Ben. I miss my brothers and sisters, too. I tried to get them to come to America with me, but they wouldn’t. Said they loved Norway too much to leave. Thank heavens I have Ingrid and Raven or my life wouldn’t be worth a tinker’s damn.’

  Lawless felt a tinge of guilt, but said nothing.

  Returning inside the barn, they lugged an old straw mattress up to the loft for Lawless to sleep on and then stabbed the hay with pitchforks to get rid of any rats. As they worked, Sven asked Lawless if he had a wife and children. Lawless shook his head. How about parents, brothers or sisters? Again, Lawless shook his head. Sven smiled sympathetically, then broke into a big grin and slapped Lawless on the back. ‘Well, now you’ve got us, my friend. So you’ll never be lonely again.’

  Lawless knew better. But not wanting to hurt Sven’s feelings, he kept silent. Finished in the loft, they descended the ladder and let the horses loose into the corral. Sven then grabbed the grease bucket and two brushes and together they began greasing the axles on the wagon. As they worked, Sven told Lawless about what it was like growing up in a village in Norway. In the middle of the conversation he suddenly stopped and looked at the empty stall behind him. ‘All right,’ he said sternly, ‘you can come out now.’