made it your problem by getting you appointed marshal.
YO Like it or not, you aren't walking away from this. You're going to
help me catch the bastards." Cole didn't say a word. He was fighting
the urge to join the sheriff outside, yet at the same time he could eel
his anger fueling to a rage.
No one should have to die like this. No one.
He wouldn't allow himself to be sick. If he turned his back on these
men and ran outside, he would be committing a blasphemy. He couldn't
reason his reaction. He just knew it would be wrong for him to be
repulsed by them.
He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, then slowly moved away
from the door and walked around the circle of dead. Ryan watched him
closely.
Another minute passed in silence, and then Cole said, "I don't know how
many of them were in here, but I'm pretty sure several men did the
shooting."
"How do you figure that? " Ryan asked.
"Powder burns and the angle of the bullets." He pointed to two of the
bodies and whispered, "The bullet came through the back of this man's
head, went out through his forehead and into the neck of the man facing
him. The same thing happened with those two. They were playing a
game, " he added. "Trying to kill two with one bullet. You already
figured that out, didn't you? " Ryan nodded. "Yes."
"The robbery was yesterday. Why v. ^eren't these bodies buried? "
"The sheriff thought he should leave them here for us to see. I have a
feeling he hasn't been a lawman long." Cole shook his head again.
"There's a funeral cart outside. These people need to be buried."
"Then order it done, " Ryan challenged.
Cole turned to go outside, but stopped with his hand on the doorknob.
"Whenever I'm away from the ranch, I work alone."
"You don't work alone any longer."
"I should warn you. I do things different . . .
Some of it won't be legal."
"I figured as much, " Ryan replied.
He followed Cole outside and stood by him on the boardwalk while Cole
ordered the crowd to back away so the funeral cart could be pulled
closer. The body collector, a moonfaced man with hunched shoulders,
stepped forward. Cole told him that he wanted the bodies covered with
sheets before they were carried out.
The reporter for the Rockford Falls newspaper objected to the order.
"We want to see them, " he shouted. "Why do they have to be covered
with sheets? " Cole wanted to punch the ghoulish curiosity seeker.
With effort, he resisted the impulse and said, "They wouldn't want to
be remembered this way." The reporter wouldn't let up. "They're dead,
" he shouted. "How do you know what they want? " A woman in the crowd
started crying. Cole looked at Ryan, waiting for him to answer, but
the marshal ignored him and kept his gaze directed on the men and women
in the street.
"Yes, they're dead, " Cole shouted back. "And now the law becomes