"How do you figure that? " Ryan asked.
"I'm the sheriff in Rockford Falls, so this is my jurisdiction, not
yours. Like I said before, I ought to be in charge and you two should
be taking orders from me."
"You think you could do a better job? " "I maybe could."
"You can't even look at the stains on the floor, " Ryan said. "What
makes you think you canţ" "It's my jurisdiction, " Sloan stubbornly
insisted.
Ryan's patience was all used up. "Marshal Clayborne and I are here by
special appointment, and I don't particularly care if you've got a
problem with that or not. Stay out of our way, " he ordered harshly.
"Now, go get your posse together." Cole listened to the exchange
without saying a word. He waited until the sheriff left, then crossed
the lobby to the windows and opened one.
A clean, sweet breeze, tinged with the scent of pines, brushed over his
arms and neck. He took several deep breaths to rid himself of the
metallic smell of blood inside the bank, and then turned around and
leaned against the ledge.
He stared at Ryan's back. "It rained hard last night and most of this
morning, " he remarked.
"Yeah, I know. I got soaked."
"There isn't going to be a trail this afternoon. It's been washed
away." Ryan glanced over his shoulder.
"I know that too. I just wanted to get rid of Sloan." Cole folded his
arms across his chest and leaned back. "The men who did this are long
gone." Ryan nodded. "Wires were sent to every lawman in the territory
yesterday. By now all the main roads are being watched.
There are also men at the train stations and the river. The bastards
will still get through the net, though. They're slick, real slick. "
He let the paper he'd been reading drop down to the desk and turned
around to face Cole.
"You know what I used to be worried about? " "What's that? " Ryan's
voice lowered. "That they'd stop and I wouldn't be able to catch
them.
" Cole shook his head. "They aren't going to stop." Nodding toward
the bloodstains, he added in a whisper, "They're having too much fun.
" "Yeah, I think you're right. They've developed a real taste for
killing."
"How many banks have they robbed? " "This makes almost a dozen."
"They've gotten away twelve times? " "They're either very lucky or
very smart."
"Where and when was the first robbery? " "It happened late spring two
years ago. They robbed a bank in TexasţBlackwater, Texas, to be
exact.
That's how they got their name.
" "The Blackwater gang, " Cole said.
"Yes, " Ryan said. "Anyway, they went in during the night with
kerosene and burned the building to the ground when they left. No one
saw anything."