Nice guys finish dead, p.1
Nice Guys Finish Dead, page 1
Look for these exciting Western series
from bestselling authors
William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone
The Mountain Man
Luke Jensen: Bounty Hunter
Brannigan’s Land
The Jensen Brand
Smoke Jensen: The Early Years
Preacher and MacCallister
Fort Misery
The Fighting O’Neils
Perley Gates
MacCoole and Boone
Guns of the Vigilantes
Shotgun Johnny
The Chuckwagon Trail
The Jackals
The Slash and Pecos Westerns
The Texas Moonshiners
Stoneface Finnegan Westerns
Ben Savage: Saloon Ranger
The Buck Trammel Westerns
The Death and Texas Westerns
The Hunter Buchanon Westerns
Will Tanner, Deputy US Marshal
Old Cowboys Never Die
Go West, Young Man
NICE GUYS FINISH DEAD
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE and J.A. JOHNSTONE
www.kensingtonbooks.com
Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2023 by J.A. Johnstone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Following the death of William W. Johnstone, the Johnstone family is working with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Mr. Johnstone’s outlines and many unfinished manuscripts to create additional novels in all of his series like the Last Gunfighter, Mountain Man, and Eagles, among others. This novel was inspired by Mr. Johnstone’s superb storytelling.
KENSINGTON BOOKS and the WWJ steer head logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 978-0-7860-4905-9 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-4967-4067-0
Chapter 1
“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of the D and T Ranch,” Birch Bradshaw, of Bradshaw and Lane, commented to the two typical-looking cattlemen who had sought a few minutes of his time.
“I ain’t surprised,” Casey Tubbs remarked in return. “We never heard of Bradshaw and Lane before we rode into Fort Worth this mornin’, did we, Eli?”
“That’s a fact,” Eli Doolin answered. “We thought it’d be a good idea to talk to you, since Fort Worth is a lot closer to Lampasas County than Abilene, Kansas, is.”
“That’s an important point for anyone selling cattle now,” Bradshaw said. “Two of the biggest meat packers in the country have opened up here this year. We represent one of them.”
“There’s talk that the cattle market has finally gotten back up to reasonable prices for cows, so we thought we’d check with you folks to see what you’re payin’ these days.”
Bradshaw took a hard look at the two leather-faced cowhands, then glanced again at the clock on the wall of his office and decided he’d wasted enough time with them. “You fellows didn’t have to bother coming to my office to find out what the market for cattle is today. If you’ve got a few cows to sell, you can just drive them to our cattle pens, and they’ll give you a dollar and a half apiece for them.”
Casey looked at Eli and shrugged. Then back to Bradshaw, he said, “So you folks ain’t payin’ no more than you paid last year.”
“Well, that is a price increase of fifty cents a cow,” Bradshaw said.
“Reckon that’s so,” Casey admitted. “We thank you for your time. I reckon we’ll be drivin’ that herd up to Abilene, like we figured, Eli. It ain’t back to what it used to be, but it’s a helluva lot better’n a dollar and a half.”
“How many cows have you got to sell?” Bradshaw asked.
“Three thousand head,” Casey answered.
“ ‘Three thousand’?” Bradshaw repeated. “For that many, we can pay five dollars a head for good cattle. That’s the most anyone here in Fort Worth will offer you. You drive that herd into our pens, and we’ll pay you cash money the day you deliver them. No fooling around with banks or anybody else. There’s enough money in that safe right there to buy your whole herd.” When both of the cattlemen looked skeptical, he said, “Abilene’s not paying forty dollars a head, like it was two years ago.”
“I reckon you’re right about that,” Casey agreed, “but they’re payin’ twenty-five.”
“That’s just a rumor,” Bradshaw replied. “I’m offering you a solid price. You’d be crazy to drive them all the way to Kansas, when you could save money selling them to me. Tell you what, I’ll go out on a limb and offer you six dollars a head.”
“We’ll think on it,” Eli said, “and get back in touch.”
“Don’t wait too long, boys,” Bradshaw said. “There’s other ranches looking to get rid of their cows.”
“That smug son of a gun,” Eli remarked when they left Bradshaw’s office. “Him and his kind are gettin’ fat on the poor little ranches that are tryin’ to sell their cattle to keep the banks from takin’ over their land. He said he’s got enough money right there in his safe to give us cash money for our three thousand cows at six dollars a head. How much is that?”
Casey paused to work it out in his head, then replied, “Eighteen thousand dollars, if I figured right. Three times five is fifteen, right?”
“That’s right,” Eli said. “And some say they’re payin’ twenty-five a head in Abilene and Wichita. How much is that?”
“A lot more,” Casey answered. “I wonder how hard it would be to get that little safe of his open? I expect he’s got a lot more than that in that safe. Wouldn’t you expect that he’s got more, Oscar?”
“I think he might, Elmer,” Eli responded, using the other alias they had adopted for their lawless activities. About to jump on the idea, he hesitated when another thought struck him. “He’s a dad-blamed thief, but if we was to put him outta business, these poor small ranches wouldn’t have no place to get even a dollar and a half for their cows.”
“I reckon that’s right,” Casey said. “I didn’t consider that.” It then occurred to him: “When you think about it, we’re just doin’ the same thing he is. We’re buyin’ up all the cows we can at a price way below their market value.”
“That’s so, but at least we’re payin’ a lot more than he is. We’ve been payin’ ’em enough to pay off their bank loans, so they don’t lose their land. So if we was to get the money Bradshaw has in that safe, we could buy more cattle from the ranchers. And we could give them a better price than what they’d get from Bradshaw. Everybody wins, but Bradshaw.”
Casey grinned while he considered what Eli just said. “I declare, Oscar,” he stated, “sometimes I think you coulda been the brains of this partnership, instead of me.”
“Whoever said you was the brains?” Eli responded.
“Why, I think it was just automatically understood, weren’t it?” Casey responded. “We need to figure out a way to get into that office of his one night.”
“Even if we did, what are we gonna do with that iron safe he says his money’s in. We can’t hardly carry it outta there. It ain’t a great big safe, but did you look at it? It’s bolted to the floor. Even if it weren’t, it’d be a job for Elmer and Oscar to carry it outta there, down the steps, and put it on a horse.”
“Yeah, I took a good look at it,” Casey said. “First thing I noticed was that old safe was built before 1861.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Eli interrupted.
“ ’Cause it’s got a keylock on it,” Casey answered. “Every safe made after 1861 has a combination lock on it. So all we’d have to do is fill that keyhole with gunpowder and blow the door off.”
“Well, I’ll be . . .” Eli started, then paused to see if Casey was serious. “Do you know what you’re talking about? Can you do that with gunpowder?” Casey said they could. “You know,” Eli went on, “me and you have been workin’ cattle for quite a few years. I ain’t ever asked you before, but what was you doin’ before we started workin’ together?”
Casey chuckled and replied, “Workin’ cattle. Before I
Eli was thinking hard on the idea of taking the money out of that old safe. He looked back at the cattle buyer’s office they had just left, considering how much trouble it might be to break into it. The office was actually a small two-room house built on poles that raised it so Birch Bradshaw could look out over the entire cattle pen area from his desk. “You reckon he stays up there all the time? There was a door to another room. You reckon that’s where he sleeps?”
“I don’t know,” Casey replied. “He didn’t look the kind to cook and do for himself. I bet he goes home at night. The only outhouse I saw was back yonder between the pens where we first came in here.” He thought for a minute. “His name’s Bradshaw. His partner, Lane, might usually be in the office, but just wasn’t there right now.” He paused to stroke his chin as another thought came to mind. “If they ain’t worried about leavin’ all that money in that old safe while they go home at night, then there must be some guards watchin’ this place at night.”
“Most likely have guards that watch all the pens and everything. I reckon we need to find all that out,” Eli said. “You got any gunpowder in your pocket?”
Casey chuckled. “Not right now, but I reckon we could buy a pound of black powder at Hasting’s,” he suggested, referring to Hasting’s Supply, a large supply house they passed on the way into Fort Worth. He waited for Eli to say more, but when he didn’t, he asked, “Whaddaya think? You wanna do it?”
“I reckon it’s about time we had another payday,” Eli answered. “And that money would do a lot more good in our hands than his. Let’s give it a try.”
“As you and me, or as Elmer and Oscar?” Casey asked.
“I expect you’re thinkin’ about hittin’ that office after dark and hopin’ nobody sees us comin’ or goin’. That’ud be all right for you and me. But I don’t think we ought to take a chance on anybody seein’ us near that office. So I think we oughta leave all the outlaw business to those two little old men.”
“I reckon that’s the reason we packed their outfits, just in case they showed up,” Casey said. “Let’s go get some supper and come back to take a walk around the pens after that. See what it’s like around here in the evening.”
* * *
After a supper of chicken and dumplings at a little restaurant named The Potluck Kitchen, Casey and Eli felt like they needed to take a walk. Chicken and dumplings were not an entrée they often had a chance to sample. It was not a dish that Juanita Garcia, their cook back at the D&T Ranch, was familiar with. As a result, they both found themselves uncomfortably full.
“I noticed that woman that does the cookin’ back there was payin’ kinda close attention to you,” Casey said as they walked away. “You weren’t makin’ eyes at her, were you? She was a pretty good-sized woman. You sure you could handle her?”
“I didn’t notice,” Eli claimed. “She was just being friendly, most likely.”
The hotel they were staying in that night was only a few doors down from the restaurant, and it was only a short stretch of the legs from the stable where they had left their horses. Everything in this little part of Fort Worth was built for the convenience of the cattle sales, so everything was close at hand. Even the cattle pens were within close walking distance. So that was where Casey and Eli planned to walk off their supper.
The sun was already in the process of finding a comfortable spot to drop below the horizon when they walked between the pens on their way to the Bradshaw and Lane office. They had gone only halfway to the office when a man on horseback met them. He pulled up before them and asked, “You gentlemen lost?”
“Why, no, we ain’t,” Casey answered at once. “Why do you ask?”
“’Cause the pens are closed for the day, and the owners don’t generally want people in here at night.”
“I swear,” Casey continued, “we never even thought about that possibility. We just ate so doggone much at the Potluck Kitchen we decided to take a walk. And I think I left my watch on Birch Bradshaw’s desk this afternoon. So we decided this was the best place to walk, and we’d go get my watch.”
“Mr. Bradshaw ain’t in his office this late,” the man on the horse said. “There ain’t nobody in that office after five o’clock any day.”
“Now, ain’t that something, Eli? That’s gonna put us late startin’ for home in the mornin’.” He smiled at the man then and asked, “Are you some kinda guard or something?”
“That’s right,” he said, “but I’m just one of four riders who will be patrolling these pens all night long.”
“Well, I expect we’d best turn around and start back for the hotel,” Casey said to Eli. “Best not try to rustle any cattle tonight.”
“It’d be kinda hard on foot, anyway,” the guard said with a chuckle. “You fellers have a nice evenin’.” He rode on past them.
“Much obliged,” Eli called after him.
“ ‘Much obliged’?” Casey questioned after the guard had ridden on. “I kept waitin’ for you to jump in there and help me out with that fellow, and you acted like your lips grew together.”
“You was doin’ all right,” Eli remarked. “I was ready to jump in there to bail you out if you got in too much trouble. While you was makin’ chatty talk with that feller, I was noticing the Roundup Saloon over yonder, next to the Potluck Kitchen. If I can see the chairs on that porch, we could sit on the porch of that saloon and see over here where we’re walkin’.”
“And we could get an idea of about how much time we’d have between them guards ridin’ around,” Casey finished for him. “Damn, that’s a good idea, Eli. Let’s go buy a bottle of whiskey and sit on the porch. It’ll be a little while before it gets hard dark.”
So that’s what they did. They went into the saloon and bought a bottle of rye whiskey, that being Eli’s favorite drink. Casey preferred corn whiskey, because that’s what he was raised on, but he would drink rye on occasion, and this seemed to be one such an occasion. They told the bartender they wanted to sit on the porch and enjoy it and promised to bring the two glasses back to the bar. There were only two chairs on the porch and there was a drunk in one of them. “I’ll buy you a couple of shots of likker for that chair,” Eli told him, and the drunk came out of the chair immediately, staggering as he did. Casey grabbed his elbow to steady him, while Eli pressed a couple of coins in his hand. Then Casey headed him toward the door. They sat down and poured themselves a drink.
It was a pleasant evening to sit on the porch and enjoy an after-supper drink. As they had speculated, they could see Bradshaw’s office sitting above the fences of the cattle pens. They could also see the spot in the alleyway where they had been stopped by the guard. It was probably no more than fifty yards from where they sat. The drunk came back to the porch before they caught sight of a guard. His last two drinks evidently having erased his short memory, he asked if they could spare a quarter to buy him a drink. He went over and slumped down against the wall of the saloon after Casey told him they didn’t have any money, while keeping their bottle out of sight.
It was forty-five minutes by Casey’s watch before they sighted a guard passing the spot where they had encountered the man who stopped them. By that time, the light of day was already heading for the barn. If it was that long again before he made his next round, it might be dark enough to make it hard to see him. “Whaddaya think, partner?” Casey asked. “You wanna sit here for another hour to see if we can catch sight of him again?”
“Hell, I don’t know if it’s any use or not,” Eli said. “There’s a lotta cattle pens out there, but if there’s four riders, like he said, they oughta be around a lot sooner than that. Maybe there’s four of ’em, but there’s just two of ’em ridin’, while the other two are sleepin’. Let’s give ’em a little bit longer, until it gets too dark to see from here.”
As they suspected, after another thirty minutes had passed with no sign of a rider, they determined it too dark to see anymore. “I’m still thinkin’ we could get in that office without anybody seein’ us. Then watch for the night guard to pass by before we blow the door off that old safe,” Casey declared.
