Men like that leave trails. And this time she took his hand. This time we go to the authorities properly. We tell them everything. We make sure the whole valley knows these men are here and what they're trying to do.
It was practical, logical, and exactly what should have been done 6 years ago if Silas hadn't been too consumed by grief and guilt to think straight. You're right, he said. We ride to Great Falls after breakfast. Tell Sheriff Morrison everything. Let him organize a proper search.
They made the journey into town together, thunder secured in his pasture with Tom's promise to check on the ranch while they were gone. The sheriff's office sat on Main Street between the bank and the general store, a small building that smelled of old coffee and tobacco smoke. Sheriff Morrison was a weathered man in his 50s who'd seen enough of human nature to be unsurprised by most of it, but his eyebrows climbed when Silas and Norah walked in together and told their story. "Five men, you say?" Morrison made notes in a ledger that looked older than Silas.
"And you wounded one?" "Shoulder shot," Silas confirmed. "Left side high up. He was bleeding when they retreated." "That matches," Morrison said slowly.
"Had a man come into Doc Miller's office this morning just before dawn. Said he'd been in a hunting accident. Mexican fellow wouldn't give his name. Paid cash and left soon as the doc stitched him up. Doc thought it was suspicious.
Bullet wounds pretty distinctive from a hunting accident. But the man was gone before he could get word to me. "Which way did he go?" Norah asked. "East, according to Doc, toward the Badlands."
Morrison leaned back in his chair, studying them both. "This ties into something bigger. We've had reports from three other ranches in the past month. Attempted thefts, suspicious riders, cattle going missing. I've been thinking it's an organized gang working the territory, but I haven't had proof until now."
"What can we do?" Silas asked. You've done it, Morrison replied. You fought back and you came here instead of trying to handle it alone. That's more than most do.
Now I can organize a posse, get the territorial marshal involved if needed. These men are getting bold, which means they're getting sloppy. We'll catch them. And until then, Norah's voice was steady, but Silas heard the worry underneath. Until then, you be careful.