Read Online Bowdrie's Law (Ss) (1983) by Louis L'amour - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Louis L'amour
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hour ago. It might have been two hours. I've been pretty busy until now." "Thanks. If he doesn't come in, I'll look him up."
The outer door opened and when he glanced up, the newcomer turned out to be John Bishop.
"Any luck, towctrle. His eyes went to Chick's shoulder. "Don't tell me you've been shot?"
"I didn't tell you," Bowdrie said sharply. "It seems you're a good guesser. From where you stand, that could be a thorn scratch or a barbed-wire cut, but if you'd like to believe it was a shot, you've the choice."
"You seem to be touchy. Is the case getting on your nerves.
"Of course not. You haven't been a Ranger, Bishop. Most cases are routine. All a man needs is a little time and patience. All this case needed was a fresh viewpoint. It's like I told Hardy Young, the boss in a case like this always overlooks something. That's a beginning. Then somebody gets scared and they talk so they won't have to hang like the rest of them."
"At least you're confident. That's more than Borrow can say." "He doesn't know all that we know, and his experience in crime has been local. In the Rangers you run into everything. But even Young was surprised when I mentioned Jack Latham."
Without seeming to pay attention, Bowdrie was watching Bishop for a reaction. If there was any, it was well hidden.
Bishop's eyes were on him and Bowdrie felt a tide of recklessness welling up within him. He had no evidence at all, but regardless of what Coker had said of Bishop, that ranch was simply too well located for what had been happening. He pushed his luck.
"The well-planned crimes are often the simplest. A plan is a design like that of a weaver, and all you have to do is get hold of one of the threads and it all begins to unravel."
"And you've found the thread?"
Bishop's eyes reflected his skepticism, but under that lay something else. Apprehension, maybe?
"I've got two or three threads," Bowdrie said. "The trouble with well-planned crimes is that the planner is never content. He always wants to take another stitch here or there. The first thread was that this mysterious crime was simply too mysterious.
It was overdone. Nobody saw anyone entering or leaving town and there were no tracks.
The second thread was the hour of the crime and the way it was done.
"Then came the added touches. A snake in my bed that was intended to kill or scare me. The next touch was the shot somebody took at me, which indicates whoever did this crime is not sure of himself. Or somebody connected with it isn't sure.
"That was pure stupidity. I was sent alone on this job, but if I got killed you'd have a company of Rangers in here turning over every stone in town.
"It also proves what I suspected from the beginning: there were no tracks because the thieves never left town. They are here now, right in Kimble."
"That's absurd!" Bishop sounded angry. "This is a nice little town. Everybody knows everybody else. Why would they stay in a town with everybody hunting them? I was on the search myself and we found nobody."
"Exactly. Nobody thought of searching houses, merely of getting out on the trails.
A thief would be running, so they would chase him. All the thieves had to do was sit tight, and with friends in town, that would be easy."
"Friends?"
"They had to have friends. Somebody had to tell them when there was enough money in the bank to make it worthwhile."
"That doesn't make sense," Bishop said. "I am afraid you're going off on a tangent."
"It makes a lot of sense," Bowdrie persisted. "Whoever pulled this job is outsmarting himself. That shot today, for example. As a miss it was very revealing." nevemng. How do you mean?"
"How does a man vanish off the face of the earth? I don't believe in magic, Bishop.
I am a practical man."
Bishop shrugged. "I know nothing of crime, so I hope you find the guilty men. We've tried very hard to build a law-abiding community here. Sheriff Borrow and I worked out a plan to protect the town from just this sort of thing."
"It
The outer door opened and when he glanced up, the newcomer turned out to be John Bishop.
"Any luck, towctrle. His eyes went to Chick's shoulder. "Don't tell me you've been shot?"
"I didn't tell you," Bowdrie said sharply. "It seems you're a good guesser. From where you stand, that could be a thorn scratch or a barbed-wire cut, but if you'd like to believe it was a shot, you've the choice."
"You seem to be touchy. Is the case getting on your nerves.
"Of course not. You haven't been a Ranger, Bishop. Most cases are routine. All a man needs is a little time and patience. All this case needed was a fresh viewpoint. It's like I told Hardy Young, the boss in a case like this always overlooks something. That's a beginning. Then somebody gets scared and they talk so they won't have to hang like the rest of them."
"At least you're confident. That's more than Borrow can say." "He doesn't know all that we know, and his experience in crime has been local. In the Rangers you run into everything. But even Young was surprised when I mentioned Jack Latham."
Without seeming to pay attention, Bowdrie was watching Bishop for a reaction. If there was any, it was well hidden.
Bishop's eyes were on him and Bowdrie felt a tide of recklessness welling up within him. He had no evidence at all, but regardless of what Coker had said of Bishop, that ranch was simply too well located for what had been happening. He pushed his luck.
"The well-planned crimes are often the simplest. A plan is a design like that of a weaver, and all you have to do is get hold of one of the threads and it all begins to unravel."
"And you've found the thread?"
Bishop's eyes reflected his skepticism, but under that lay something else. Apprehension, maybe?
"I've got two or three threads," Bowdrie said. "The trouble with well-planned crimes is that the planner is never content. He always wants to take another stitch here or there. The first thread was that this mysterious crime was simply too mysterious.
It was overdone. Nobody saw anyone entering or leaving town and there were no tracks.
The second thread was the hour of the crime and the way it was done.
"Then came the added touches. A snake in my bed that was intended to kill or scare me. The next touch was the shot somebody took at me, which indicates whoever did this crime is not sure of himself. Or somebody connected with it isn't sure.
"That was pure stupidity. I was sent alone on this job, but if I got killed you'd have a company of Rangers in here turning over every stone in town.
"It also proves what I suspected from the beginning: there were no tracks because the thieves never left town. They are here now, right in Kimble."
"That's absurd!" Bishop sounded angry. "This is a nice little town. Everybody knows everybody else. Why would they stay in a town with everybody hunting them? I was on the search myself and we found nobody."
"Exactly. Nobody thought of searching houses, merely of getting out on the trails.
A thief would be running, so they would chase him. All the thieves had to do was sit tight, and with friends in town, that would be easy."
"Friends?"
"They had to have friends. Somebody had to tell them when there was enough money in the bank to make it worthwhile."
"That doesn't make sense," Bishop said. "I am afraid you're going off on a tangent."
"It makes a lot of sense," Bowdrie persisted. "Whoever pulled this job is outsmarting himself. That shot today, for example. As a miss it was very revealing." nevemng. How do you mean?"
"How does a man vanish off the face of the earth? I don't believe in magic, Bishop.
I am a practical man."
Bishop shrugged. "I know nothing of crime, so I hope you find the guilty men. We've tried very hard to build a law-abiding community here. Sheriff Borrow and I worked out a plan to protect the town from just this sort of thing."
"It
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