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didn’t force her to talk to me any more than she had to.”
    â€œAnd why lurk about outside her home?”
    Anger flashed in the stranger’s eyes as he looked at Clint. That anger left him as he averted his eyes and lowered his head. “She wasn’t supposed to know I was there.”
    â€œYou must have some reason for that.”
    â€œI wanted to make sure she put that money away somewhere safe. When I gave it to her, she said she’d toss it out, but she didn’t. Folks have a way of sniffing out money like that. All I wanted to do was make sure nobody came after her to get it.”
    â€œThat’s why you’ve been watching her every night?” Clint asked. “To make sure she wasn’t robbed?”
    When he said that, Clint didn’t believe it. The words sounded like something close to a joke as they hit his ears, but the stranger wasn’t laughing. His eyes were focused on a point over Clint’s shoulder, and he stared at it for a good couple of seconds before replying.
    â€œYeah,” the stranger said. “That’s why.”
    Those three words were packed with enough earnestness to swing Clint’s opinion completely around. Even though he could scarcely believe he was saying it, he told the stranger, “I think you’re telling the truth.”
    Laughing under his breath, the stranger replied, “I don’t give a damn what you think.”
    The stranger settled upon his haunches and then lowered himself all the way down. By the time he was sitting on the ground, he looked like a set of bellows that had been allowed to drain of air until it was less than half of what it had once been.
    Clint joined him by settling onto the ground facing the stranger.
    â€œHow do you know Kay?” the stranger asked.
    â€œI just met her over supper.”
    â€œTonight?”
    â€œYeah,” Clint said with a nod.
    â€œWhat about the kid? Did you meet him over supper, too?”
    â€œNo. Actually, I crossed paths with him when he went into a saloon in town to try and hire a man to kill someone.”
    The stranger’s head snapped back as if he’d been swatted on the nose. “What did you say?”
    â€œHe took that money with him and tried to buy himself a gunman.”
    â€œI’ll be damned. Who’s he want to kill?”
    â€œMy guess,” Clint said, “is that you’d be the one on his mind.”
    Oddly enough, the stranger kept smiling and nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. Only problem with that is how many men saw the kid carrying all that money.”
    â€œI’d be more worried about what sort of men they were instead of how many.”
    â€œEither way,” the stranger grunted, “it ain’t good. Looks like I botched things up pretty bad rather than makin’ them any better.” He got up and dusted himself off. “Do you know who the kid talked to while wavin’ that cash around?”
    Clint looked up at the other man without getting up. He could draw his Colt sitting almost as well as he could while standing, so there was no need to put his aching body through the trouble of climbing to his feet. “I do know that he was already jumped by a couple of those men who meant to rob him.”
    â€œWas the kid hurt?” the stranger asked as the deadly coldness seeped back into his eyes.
    â€œNo. I made certain of it.”
    The stranger nodded and started to walk toward the town.
    Since it didn’t seem as though the stranger was about to explain himself, Clint asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”
    â€œI need to set things straight so that family don’t get any more grief on account of that money.” The stranger kept walking and then stopped. “Since we ain’t about to kill each other, do you want to help me?”

FIFTEEN
    Clint walked next to the stranger all the way back to the houses that were huddled together like