Montana Sky

struck a match. “You had an old dog then, died about a year after all that. You never got another.”
    “No, I never did.” She brought her knees to her chest, pressed her face to them as the memory washed over her.
    “I’m just telling you so you’ll see, so you’ll understand what’s in the blood. He liked being the boss, making peopledance to his tune. You like being the boss too. It’s in the blood.”
    She could only shake her head, will herself not to break. “Stop it.”
    “Here now.” He rose, got the canteen he’d filled at the stream, and brought it to her. “Drink a little. I didn’t mean to get you so worked up. I’m just trying to make you understand.” He stroked her hair, his baby sister’s pretty hair. “We’re in this together.”
     
    C HARLIE SURGED FORWARD , CLAMORING OVER ROCKS . HE didn’t bark or howl, though his body vibrated often. Ben listened for the sounds of men, of horses, more dogs. If he was on track, then so was Adam. He could be sure of that. But he heard nothing but the night.
    He found the second earring lying on rock where wildflowers struggled through cracks. He retrieved it, touched it to his lips before tucking it away. “Good girl,” he whispered. “Just hang on a little longer.”
    He looked toward the sky. The clouds were sneaking toward the moon, and half the stars were gone. Rain, so long prayed for, was coming too soon.
     
    S HE DRANK , WATCHED HIS EYES . THERE WAS AFFECTION IN them. Terrifying. “You could have killed me, months ago. Before anyone else.”
    “I never wanted to hurt you. You’d gotten the shaft, just like me. I always figured that one day, we’d run Mercy. You and me. I didn’t even mind you being in charge. You’ve got a real knack for it. I do better when someone else points the way.”
    He sat back again, took a drink himself, capped the canteen. He’d lost track of time. It was soothing, sitting here with her, under the wide sky, reminiscing.
    “I didn’t plan on killing Pickles. Didn’t have a thing against him, really. Oh, he could be a pain in the butt with his complaining and argumentative ways, but he didn’t bother me any. He just happened along. I never figured he’d come rolling up there just then. Thought I had more time.
    I’d just planned on doing another steer, leaving it out where one of the boys would come across it and get things heated up. Then I had to do it. And, Will, to tell the truth and shame the devil, I got a taste for it.”
    “You butchered him.”
    “Meat’s meat when it all comes down to it. Damn, I could go for a beer right now. Wouldn’t a beer go down smooth?” He sighed, took off his hat to fan his face. “Cooled off some, but goddamn, it’s close. Maybe we’re in for that rain we’ve been waiting for.”
    She looked up at the sky, felt a jolt of alarm. They were going to lose the moon. If anyone was coming after her, they’d be coming blind as bats. She tested her legs again and thought they would do.
    And he tapped the knife on the toe of her boot. “I don’t know why I scalped him. Just came to me. Kind of a trophy, I guess. Like hanging a rack on the wall of the den. I’ve got a whole box of trophies buried east of here. You know where those three cottonwood trees stand across from the far pasture?”
    “Yeah, I know.” She fought to keep her eyes on his, and off the knife.
    “I did all those calves that night. Seemed to me that would send those city girls running off, and that would be that. But they stuck. Had to admire that. Started me thinking a little, but I just couldn’t get past the mad of it.” He shook his head at his own stubbornness. “So when I picked up that kid, hitchhiking, I used her. I wanted to do a woman.”
    He moistened his lips. Part of him knew it wasn’t proper to talk of it with his little sister, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I’d never done a woman before. I had a yen to do Shelly, you know, Zack’s wife.”
    “Oh, my God.”
    “She’s a pretty thing, pretty hair. Couple times I went over to Three Rocks to play poker with the boys there, I studied on it. But I did that girl, and I left her there, right at the front door, just to show Jack Mercy who was boss. That was before the calves,” he said dreamily. “I remember now. That was before. They get all mixed up in my head,until Lily they do. It was Lily that changed things. She’s my sister. I got that into my head when J C treated her like that, hurt her like that.