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HIGH COUNTRY JUSTICE

A CALEB MARLOWE NOVEL

AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH A BAND OF RUSTLERS, CALEB WAS SURPRISED TO FIND A YOUNG WOMAN SITTING ON A HORSE AT THE TREE LINE, LOOKING OUT AT HIS CABIN…

Caleb approached the woman cautiously. Right now, he was trying to ignore the empty feeling that always came after killing. And even though his instincts told him this rider had no intention of doing him any harm, he had no assurance she wasn’t packing a firearm beneath that duster.

“You are Mr. Marlowe, aren’t you?”

“I am. What’s your connection with those fellas, ma’am?”

The rider tilted her head slightly as she considered the question. “Oh! I have no connection with them whatsoever. I was coming to find you when I saw them leaving Elkhorn ahead of me.”

“And you followed?” His tone was sharp. Following six unfamiliar men in the middle of the night.

“I heard one of them mention your name.” She matched his tone. “I figured following them would be the easiest way to get here. They did look like a rough bunch, however, so I was careful and stayed well behind them.”

He wasn’t feeling any better about what she’d done but decided to let her talk. The sooner she had her say, the sooner he could go about his own business. He had more bodies to collect while the moon was still high.

“I must admit, when they turned off the road into the pine forest some distance from town, I got a bit lost. But I heard gunshots and followed the sound. I hope there was no trouble.”

Depends on who you ask, he thought. Caleb eyed her horse. “Ain’t that Doc Burnett’s gelding?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Who are you, ma’am, and what are you doing with his horse?”

She took off the bowler, and a thick braid fell down her back. “I’m Sheila Burnett. My father is Dr. Burnett. I know from his letters that he’s a friend of yours.”

Caleb was taken aback by her words. Doc was indeed a friend of his, about the only one he’d claim as such in Elkhorn. But he’d had the impression that Doc’s daughter was a young girl living with his in-laws back East somewhere. This was a grown and confident woman.

Maybe a bit overconfident.

“Why the devil is your father sending you out here in the dark of night, Miss Burnett?” Perhaps his tone was too sharp still, because his dog Bear gave him a look and then trotted off into the pines.

“That’s the problem, Mr. Marlowe. He didn’t send me. I arrived on the coach from Denver yesterday to find he’s gone missing. I need your help finding him.”

Caleb had seen Doc only two days ago, and he was just fine. This daughter of his couldn’t know it, of course, but the doctor often traveled away from town to look after miners and other folks who needed him.

Caleb cradled his rifle in the crook of his arm. “Your father can take care of himself, Miss Burnett. But tell me, are you armed?”

“Of course not.”

She had the false confidence of a greenhorn.

“Was Doc expecting you?”

“In our recent correspondence, I mentioned my interest in paying him a visit.”

“Was your father expecting you?” he repeated.

“Not exactly. Once I decided to come, a letter would have been too slow in arriving. And as you know, the telegraph lines haven’t reached Elkhorn as yet.”

An overly confident greenhorn with an impetuous disposition. A dangerous combination in these wild Rockies. Someone needed to explain a few things to this young woman about the dangers she’d exposed herself to, but he had six dead blackguards who’d be attracting wolves and coyotes and all kinds of undesirables before sunup.

“If you wouldn’t mind moving out into the field there a ways, I’ll follow you directly. After I finish up a chore or two, I’ll take you back to Elkhorn and—”

“But what about finding my father?”

“We’ll talk about that after I deliver you back to town.”

As Caleb turned to retrieve the horses and the dead men lashed to their saddles, he saw his dog trot out ahead of Doc’s daughter.

“And what’s your name, fellow?”

“That good boy is Bear,” Caleb called after her. “But usually he ain’t one to offer up his name to folks he don’t know.”

A few minutes later, he led the two mounts out into the field to find Miss Burnett standing by her horse with Bear sitting and leaning against her leg. Not his dog’s customary response to strangers, though maybe it was because she was wearing Doc’s bowler and duster, Caleb decided.

She stopped petting the dog’s head, and he heard her sharp intake of breath the moment she saw what the horses were carrying.

“These men are dead?” she asked, her voice wavering.

“Yes, Miss Burnett. They are.” Not an uncommon outcome for fellows like these.

“You killed them?”

“I did, ma’am,” Caleb replied, stopping as he reached her. “Though it could have turned out different. And that would not have been good for either you or me.”

“You took their lives.”

That was the same as killing, but he didn’t feel it was worth dwelling on. “They came to take mine.”

“Are you sure that was what they intended? Did you speak to them before…before…?” She waved a hand toward the dead bodies.

“There’s no before in that situation,” he said, now irritated.

“You couldn’t shoot them in the leg? Or in the arm? You couldn’t stop them?” She shook her head in frustration. “Why did you have to kill them?”

When someone opens fire on you in the dead of night, Caleb thought, you react or you’re dead. He bit back the lecture he was ready to deliver, reminding himself it wasn’t his job to make this woman understand the realities of frontier life.

“Take a step back, ma’am, so I can finish what I have to do here.”

As he led the horses bearing the corpses past her, she drew back in silent but obvious aversion. Welcome to Colorado.

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