“Why don’t I ask Zeke Pershing and Daniel Abercrombie?” Mac suggested. Zeke and Daniel knew the full story of Johnson’s association with the McDougall family, and Mac wanted them with him. So far, he’d kept the saga from the sheriff.
Sheriff Thomas nodded. “They’re good men. Make sure they’re in town by dawn. I’ll have Albee with me. That’s five men—should be plenty to capture Johnson. He ain’t got any henchmen we know about.”
“We’ll be there,” Mac promised.
The sheriff tipped his hat and left.
“I’m going, too,” Will said, as Mac shut the door.
Mac turned to him. “You are not.”
Mac saddled Valiente and rode to Zeke’s farm first. “Sheriff Thomas found Johnson’s hideout. Will you help us ferret the bastard out tomorrow?” he asked Zeke.
Zeke eyed him. “What’s this about?”
Mac went through his conversation with the sheriff, ending with, “I’m asking you to go as a favor to Jenny and me.” He knew Zeke still had a soft spot for Jenny. And Mac wasn’t above using Zeke’s friendship in this situation. “I want Johnson, dead or alive. He can’t continue to threaten my family—I won’t have it.”
Zeke nodded. “Does Sheriff Thomas know Johnson raped Jenny?”
“He knows I killed Johnson’s father and Jenny shot Johnson. He knows Johnson attacked both Jenny and Will this spring. But that’s all he knows.”
“I’ll be there,” Zeke said.
Then Mac went to Daniel’s claim. After Mac’s request, Daniel didn’t ask for any details. He merely said, “I’ll go. But I need to tell Pa, so’s he can look after Esther and our brood while I’m gone. My brother was killed on a posse hunt, and Pa will worry. I don’t want him caught unawares.”
“Make sure Jonah stays home,” Mac said. “Will is aching to go along, and I told him he couldn’t.”
Daniel nodded. “Johnson sounds like a mean son of a bitch. I don’t want the boys hurt.”
The next morning, Mac awoke when it was still dark. He dressed and donned his gun belt, shoving the pistol Jenny had kept into its holster. As he left their room, Jenny sat up in bed and whispered, “Be careful.”
Mac clenched his teeth and gave a grim nod. He came to the bed and kissed her, then patted Andrew sleeping in the cradle beside her.
He started downstairs for the carriage house, half-expecting Will to follow him. But only Maria peeked out of her bedroom. “I love you, Pa,” she called softly.
Mac went back and kissed his daughter’s cheek. “Take care of Mama and the children,” he said, as he hugged her.
The house remained dark as he crept outside. No one joined him in the carriage house, and Shanty was still in his stall. Mac saddled Valiente, put his rifle in its scabbard, and checked to be sure he had plenty of ammunition for both pistol and rifle. Then he mounted and rode to the sheriff’s office. Flakes of snow fell softly as he rode. It would be snowing more heavily in the hills.
When Mac arrived, the sheriff and Albee were there, along with Zeke Pershing and Daniel and Samuel Abercrombie. Mac was surprised to see the elder Abercrombie. “Morning,” he said, nodding at the group.
“Let’s go, men,” Sheriff Thomas said. “Johnson’s holed up northeast of here. We go north out of town, then east into the hills.”
As they pulled into line along the road, Daniel trotted next to Mac. “I couldn’t get Pa to stay home,” he murmured. “He wouldn’t let me go alone.”
Mac shrugged. “I suppose the more men, the better.”
“Pa’s still a good shot,” Daniel said.
“I thought your brother’s death had made him wary,” Mac said.
Daniel sighed. “He says he wants to avenge Douglass’s death. Thinks riding with this posse’ll do it, though Douglass’s murderer was hung long ago.”
Will waited until he was sure Mac had left. He planned to hang back until after the posse left the sheriff’s office, then follow them. He could catch up when they’d gone too far to send him home.
But he had to leave the house before Mama got up, or she would stop him surely. He waited until first light, then trod quietly down the stairs.
He startled and almost yelled when Maria whispered from the parlor, “Will, what are you doing?”
“Why are you sitting in the dark?” Will hissed. “You half-scared me to death.”
“I got up when Pa left.” Maria sighed. “I’m too frightened to sleep.”
“I’m going after him,” Will said. “Don’t tell Mama.”
Maria rushed over and grabbed his sleeve. “You can’t, Will. Mama and Pa told you not to. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’m going anyway. It’s me Johnson wants. I know it is. And I want to have it out with him.” Will touched the pistol he’d kept nearby since watching for Johnson a few days earlier. It now hung through his belt, and he’d filled his jacket pockets with ammunition. He’d looked for Mac’s other pistol, but Mac must have taken it.
“Will, don’t go,” Maria pleaded, trying to hold him back. “Please don’t go.”
“I have to, Maria.” This was man’s work, and Will didn’t expect her to understand. But he couldn’t stay away from Johnson. He had to be a part of confronting the man.
