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uried—buried in people’s minds—<strong>you</strong> cut me off.”<br />
“He doesn’t need to know, because it doesn’t always work.”<br />
It had with Susan Delgado, in Mejis, but part of Susan had wanted badly to tell me what the witch, Rhea, had tried to hide from Susan’s frontmind,<br />
where we hear our own thoughts very clearly. She’d wanted to tell me because we were in love.<br />
“But will <strong>you</strong> try? You will, won’t <strong>you</strong>?”<br />
I didn’t answer him until we had started our second circuit of the corral. I was still putting my thoughts in order. As I may have said, that has always<br />
been slow work <strong>for</strong> me.<br />
“The salties don’t live in the mines anymore; they have their own encampment a few wheels west of Little Debaria. Kellin Frye told me about it on<br />
the ride out here. I want <strong>you</strong> to go up there with Peavy and the Fryes. Canfield, too, if he’ll go. I think he will. Those two pokies—Canfield’s trailmates<br />
—can stay here and wait <strong>for</strong> the undertaker.”<br />
“You mean to take the boy back to town?”<br />
“Yes. Alone. But I’m not sending <strong>you</strong> up there just to get <strong>you</strong> and the others away. If <strong>you</strong> travel fast enough, and they have a remuda, <strong>you</strong> may still<br />
be able to spot a horse that’s been rode hard.”<br />
Under the bandanna, he might have smiled. “I doubt it.”<br />
I did, too. It would have been more likely but <strong>for</strong> the wind—what Peavy had called the simoom. It would dry the sweat on a horse, even one that<br />
had been ridden hard, in short order. Jamie might spot one that was dustier than the rest, one with burdocks and bits of jugweed in its tail, but if we<br />
were right about the skin-man knowing what he was, he would have given his mount a complete rubdown and curry, from hooves to mane, as soon<br />
as he got back.<br />
“Someone may have seen him ride in.”<br />
“Yes . . . unless he went to Little Debaria first, cleaned up, and came back to the saltie encampment from there. A clever man might do that.”<br />
“Even so, <strong>you</strong> and the sheriff should be able to find out how many of them own horses.”<br />
“And how many of them can ride, even if they don’t own,” Jamie said. “Aye, we can do that.”<br />
“Round that bunch up,” I told him, “or as many of them as <strong>you</strong> can, and bring them back to town. Any who protests, remind them that they’ll be<br />
helping to catch the monster that’s been terrorizing Debaria . . . Little Debaria . . . the whole Barony. You won’t have to tell them that any who still<br />
refuse will be looked at with extra suspicion; even the dumbest of them will know.”<br />
Jamie nodded, then grabbed the fencerail as an especially strong gust of wind blasted us. I turned to face him.<br />
“And one other thing. You’re going to pull a cosy, and Kellin’s son, Vikka, will be <strong>you</strong>r cat’s-paw. They’ll believe a kid might run off at the mouth,<br />
even if he’s been told not to. Especially if he’s been told not to.”<br />
Jamie waited, but I felt sure he knew what I was going to say, <strong>for</strong> his eyes were troubled. It was a thing he’d never have done himself, even if he<br />
thought of it. Which was why my father had put me in charge. Not because I’d done well in Mejis—I hadn’t, not really—and not because I was his<br />
son, either. Although in a way, I suppose that was it. My mind was like his: cold.<br />
“You’ll tell the salties who know about horses that there was a witness to the murders at the ranch. You’ll say <strong>you</strong> can’t tell them who it was—<br />
naturally—but that he saw the skin-man in his human <strong>for</strong>m.”<br />
“You don’t know that Young Bill actually saw him, Roland. And even if he did, he might not have seen the face. He was hiding in a pile of tack, <strong>for</strong><br />
<strong>you</strong>r father’s sake.”<br />
“That’s true, but the skin-man won’t know it’s true. All the skin-man will know is that it might be true, because he was human when he left the<br />
ranch.”<br />
I began to walk again, and Jamie walked beside me.<br />
“Now here’s where Vikka comes in. He’ll get separated from <strong>you</strong> and the others a bit and whisper to someone—another kid, one his own age,<br />
would be best—that the survivor was the cook’s boy. Bill Streeter by name.”<br />
“The boy just lost his father and <strong>you</strong> want to use him as bait.”<br />
“It may not come to that. If the story gets to the right ears, the one we’re looking <strong>for</strong> may bolt on the way to town. Then <strong>you</strong>’ll know. And none of it<br />
matters if we’re wrong about the skin-man being a saltie. We could be, <strong>you</strong> know.”<br />
“What if we’re right, and the fellow decides to face it out?”<br />
“Bring them all to the jail. I’ll have the boy in a cell—a locked one, <strong>you</strong> ken—and <strong>you</strong> can walk the horsemen past, one by one. I’ll tell Young Bill to<br />
say nothing, one way or the other, until they’re gone. You’re right, he may not be able to pick our man out, even if I can help him remember some of<br />
what happened last night. But our man won’t know that, either.”<br />
“It’s risky,” said Jamie. “Risky <strong>for</strong> the kid.”<br />
“Small risk,” I said. “It’ll be daylight, with the skin-man in his human shape. And Jamie . . .” I grasped his arm. “I’ll be in the cell, too. The bastard<br />
will have to go through me if he wants to get to the boy.”<br />
* * *<br />
Peavy liked my plan better than Jamie had. I wasn’t a bit surprised. It was his town, after all. And what was Young Bill to him? Only the son of a dead<br />
cook. Not much in the great scheme of things.<br />
Once the little expedition to Saltie Town was on its way, I woke the boy and told him we were going to Debaria. He agreed without asking<br />
questions. He was distant and dazed. Every now and then he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. As we walked out to the corral, he asked me again<br />
if I was sure his da’ was dead. I told him I was. He fetched a deep sigh, lowered his head, and put his hands on his knees. I gave him time, then<br />
asked if he’d like me to saddle a horse <strong>for</strong> him.<br />
“If it’s all right to ride Millie, I can saddle her myself. I feed her, and she’s my special friend. People say mules ain’t smart, but Millie is.”<br />
“Let’s see if <strong>you</strong> can do it without getting kicked,” I said.<br />
It turned out he could, and smartly. He mounted up and said, “I guess I’m ready.” He even tried to give me a smile. It was awful to look at. I was<br />
sorry <strong>for</strong> the plan I’d set in motion, but all I had to do was think of the carnage we were leaving behind and Sister Fortuna’s ruined face to remind<br />
myself of what the stakes were.<br />
“Will she skit in the wind?” I asked, nodding at the trim little mule. Sitting on her back, Young Bill’s feet came almost down to the ground. In<br />
another year, he’d be too big <strong>for</strong> her, but of course in another year, he’d probably be far from Debaria, just another wanderer on the face of a fading<br />
world. Millie would be a memory.<br />
“Not Millie,” he said. “She’s as solid as a dromedary.”<br />
“Aye, and what’s a dromedary?”<br />
“Dunno, do I? It’s just something my da’ says. One time I asked him, and he didn’t know, either.”<br />
“Come on, then,” I said. “The sooner we get to town, the sooner we’ll get out of <strong>this</strong> grit.” But I intended to make one stop be<strong>for</strong>e we got to town. I