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Well, whatever was going on here—and something clearly was—Fargo didn’t have much choice but to sit down and find out what it was.

  Tom Tillman was just leaving the sheriff’s office when he realized that he wouldn’t be able to keep his pledge after all. He had promised himself that he would avoid seeing Liz Turner until he could get control of his feelings again. Though he didn’t love his wife, he respected her and respected the vows he’d taken when they’d gotten married, even though his father had bullied him into the union. Sara came from a “prestigious” family. And Noah, for all his rough ways, liked the idea of being prestigious. And then Tom got Sara pregnant and there had been no choice. As soon as she was confirmed with child, the marriage was hastily put together.

  But for the first time in his life, he was in love. And it was a guilty, painful thing that haunted and taunted his days as well as his nights. But he couldn’t give Liz up. Couldn’t and wouldn’t.

  He stood on the raised sidewalk and when she reached him, he helped her up.

  She waved a note at him. “Your father is going to have company tonight, Tom.”

  “Oh?”

  “Fargo is planning on paying him a visit.” She paused and said, “I’m sorry about the other night, Tom.”

  “It was my fault.”

  She laughed. He loved that rich, womanly laugh of hers. “Well, let’s share the guilt, then.”

  “It won’t happen again.” He’d gotten angry at himself that night, said that he had no business being with her, made her, as she’d said through her tears, “feel like a whore.”

  She touched his arm. He felt a passion he tried to deny. There in the moonlight, he saw the face of the woman he loved. Not just for sex, or because she seemed to understand him. But because she’d done all the things he’d wanted to do—gone off on her own and faced the world and wrestled it to the ground. Her terrible childhood in the streets of Baltimore where she survived by being a thief in her early teen years. And then working in a convent as a trade-off with the nuns who taught her to read and write, until she ventured west to get into the raw and often dangerous business of frontier journalism.

  There was warmth and wisdom in this woman. No bitterness. No remorse. And seemingly no fear. He ached for her sexually but he ached for her in so many other ways, too.

  “Something’s going on here, Tom. Fargo knows it and I know it. And you know it, too, but out of loyalty to Noah, you won’t look into it. I don’t like the idea of Fargo going out to the mansion. Too many people have vanished in the last ten years.” She hesitated. “I had to say that, Tom.”

  “I know. I’ve been thinking about it myself.”

  “Would you be willing to confront Noah about it?”

  “I guess I don’t have much choice, do I?” He paused. “I need to get home. I haven’t been spending enough time with the kids.”

  That was another thing he admired about Liz. Where other women in her position would resent the time he spent with his family, she encouraged it. She’d come from such bitter circumstances herself that she didn’t want his children to endure the same pain.

  “We’ll talk tomorrow,” she said.

  She was soon lost in the night as she made her way back to the newspaper office.

  “You’ve made quite a name for yourself, Mr. Fargo,” Noah Tillman said.

  Cigars, brandy, a crackling fireplace, deep leather chairs. And a courteous host who should, by rights, be mad as hell because Fargo had trespassed on his property.

  “I’m sort of curious, Mr. Tillman.”

  “Noah is fine.”

  “All right, Noah it is. Why aren’t you having me arrested?”

  Tillman made a sweeping, dramatic gesture with his cigar-filled hand. “Because I believe somebody is using you to get to me. And I want to set you straight. I don’t want you to think ill of my little town. And it is ‘my’ town, Mr. Fargo, as everybody will tell you.”

  “Set me straight about what? About why Manuel shot at me this afternoon?”

  Noah smiled. “Manuel gets very protective of me. Sometimes, he gets carried away.”

  Sip of brandy. Long pull on his cigar. Exhaling the smoke through the side of his mouth, his outsize cuff link catching the golden light of the desk lamp. “I want to set you straight about this legend people like to keep alive. This legend about vanishing people, Mr. Fargo.”

  “Then it’s not true?”

  Noah laughed. “It’s true if you’re the type who believes in vampires and werewolves. You hear those kinds of stories, too. And not just from Indians. From a lot of white people in town. They’re always seeing zombies and things like that. And for the past seven or eight years, they’ve convinced themselves that a number of visitors have disappeared.” He smiled, his eyes considering the heft of his cigar. “I’m sure they think that werewolves carted them off.”

  “Whenever people in your town don’t want to talk about the missing folks, they try to say it’s all as crazy as werewolves and vampires. And anyway, if you don’t have anything to do with it, why would you care what people think?”

  “For a very simple reason, Mr. Fargo. This town, as I said, is mine. I built it, I support it, I’m getting it ready for the future. But what kind of a future are we going to have if there are all these stories about vanishing people going around? Would you want to settle in a town like that?”

  Fargo sipped some of his brandy. Excellent. But then would you expect less from a man like Noah Tillman? “Has there ever been a serious investigation into these disappearances?”

  “Several, by the man who was sheriff before my son.”

  “He was also a relative of yours, I believe,” Fargo said.

  “That doesn’t discredit him.”

  “You said there were several investigations.”

  “That’s right,” Noah said, brushing some ash from his smoking jacket. “Including one by the local newspaperman.”

  “He was killed if I’m not mistaken,” Fargo said. “Back-shot, I believe.”

  “That’s true. But it didn’t have anything to do with the so-called disappearances.”

  “That isn’t what the man’s widow told me.”

  “Ah, Liz,” Noah said grandly. “Quite a figure on that lady, isn’t there?”

  Fargo said nothing.

  “And she’s quite a newspaperwoman, too. Good editor, I mean. Knows what sells and what doesn’t sell. Knows that if you want to keep your readers happy, you have to give them raw red meat. And what’s the best way to do that? Why, attack powerful people. Your everyday, average person resents powerful people. And loves to hear hints that powerful people are untrustworthy and corrupt. You can’t go wrong with stories like that and Liz knows it. So she’s always coming after me. And with anything she can get her hands on. She still tells anybody who’ll listen that I had her husband shot. And the same with how I run my various businesses. That I bribe legislators whenever I want to get a right-of-way or want to get some kind of edge on my competition. She’s even implied in a couple of stories that I was behind several fires my competitors suffered.”

  “And you weren’t?”

  Noah paused and looked solemnly at Fargo. “Do you hear how I speak? I have a second grade education, Mr. Fargo. But when I got wealthy, I hired a tutor. I even learned a little about art and serious music. We have musicals out here sometimes. My late wife, God love her, wanted me to become a civilized man and by God I did it.

  “And the same with business, Mr. Fargo. Everything I’ve got, I got for myself. Of course I’ve cut a few legal corners here and there—when all else fails, I’m perfectly willing to bribe a few state legislators, that’s just part of the business—but I don’t do anything that my competitors don’t do. And I sure as hell don’t spirit visitors away when they come to town. Think about it, Mr. Fargo. Why would I do something like that? What would I do with these people? And what would I get out of it?”

  He was pretty damned convincing. He’d be tough in a court of law. He would
overpower all but the most clever of prosecuting attorneys. And he’d do it all with reason, a rich and deep voice, and absolute charm.

  “So there’s nothing to it.”

  “If there was, do you think I’d invite you in to have a drink and explain myself? I’d have you arrested. Discredited. So that nobody would listen to what you have to say.” He rose, ending the meeting. “I invited you because I have nothing to hide.” The smile. “And because I knew that a man of your reputation would probably enjoy a rest and a little expensive brandy. You’ve had an awful lot of adventures in your life, Mr. Fargo.”

  Fargo finished his brandy, stood up, accepted the hand this splendid, domineering actor offered him. He hadn’t believed a word of it—was convinced now that Noah Tillman did indeed have something to hide—but decided to pretend that he’d been taken in. “Appreciate the brandy.” He picked up his hat.

  The servant appeared in the doorway.

  “Manuel will show you out, Mr. Fargo. I enjoyed meeting you.”

  Manuel walked him to the front door. His steps were loud, especially on the long stretch of parquet flooring.

  “You’re a pretty lousy shot, Manuel.”

  “I have nothing to say.”

  “But even lousy shots get lucky once in a while.”

  “Please. We should not be having this conversation.”

  “The thing is, I kind of resent being shot at. I’d guess that’s a pretty normal reaction, wouldn’t you? Man’s walking down an alley to save some time and there’s this shooter up on a roof trying to kill him.”

  They reached the door. Manuel opened it for him.

  Fargo caught him just below the sternum. Manuel might be a slick, tricky protector of the old man’s but he couldn’t take a punch worth a damn. He bent in half, staggered out onto the porch, and promptly threw up.

  “I’d say we’re about even now,” Fargo said as he prepared himself for the lengthy walk back to his horse.

  Ten minutes later, Fargo was on his stallion and headed back to the main road when he saw another horse and rider leaving the estate and heading toward town. From a distance, traced by moonlight, the rider resembled Noah Tillman. White hair, wide shoulders, imposing stature.

  But where would Noah Tillman be headed at this time and at this speed? Wasn’t he the kind of man who did all his work through his hired gunnies?

  Fargo reached the road and started toward town. The rider was still behind him but closing fast. Fargo’s Ovaro stallion loped along.

  When the rider was still some distance back, Fargo’s hand slid to his Colt. Since he didn’t know what the hell was going on here, he wanted to be ready for whatever happened.

  The rider did some talking to his horse. The timber of his voice was much like Noah Tillman’s. The rider’s horse slowed so that it could match the lope of Fargo’s stallion.

  “Evening, Mr. Fargo.”

  His first impression was that he was looking at Noah Tillman. Only after staring at the rider did he see the difference. The nose straighter. The eyes slightly larger. The subtle air of menace not present in the gaze nor the way the rider held himself. Otherwise, he could have been Noah himself with the expensive suit and the pure-bred horse.

  “The name’s Aaron. Noah’s brother.” A crooked and somewhat sad smile further set him apart from his sibling. “I’m sure you’ve heard of me. When the town isn’t talking about what a ruthless bastard my brother is, they’re talking about what a drunken, gambling, womanizer I am.”

  “Sounds like you’re having a good time, anyway.”

  “I am, as a matter of fact. Except when my brother puts me in one of those special hospitals they have for the insane. He dries me out and I stay clean for a while and then go back to my old ways.”

  The sadness that had been in his smile was now in his voice. He’d made a pass at sounding like a merry drunkard and degenerate but you could tell he didn’t have any more respect for himself than Noah did. Noah wouldn’t be forgiving of weakness.

  Fargo let him do the talking—or not talking. They rode in silence for some time, the hooves of their horses loud in the humid air and the half-moon world of this night.

  “I was hoping to catch up with you, Mr. Fargo.”

  “Oh? And why would that be?”

  Aaron had inherited the family penchant for drama. He let a long moment go by and then said, “I thought I’d tell you what happened to all those missing people.”

  13

  Fifteen minutes after the Trailsman left, Noah Tillman heard a knock on his study door and said, “Enter.”

  Manuel came in the room briskly. He belonged to another era. He would have been home in medieval Europe when each castle required more than its share of spies and courtesans.

  “Excuse me, sir.”

  “What is it, Manuel?” Noah sounded irritable and with good reason. He’d been looking over some construction bills that made him suspicious. He wondered if the man he’d put in charge of this particular job had made some kind of arrangement with the man building a new warehouse in the southern part of the state. The bill seemed twice as high as necessary. Hadn’t his man gotten bids? It was so easy to lard construction contracts. The builder padded the bill and then gave a good percentage of the extra money to Noah’s man. Noah would tend to this first thing in the morning.

  “It’s about your brother, sir.”

  Noah sighed and said wryly, “Bad news, of course, Manuel?”

  “I assume so, sir.”

  “Been trying to get into my safe again?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Stealing wine from my personal collection in the basement?”

  “Afraid not, sir.”

  “Then it’s really serious?”

  “It could be, sir. That’s why I thought you ought to know what’s going on.”

  Noah pitched the invoices he’d been studying to his desk top, leaned back in in his chair, closed his eyes, and said, “What’s he up to now, Manuel?”

  “I watched him saddle up his horse about half an hour ago. But he didn’t leave the ranch.”

  “No? Then what did he do?”

  “He waited in the pines to the north of the house, sir.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  “That’s what I couldn’t figure out, sir. But then Fargo left and your brother followed him.”

  With his eyes opened wide, Noah sat upright in his tall leather chair. “Followed him? For what?”

  “I’m not sure why he’d follow him, sir. But right now they’re on the stage road. Talking.”

  “You followed them?”

  “Yessir. But I couldn’t get close enough to hear what they were actually saying.”

  But Noah was already speculating on what they might be saying. What with all the sudden talk about the disappearances, he knew damned well what they might be saying. The time had finally come—as he knew it would someday—to deal with his brother in a permanent way. This wasn’t about liquor or gambling or womanizing. This was about something far more basic. This was about trust. After all that Noah had done for Aaron.

  “When he comes back here, I want him locked in his room.”

  “Yessir.”

  “Have Ekert help you. Wait up ’til Aaron comes home, do you understand?”

  “Yessir.”

  “No matter what time it is.”

  “Yessir.”

  After Manuel left, Noah sat brooding in his chair, in his study, in his mansion, in the area of the state that could truly be called “his.” He should have felt all-powerful and completely invulnerable. But vulnerability and betrayal creeped in. Aaron didn’t know as much about Noah’s “special project” as he probably thought he did. But he knew just enough to point a man like Fargo in the right direction. And Fargo, with this new information was going to be a problem for sure.

  He got up, poured himself more brandy, and carried the snifter to one of the long, mullioned windows. He’d always known that he would someday have to murder h
is brother, that Aaron would force him to commit the ultimate crime. The time was here and now.

  This did not make him happy. But what could he do? Aaron could bring it all down, everything, unless he was stopped and stopped for good.

  Noah wondered for a long time if he could actually do it. His own brother? He stared out at the starry night. But what was he thinking? Of course he could do it. What other choice did he have?

  “It’s called Skeleton Key,” Aaron Tillman said. “It’s an island about ten miles from the bluffs you see on the east end of our property. A man named Deke Burgade operates it for my brother. Supposedly, he’s checking out the minerals there. But it’s been going on for five years. The island’s big but not that big. And Burgade is no mineral expert. He’s a tough who’s worked for Noah for at least ten years.”

  They sat their horses just off the road. The warm night lacquered both of them with sweat. The moonlight gave an ominous yet beautiful look to the countryside.

  “I’m not sure what all this has to do with these disappearances,” Fargo said.

  “I’m not, either, exactly. But since the disappearances have taken place around the Fourth of July every year, and since Burgade always shows up at about the same time—in the house, I mean; he rarely leaves the island—I’m just wondering if there isn’t some connection.”

  Fargo watched the man. Aaron seemed sober but not comfortably so. His arms and his voice shook. And he kept licking his dry lips.

  “I guess I’m wondering why’d you go against your brother this way?”

  “Because I know what my brother’s like. He’s had some strange—pastimes, I guess you’d call them.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, there was a time when he led every posse that had to be got up.”

  “A lot of men join posses.”

  “Not posses like these. He’d take only trackers. He wouldn’t let them use their firearms unless it was self-defense. He wanted them to locate the fugitive and then come and get him. He insisted on killing the fugitive himself.”

  “He never brought them in alive?”