Kirby was quite right when he said that Hull would go with them. He was on his way downtown when the taxi caught him at Fourteenth and Welton. The cattleman jumped out from the machine and touched the fat man on the arm as he was waddling past.
"We want you, Hull," he said.
A shadow of fear flitted over the shallow eyes of the land agent, but he attempted at once to bl.u.s.ter. "Who wants me? Whadjawant me for?"
"I want you--in that cab. The man who saw you in my uncle"s room the night he was killed is with me. You can either come with us now an"
talk this thing over quietly or I"ll hang on to you an" call for a policeman. It"s up to you. Either way is agreeable to me."
Beads of perspiration broke out on the fat man"s forehead. He dragged from his left hip pocket the familiar bandanna handkerchief. With it he dabbed softly at his mottled face. There was a faint, a very faint, note of defiance in his voice as he answered.
"I dunno as I"ve got any call to go with you. I wasn"t in Cunningham"s rooms. You can"t touch me--can"t prove a thing on me."
"It won"t cost you anything to make sure of that," Kirby suggested in his low, even tones. "I"m payin" for the ride."
"If you got anything to say to me, right here"s a good place to onload it."
The man"s will was wobbling. The cattleman could see that.
"Can"t talk here, with a hundred people pa.s.sin". What"s the matter, man? What are you afraid of? _We"re not goin" to hit you over the head with the b.u.t.t of a six-shooter_."
Hull flung at him a look of startled terror. What did he mean? Or was there anything significant in the last sentence? Was it just a shot in the dark?
"I"ll go on back to the Paradox. If you want to see me, why, there"s as good a place as any."
"We"re choosin" the place, Hull, not you. You"ll either step into that cab or into a patrol wagon."
Their eyes met and fought. The shallow, protuberant ones wavered.
"Oh, well, it ain"t worth chewin" the rag over. I reckon I"ll go with you."
He stepped into the cab. At sight of Olson he showed both dismay and surprise. He had heard of the threats the Dry Valley man had been making. Was he starting on a journey the end of which would be summary vengeance? A glance at Lane"s face rea.s.sured him. This young fellow would be no accomplice at murder. Yet the chill at his heart told him he was in for serious trouble.
He tried to placate Olson with a smile and made a motion to offer his hand. The Scandinavian glared at him.
The taxicab swung down Fourteenth, across the viaduct to Lake Place, and from it to Federal Boulevard.
Hull moistened his lips with his tongue and broke the silence. "Where we goin"?" he asked at last.
"Where we can talk without bein" overheard," Kirby answered.
The cab ran up the steep slope to Inspiration Point and stopped there.
The men got out.
"Come back for us in half an hour," the cattleman told the driver.
In front and below them lay the beautiful valley of Clear Creek.
Beyond it were the foothills, and back of them the line of the Front Range stretching from Pike"s Peak at the south up to the Wyoming line.
Grey"s and Long"s and Mount Evans stood out like giant sentinels in the clear sunshine.
Hull looked across the valley nervously and brought his eyes back with a jerk. "Well, what"s it all about? Whadjawant?"
"I know now why you lied at the inquest about the time you saw me on the night my uncle was killed," Kirby told him.
"I didn"t lie. Maybe I was mistaken. Any man"s liable to make a mistake."
"You didn"t make a mistake. You deliberately twisted your story so as to get me into my uncle"s apartment forty minutes or so earlier than I was. Your reason was a good one. If I was in his rooms at the time he was shot, that let you out completely. So you tried to lie me into the death cell at Canon City."
Hull"s bandanna was busy. "Nothin" like that. I wouldn"t play no such a trick on any man. No, sir."
"You wouldn"t, but you did. Don"t stall, Hull. We"ve got you right."
The rancher from Dry Valley broke in venomously. "You bet we have, you rotten crook. I"ll pay you back proper for that deal you an"
Cunningham slipped over on me. I"m gonna put a rope round yore neck for it. I sure am. Why, you big fat stiff, I was standin" watchin"
you when you knocked out Cunningham with the b.u.t.t of yore gun."
From Hull"s red face the color fled. He teetered for a moment on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet, then sank limply to the cement bench in front of him. He tried to gasp out a denial, but the words would not come. In his throat there was only a dry rattle.
He heard, as from a long distance, Lane"s voice addressing him.
"We"ve got it on you, Hull. Come through an" come clean."
"I--I--I swear to G.o.d I didn"t do it--didn"t kill him," he gasped at last.
"Then who did--yore wife?" demanded Olson.
"Neither of us. I--I"ll tell you-all the whole story."
"Do you know who did kill him?" Kirby persisted.
"I come pretty near knowing but I didn"t see it done."
"Who, then?"
"Yore cousin--James Cunningham."
CHAPTER x.x.xVII
ON THE GRILL
In spite of the fact that his mind had at times moved toward his cousin James as the murderer, Kirby experienced a shock at this accusation.
He happened to glance at Olson, perhaps to see the effect of it upon him.
The effect was slight, but it startled Kirby. For just an instant the Dry Valley farmer"s eyes told the truth--shouted it as plainly as words could have done. He had expected that answer from Hull. He had expected it because he, too, had reason to believe it the truth. Then the lids narrowed, and the man"s lip lifted in a sneer of rejection.
He was covering up.
"Pretty near up to you to find some one else to pa.s.s the buck to, ain"t it?" he taunted.