“You?” Kennedy looked him over. “You’re just a kid.”
“I hate his guts. He’s the reason my nose is crooked and my teeth are rotting out of my head. Besides, I’m getting sick of this place. I want to do something new.”
Kennedy leaned closer. “You ever rob a bank, boy? You ever raid a farm and take what you wanted, including the women?”
Clarence swallowed. From the looks of the Mexican who had been in here earlier, these men were obviously dangerous, probably killers. If he rode with them, he’d have plenty of protection when they did find Jake; and in the meantime he could learn a lot about how to handle a gun and all. It could be exciting taking up with a gang like this. “I’ve never done those things, but I’m willing to learn. And once you find Jake, I’d be one more gunhand against him. He’s awful damn good with those guns, but a man can take on only so many men at a time.”
Kennedy grinned. “Well, you’re right there, boy.” He put an arm around his shoulders. “We can always use new blood. Ol’ Jake, he used to ride with us, but he got the crazy notion to try to turn good.”
“I knew it!” Clarence told him, following the man back to the bar. “I knew he wasn’t any lawman back East. Was he an outlaw?”
Kennedy frowned. “Don’t say that so loud, boy.”
“Damn!” Clarence ordered a whiskey, and the bartender scowled at him.
“You work here, remember? Get back behind the counter and help me out.”
“I don’t work here anymore, Mr. Steed. I work for this man now.” Clarence pulled at his beard, which was getting a little fuller. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Kennedy, Bill Kennedy.” Kennedy looked the boy over. He’d take him in. Why not? Might be fun teaching the kid a thing or two. He would either end up being a good man to have along, or a pest. If he was a pest, Juan would slit his throat and they’d leave him in the Sierras. No big problem. He glanced at the bartender. “By the way, Mellie said to tell you she won’t be down any more tonight,” he told the man. “She’s not feelin’ too good.”
Toby Steed glowered at Kennedy, and the look in Kennedy’s eyes told him not to ask any questions. Kennedy ordered another drink, then held the glass up to Clarence. “Welcome to the group, boy. Here’s to findin’ Jake Harkner.”
Clarence grinned and joined him in the drink.
***
Jake pushed on the brake, and he and Miranda scanned the valley below them. It stretched out for endless miles like a soft green and yellow painting. As soon as they had moved down out of the mountains and the huge fir trees on their slopes, the sun hit their skin with a radiating warmth. Birds flitted about, their songs soothing and pleasant to the ear. Wild roses bloomed, seemingly everywhere, filling the air with their sweet perfume.
“Jake, it’s beautiful! I’ve heard so much about California, how the weather is always lovely, how a man can grow just about anything in the valleys.”
Jake took a good look around, feeling like he had driven straight into heaven. “Sure is pretty.” He looked at her, glanced down at the baby in her arms. “So is what I’m looking at now.”
She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. “Oh, Jake, we can be happy here, I know it. We’ll start a brand-new life here, you and me and little Lloyd. Let’s not make camp just yet. Let’s go on closer to Sacramento. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can see about land for sale, decide where we’ll settle and whether we’ll farm or ranch—”
“Not Sacramento.”
She raised her head and looked at him. “What? I thought we had decided.”
Jake looked behind them, then out over the valley. “Don’t ask me why, Randy. I just have a gut feeling we should head farther south. I expect most folks who come through here figure on settling in Sacramento or San Francisco. Others probably decide to go on down to Los Angeles. I don’t want to do the expected. Nobody has even seen us yet to say where we might have gone. I’m turning south. We’ll follow the foothills and look for some little out-of-the-way place most folks haven’t heard of. California is a big state—easy to get lost in—and that’s what we need to do—get lost.”
“Jake, we left no enemies back in Virginia City. They all wished only the best for us.”
He pushed his hat back, wrapping the reins around a peg and taking a cheroot from his pocket. “It’s not the people of Virginia City I’m worried about.” He lit the cigar and puffed on it quietly for a moment.