Colorado Clash by Jon Sharpe Page B

don’t have any trouble sleeping and I digest my food just fine.”
    The door opened and a fetching young woman in a yellow blouse, a brown leather vest and Levi’s walked in. Her body was rich with curves. Breasts turned the yellow blouse into a fine tribute to femininity. Fargo didn’t recognize her at first. The first and only time he’d seen her it had been night and she was dressed in funeral black. Sarah Friese, the undertaker’s daughter.
    “Howdy, Ned.”
    “Howdy yourself, Sarah.”
    “I’ve got this box I need to send to Fox Junction. No hurry but thought I’d drop it off here.” She came over and set it on the counter. Looked like a cigar box, wrapped in tan paper, string neatly enclosing it.
    “I’ll get you a receipt,” Ned said.
    While he went to work, she looked at Fargo. “You probably don’t recognize me.”
    “I sure do.”
    “My father says that I don’t have to worry about men chasing me as long as I keep wearing his funeral clothes.”
    “Hard to mistake a good-looking woman even in funeral clothes.”
    She touched Fargo’s arm with long, thin fingers. “Did you hear that, Ned? There should be more men like him in Cawthorne. Maybe my father could get me married off after all.” Then: “I hope to see you soon, Mr. Fargo.”
    “I have a feeling you probably will.”
    She favored each man with another smile and left.
    As soon as she was gone, Lenihan jabbed a finger in the air. “I didn’t have one damn thing to do with that robbery. Nothing. And like I told you, as far as I’m concerned this is nothing more than Cain trying to steal Amy from me. Now I’d appreciate it if you’d get the hell out of here.”
     
    Fargo was ten steps from the stage line office when he saw Deputy Pete Rule standing near an ore wagon talking to a couple of men. He headed over there, standing back until Rule was finished with his conversation. Rule didn’t look all that happy to see him.
    “Heard you signed on, Fargo.”
    “For twenty-four hours.”
    “Glad to hear it. I’ve been doing some nosing around myself.”
    “I got tricked into it. I wanted to be on my way to Denver now. I’m doing this as a favor to the three women who asked me. Cain put them up to it but I’m doing it anyway—for twenty-four hours. And then I’m gone whether I find out anything or not. Just because I’m asking around doesn’t mean you have to stop. The thing is to find the killer. Doesn’t matter much who finds him.”
    “Well, I’ll keep asking around.”
    “One thing I’m trying to figure out is Cain and this woman Amy Peters. I just talked with Ned Lenihan. He seems to think that Cain wants to blame the robbery and the killings on Lenihan so he can have Amy all to himself.”
    Rule smiled, looking younger and healthier. “Well, she’s a beauty. No doubt about that. But Tom, he gave up on her a while back. It got embarrassing for everybody. He really tried everything he could to win her over and a lot of people hated him for it. Ned Lenihan doesn’t compare to a big good-looking man like Cain. And Ned’s a local man, so naturally most of the people took his part. And I think the sheriff took about all the humiliation he could. She made it real plain that she was in love with Ned and standing by him and that Cain didn’t have a chance. So he gave up.”
    “So Lenihan’s wrong?”
    “About Cain still chasing after Amy, yes. But Ned has financial troubles with his farm. That means he needs money. He doesn’t want to talk about that. That’s why Cain thinks he might have arranged the robbery with those three boys. He needs the money. But he can’t fool people into believing that Cain is just after him because of Amy.”
    “What’s your opinion?”
    Rule’s leathery face wrinkled into a frown. “That’s the thing. I like Ned. He’s a hard worker and a decent man. But the trouble is he loves that little farm of his almost as much as he loves Amy. So if it came down to setting up a robbery to