Texas Iron by Robert J. Randisi Read Free Book Online Page A

establishment.
    To aide her in this he had hired two bouncers who ostensibly worked for Louise, keeping her girls safe.
    Lincoln Burkett smiled. He wished he could be on hand the first time young John met those bouncers.
    That night Dude Miller locked up early and walked to the home of his friend Ed Collins. There was a bite in the air and he
     pulled the collar of his topcoat close around his neck.
    Miller and Collins were trying to find more people to oppose Lincoln Burkett and his attempt to own everything he could see.
     They had some supporters, but not enough to make a difference. Burkett seemed to have won over the people who counted in Vengeance
     Creek, including the mayor and the president of the bank. Three months ago a new sheriff had been appointed, and it wasthe
     opinion of both Miller and Collins that the man had been handpicked by Lincoln Burkett.
    When Ed Collins admitted Dude Miller to his house he offered his friend a drink, and Miller accepted.
    “Have you had dinner?” Collins asked.
    “Serena is waiting dinner for me, I’m sure.”
    “She’s a good girl, your daughter,” Collins said, handing Miller a glass of sherry. “I wish Ada and I had been able to have
     children.”
    Miller and Collins were roughly the same age, early sixties, and had been widowed within the past ten years. Both men sorely
     missed their wives, but Miller had his daughter, Serena, to keep him company. At twenty-eight she was the spitting image of
     her mother, a true beauty. Collins envied Miller unabashedly, and Miller felt sorry for Collins. All he had was his gunsmith
     shop, and he spent as much time there as possible.
    Sitting together on the sofa Collins asked, “So, how do we stand?”
    “As we did yesterday, last week, and last month,” Miller said.
    “Then Burkett will go on,” Collins said, “and absorb everything around him, until he owns everything…and there’s nothing
     we can do about it.”
    “I’ve done something about it, don’t forget.”
    Collins made a face.
    “Those damned telegrams. Do you really expect Sam McCall to ride in here to the rescue?”
    “I expect Sam and his brothers to ride in here to find out what happened to their parents,” Miller said.
    “Those boys have long ago forgotten they even had parents.” Collins’ distaste for such sons was plain in his voice.
    “You’re wrong, Ed,” Miller said. “They’ll be here, all right.”
    “It’s been months…”
    “Two months,” Miller said, “but don’t forget, Sam would have to find both Evan and Jubal and then they’d all have to find
     their way back here. They’ll be here, don’t you worry.”
    “Come on, Dude,” Collins said, “give it up. What makes you so sure they’ll come?”
    “Serena.”
    “What? What about Serena?”
    “She says that no child could let the death of their parents go uninvestigated,” Miller said. “She says the bond between child
     and parent is too strong, too deep to ignore even if the child wanted to—in this case, three children.”
    “That may be,” Collins said, “but the McCall boys are not children any longer, Dude—especially Sam.”
    “Serena says they’ll be here,” Miller said, “and I believe her.”
    “Well,” Ed Collins said, grudgingly, “both you and she would know more about this subject than I would, wouldn’t you?”
    Dude Miller laid his empty glass aside and stood up. His friend was about to descend into a well of self pity, and he had
     no desire to stay and watch.
    “I’ve got to get home to Serena, Ed,” Miller said. “We’ll talk again.”
    “Sure,” Collins said, “when the McCall boys get here.”
    “Goodnight, Ed.”
    Dude Miller left the Collins house. Even though he knew Ed Collins was inside, he felt as if he were leaving an empty house
     behind.
    He wondered how it must feel from the inside.
    As Dude Miller entered the wood-frame, two-story house he shared with his daughter Serena his nostrils Texas Iron were assailed—no,