The Edge of Violence

  The lawman used the rifle to motion Luke back, then came over and peered behind the bar. “Good Lord,” he muttered again. “Did you have to set him on fire before you shot him?”

  “It just sort of worked out that way,” Luke said.

  “Well, he’s dead, all right. No doubt about that. You say there’s a bounty on him?”

  “Eight hundred dollars, at least. The reward may have gone up while I’ve been chasing him the past couple weeks. He killed a woman and a child during a bank robbery.”

  The sheriff grunted. “That so? Reckon he had some burning coming to him, then.”

  “The same thought crossed my mind.”

  The sheriff finally lowered the rifle. “All right. I’ll have the undertaker deal with this, and I’ll check on your story. You can be sure of that, Jensen.”

  “Of course,” Luke said.

  “I reckon there’s no chance of you leaving town before you collect that bounty, so I don’t have to worry about that. If you’re telling the truth about all of this, though, I’ll expect you to be on your way as soon as you’ve got that blood money in your hand.”

  “That was my plan. Since I’m this close, I thought I might ride on down to Los Angeles. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the city of angels.”

  “They can have you.” The lawman added grudgingly, “No offense.”

  “None taken,” Luke said. After all the years of killing, what would be the point?