Broken Star (2006) Read Online Free

happened?’
    Taking hold of both of her friend’s hands. Mary spoke gently. ‘I thought that I ought to tell you, Raya. Fallon Vejar is back in town.’
    There was a prolonged silence. Then Raya uttered a bemused, ‘Why?’ Aware that the one-word question wasn’t directed at her, Mary madeno attempt to reply. The choir was singing ‘Were You There When They Crucified Our Lord’, and Mary had to lean close to catch Raya’s words as she spoke again.
    ‘This is the last thing I wanted to happen, Mary. It will spoil everything.’
    ‘Not necessarily,’ Mary tried to assure her. ‘You are with George now. It could be that Fallon is just passing through, and he’ll be gone by morning.’
    ‘No.’ Raya shook her head almost violently. ‘The very fact that Fallon has come back means trouble, Mary.’
    That was something that Mary couldn’t argue against, so she remained quiet. She wished that everything could revert to what it had been an hour ago, clean and fresh and eternal. But it couldn’t and it wouldn’t, because Fallon Vejar had ridden back into town.
     
    They left the saloon together to walk slowly down the dark street. Though Vejar was of a somewhat taciturn nature, they conversed in the way of reunited old friends who have much to catch up on. But George Harker sensed that his long-term friendship with Vejar had been fractured earlier by mention of his relationship with Raya Kennedy. Raya and Vejar were to have been married when Vejar’s gunfighting had partedthem. Harker balanced out the guilt he felt with the thought that Vejar had abandoned Raya. He guessed that the rift between Vejar and him would eventually close, but doubted whether it would ever again be quite the same between them.
    Vejar went quiet as they passed the feed store. Harker accepted that his friend was reliving a bad memory. It was from an alleyway just across the street that Billy Poole, who had lost heavily to Vejar in a game of poker that long ago evening, had taken a shot at Vejar. It was a mistake to pull a gun on a gunfighter of Fallon Vejar’s calibre, and an even bigger mistake to miss. Vejar had drawn and released a shot at where he had seen the flash of Billy’s gun. The sound of gunfire had brought people out on the street. Billy Poole had been found dead in the alley, his spine shattered by a bullet. It had been plain to Harker and some others that Billy had turned to flee after shooting at Vejar. But the three surviving Poole brothers had played on the fact that Billy had been shot in the back. His reputation as a fast gun and a man who seemed to attract trouble, had gone against Vejar, who fled before Rory Kelvin, the then sheriff who was under pressure from the town’s hierarchy, could arrest him for the murder of Billy Poole.
    Harker broke the silence as they walked, byasking, ‘How many are there in the Klugg gang, Fallon?’
    ‘Klugg and five others since I left,’ Vejar replied.
    ‘Is Klugg someone to be reckoned with?’
    ‘He’s the best, George.’
    Staying silent, Harker put out a hand to halt Vejar, who had himself noticed a subtle change in the shadows cast by a building ahead of them. Someone standing close to the building had moved slightly. This was Harker’ s town, so Vejar stayed put while the sheriff kept in tight to the buildings beside them as he moved swiftly and noiselessly on. Hearing an animal-like squeal, Vejar saw the figure of a man ejected from the shadows. From the way the figure was hurtled across the sidewalk to crash face down in the dusty street, Vejar assumed that the unfortunate man had been propelled by a kick from Harker.
    ‘Just a drunk,’ Harker told Vejar, when he joined him down the street.
    The man lay unmoving in the street, either unconscious from alcohol or rough treatment from Harker. Vejar remarked, ‘You’re as alert as ever, George. No one will ever get the drop on you.’
    ‘Don’t tell me that you didn’t notice something up ahead of us, Fallon.’
    Not