Snakebite

By Tori Swift

When a sheriff dies on the job, no one is willing to take his place in the Old West small town. To make matters worse, gold is discovered in the town creek which brings numerous fortune seekers to the area. A federal marshal named Cooper is brought in to police the town and not only is he forced to deal with rambunctious out-of-towners, a number of murders begin occurring...with a traveling serial killer sending taunting the local newspaper with his chilling depictions of how he committed the murders...Can Cooper stop the killer before he moves on to the next town?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201067793

Book preview

SNAKE BITE

TORI SWIFT

table of contents

SNAKE BITE

DON’T CALL ME VICTIM

SPOOKY

STRAITJACKET

THE DEER WOMAN

KILL THEM ALL

Chapter 1 - Monday

It's mighty nice of you to come all this way for the funeral Marshall.

It ain't about being nice, Cooper told the reverend, Somebody's got to make sure we get a good replacement and there's still some questions about the way the man died still needing to be answered.

I don’t see how getting bit by a rattlesnake raises any questions. They didn’t name this town Rattlesnake Tooth Gulch for nothing. I assume for the replacement it will be one of his deputies. The Deaver brothers both want the job and even though he is perhaps a might bit young, Deputy Hodges is qualified as well. I reckon Sheriff Carpenter’s boy will want to put his hat in the ring as well.

Well, Reverend, by my count that's four people and there can only be one. From what I hear, all four think they should be the one, and it seems they all have a legitimate claim for it.

Well, if you want my opinion...

I don’t. Perhaps you should get going with the service so we can get Sheriff Carpenter in the ground.

The Reverend nodded and went to the front of the hole they dug for the departed sheriff. He gave a nod and then the sheriff’s pallbearers, which happened to the be the four men vying for his job began the slow walk to Sheriff Carpenter’s final resting place.

The two Deaver brothers were on one side of the pine box. They were both older, with some gray showing in their beards. No one described them as smart but they had been around this territory for a long time and knew it as well as anyone. What they lacked in smarts they made up for in meanness. They were both big men and the term bully was brought up more than once by the townsfolk. Marshall Cooper considered this an asset.

The older brother Dan would probably be a shoo-in for the job, given his experience, and, at least compared to his brother Dean, his intelligence but he liked his whiskey a bit too much. Having to carry home a drunken deputy who fell asleep in the middle of the street once in while was acceptable but the same behavior would not do for a sheriff. Though he swore he would change his ways if given the job he was old enough that if he was going to change he probably would have already. The general consensus was without a boss to reprimand him for his drinking his whiskey consumption would increase if he actually got the job.

Sheriff Carpenter’s only son Jessie was in front on the other side. He had his father’s size and the steely gaze the elder Carpenter used to good effect. A hard look from the deceased Sheriff was often enough to get even some hardened outlaws to behave. The old man, unlike his son, had shown he could back up that stare if anyone decided to test him. Many a man had fallen to the Colt Dragoons Sheriff Carpenter wore on his hips. His son wore the same guns but word around town was he wasn’t very good with them and reluctant to reach for them.

Like the Deaver brothers tendency to be mean Cooper thought Jessie Carpenters supposed weakness was a strength. The younger Carpenter was smart and he had deputies who could do the dirty work if it came to that. His reluctance to go the way of the gun meant he was always on the lookout for a different way to resolve problems, which meant fewer gunfights which was usually better for everyone.

Behind him holding up the corner of the oblong box was Clint Hodges. Hodges was barely twenty and looked a bit younger. The hard cases who thought his youth meant they could get away with something we're all in pine boxes. He was quick with a gun and hit what he was aiming at. No one called him a bully and no one ever accused him of being stupid. If he wasn’t so young he would be the first choice. If sheriff was just about being the fastest gun Hodges would be an easy pick, but, as Cooper knew, being a lawman was about more than that. Part of the job was commanding respect and Hodges baby face made that hard. Becuase he was good with a gun he tended to look to his pistol to solve all issues.

It didn’t mean his youth was solely a detriment. Unlike the others, he wasn’t set in his ways. Hodges could grow into the role and unless he ran into a faster gun he wouldn’t stay baby-faced forever.

Cooper as the marshall of the territory needed to figure out who would fill the boots of Sheriff Carpenter and until he did he would be acting sheriff of Rattlesnake Tooth Gulch. A job he could do without. A prospector made a significant gold strike in the creek just a few weeks ago. Word had already gotten out and the small outpost of Rattlesnake Tooth Gulch was going to get a lot bigger and crazier in the coming days.

Cooper ignored the reverends insincere eulogy and instead watched the four men who carried the deceased sheriff to his final resting place. Finding a new man to be the law was hard enough, he also had to figure out if the rattlesnake that Sheriff Carpenter crawled into bed with had made his way into the Sheriff’s bedroom on his own or if someone put him there.

Given the top suspects were the four men who were looking to replace the deceased Sheriff made his job even harder. The last thing he wanted to do was put a murderer in charge of enforcing the law.

Chapter 2 - Tuesday

It’s not just the creek anymore Marshall, Otis said from the wrong side of the bars to Cooper, who was sitting at the old Sheriff’s desk, Clemons found gold out in the hills as well.

Good for Clemons, now shut up.

You don’t understand Marshall. This could mean the mother lode is right here in Rattlesnake Tooth Gulch. Even if it ain’t, people are coming. We’re going to have a real saloon, with dancing girls and maybe even a real restaurant serving steak instead of that rabbit stew.

If you don’t learn to handle your liquor better you’re going to be in here instead of eating any steak.

I told ya, that saddle bum insulted me.

And I told ya to shut up.

Before Otis could say anything Bremmer, the man who ran the Rattlesnake Tooth Gulch Gazette, a weekly rag that hardly seemed to be worth the bother for all that happened in Rattlesnake Tooth Gulch, came through the door. With the mysterious death of the sheriff and a gold strike, this was a rare week when Bremmer had something to write about.

I already told you I’d come to see you when I made a decision, Cooper told him.

I’ve got another letter, Bremmer said to Cooper as he waved a single sheet of paper in the air.

Another letter?

Sorry, Bremmer replied, I shouldn’t have assumed anyone told you about the letters I’ve been receiving. Sheriff Carpenter was looking into them when he was murdered.

Murdered? I don’t believe we’ve made a determination on that yet Mr. Bremmer.

You haven’t? I’ve never known a snake to unlock a door.

We don’t know that the door was locked.

Everyone who knew Sheriff Carpenter knows it.

They believe it, Cooper said to Bremmer, which ain’t the same as knowing. As a newspaperman, you should know the difference.

Bremmer gave Cooper a slight nod, an acknowledgment the veteran marshall had a point.

So, what’s this letter that has you all excited this morning? Cooper asked.

Bremmer set the note on the desk in front of Cooper and turned it so the marshall could see the words. Cooper leaned forward so he could read the handwriting.

I’ve been getting one a week for the last couple of months, always the same paper, the same handwriting, and the same signature, Bremmer said as Marshall started to read, Each one is more disturbing than the last. He had been going on about things he wanted to do but this week he seems to be talking about something he did.

Like what?

You should read it.

Read it aloud, Otis said from his cell, I want to hear.

Shut up Otis, Cooper said before he began to read. He didn’t know why but he went ahead and read it out loud.

Dear Editor,

I must say after getting the experience of causing a man’s death from a distance I had to experience the joy of bringing about the end of another human being first hand. To my delight, it was better by at least threefold.

Needless to say, the sisters who faced my expression of my dark desires did not enjoy it as much. The fair-haired one could not stop screaming. The darker maiden, however, went mute. Only the tears leaking from her eyes indicated expression of the delightful horrors I inflicted upon her.

Even when I plucked out her eyes and turned them so she could see the damage I did to her face she stayed silent. Her lack of words did take some of the fun out of cutting out her tongue, since if she wasn’t going to talk anyway, why would she mind not having a tongue?

Marshall Cooper stopped reading and looked up at Bremmer before he asked, Do you print this stuff in your paper?

Of course not. This hasn’t stopped him from sending them out regularly.

I’d like to think if two women were having their tongues cut off and their eyes plucked out I would have heard of it, Marshall Cooper said, I don’t suppose anyone’s encountered these women?

Not that I know of.

If I keep reading is he going to give me their names?

No.

Sounds a bit like the Steven sisters, Otis said from his cell, If I remember right one does have dark hair and the other is blonde. The dark haired girl, Mabel I think, is mute. It makes sense she wouldn’t say anything. I don’t think she can.

Marshall Cooper looked at Bremmer, Do you know who he’s talking about?

They sound familiar.

Come to think of it, Otis said, I ain’t seen them around town for several days.

You know where they live? Cooper asked Bremmer.

I reckon I don’t.

I do marshall, Otis said, Mabel never liked me much but her sister Margaret didn’t mind me coming over to pay a visit once on in a while.

How far?

Just outside of town, not more than a ten-minute ride, Otis told him.

Cooper took his watch out of his pocket and checked the time. He figured he had plenty of time to go check on the status of the Steven’s sisters and be back to have a sit down with the four candidates for sheriff.

After putting his watch back in his pocket Marshall Cooper stood and handed Bremmer back the letter.

Don’t you want to read the rest? Bremmer asked.

If it’s true I’ll see it for myself. If it’s not then I don’t reckon it really matters, Cooper replied.

The last part might refer to you, Bremmer told him.

Might?

As you may have noticed except when describing vulgarities visited upon the human body our letter writer is kind of vague, Bremmer told him. He held the letter up so he could see it and read aloud, When a new man is chosen I reckon my knife will want to have some say.

Is he talking about selecting a new sheriff? Cooper asked as he found the keys and went to let Otis out.

What else could he mean?

Hell if I know. This guy sounds crazier than a run over coon. He could mean anything, Cooper said as he let Otis out