Paladin is having dinner in the Carlton dining room and the waiters
and Chef Andre are doting on him. Hey Boy runs in and informs Paladin
that his guest, Charlie Blackburn, is sleeping on Paladin's couch with
his boots on. Paladin goes upstairs, followed by the restaurant staff,
and tries to wake his friend... and quickly realizes that he's dead.
After Paladin deals with the police, he buys a casket for Charlie and
takes a wagon to the town of Alimo. Sheriff Stander confirms that the
dead man is Charlie Blackburn and tells Paladin that Charlie didn't have
any friends in town. Disgusted, Paladin takes the wagon out of town to
the Loring Manor. Young Keith Loring comes out to greet him and wonders
if his father Wynn ordered a casket. Paladin tells him that Charlie is
dead and orders Keith to bury the body. Once he rides off, Keith's hired
gunman, Hal Sims, comes over and watches with Keith.
In town,
Paladin tells Stander about dropping the coffin off and confirms that
Charlie did his business at the local saloon. Paladin goes inside and
discovers that someone has torn the place up. Keith and Sims come in and
Keith asks to hold Paladin's gun. As Paladin wonders what is going on,
Sims draws his gun and tells Paladin to let go of it--slowly. When
Paladin wonders if Sims is going to shoot him, Sims explains that he's
there to protect other people from Keith. Wynn hired him to make sure
that Keith doesn't kill anyone... including Sims himself.
Keith
tells Paladin that timber pirates used the saloon as a base of
operation, and Charlie was one of them. Paladin points out that
according to the stories, everyone in town either works for the Lorings
or they pirate timber. Keith explains that Charlie wouldn’t deal with
them, and Paladin admits that he advised his friend to let the lawyers
file suit to let him take timber across Loring land. Instead, Charlie
threatened to shoot his way through. Keith admits that he knew what
Charlie had in mind and planned accordingly, and then tells Paladin to
have a good trip back to San Francisco.
Paladin walks out and
Stander pointedly offers him a drink before he leaves town. Paladin
refuses and the sheriff wonders what he's really up to. The gunfighter
tells him to get to the point and Stander figures that Paladin plans to
get revenge on Wynn for having Charlie killed. The sheriff insists that
Wynn is a good man and that he has put up with a lot raising Keith
despite his violent streak. Paladin tells Stander that he'll deal with
Wynn in good time and rides off to the Loring estate, and Stander has
several loggers go after him.
The loggers take a shortcut and
intercept Paladin on the road. Their leader, Brogan, advises Paladin to
head for San Francisco. When the gunfighter refuses, another logger
knocks him out from behind and they drag him off his horse. Paladin
wakes up and finds himself lying next to a sign pointing back to San
Francisco. There's a note on his saddle from Brogan saying that they
took the bullets from his gun and he should head to San Francisco.
Fortunately, Paladin has spare bullets in his saddlebag and reloads.
Wynn returns from San Francisco and demands to know why there's a coffin
out front. Keith tells him what happened and Wynn orders Sims to bury
Charlie. His son objects, pointing out that it might make it look like
Wynn responsible, and Wynn admits that he was responsible. He goes
inside and Keith tells a surprised Sims that he'll help him move the
coffin.
When Wynn goes to his study, he finds Paladin waiting
for him, sampling his brandy and cigars. Paladin introduces himself and
Wynn tells him that he's wasting his time. He explains that his wife
furnished the house, but Paladin wants to know what happened at the
saloon. Wynn refuses to answer him, but Keith comes in and tells him to
answer. The logging magnate explains that there was a dispute between the
loggers, and Keith fills in the details. Six men died, but only because
he had six bullets. One of them was Sim's predecessor, and Keith
explains that he shot the last bodyguard first trying to protect Keith from the loggers.
Wy nntells Paladin that in his position, a lot
of people want him dead. One of them killed Wynn's wife by mistake.
Paladin figures that Wynn is glad to have Keith despite his psychopathic
tendencies, since he can use his son to give the townspeople someone
else to focus their hate on. When Keith asks if his mother deserves to
die, Paladin admits that she didn't but figures that Keith isn't any
better. Keith is confident that his father won't try to commit him and
Wynn forbids Paladin to do it. When Keith admits that Charlie was going
to the authorities to have Keith committed, Paladin says that he plans to
do it.
Wynn calls for Sims but Keith informs his father that his
handler met with an unfortunate accident with the coffin. He tries to
draw Sim's gun, but Paladin outdraws him and tells him to hand it over.
Keith tells Paladin to shoot him because nothing else will stop him,
and Paladin starts to do so. Wynn jumps him and knocks him to the
floor. Keith prepares to shoot the gunfighter but Wynn tells him that
he's had enough and won't protect his son anymore. He tells Keith to use
the gun on him if he has to kill someone. Keith hesitates and then runs
off rather than shoot his father. When Paladin tries to go after him,
Wynn jumps him and by the time Paladin knocks the older man out, Keith
has made good his escape.
Paladin rides into Alimo after Keith
and finds a trail of corpses leading up to the saloon. Inside, Stander
is trying to convince Keith to stand down, insisting that he's a friend
and has been protecting him. Keith is more than happy to shoot him
anyway, but Paladin comes in and shoots first, killing the young
sociopath. Wynn arrives and admits that he ordered Charlie's death, guiltily tells Paladin, and begs Paladin to shoot him. Paladin refuses, telling Wynn that if he wants to pay for his actions then he can confess to the law, and leaves him with
Stander.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 14, 2018