Cassidy Red Page #5

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have a noose around your neck by now.

- I can take care of myself.

- Clearly.

Bump off Hayes, then what,

huh? You shoot your way out?

I didn't care what happened

after I killed him.

- Joe, you have to be smarter than that!

- No, I don't, Jake.

No, I don't!

You're the smart one.

You've always been

the smart one.

And I thought you were dead,

so I didn't give a damn

if they plugged me

the minute I left that room.

Harley's room.

Hell, it's where

she died, after all.

Worse places to take

my last breath.

( chuckles )

He ain't never gonna

leave us alone, is he?

Not as long as we're

both still alive.

( piano music playing )

Ever spent

any time in lock up?

I have.

Didn't care for it much.

They didn't let you bring

your piano in with you?

If memory serves,

my jailbird days

preceded my ivory

ticklin' days.

Oh, you didn't play

piano as a child?

( chuckles ) No, there weren't a

lot of pianos where I come from.

Where's that?

Not too far from here.

This town

is like a well.

Anything gets too close

and it ends up fallin' in

and never climbin' out.

That's why smart people

keep their distance.

Even if they're

dying of thirst.

Why haven't you left?

What?

What's keeping you here?

You got family?

Family?

No.

You hogtied

to this piano?

Getting a lot of satisfaction

out of serenading

drunken lowlifes

on their way to Nogales?

Ask me another question.

What made her believe

Jake was dead

in the first place?

She made a mistake.

And what was that?

She trusted someone.

( Tom whistling )

When my father died, he said

I wish you could have been

more like

your younger brother.

He said I could have learned

something from my brother.

This was never

about you, Tom.

It shows what you know

about a man's heart, Cass.

- Don't call me that.

- A man loves what he loves

because that's

what he loves.

It ain't got nothin' to do with

whether or not it loves him back.

You holstering a rejoinder,

hard breather?

You don't have

to do this, Tom.

Let her go.

She's innocent.

Innocent says you.

You realize this woman

started her evening

by pointing a gun at the

publicly elected lawman

of this here

municipality?

Who exactly elected you?

And the penalty

for attempted murder

of a sheriff

in Hachitoa County

is death

by hanging.

And what's his crime?

Just keep me here

and let him go.

Tell you what.

Why don't we make this

easy on ourselves.

Hmm?

Two bullets.

Two bullets to change

your world.

The way I figure it,

you can pick up that gun,

shoot the other one,

shoot yourself,

and then the two of you

can shuffle off

in a blaze of glory all

"Romeo and Juliet" fashion.

Or you could

pick up that gun,

shoot me,

shoot the other one,

and then toss the gun

back at my lifeless body

and convince whoever comes

through that door in the morning

that I was consumed by a fit

of homicidal suicidal jealousy.

Or I could just shoot you

twice in the head

and not give a sh*t

what anyone thinks.

It is going to be

hard to convince anyone

that I got two in my own head

before I went down, Cass.

Don't call me that.

Then when they find out who

was responsible in the morning,

you're both gonna

swing anyway.

Maybe just one in the head

and Jake and I make your

suicide sound real convincing.

I dropped four rounds

at my feet,

popped myself

with the fifth,

and then left a live one

in the barrel.

There is not a deputy

in this town

that's gonna believe I

was drunk enough for that.

Sorry, Cass.

- Joe, don't!

- Come on, Cass!

Come on! Put us all out of our misery.

Make Papa Cort proud.

- Joe!

- ( gun clicks )

You see that?

I just told her

you were gonna get

your neck stretched

in the morning,

and she still couldn't help

but use those precious

imaginary bullets on me.

You may think this woman

loves you, Jakob,

and you may be right,

but I can Goddamn

well guarantee you

she ain't got the necessary

faculties to love your ass

half as much

as she hates mine.

She truly is

her father's daughter.

Well, I guess the main

question of the evening is,

which one of you gets to go

first in the morning?

Cause the second one

gets to watch.

( Tom whistling )

Big night for him,

getting

to watch us suffer.

That man suffered

because of us, Josephine.

He ain't a man.

He's a boy.

Always been a boy.

He didn't deserve

what we did to him.

He hasn't recovered.

We may have caused

him pain,

the difference is we never

took any joy in it.

His daddy had a saying,

an open door might

invite the bad,

but a closed door rejects

any possibility of the good.

It's all right

to get angry, Jake.

I reckon you got

enough anger inside you

for both of us,

Joe Cassidy.

How'd we end up here,

you and I?

There ain't no one else I'd rather

spend my last night on Earth with.

( glass shatters )

Oh.

( chuckles )

I'm sorry, darlin',

did I wake you up?

I didn't mean

to frighten you.

I brought some hooch, but it

looks like you started without me.

That's all right, as long

as you're not too drunk

to rub my tired feet.

Sheriff Hayes sent me.

Got me up out of bed.

Said his best man was

stuck in here all night,

cold and bored,

doing his job,

guarding the condemned

and all.

Said I oughta come

and keep you company.

Said I was to do

whatever you asked,

whatever you wanted,

for as long as you wanted,

and I said,

"Yes, sir, Sheriff, sir."

Did I do wrong?

You're not gonna send me

all the way back

up to the Belle

before sunrise, are you?

That's what I thought.

Don't be greedy,

we ain't got enough blankets

to carry the whole

Goddamn arsenal.

Where we gonna

stash 'em?

Do I have to do everything for

you two? Use your imagination.

And don't forget

them cartridges.

Those are thirty thirty

Remington shells, genius.

It's a Winchester. It's a

fourty four caliber rifle?

Okay, then.

Hand me that satchel.

( thumps )

Rowena?

Well, you may have lost

your looks, Jake,

but at least you

still got your eyesight.

What the hell are you

doing here?

What's it look like, Ginger?

I'm springin' you.

Why?

I mean, she's got a real

gratitude problem, don't she?

Well, maybe

I'll just spring him.

And I leave your ass

for Hayes to string up.

- Rowena, listen to me.

- Why should I ever trust you again?

You're the reason

we're in here.

I made a mistake, now I'm

trying to make it right.

You told me

Jake was dead.

- You told me he was dead!

- ( Rowena screams )

You left me out there believing

he was dead this whole time.

- Then you helped Hayes trap me.

- Joe, don't!

- Why shouldn't I just wash these bars with your...

- Joe!

- ( Rowena gasping )

- You helped that son of a b*tch and now you're in here.

Why should

I believe you?

It wasn't my fault!

He lied to me.

You lied to me.

- He promised me.

- Promised you what?

That he'd let me go?

He promised me that if I helped

him lure you back he'd let Jake go.

The hell you say?

( gasps )

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