Tracks in the Sand

When Sheppard saw Blackwell and the gun in his hand, the boy's face turned white. He swallowed with difficulty and began to tremble. "Where are you heading, kid?" Blackwell asked. "Nowhere in particular. I'm just running...running away from you." "Are you going to tell me the truth, kid?" "I don't dare...he'd kill me if I did!" "An' I'll kill you if you don't," Blackwell threatened. "All right, you probably won't believe me but the man behind the murders is..." At this instant, Sheppard's eyes looked past Blackwell and what the boy saw threw him into a frenzied horror. The slug slammed young Sheppard backward. He hit the ground with a thud. Blackwell turned and the world seemed to rock around him. At the end of the junipers, smoking gun pointed menacingly at his stomach, stood the killer...