For years a
notoriously fast and ruthless gunslinger working for the highest bidder,
Lemuel Roberts turned over a new leaf nearly overnight - giving up the
name, but not the gun, and trying to atone for the wrongs he'd done. But
his reputation keeps popping up to plague him, and there are still places
where he's a wanted man.
Lem alone knows
the origin of his nickname, The Deadeye Kid. Most folks assume it's
something to do with his unerring aim, or that "them what falls within his
sights end up dead", but it's far simpler - Lem sees, hears, and speaks
with ghosts. It's a talent he (and a few others) had from birth, though
Lem spent years denying, ignoring, and drinking away the phantoms.
Traveling with
Lem through the west is Clarence Fanshaw, a British travel writer - who
also happens to be one of the dead that Lem alone can see. It was Fanshaw's
untimely demise - trying to push Lem out of the way of a bullet - that
caused Lem's sudden change of heart and determination to make up for his
years of walking on the wrong side.
What began as a self-imposed
penance - Lem carrying Fanshaw's ashes with him as a constant reminder,
and consequently being accompanied everywhere by the ghostly Brit - has
become a working partnership and awkward camaraderie. A scout who can't
be seen can be mighty handy in a number of situations, even if all that
highfaluting talk does work the nerves sometimes. |