Again, no flinch. “I’m afraid we forgot introductions. Who might you be?”
“Friends of McAllen.”
“I see.” Grant looked at the clerk, who had been closely following the conversation. “If you’ll excuse us. This is a security matter I cannot discuss in front of you.” The man walked a discreet distance away, but Grant still leaned over the counter until his mouth was beside Sharp’s ear. “Tell the captain that if he wants to see his family whole again, he’ll see me tomorrow night—alone. Understood?” The smile had vanished.
“No,” Sharp said in a normal voice the clerk could easily overhear. “McAllen hasn’t got any family. What are ya talkin’ about?”
Grant pushed himself away from the counter. “Just tell him what I said.” Then he turned and disappeared into a back room.
We left the office and stepped into a frigid breeze. Without pause, Sharp marched to our hotel, which I appreciated. I would rather talk about this incident in front of a big fire. The bitter cold made me shiver, and I hooked the top button of my coat and raised the sheepskin collar. Hopefully, our chairs beside the fire remained unoccupied.
When we arrived back at the Carbonate, the seats by the fireplace were taken, but we found two easy chairs in an alcove that actually provided more privacy.
After we had whiskey glasses in hand, I asked, “What do you think Grant meant?”
“Been thinkin’ on that.” Sharp took a sip and then a large swallow of the whiskey. “I’m not positive, but I think he was hintin’ that McAllen’s daughter is still alive.”
Chapter 23
Early the next morning—with only coffee to sustain us—we rode out to Twin Lakes. Sharp, a man who never complained, grumbled the entire twenty miles about his toothache.
The Inter-Laken appeared rustic on the outside, but the lobby furnishings said that the hotel catered to wealthy patrons looking for a romantic interlude. Since it was still early, Sharp peeked into the restaurant before going to the registration desk. Sure enough, McAllen sat at a table by himself, looking as grumpy as when we had left him.
“What are you men doing here?” McAllen looked surprised as we slid into the extra chairs at his table.
“We missed yer cheerful company,” Sharp said. “How’s breakfast here?”
“Expensive. Did you find Vrable?”
“We found Grant, big as life, sitting comfortable as you please at a big desk in the Wells Fargo office.”
McAllen started to get up. “Tell me on the trail.”
“Joseph, we need to eat, and we already set up a meet for tonight. Lots of time.” Sharp unsuccessfully tried to signal a waitress to come over. “Let’s talk a bit before ya ride off in a snit.”
McAllen looked ready to bolt, but he settled back into his chair. “What time tonight?”
“Can we—”
McAllen cut off Sharp. “No.”
Sharp sighed theatrically. “Eight o’clock at the Carbonate. Grant insists on meeting you alone … for dinner.”
“Dinner?” McAllen mulled that over. “Obviously there’s more if you left Leadville without a meal.”
“There is,” I answered. “But we’re not sure what it means. We got here early so we could talk it over.”
“Then let’s get breakfast ordered for you men.” McAllen tapped his coffee mug with a table knife until he had the attention of a waitress, and then with a curt gesture, commanded her to come over to our table. As soon as she arrived, McAllen ordered gruffly, “Coffee immediately. Then get two orders of chops and eggs for these gentlemen. Move quickly if you want a gratuity.”
After she scurried away, McAllen said, “All right, you have your meal on the way. Tell me exactly what happened and what he said.”
Sharp told about our encounter with Grant, while I filled in a few details that he forgot to mention. Neither of us offered any speculation about what it all meant. As we had previously agreed, McAllen should be allowed to draw his own conclusions.
McAllen didn’t hesitate when we were done. “So Vrable kidnapped my daughter and merely pretended that she had been murdered by Utes. Probably matted an old scalp with fresh blood from an animal.”
“That’s what we concluded,” I said. “But why?”
“He wants something from me,” McAllen said, as if he already knew what Vrable wanted.
“Something more than revenge?” I asked.
“He wants that too, but first he’ll force me to help him steal a silver shipment.
Then
Bane will kill my daughter.”
“Ya think Bane’s got her?” Sharp asked.
“The two of ’em cooked this up. Bane’s got her.”
“How do you know he wants to rob a silver shipment?” I asked.
“Because the Carbonate Kings are careful. They engage both Wells Fargo and Pinkertons to guard their shipments. Hard to corrupt both parties at the same time. Vrable controls security for Wells Fargo, and he thinks I can handle the Pinkertons.”
“Ya figured that out pretty quick,” Sharp said.
“Been thinking hard on it—ever since we left Durango. Bane and Vrable are an odd pair to get together in the first place, and Bane would never split up peaceful unless he had further business with Vrable.” McAllen looked pointedly at me. “Steve, you said Vrable seemed more intent on fleecing the town than getting out on the trail after Maggie. That’s the Vrable I know. A goddamn swindler.”
“How’d you figure out that your daughter was still alive?” I asked.
“Hoped, more like it. I was sure they paid them poor Utes to grab her, and it made no sense to go to all that trouble just to kill her. Lots of easier ways to do that.” McAllen glanced around the dining room to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “This deal smelled from the start. Vrable volunteered to lead that posse. That didn’t make sense. He knew I’d guess his real identity, and it wouldn’t take much more thinking to figure out that he was part of the deed. Bane and Vrable are a couple of nasty characters, but they aren’t stupid. If they didn’t have something to hold over me, they knew I’d hunt ’em down and kill ’em.”
I was still confused. “How could Bane get your daughter away without the posse spotting them?”
“I figure Bane circled back after the posse left and took her from the Utes before we arrived.” McAllen shifted his attention back to Sharp. “Figuring out the rest of their plan wasn’t that difficult. If you put Wells Fargo together with Pinkerton in Leadville, you got silver shipments. Vrable’s the kinda man that would go after the money first and then get revenge.”
We all sat quiet a minute and then Sharp asked, “What do ya plan to do, Joseph?”
McAllen scooted his chair away from the table. “Ride into Leadville and kill that son of a bitch.”
“Joseph, no!” Sharp grabbed McAllen’s arm, as if he could stop his gun hand. “If Bane still has your daughter, he’ll kill her.”
“Damn it, Jeff, he’s gonna kill her anyway. They’ll set things up so I’ll be the one hanged for robbery … and probably murder. They’ll kill her while I sit helpless in jail waiting for the hangman’s noose, because they’ll want me to know she’s dead before I climb the scaffold. That’s their whole plan.”
“You can’t be sure,” I protested.
Completely out of character, McAllen looked ready to cry. Instead of continuing to rant, his voice sounded forlorn. “I’m sure.”
For more than a minute, the three of us just sat there. Then I asked, “Where’s Red?”
“On his way here … why?”
“Can he track Bane?”
“Thought of that.” McAllen paused before adding, “Maybe.” Then he shook his head. “No. We traded telegrams once I got to the hotel, and I told him to leave Durango immediately. It’ll take him four days to get here, and then he’ll have no idea where to start. If there’s a trail to follow, it’s back in the San Juans.”
“Does he know these mountains?” I asked.
“What’s on your mind, Steve?”
“Stall. We need time for Red to get here so we can try to find your daughter.”
“You’ll never find her, and if you do, Bane would kill the lot of you. He’ll hide in a protected niche, and he’s more dangerous than a crazed grizzly.”
“I’ve killed a grizzly,” I added weakly.
“You’re a good man in a fight, Steve, but you’re a tenderfoot in the wild.”
“Red’s not … and I’ve had some lessons of late.”
Sharp jumped in. “Give us a chance,” he pleaded. “What difference does it make if ya kill Vrable tonight or later?”
“The difference is he’ll be alone tonight. Soon he’ll surround himself with men in his pay. No, goddamn it. Later I might not be able to get to him.”
The two men glared at each other, and then Sharp said matter-of-factly, “Your decision, Joseph. Do ya want to give your daughter a chance or not?”
McAllen looked ready to pounce across the table after Sharp, but then I saw his anger seep away. After a moment, he said, “Jeff, thanks for speaking plain, but even Red wouldn’t have a chance of finding her. Those mountains are vast and deadly cold.”
“Do you think Vrable knows where Bane’s got your daughter?” I asked.
“Grab him and beat it out of him?” McAllen paused to think it through. “No … never work. Bane’s too wily to let Vrable know his whereabouts. Nope, Vrable doesn’t know.”
“Doesn’t Vrable need to tell him when you’ve agreed to cooperate? Or if you don’t, he’ll need to tell him to kill the girl.” I leaned across the table. “They must have some way of getting messages back and forth. What will Vrable do if you insist on proof that your daughter’s still alive?”
McAllen sat straighter. “Damn. I’ve let my anger cloud my thinking.”
I thought it might have been grief, but I kept that thought to myself. McAllen went quiet, and we gave him time to think. In the meantime our breakfast arrived. I didn’t get the breakfast I would’ve ordered. My eggs arrived undercooked, and the chop overcooked, but at least the biscuits were fresh from the oven, and the restaurant had a decent selection of preserves.
After we had dug into our food, McAllen said, “You’re right. They must have some way to communicate, and it sure ain’t by telegraph, because Bane would never feel safe in a town, especially not with a hostage. I know the man would never tell Vrable his location, so he must have a messenger he trusts. And that messenger is probably hanging around Leadville until needed. The trick is to spot him.”
“And then we trail him,” Sharp said, as he rubbed his sore jaw.
“Yes. They would need to get messages back and forth in short order, so I’m guessing Bane brought my daughter up here from the San Juans. Damn. I bet he’s less than a day’s ride away.”
“We need time,” I said. “Red’s four days away, and even if we spot the messenger, we can’t track him without Red.”
“Steve, quit beating around the bush. What are you thinking?”
“Don’t show up tonight. Vrable doesn’t know you’re close. We’ll pretend you must have left late or took longer on the trail than we expected. Wait here a couple nights. When you finally see Vrable, tell him you telegraphed your Pinkerton resignation from Durango, and you need a few days to trade telegrams with Denver to see if you can get your job back. Stall until Red arrives, then insist on proof that she’s still alive.”
“What proof? They’ll never bring her close enough for me to see her.”
“Do you recognize her handwriting?”
“Of course.”
“Then tell Vrable to bring you a letter written in her hand. Insist that it has a current date. That’ll send the messenger out before the robbery, and we can trail him to your daughter.”
McAllen frowned but only for a moment. “Steve, that might work. Worth a try anyway. If you were one of my Pinkertons, I’d give you a bonus.”
I felt myself blush. For McAllen, this was high praise. I also felt pretty proud of myself, because I had come up with most of the plan between bites of food.
Sharp brought up something I had missed. “What instructions did ya give Red? We don’t want people to know he’s with us.”
“I told Red to stay low. I meant to kill Vrable before he arrived. I wanted him here in case I failed. He won’t sashay up to me or you men, if that’s what’s worrying you.”
“It is.” Sharp pushed his empty plate away. “So, do we have a plan?”
“For the moment. But if anything goes awry, anything, I kill that son of a bitch on the spot and go after Bane myself.”
“Understood,” Sharp said. “Then we’ll see ya in two days?”
“Looks that way.” McAllen looked around the dining room. “Damn, I wanted to get outta this place.”
“Looks to be a decent hotel,” I offered.
“I’m the only goddamn man in this hotel without a woman. The staff treat the honeymooners like royalty and the unweds with discretion. They don’t know how to handle me.”
“Hell, I’ve known ya for ten years, an’ I don’t know how to handle ya,” Sharp said.
McAllen didn’t laugh, but at least Sharp’s quip raised a slight smile. Under the circumstances, that was an accomplishment. At least we had given him some hope.
“Listen, Captain, I know nothing’s sure, but if it’s at all possible, we’ll get your daughter back.” I didn’t know how to convey my other concern, so I just added, “She’s young and she’s a McAllen. She’ll recover.”
“She’s a McAllen all right. Tough girl, but she won’t need to recover from what you’re thinking. The Shoshone castrated Bane.”
Chapter 24
After breakfast, McAllen told us to ride back to Leadville before we were missed. When we arrived at the Carbonate Hotel, we didn’t see Vrable or anyone else that appeared interested in us. In fact the town looked quiet, and then we remembered that it was Sunday morning. The faithful were in church, and the sinners were sleeping off their Saturday night wickedness.
We left our horses at the stable and walked around to the back entrance of the hotel. Using the rear staircase, we went to our rooms to drop off our coats, scarves, gloves, and hats. I also scrubbed my face and combed my hair at the washbasin. After checking my appearance in the commode mirror, I decided I was ready to find Dr. Dooley.
Sharp stepped out of his room at the same time as me. Despite his scruffy clothes, he looked presentable; at least as presentable as I had ever seen him.
“Hey, when you strike silver, are you going to buy new clothes?” I asked.