“Somebody tried to rob the Kinnear stage tonight. Luther.” Wyatt said. “Bud Philpot was shot and killed. I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that?”
“How the hell would I know? Like I told you. I was here all night.”
“Were you? What were you doin’ out by the corral?”…
“I came out to milk the cows.”
“You always strap your guns on when you go milkin’. Luther?”
King hesitated. “Man can’t be too careful these days. Might have been Indians around.”
Morgan Earp snorted with disgust, “Indians, my foot! You were one of them Luther, weren’t you?”
“I told you. I was here all night! I didn’t have nothin’ to do with it! Ask Len!”
“How do we know that Len wasn’t involved’!” asked Wyatt. “You’ve got some horses over there in that corral look like they were ridden pretty hard. You got anything to say about that?”
“Yeah, well… there was some riders came by not long ago. Wanted to trade some horses.”
“Who were they?”
“I.. I don’t know. I didn’t know who they were. I never saw ’em before.”
“You’re lyin’, Luther.”
“I ain’t lyin’! I told you, I don’t know anything about any robbery!”
“It’s more than robbery, Luther.” Wyatt said. “It’s murder. Bud Philpot’s dead.”
“Passenger got wounded, too,” said Virgil. “Looks like he might not make it. That’ll be two murders.”
“Three. Virg,” Wyatt said. “Don’t forget Katie.” Virgil frowned. “Katie?”
“Isn’t that right. Bob?” Wyatt said, turning to Bob. “Didn’t you tell me Katie Elder took a bullet? Killed her on the spot, you said. Doc just about went crazy when he heard about it.”
Bob Paul picked up on it, “Yeah. that’s right. I never saw Doc like that before. It was somethin’ terrible.”
“Doc Holliday’s woman was on that stage?” asked King. his eyes wide.”She was headin’ out to Benson, to take the train and visit some relatives for a spell,” said Wyatt. “When Doc found out she’d been shot, he swore up and down he’d get every last one of those outlaws if it took him the rest of his life.”
“Oh, my God.” said King.
“If Doc gets in his head you were involved, Luther. I don’t know that there’s anything in this world that will stop him,” Wyatt said. You know how he is.”
“Listen, Marshal, you gotta promise me you’ll tell Doc I had nothin. to do with it, I swear!” said King, in a panic. “Well, now, I don’t know that for a fact. Luther.”
“Marshal, please! You gotta believe me! Look, you gotta tell Holliday it wasn’t me! I didn’t do any of the shootin’.
God’s my judge! I only held the horses! You gotta tell Doc, I only held the horses! I never even fired my gun! I wasn’t even there! I was just down the road a piece! I didn’t know there was goin’ to be any killin’! I swear. I didn’t! Please. Marshal, you gotta tell him!”
“Well now. I might, Luther, if you were to tell us who the rest of ’em were.”
“It was Head. Leonard and Crane!” said King. “I don’t know which one of ’em shot Philpot! I heard the shootin’, but I didn’t see it! Like I said, I only held the horses!”
“Head, Leonard and Crane, eh?” said Wyatt. “Where are they now’?”
“They rode out a while back. I ain’t sure where they went and that’s the truth, I swear it! The whole thing went wrong! But you gotta tell Holliday I didn’t do any shootin’. Marshal. You gotta tell him!”
Wyatt glanced at Bob Paul and grinned. “I always knew that had temper of
Doe’s would come in handy one day.”
Sheriff Johnny Behan and his deputy. Billy Breakenridge, took charge of the prisoner and rode back to town with him while the rest of the posse continued on the outlaws’ trail. Lucas took the opportunity to ride back with the prisoner, expecting Neilson to volunteer to do the same, only the Montana Kid continued on with the posse. Not so much as a meaningful look had passed between them. Andre was waiting at the hotel when he returned.
“Did you learn anything?” she asked. “Did you have a chance to talk to Scott?”
“No, to both questions.” Lucas said, easing himself onto the bed. It had been a while since he had been on horseback and he was saddle-sore. “Neilson acted as if he didn’t even know me. The only explanation I can think of is that someone in the posse was watching him and he was aware of it. He’s still out there with them. I guess he thought that if he came back with me, it might tip off whoever’s watching him.”
“Any clue who it might be?”
Lucas shook his head. “It could’ve been any of them.” He frowned. “I don’t know. There’s something bothering me.”
“You, too?”
“You pick up on something’?”
“You first.”
“Actually, it’s a couple of things, but I’m not sure if it means anything. For one thing, there’s Masterson’s leaving town to go back to Dodge City According to our historical records. he shouldn’t have done that until after the stage robbery. He should have been on that posse. But then, our records have been wrong before. Maybe that’s all it is. The other thing is that Wyatt Earp claimed to know absolutely nothing about the deaths of those Observers. Said he didn’t even know any men named Summers. Billings and McEnery. He told me that someone must have been pulling my leg and making up a story for my benefit. It’s possible he just didn’t want to talk about it and denied the whole thing because he didn’t want to discuss a crime he couldn’t solve. I can’t think of any other explanation. but why would he want to lie about it? We could easily corroborate that story with anyone in town.”
“You want to bet?” she said.
He glanced at her with a frown. “What do you mean?”
“I spent the evening last night visiting some of the stores and meeting some of the local women.” Andre said “I even managed to meet Wyatt’s girl. Josie Marcus, and have dinner with her And nobody would admit to knowing anything about those three Observers. Who they were, how they died, nothing. They all wanted to know where I came up with such a story. It was news to all of them.”
Lucas simply stared at her. “What the hell is going on here?”
“I don’t know,” said Andre, “but it’s as if somebody told the whole town not to talk about it.”
“Wait a minute.” Lucas said. “That barman downstairs, what’s his name, Mohan, he talked about it, remember?”
“Good luck getting him to admit it.” Andre said. “I spoke to him briefly after dinner. He looked blank when I brought it up. Said I must have gotten mixed up with a story about something that happened somewhere else. Denied ever telling us anything about it and looked at me like I was crazy.”
“Somebody got to him.” said Lucas.
“Apparently.”
Lucas looked worried. “That might explain why Neilson didn’t make any contact.” he said. “Our cover might be blown already.”
“How? We haven’t done anything to tip anybody off,” she said. “We’ve only just arrived in town.”
“Maybe we were recognized,” said Lucas. “There are people in the Network who know who we are. If one of them spotted us when we came into town, our cover could have been blown right there and then.”
“I suppose that’s possible,” Andre said. “Only if that’s the case, what would be the point in hushing up the deaths of those Observers? That would only put us on our guard.”
Lucas shook his head “You’re right. It makes no sense. And how the hell could they get to everyone so fast and make sure nobody talked about it?”
“They were late getting to Mehan.” Andre said.
“That makes no sense, either,” Lucas said, with a frown. “You’d think he would’ve been the first one they’d warn to keep his mouth shut. And the fact that they could do that, whoever they are, would presuppose that they control the entire town. That doesn’t seem possible.”
“Maybe it doesn’t seem likely.” Andre replied, “but it’s not impossible.”
“That would mean that this whole town is a Network operation,” Lucas said. “I can’t believe that. There’s got to be some other explanation.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” Andre said
