“What about his wife?” Frank asked.
“Mrs. Munro doesn’t concern herself with her husband’s financial affairs.”
No, Frank thought, as long as Munro had plenty of money, the blonde wouldn’t care about anything else.
Evers turned to the driver and the guard and said, “Why don’t you unload the bags here on the porch, and I’ll let you know when you can bring them on into the hotel.”
The men nodded. The driver had already opened the canvas-covered boot at the rear of the coach, so they began taking carpetbags and trunks from it and stacking them on the hotel porch.
Frank crossed over to the marshal’s office, where the crowd had broken up and folks had gone on about their business once Hampton’s corpse had been carted off. Jack had come up while Frank was over at the hotel, and as he leaned on the boardwalk railing, the old-timer asked, “What’s goin’ on over there at the old hotel? I never seen a stagecoach painted that color before.”
“And you probably never will again,” Frank said. He explained about Hamish Munro’s arrival in Buckskin, and added that the mining magnate wanted the squatters cleared out of the hotel. “Come along and give me a hand with that.”
“Sure. I heard you had to kill another fella who showed up to try and make a name for himself as a fast gun.”
“Who told you that?”
“Hombre name of Farnum, down to the Silver Baron.”
Frank nodded. “Keep an eye on him if you happen to run into him again.”
“Farnum, you mean? He seems to be a likable, harmless little fella.”
“That’s what he wants you to think. He’s slick on the draw, and he’s never been overly particular about who he works for or who he rides with. He’s spent more time on the wrong side of the law than on the right side.”
Jack let out a whistle of surprise. “You don’t say! I damn sure will keep an eye on him then.”
They walked over to the hotel and went inside. Nathan Evers came with them, and Frank didn’t object. He figured that Evers probably had a right to be here. He also had no doubt that Evers would tell Munro everything that Frank and Jack said and did.
Let the fella spy to his heart’s content, Frank told himself. He and his deputy didn’t have anything to hide.
Only three of the men who had moved into the hotel were there at the moment. All of them lodged bitter protests when Frank told them they would have to move out.
“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t have any choice in the matter. The building’s legal owner showed up, and he wants everybody out.”
“We didn’t know who owned the place and didn’t figure anybody would care if we stayed here for a spell,” one of the men said.
“Nobody cared until now.”
“We ain’t gonna get in trouble for trespassin’ or anything like that, are we?”
“Not as long as you gather up your gear and move out right away,” Frank said.
A lot of angry muttering went on in the process, but the men did as they were told. Meanwhile, Frank and Jack went through the other rooms and carried out clothes, war bags, and other belongings.
“Take all this stuff over to the office,” Frank told Jack. “The men who own it can come by there later and get it.”
“Seems like we’re goin’ to a heap o’ trouble for this Munro hombre,” Jack groused.
“He’s within his legal rights.”
“There are legal rights…and then there’s what’s
Frank felt pretty much the same way, but when he had pinned on the marshal’s badge, he had agreed to abide by the law, whether he always liked it or not.
In less than an hour, the hotel had been cleaned out of squatters. Most of the building’s original furnishings were still intact. It wouldn’t take a lot of time and effort to clean the place up, and Frank was sure that Munro had the money to pay someone for that time and effort. If Munro was willing to invest even more, he could turn the hotel into a showplace again. That wouldn’t surprise Frank either.
When they were finished, Evers volunteered to go to the cafe and let his employer know that the hotel was ready for their occupancy. Frank was more than willing to let Evers handle that chore. He nodded his thanks and said, “Come on, Jack. Let’s get back to the office.”
As they walked away, Jack rumbled, “If you ask me, havin’ that fella here in town is gonna be nothin’ but trouble.”
“I didn’t ask you,” Frank said, but then he gave a grim chuckle and added, “But I reckon I agree with you anyway.”
By evening, word of Hamish Munro’s arrival in Buckskin had spread all over the settlement, eclipsing even the story of Frank’s gunfight with the ill-fated Charlie Hampton. The fact that Munro himself had come here meant that he was serious about making the Alhambra a going concern again, and that meant more jobs for the prospectors who hadn’t had any luck of their own in finding silver, as well as more business for the stores and saloons in town.
Garrett Claiborne came into the marshal’s office shortly after sundown. He had traded in his suit for work boots, corduroy trousers, and a flannel shirt, since he’d been spending most of his time at the Crown Royal in recent days. A fine layer of dust on the engineer’s clothing told Frank that Claiborne had just ridden in from the mine.
“What can I do for you, Garrett?” Frank asked as he sat behind the desk. “Help yourself to a cup of coffee, if
