fate. Let them yell all they want.”
“Yeah, I see what you mean, Doc,” Matt said.
By now, several of the uninjured and those not seriously injured had moved up to the track, where they began waving at the oncoming train. They were shouting as well, though it was obvious that no one on board the oncoming train could hear them.
The train, now with the bell clanging, continued coming, now moving no faster than a slow walk. Finally, it screeched to a stop no more than a few feet from the compromised track.
“God help us, look at this, Marshal,” Boomer said, his voice almost reverent as he and Kyle stepped down from the train, even before it had come to a complete halt. “The last three cars of the train has burned completely to the ground. Only the coal tender, the express car, and baggage car ain’t burned up. I wonder how many have been killed.”
“We’ll figure that out later,” Kyle said. “For now, we need to get busy helping those who are still alive. I just hope—”
“Marshal! There’s Doc Presnell!” Boomer said excitedly, answering Kyle’s concern before it was even spoken.”
“Hello, Ben, Boomer,” Doc Presnell said, greeting his two friends as they came toward him. Doc had a black eye and a cut on his face. Otherwise, he appeared to be all right, though there was blood on his hands and clothes. It didn’t take but a moment to see that it wasn’t Doc’s blood—it was blood from the many injured passengers he had been working with.
“What happened, Doc?” Boomer asked.
“I’ll be damned if I know,” Doc replied. “One minute I was enjoying my dinner in the dining car. The next thing I know we ran off the track. Since that time, it’s been all chaos.”
“The prisoner!” Kyle said.
“What prisoner?” Doc asked.
“According to a telegram I received, this train was supposed to be carrying a prisoner,” Kyle said. “I’d better check on him.”
“Boomer, can you give me a hand here?” Doc asked.
“Sure, Doc, I’ll do what I can,” Boomer said.
Leaving Doc and Boomer, Kyle started looking through the gathering of shocked, frightened, and injured people until he saw someone wearing the blue jacket and hat of a railroad conductor.
“You the conductor on this train?” Kyle asked.
“Look, mister, I don’t know any more about what caused the train wreck than you do,” the conductor answered defensively.
“No, no, it’s not about the train wreck,” Kyle said quickly, holding up his hands to calm the conductor.
“Then, what is it about?”
“I understand you had a prisoner on this train, someone who was being taken to Yuma prison,” Kyle said. It was a statement, not a question.
“You’re talking about the murderer we picked up in Purgatory?”
“Yes. Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you seen him since the train wreck?”
“I didn’t see him before the wreck.”
“You didn’t see him when they put him on the train?”
“No. I was told he would be in the express car,” the conductor said. “But I didn’t see them put him on. As far as I know, Lon Kingsley is the only one who saw him.”
“Lon Kingsley?”
“The express man,” the conductor said.
“Can you point him out to me?”
“I can point him out, all right, but it won’t do you any good to talk to him.”
“Why not?”
“He’s dead. Him and the deputy that was ridin’ in the car with him. We found ’em both dead in the express car.”
“What about the prisoner? Did you find him dead, too?”
“No, the only two people we pulled from the express car was Kingsley and the deputy,” the conductor said. “They’re both lyin’ over there if you want to see them.”
“Like you said, they’re both dead, so it won’t do me any good to see them, but I am going to take another look inside the express car.”
Walking back toward some of the railroad officials who’d arrived with the rescue train, Kyle borrowed a lantern, crawled upon the side of the express car that was facing up, then let himself down through the open door into the car. It had not burned, but it had turned over onto its side so it was badly damaged. He moved around inside the car, having to be very careful to pick his way about, since what had been the left wall was now the floor.
