“Yes, sir, what can I do for you?” he asked.
“I’ll take some jerky and coffee,” Matt said.
“Yes, sir, we’ve got some fine jerky. What about bacon? Freshly smoked, it’s mighty tasty with biscuits and a little redeye gravy.”
“I’m sure it is,” Matt said. “But jerky and coffee are all I need right now.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll get it together for you. We just got the paper in today. We’ve been readin’ all about the big train wreck on the Southern Pacific. Have you heard anything about it?”
“Not too much,” Matt answered.
“They’re sayin’ a fella by the name of Matt Jensen caused the wreck. Got away with a hunnert thousand dollars, too.”
“Don’t be silly, George, it wan’t no hunnert thousand dollars,” the woman said. “It was only fifty thousand.”
“How much ever it was, I hope they catch him,” George said. He wrapped Matt’s purchase up in a piece of oilcloth and slid it across the counter to him. “That’ll be five dollars,” he said.
“Five dollars?” Matt replied, stunned by the amount. The purchase should have been little more than fifty cents. “That’s pretty high, isn’t it?”
“You don’t have to buy here,” George said.
Matt chuckled, then shook his head. He gave George a five-dollar bill. “You know what? You are what they call a sharp business man.”
“I appreciate the compliment,” George said.
Taking his purchase, Matt told both George and his wife good-bye, then went outside, swung back into the saddle, and rode away.
“That was a handsome young man,” George’s wife said after Matt left.
“I suppose so,” George said. “I sure wouldn’t want that fella mad at me, though.”
“Why not?”
“There was somethin’ about him, a hint of sulfur or somethin’, that tells me he is one dangerous man. And the way he was a’wearin’ that gun—he knows how to use it, I’m sure.”
“Oh, pooh,” George’s wife said. “A nice, pretty man like that has probably never even shot a gun.”
George was silent for a moment before he responded.
“Yeah,” he said. “You might be right.”
United States Marshal Ben Kyle sat at the desk in his office in Sentinel, drumming his fingers as he looked at the passenger list from the train wreck. By now, all the dead had been identified, as had all the injured. Some of the uninjured passengers had already continued their westbound journey, but he had managed to talk to each of them before they left. None of them recalled seeing a man brought on board in chains, and none recalled seeing anyone in chains leave the scene of the wreck.
Sentinel had been the final destination for four of the passengers, and he had spoken to them as well, but none of them could recall seeing a man in chains. Or at least, if anyone saw him, they wouldn’t admit to it. Why was that? he wondered. Were they frightened? Had Jensen gotten to them, threatened them in any way?
As Kyle continued to study the passenger list, he picked up his pencil and then drew a line under two names.
Louise Dobbs
Jerry Dobbs
Marshal Kyle knew Louise and Jeremiah Dobbs. They owned a small ranch just outside of town. Mrs. Dobbs and her two children, Jerry and Suzie, had gone to Purgatory to visit her sister, and were returning when the train was wrecked. Purgatory was where Matt Jensen had boarded and Mrs. Dobbs had to have seen him.
In fact, as he recalled the incident now, young Jerry had almost said something to him. When questioned, Jerry said that he hadn’t seen anything, but that was only after a stern glance from his mother.
Kyle had seen the look Louise Dobbs gave her son then, but because her little girl had been killed, he had not wanted to bother her with questions, hoping that he would get the information he needed from one of the other passengers. Unfortunately, that had not worked out for him, and now it appeared as if Mrs. Dobbs would be his only source.
Sighing, Kyle stood up. “Boomer?” he called to his deputy.
“Yes, sir?”
“I’m going to ride out to the Dobbs ranch.”
“You’re going to question Mrs. Dobbs, are you?”
“Yes,” Kyle said. “But I swear, I’d rather be horsewhipped than bother that poor woman right now.”
“I don’t blame you. Would you like for me to come with you?”
“No, I appreciate the offer, but there’s no need for that. You just hold down the fort while I’m gone,” Kyle said as he reached for his hat.
“Yes, sir, I’ll do that,” Boomer said. “Benjamin, why is it, do you suppose, that nobody wants to tell us anything about this Jensen fella? Do you think he has them all buffaloed?”
“I don’t know, Boomer. I’ve been wondering about that myself,” Kyle said. “Maybe I can find out something
