“What would you have me do, my dear? Wrestle them off the car?” Addison replied.
Grumbling and complaining, the four passengers left the car, glaring at Hawke and Pamela as they passed the table where the two were eating. Neither Hawke nor Pamela glanced up at them.
“You seem to have some influence with the conductor,” Hawke said after everyone was gone.
“I think the conductor feels beholden to me because my father owns some stock in the railroad,” Pamela replied as she carved into her piece of ham. “Is the food satisfactory?”
Hawke smiled. “I’m sure if it wasn’t, you would find some way to make it right. It’s quite good, thank you.”
When Addison Ford and his party came into the second parlor car, they were greeted by Bailey McPherson.
“Addison,” she said with a smile. “How nice to have you join us.”
“It wasn’t by choice, Miss McPherson.”
“Oh?”
Addison stammered. “I didn’t mean it that way,” he said. “What I meant was, the conductor threw us out of our car in favor of the two people that we just picked up when the train stopped.”
“And two more unkempt and disagreeable people you’ve never seen,” Mary Ford said. “They are filthy, and dressed in rags.”
“And with the most boorish manners,” Lucy White said. “Why, do you know that she is actually wearing men’s clothes?”
Bailey McPherson looked questioningly at the conductor. “Is that right, Mr. Marshal? You threw Mr. Ford and his party out of the car to accommodate a couple of indigents?”
“It is Miss Pamela Dorchester, Miss McPherson,” the conductor said. “As I’m sure you know, she disappeared from the
“Yes, I read about it in the paper. Well, how delightful that she has been found safe and sound. She is all right, isn’t she?”
Marshal sighed. “I assure you, Miss McPherson, she is quite all right.”
“Well, in that case, Addison, Mary, you, and your son-in-law and daughter are certainly welcome to join Mr. Dancer and me. Isn’t that right, Mr. Dancer?”
Ethan Dancer made no direct response.
“I, uh, thank you for the invitation,” Addison said.
“Do make yourselves at home,” Bailey invited. “But I ask you to excuse me for a few minutes while I go pay my respects to Miss Dorchester.”
“I can’t believe you are actually going to go speak to that horrid woman,” Mary Ford said.
“My dear, that ‘horrid woman’ is Pamela Dorchester.”
“Should that mean something to me?”
“Well, for one thing, her father owns one hundred thousand shares of this railroad, as well as six hundred thousand acres of land. You might have heard of his ranch, Mr. Ford. He calls it Northumbria.”
“Northumbria?” Addison said. “You mean, the eminent domain section?”
“That is exactly what I mean.”
Addison smiled. “Well, I’ll be damned. It’s almost worth getting thrown out of the car for that.”
“I thought you might appreciate the irony.”
Hawke and Pamela were just finishing their meal when Pamela looked up to see the small woman come into the car.
“Bailey,” Pamela said. “What a…surprise.”
“Yes, isn’t it?” Bailey McPherson replied. “Ever since we heard you disappeared from the train to Chicago we have been worried to death about you.”
Hawke had stood when Bailey came into the car, and when she approached the table, he towered over her.
“I’m sure you were. But as you can clearly see, I’m fine,” Pamela said.
“I am so relieved.” Bailey looked up at Hawke. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your handsome gentleman friend?”
“Bailey McPherson, this is Mason Hawke. Mr. Hawke is my knight in shining armor.”
“So, I take it we have you to thank for Pamela’s rescue.”
“Nothing heroic,” Hawke said. “I just happened to stumble into the cabin where she was.”
“Oh, it was much more than that,” Pamela said. “He killed the two desperadoes who kidnapped me.”
“Killed them?” Bailey said with a gasp. She turned toward Hawke. “Oh, my, you must be very brave to take on two men in a fierce gun battle.”
Hawke chuckled. “It wasn’t like I had a choice,” he replied. “They forced the fight on me.”
“Yes, I’m sure they did.”
Bailey turned toward Pamela again.
“How fortunate you were to have this gentleman come to your rescue. Well, you will have a story to tell to your grandchildren, won’t you, my dear?”
“I will indeed,” Pamela said. “Won’t you join us for tea?”
“No, thank you, but I have people waiting for me in the other car.” She laughed. “In fact, they happen to be the very people you displaced from this car.”
“Oh. Do you mean Mr. Addison Ford, Administrative Assistant to Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano?”
“Then I see that you do know who he is.”
“He informed us of his identity. He was quite put out, I’m afraid.”
“Never mind about Mr. Ford. I will do what I can to soothe his ruffled spirits,” Bailey promised. “I’m glad you survived your ordeal. And, Mr. Hawke, it was a pleasure meeting you.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” Hawke said with a slight nod. He waited until she had left the car before he sat down again.
“What did you think of her?” Pamela asked.
“Your friend is rather small,” Hawke said. He could think of nothing else to say.
Pamela laughed out loud. “She is small. But I would hardly call her my friend. She is a scheming opportunist who doesn’t let a little thing like ethics stand in the way of her goal.”
“Oh,” Hawke said. “Well, you can understand my confusion, I’m sure, but you two were carrying on like best friends.”
“Women aren’t like men, Mr. Hawke, anxious to settle differences with fisticuffs. We can hide our most bitter disagreements behind disingenuous smiles.”
“So I see,” Hawke said.
Chapter 7
HAWKE WAS ASLEEP WHEN PAMELA SHOOK HIM gently by the shoulder. Opening his eyes, he saw her smiling down at him.
“Have you always been able to fall asleep so quickly?” she asked.
“Yes,” Hawke said. He yawned, then rubbed his eyes. Feeling the train’s speed diminishing, he asked, “Where are we?”
“We are coming into Green River,” she said. “This is where I get off.”
“I guess I’ll get off here as well.”
“You needn’t detrain unless you wish to. I’ve made arrangements with the conductor. You can travel all the way through to California if you want.”
“Thank you, but this is good enough.”
Hawke looked out the window. There was nothing to see but a black, seemingly empty maw, interspersed with low-lying brush that grew alongside the track, illuminated for a brief moment by light cast from the windows of
