Tossing the candy into the man’s face, Rosalie used the distraction to punch the man in the stomach, causing him to double over. She retrieved her pistol and pressed it against the man’s forehead. The man stilled.
“Where is Bill Garrett?” she asked.
He looked up at her with a pale face. “I can’t answer that, or I’m a dead man.”
Cocking her pistol, she rephrased her question. “Tell me where your hideout is.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know. Garrett will kill you,” came his shaky response.
Taking a step back, she ordered, “We are going to the sheriff’s office and…” Her words were interrupted as two shots rang out. Her eyes darted around the alleyway, looking for the shooter, just as the man collapsed to the ground with two bullet wounds in his back.
Rosalie stepped over him and hurried around the corner. She watched as a man kicked his horse into a run, heading straight toward the mountains. As she attempted to formulate a plan, she heard a cocking of a pistol behind her and the words, “Put your hands up.”
Paden determined that Mr. Tuttle had to be the most unremarkable person he had ever followed. The man walked to his home at an achingly slow pace, ate his lunch one morsel at a time, and napped for exactly thirty-four minutes.
He had just watched Mr. Tuttle walk back into the bank when Deputy Charlie waved him down in the street. “You need to come with me,” the deputy ordered.
“What is it?” he asked. Suddenly, a frightening thought came to him. “Is my wife all right?”
Deputy Charlie stepped closer to him and lowered his voice. “Your wife is unharmed, but she is at the sheriff’s office.”
“Why?”
“Mrs. Brooks was involved in a shooting.” The lawman stepped back, frowning. “You’ll see.”
Following closely behind the deputy, Paden was anxious to see his wife. He stepped into the office, and his eyes immediately landed on her. Rosie was sitting in the chair, appearing calm and collected, but he could see the anguish in her eyes. She was putting on an act.
He rushed over to her and knelt by the chair. “What happened?” he asked, bringing his hand up to cup her right cheek.
A loud sigh came from Sheriff Walton. “We heard gunshots near the boarding house and when we arrived, we found Agent Brooks with a gun in her hand and a dead body in the alley.”
“Who did you kill?” he asked, his eyes roaming her face with concern.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” she assured him. “I was about to walk him over to the sheriff’s office when someone shot him in the back.”
Paden shifted his body to face the sheriff. “And you don’t believe her?”
“I didn’t say that,” Sheriff Walton said. “Not only had her gun not been recently fired, but she still had all the bullets in the chamber.”
“Then what’s the problem?” he asked with a furrowed brow. “My wife is a victim here.”
“No. Your wife is a witness to a crime,” Deputy Charlie corrected. “She refused to talk until you arrived.”
Turning his attention back toward Rosalie, he said, “Thank you for waiting for me.”
She gave him a weak smile. “We are partners, are we not?”
“And married,” he reminded her as he went and sat in the chair next to her.
Rosalie straightened in the chair. “I followed Mr. Holmes into the alleyway, where I saw him place a note into a cavity in the wall…” She continued her story about what she read, who caught her, and how the murderer rode off.
Sheriff Walton shoved his chair back and rose. “We will go arrest Holmes and sort this all out.”
“I wouldn’t,” Rosalie warned.
“Why not?” the sheriff asked, glaring down at her.
“Most likely, Bill Garrett has already been informed that his man failed and was shot in the alleyway,” Rosalie explained. “Your deputy already removed the note from behind the brick so Garrett will need to go directly to Holmes to get the information.”
Sheriff Walton sat back down. “You want to use Holmes as a decoy. What is it with you and decoys?” he mocked.
“What if Holmes high tails it out of town?” Deputy Charlie asked. “The whole town heard the shots. Men filed out of the boarding house to look at the dead body.”
Paden spoke up. “Didn’t Holmes have a sister? Emeline, was it?”
“He does. Emeline works as a waitress at the restaurant,” Sheriff Walton confirmed.
Paden watched as Rosalie’s eyes grew determined. “I suspect that there is more to the story. Perhaps Holmes is being forced to help Bill Garrett,” she said.
Sheriff Walton grunted as he slapped his hand on his desk. “You have got to be kiddin’ me, Mrs. Brooks. You caught Holmes red-handed.”
“I did,” she admitted, “but where is the gold?” She lifted her brow. “Where would Holmes store it? In his room at the boarding house? Or his sister’s room?”
“He could have taken his cut and buried it somewhere,” Deputy Charlie rationalized.
Turning his gaze toward him, Sheriff Walton asked, “What do you think, Agent Brooks?”
Paden stifled his groan. Their assignment was technically over. They had discovered the identity of the man who had tipped off Bill Garrett about the gold shipments, and they notified the sheriff of their findings. Once Holmes was arrested, they would wire the Denver office and request the next case file. However, if he confessed that, then he would be working his next case… alone. Without his wife.
On the other hand, Bill Garrett had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, and Archie did say capturing him was a top priority for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The only problem is that it could take weeks to track down Garrett and his new gang in these foothills. He would have to get authorization from
