“We’ll take the special,” one of the men said, hastily taking his seat.
They hadn’t even looked at the menus, but anyone who came here knew that whatever the special was, it was bound to be good. It would serve them right if the special today were toad guts, but Nacho could probably make even that taste good.
Nacho followed her back into the kitchen. When the door closed behind them, she turned to him. “I’m sorry if I overstepped back there, but I am just getting so tired of all these people treating me as a source of amusement.”
He grinned. “It’s about time you stood up for yourself. Maybe if you threatened to charge everyone like that, people would start treating you with respect.”
“What happened?” Fina asked.
Rosalind told her the story as Fina dished up their food. It was a hearty stew, full of fragrant spices that had been making Rosalind’s mouth water all morning.
“A dollar,” Fina said, laughing. “At least you don’t sell yourself too cheaply.”
Rosalind picked up her tray of food. “And that’s just to gawk.”
Fina’s answering laugh warmed her heart as she went back out to deal with the cold stares of the townspeople. But when she went back in, she was relieved to find that they were all talking and laughing amongst themselves, their attention not on her for a change. As she set the plates down in front of the hungry men, the door opened, and Hawk walked in.
“This ought to be good,” one of the men muttered.
She’d have asked him what he meant, except that she noted the dejected expression on Hawk’s face.
Rosalind quickly ushered Hawk to one of the empty tables in the back. “Where have you been?” she asked.
He shook his head slowly. “It’s a long story, and not fit for the public. I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon enough.”
Draven walked in and came toward them. “Do you want to explain to me why I have Richard Stiles in my office, demanding that you be arrested?”
Hawk closed his eyes, and Rosalind felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was clear that Hawk knew exactly what was going on, and from the defeated expression on his face, he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Whatever Stiles had against him, Rosalind didn’t believe he’d done it.
Then Hawk opened his eyes, looked up at Rosalind, and said, “I could use a bowl of that stew you’re serving. See if she’s willing to give me an extra couple of tortillas to go with it.” He gestured at one of the empty chairs. “Go ahead and sit, Draven. It’s going to be a long conversation, but I suppose I should just start out by telling you that I’ve been working very hard at doing the right thing. And it still obviously has me in trouble with the law.”
Draven looked up at her. “Why don’t you bring a bowl for me, and see if Nacho is willing to spare you for a while?”
Nacho was already there, and he nodded slowly, looking around the room. “Our lunch rush is over. Just a few stragglers and I suspect most of them are here for the show. I’ll just go around and collect their dollars.” He grinned, and Rosalind couldn’t help smiling even though the situation seemed serious.
She brought their stew, then sat, wishing she could take Hawk’s hand or something to show him that she was on his side. But instead, she folded her hands in her lap and looked up at him. “What happened?”
He looked over at Draven. “Why don’t you start by telling me what I’m suspected of doing?”
“He says you’ve been stealing from the railroad. And that you’re the one behind the sabotage. He said that you’re doing it to make it look like Joe Creary didn’t damage the bridge so that you could spend time with Rosalind, pretending to go after her father’s killer and woo her in the process.”
Rosalind banged her hand on the table. “That’s preposterous. Hawk wouldn’t do any such thing. And he’s too in love with his late wife to ever be interested in anyone like me. Besides, my father didn’t do it. I know that, Hawk knows that, and anyone with an ounce of intelligence should know that as well.”
Hawk looked over at her and gave her a tired smile. Then he turned his attention to Draven. “That was basically the conversation I had with him in his study today. I was going to see you first thing this morning, because last night, I saw two men cutting the ropes that bound the logs together for today’s work. The logs rolled into the ravine. Unfortunately, I was too far away to get a good look at the men, and whoever they were using as a lookout must have spotted me, because they were warned off. I thought telling Stiles was the right thing to do. But he doesn’t want to hear it. Something’s going on with that railroad, but I can’t figure out what.”
Nacho set the bowls of steaming stew in front of them. Rosalind smiled at him and said a quick word of thanks before he went to tend to their other customers.
Draven took a bite of soup, then looked up at Hawk. “I have to admit, I find it strange that he’d be angry about a few petty thefts and yet he wouldn’t ask me to investigate what happened at the bridge. Even if Joe did it and Horatio was involved, they had an accomplice. Stiles was telling anyone who would listen that he thinks it was you, but I’m not so sure. It doesn’t make sense to me that you would be so involved in making things right if you’d been the one to do it to begin with.”
Hawk looked relieved, and Rosalind gave him an encouraging smile.
“What does Stiles claim that Hawk stole?” she asked.
Draven let out a long sigh. “That’s exactly the problem. Apparently, one of the men told him that you had been gathering evidence of the crime supposedly to turn into me, but really you were just keeping, so they didn’t implicate you. But Stiles couldn’t tell me what the evidence was. So I have no idea what stolen property I’m even supposed to ask you for.”
Hawk nodded slowly. “I’ve given you all the evidence I’ve gathered. The only other thing I have is my personal journal, where I write things down, so I don’t forget.”
Draven’s brow furrowed. “Stiles did make mention of a logbook. He says he needs to examine it to make sure that you aren’t stealing any railroad secrets.”
Instead of commenting, Hawk dipped one of his tortillas into the suit and ate it. For a moment, the table was silent, except for the sounds of Hawk eating, and judging by the way he ate, Rosalind suspected he hadn’t eaten since the previous night.
“Do you really think that’s what he’s after?” Rosalind asked. “With as shady as everything is sounding, he’s probably just trying to see if Hawk is onto him, whatever it is that he’s up to.”
Draven stared at her for a moment, then he nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. I’d like to take a look at your journal, go over with you, see if there’s anything that makes sense to me. Maybe between all of us, we can find something that makes sense of the situation.”
Hawk didn’t answer. Once again, he closed his eyes, and Rosalind could see the pain on his face.
“Information about my wife’s case is in there,” Hawk said without opening his eyes.
If Stiles had specifically wanted to hurt Hawk, he’d found the right way to do it. And judging from the expression on Draven’s face, Draven knew it too.
“You only have to show me the parts you think are relevant. I’m not trying to pry. But something wrong is happening here, and you’re close to finding it. And what I can’t figure out is why Stiles is so intent on preventing that from happening.”
Hawk opened his eyes. “I’ll come by your office later.”
Then he looked over at Rosalind. “You can come, too. It seems that like it or not, you keep getting in the middle of all of it anyway. You’ve been angry with me for shutting you out, so I’m letting you in.”
Then he gave a weird shrug. “And since I’m out of a job, Draven doesn’t need to have anyone come watch the boarding house. I’ll take care of it myself. I’ve got a little money, so I can take care of my meals, and it’ll be a roof over my head, at least until you get paying guests.”
“I thought you wanted to be able to i
nvestigate the railroad,” Rosalind said. “How would you do that from the boarding house?”
Draven coughed. “Stiles made it clear that if Hawk stepped foot on railroad property, he’ll be shot on sight. A little extreme, borderline illegal, and out of my jurisdiction, so I can’t do anything other than warn you that he means business.”
She only had to glance at Hawk to confirm Draven’s words. Before they could continue the conversation, Gant joined them. They filled him in on what had happened so far, and Gant didn’t pipe in, but Rosalind noticed that his gaze was very firmly fixed on Hawk.
“What crazy fool response are you cooking up?” Gant finally said when Draven was done with his explanation.
Hawk shook his head. “Nothing. They’ll come to me. They won’t be able to help themselves.”
Draven let out a long, exasperated sigh. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. But just because I’m out of the way, it doesn’t mean they’re going to stop whatever they’re doing. The sabotage is going to continue, and I’ll have an alibi. So who then, is going to be the fall guy? And, given the violence against the boarding house, I suspect, as I know Draven does, that some of the people involved are from the railroad. Which means we sit and wait for the next attack.”
She’d never expected to see Marshal Charles S. Gant dumbfounded. But it was the only description she could give the expression upon his face.
“What about going after them?” he asked.
“Who am I going after?” Hawk asked. “That’s the crazy part. I have been investigating this case for two months now, and I have no idea who could be involved. I can’t just shoot up the whole railroad camp. But I will be waiting. With my guns.”
Draven shook his head slowly. “Of course you will be. But it would be really useful to us all if you could leave them alive so we can question them.”
Hawk chuckled. “No promises.” Then he shrugged. “But I do want answers, so I’m willing to do this one your way.”
Something about the exchange brought life back into Hawk, or maybe it was the fact that he’d finally finished his soup. Either way, the light was back in his eyes, and the challenge accepted.
“I think we all want answers,” Draven said. “Because the longer this goes on, the more unsafe I feel in this town.”
As Rosalind started cleaning up the table, Charlie came into the restaurant and made a beeline for them. The rest of the lunch crowd had left, leaving the restaurant empty, save for them. Nacho and Fina also came to sit with them.
“Stiles just left my office, demanding that I fire Draven for not taking his complaints about a known criminal seriously. Any guess who he was talking about?” Charlie said, looking straight at Hawk.
Once more, Draven launched into an explanation of what had transpired between him and Stiles, also allowing Hawk the chance to share his point of view. It was interesting, watching the conversation for the second time, to see how Hawk’s demeanor had changed. At first, he’d looked scared, defeated, and now, he was looking for a fight. Clearly, Stiles hadn’t known who he was dealing with when he thought to go on the attack against Hawk.
When they were finished, Charlie nodded slowly. “I am concerned about the situation and what it means for this town. On one hand, I am greatly troubled by the fact that we have saboteurs and murderers running loose. But I’m also concerned that Stiles has enough pull with the railroad that he could easily tell them it’s not worth the trouble to continue this rail line. If the railroad doesn’t come to Noelle, we’re all ruined.”
“What about all the silver?” Draven asked. “I thought that’s what saved this town.”
Charlie didn’t look like he had the same optimism. “It is. In a way. The problem with all the silver is that we have to get it out of the town for it to benefit the town. Sending it via wagon is both time-consuming and costly. More importantly, we’re getting to the point with the mine that I need more specialized equipment to get to the rest of the silver. It has to come by rail because there isn’t a wagon and team strong enough to carry it over the passes. In essence, if we can’t get a train here soon, Noelle is going to die.”
Rosalind hadn’t realized it was so serious. She’d known that a lot of people in this town were counting on getting the railroad, but she didn’t realize that even the silver industry was depending upon it.
“What benefit is it to Stiles if the railroad doesn’t come?” she asked.
Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s angry that I won’t give him a stake in the mine, so I suppose he thinks that he could purchase the mine for cheap if I can’t make it productive, but he would have to buy out all of the shareholders, not just me.”
“He doesn’t have the money to buy you out,” Gant said. “That’s where I’ve been. I went to Denver to look into Stiles’s finances. He is so far in debt that the only hope he has of getting out of debt is whatever bonus the railroad is promising him for completion. And even then, the way his wife spends money, I can’t see them surviving for long.”
It was fascinating, watching all of the men deep in thought as they processed what could possibly be going on.
“Could it be like the kidnapping?” Fina asked. “Maybe, as people have accused Rosalind of benefiting from the money the kidnappers paid her father to create a distraction, it was actually Stiles who was paid to create a distraction, and he had his men do it. If he needed the money, he could have easily done that to get the money and had a convenient scapegoat in the Crearys and Hawk. Which is why he doesn’t want anyone investigating it tying it back to him.”
The men all stared at Fina in astonishment, but Rosalind smiled. She’d known her friend was intelligent.
“You might be on to something,” Hawk said. “Gertrude is obsessed with making sure she has nicer things than Minnie Montgomery. When I was at the house today, she was ranting about the fact that the Montgomerys are about to move into their new home, located in the spot she wanted a house, that Sharp had promised them. Hugh had told me that even though he’d purchased the land for his house long before Sharp came into the picture, it took a great deal of maneuvering as well as threats of legal action from his in-laws, the Coveneys, to be able to keep his land. Stiles is under a lot of pressure to make his wife happy, so he’s probably willing to do just about anything to get the money to do so.”
Everyone murmured in agreement, but something still didn’t sit right with Rosalind. “But if it was just about Stiles making extra money by helping with the kidnapping, why would he persist in attacking our family? Why would the sabotage on the railroad continue? Wouldn’t he be content with his money and the fact that he has a scapegoat? Yes, he needs to continue pointing the finger, but he doesn’t need to keep threatening our family or damaging the boarding house. He doesn’t need to keep damaging the railroad.”
None of the others seemed to be paying attention to what she said, except Hawk who looked at her with those probing eyes of his and nodded. “I keep thinking that there is something bigger to all of this than the kidnapping. I know the kidnapping is part of it, but you’re right. We don’t have all of the pieces to the puzzle yet. Still, I think this is the right direction.”
Draven looked over at Gant. “I want you to investigate Stiles and any connection he might have to the kidnapper, or the Fink family.”
“His wife as well,” Hawk added. “And, even though I don’t think this has anything to do with the Coveney family, see if you can find any connection to them as well. Gertrude has to be at least a decade older than Minnie, but her jealousy of her blinds her.”
When the news of Minnie’s baby came out, it was likely to make things worse. Rosalind wanted to say something, but she didn’t yet have Minnie’s permission to share. Her parents were coming for Thanksgiving, and she wanted to tell them first, in person.
It seemed like a long time to wait, especially since Minnie was still so ill with morning sickness, and the Creary sisters had been working so hard to help her keep her sec
ret while trying to move into their new home. The Montgomerys had so many friends wanting to help and be a part of the move, but it was becoming harder and harder to find excuses why Minnie wasn’t her usual chipper self.
But maybe, keeping Minnie’s secret, at least for now, would be for the best. She’d overheard Gertrude in Cobb’s Penn asking for a particular herb she heard helped with fertility. Then Gertrude had tearfully confessed to the friend accompanying her that she was desperate to have a baby. If Gertrude was already unhappy and desperate, giving her one more reason to be in that state wouldn’t bode well for any of them. When Avis, the proprietress, had told Gertrude they didn’t keep that urban stock, Gertrude had knocked over one of the displays.
When she got home later, she’d speak to Minnie about at least letting Hawk in on her secret and why.
11
On the way out of Nacho’s, Hawk stopped Gant and pulled him aside. “I didn’t want to make a big deal of this in the restaurant, in case I’m wrong, but I need you to do me a favor.”
Gant groaned. “Not Beth again.”
On one hand, it hurt that Gant didn’t have that same level of grief over his sister’s death and that he’d be annoyed about any request to search for her killer. But at least he would be able to get Gant some satisfaction in it not being about that.
“No,” he said. “I am one hundred percent focused on this case. Last night, talking to Rosalind, she let slip that my friend Reggie had told her that he was a deserter. Now, I’ve known Reggie for years, and he hasn’t told me that. One of the other men on the crew has told me his story of desertion, and it sounds a lot like what Reggie told Rosalind.”
Gant stared at him. “You want me to have them arrested for desertion?”
“No. I agree with the one man’s reasons, which is why I’m not naming him to a federal marshal. But there’s something suspicious about the story Reggie gave to Rosalind versus what he’s told me about his past. There’s no reason Stiles would have known about my journal unless someone close to me told him about it. And I find it suspicious that every time I think I’m getting close to answers, I’m somehow thwarted. The more I think about it, the more I realize that someone close to me has been giving Stiles or his associates valuable information about me. Knowing that Reggie is telling someone else’s story to Rosalind makes me wonder what else he’s lying about.”
Rosalind: A Thanksgiving Day Bride (Brides of Noelle Book 8) Page 13
