by Duane Boehm
“Make sure that you don’t tell anyone or you might get us both killed. If I were you, I wouldn’t cross the street to go home here by the saloons. I’d walk back a street and then go down a couple of blocks before coming back and crossing where nobody will be. It’s best to be cautious,” Gideon said.
“I’ll do that. You go on and get out of here and I will follow shortly,” the banker said.
Gideon grabbed the ledger and slipped out the door, walking briskly back to his horse. He rode in such a state of elation that the trip back home seemed only to take a minute. Walking noisily into the cabin, he discovered Joann still up and reading.
“I have found the buried treasure,” he said and held the ledger up for her to see.
Chapter 22
Gideon and Joann worked into the early morning hours going through the ledger. Gideon poured over its content while Joann made notes for him. The journal entries revealed a ring of prostitution bigger than anything Gideon had ever imagined. Six saloons were involved, stocked with girls bought from orphanages and farms. The saloons were deeded to the men that ran each saloon, such as Cal Simpson, and the profits were funneled to Druthers for deposit into accounts in a Denver bank for each of the two owners. After Gideon finished scouring the last page, Joann handed him her notes, and he again read the names of the ringleaders. Learning that Mr. Druthers had been one of the actual owners was surprising enough, but Gideon was absolutely floored to find out that Henry Starks was the other one.
In the morning, Gideon stopped by the general store and told the mayor that he needed to talk to him at the jail. An hour later, Mayor Hiram Howard strolled into the sheriff’s office.
“What’s going on, Gideon?” Hiram asked nonchalantly.
Hiram was obviously in a good mood and Gideon hated to ruin it, but he had no doubt that he would. “You might as well sit,” Gideon said and waited until the mayor took a seat. “I’m going to need Finnie as my deputy for a while. I’m shutting down the Lucky Horse today and Mary will let the two whores from there stay with her. They might need protection.”
“What? Protection from whom? It doesn’t look very good to shut down one saloon and move the whores to the other one. People will think you are helping your friend. What is going on?” Hiram said.
“I’ve known for a while that those girls are slaves bought from a farm and an orphanage and that Druthers had a hand in it. I found his ledger last night. Henry Starks is his business partner. He killed Druthers and has tried to kill me twice and he might try to kill those girls. I’m arresting him today,” Gideon said.
The color drained from Hiram’s face as he rubbed his forehead. “Sweet Jesus. I think you must be bad luck. This town has had nothing but trouble ever since you took the job. This will get the town in an uproar.”
The mayor’s comments pissed off Gideon. “It’s not the job I envisioned either and I’m getting a little tired of people trying to kill me. Do you want a law abiding town or not?” he said tersely.
“Are you sure that Henry is mixed up with this? Where is this ledger?” the mayor asked.
“I can’t prove he murdered Druthers, but that ledger sure is damning and I have it hid for safekeeping. This is a lot bigger than Last Stand. I’m going to talk to District Attorney Kile and see what he wants to do. They owned more saloons and had more slaves in other towns,” Gideon said.
“Oh, sweet Jesus. We will be the talk of Colorado. Should you wait to see what Kile wants to do?” Hiram said.
“Probably, but those girls have waited for me to help them long enough. I’m going to do right by them,” Gideon answered.
“Do what you have to do, but you better be right or we will all be out of a job,” Hiram said and stood. “You certainly ruined my day.”
Gideon watched the door shut behind the mayor. He stared at it and wondered about the mess into which he had gotten himself. Back when he had taken the job of sheriff, he had envisioned breaking up the occasional bar fight when the trail herds moved through and resolving an occasional dispute. The job had proved to be much bigger.
Having not actually had a chance to hide the ledger, Gideon grabbed it out of his drawer and walked to the District Attorney’s office. Gideon had not had the chance to get to know Stephen Kile well, but he liked him. Kile sat at his desk studying some papers when Gideon walked in the office.
“Sheriff, what brings you here?” Kile asked as he dropped his papers and stood to shake Gideon’s hand.
Gideon handed Kile the ledger and began explaining everything that he knew about the crimes. The attorney perused the ledger as Gideon talked, glancing up upon hearing some of the more shocking details.
“That’s quite a case that you have here. Since the other saloons are in other districts, I could refer it to the Attorney General or we could prosecute it here on what went on just at the Lucky Horse. I probably need to write the U.S. District Attorney since it involves buying girls out of state. It really should be theirs if they want it. I doubt we’ll ever have enough evidence to prosecute for the murder of Mr. Druthers or the attempts on your life,” Kile said.
“I doubt it either. I’m making the arrests today. Those girls have suffered long enough,” Gideon said.
“I agree. The judge is still in town for today. Let me take the ledger and see if I can get a court order to freeze those accounts. Two accounts with twenty thousand dollars apiece is a lot of money. I’m afraid it might disappear if we don’t,” Kile said.
“That sounds good, but I want the ledger back to hide after you are done. They’ve tried to kill me twice to keep me from finding it and I fear that they will try to get it now. I’ll make sure that Starks understands that I have it and that you don’t know where it is. That should keep you and your family safe. I’ll tell someone where it is in the event that something happens to me,” Gideon said.
“I appreciate that. Just come by later on and get it. You’re an honor to your profession, Sheriff,” Kile said.
After leaving the district attorney, Gideon walked into the Last Chance. No one occupied the bar so he opened the door to the back room. Mary and Finnie were sitting at the table eating eggs and giggling.
“Sorry to interrupt the party. I need to talk to both of you,” Gideon said.
Looking over her shoulder, Mary said, “Don’t be silly. Come join us. Can I make you some eggs?”
“No, I’m good, but I’ll help myself to some of that coffee,” Gideon said, walking to the coffeepot and pouring a cup before sitting down across from Finnie.
“What’s going on?” Finnie asked.
“I found the ledger and I’m going to need you as a deputy for a while. We’re going to arrest Cal and a rancher name Henry Starks,” Gideon said.
Mary interrupted Gideon before he could continue. “Oh my, I wouldn’t have guessed him in a million years,” she said.
“Yeah, you finally made a wrong judgement of a man. He’s not the good guy that you thought he was,” Gideon said.
“He certainly had me fooled,” Mary said.
“I hope that the girls from the Lucky Horse can stay here until this gets sorted out. I don’t know what else to do with them,” Gideon said.
“Yes, of course. They can stay in my old room. It doesn’t look like I have it in me to hire my replacement anyway. If I knew what to do with Delta, I would get out of the whoring business altogether,” Mary said.
“That’s what I thought. You’ll have this place so respectable one of these days that it won’t be fit for the likes of Finnie and me,” Gideon said.
“Speak for yourself. I clean up just fine. There’s an aristocrat waiting in me to spring on Last Stand,” Finnie said to the amusement of Gideon and Mary.
“I didn’t even know that you knew such big words. Come on over to the jail when you finish your job here and we’ll get started. It should make for an interesting day,” Gideon said before taking a last sip of coffee and exiting through the back door.
Finnie ambled over to t
he jail a couple of hours later and was surprised to find Zack with Gideon. Gideon had just returned from Ethan’s place. He had gone there to recruit Zack to help with the arrest of Starks. The rancher had a lot of hired hands that could present a problem if they so desired and Gideon wanted to even the odds a little.
“Come for a boxing lesson? I still owe you for that clip to the chin,” Finnie teased.
“No, Gideon wants to see if he can get me shot along with you two. He only asks me to be his deputy these days when there’s a chance to get killed,” Zack said.
“I know that you have your hands full helping Ethan since he was shot and Finnie needed a job. I figured that we would go arrest Starks first. That way we won’t have to worry about somebody running to tell him about the Lucky Horse. Let’s go for a ride,” Gideon said.
Starks’ ranch sat an hour’s ride south of town. It adjoined the land of Abby’s ex–husband, Marcus Hanson. The country on this side of Last Stand trailed away from the mountains and provided some of the finest grazing. The abundant grass stood lush and tall, making a sea of green as it swayed in the breeze. The sky was a cloudless blue and the temperature would have been ideal for a day of pleasure riding.
Turning down the ranch road, Gideon said, “I don’t know what to expect, but if this all goes to hell, make sure that we kill Starks before they get us. That bastard is going to pay now or later.”
As they rode up to the ranch, three cowboys were working horses in the corral and a couple more men were mingling around the barn. Tying the horses to brass hitching posts, Gideon lead the way to the door of the massive house. A maid answered the door.
“Ma’am, I’m Sheriff Johann and I would like a word with Mr. Starks,” Gideon said.
Henry Starks appeared from a side room. Dismissing the woman, he said, “Gideon, what brings you all the way out here? Looks like you thought you needed backup.”
“Henry, you’re under arrest for slave trafficking and if I can prove it, the murder of Mr. Druthers and the attempts on my life,” Gideon said.
Starks took a step back. “You have a lot of nerve riding out here to arrest me. Don’t you know with whom you are dealing? You’ll never be able to prove anything,” Starks said.
“Did you really think that you could try to kill me twice and also bribe me with the marshal’s job? Neither of them worked,” Gideon said.
Starks smiled. “You’ll never be able to prove any of that, but you’re a fool for not letting me help you become the marshal.”
Drawing his revolver, Gideon said, “That will be for the court to decide. I’m warning you right now that if any of your cowboys try to stop us that you’ll be the first to die. And when we get out there, you had better tell them to keep their nose out of things because I swear to you, if anybody comes to harm while you are in jail, I will kill you myself and suffer the consequences of murder. Two attempts on my life or anybody else’s is about my limit,” Gideon said.
“You came back to Last Stand after all these years acting like you own the place. You’ll get yours,” Starks said as his wife entered the room.
Gideon pointed his Colt at Starks’ nose. “That I may, but I swear to God so will you,” he said and moved behind the rancher, grabbing the back of Starks’ jacket and shoving him towards the door.
“We got company,” Zack said as he looked out the door.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry that you had to see this, but your husband is under arrest,” Gideon said to Sanders’ wife. The woman had grown visibly pale and pressed her hands to her mouth.
Seven men were standing outside with rifles and blocking an exit to the horses. One of them was Starks’ son, Henry Jr., that everybody called Hank. Finnie and Zack were carrying their rifles and both chambered a shell.
“I’ll go out first with him and you two follow. Don’t get trigger happy and I think that we can get through this,” Gideon said as he pointed his revolver at Starks’ head and shoved him out onto the porch. Seven rifles pointed back at them.
“Mr. Starks, I suggest that you talk to your men,” Gideon said.
“Everybody needs to put their guns down and let us through. We will win this battle in the court of law and not out here. You’ll just get me killed,” Starks said.
The seven men lowered their guns, but still held them gripped with both hands. Gideon studied their faces, not convinced that the message had been received.
“You men best sit your rifles and pistols on the ground. I swear to you that Mr. Starks will be the first to die if you try something. Now put them down and get him his horse,” Gideon barked out at them.
The cowboys looked at each other until Hank complied with Gideon’s orders and the others followed. Two of the ranch hands walked to the barn and soon returned with a saddled horse.
“Tell them the rest,” Gideon said to Starks.
“Men, I want you all to stay out of this. Don’t do anything that could jeopardize me. My lawyer will handle this and get me out of it. This sheriff seems to have it in for me and assures me that he will kill me if anybody comes to harm. Hank is in charge. Just do as you’re told until I return,” Starks said.
The men parted as Gideon pushed Starks to the horses. Finnie and Zack followed closely, turning to keep an eye on things as Starks and Gideon mounted their horses. Gideon held the reins of Starks’ horse and kept the horse beside his own with his Colt still pointed at the rancher as they began riding. The two deputies followed on their horses, sitting turned in the saddle as they rode away.
The four men rode back to town without incident. Starks never uttered a word on the journey. Gideon took a back street through town, not wishing to cause the spectacle that arresting Mr. Druthers had caused. Coming to the jail from the backside of town, Gideon had Henry Starks locked in a cell before anyone had seemed to notice.
Gideon shut the door to the cell room as he came out. “Grab the shotguns, Finnie. I’d love to have an excuse to blow the hell out of the Lucky Horse. We can go shut the saloon down and arrest Cal and then walk the girls over to the Last Chance before we have lunch there. We only have two shotguns, Zack, but maybe you will get an opportunity to try out your new boxing skills.”
“I’d just as soon not have to try them out,” Zack said skeptically.
The men marched across the street and entered the Lucky Horse as if they owned the place. Cal Simpson stood behind the bar. His facial expression turned from mid–laugh to a grimace at the moment he glanced up at the men standing in the doorway. Gideon pointed the shotgun at him.
“Cal Simpson, you are under arrest for slave trafficking. This establishment is shut down until further notice,” Gideon called out loud enough for everyone inside to hear.
“You never know when to quit. You’re going to fool around and get yourself killed yet,” Cal said.
“Is that a threat, Cal? If it is, well then you are going to force me to defend myself. How goes it?” Gideon said.
Cal raised his hands in the air and did not speak.
One of the two whores sat at a table having drinks with a cowboy. Gideon looked at her and said, “Where is the other girl?”
“She is with a cowboy,” she said.
“Go fetch her and if you have any trouble with her customer, holler down the stairs,” Gideon commanded. The girl jumped up and ran up the stairs.
Finnie walked in amongst the tables and yelled, “Everybody get out of here right now.”
The patrons wasted little time exiting the saloon. By the time that they had cleared the room, the two whores had returned with a cowboy still buttoning his shirt and looking perturbed on his way out the door.
“I’ll walk Cal to the jail and you two can wait here with the girls until I get back,” Gideon said.
“Where are the keys?” Finnie asked Cal.
Nodding his head toward the bottles of whiskey, Cal said, “Right there by the bottles.”
Cal walked out behind the bar and towards the door with Gideon right behind him.
&n
bsp; “Cal, I want you to think about something. Henry is going to hire a lawyer for the two of you that is going to try to talk you into going along with whatever is best for Henry. If I were you, I would go along with what they say until you get a chance to talk to the district attorney and then I would make a deal with him to tell all you know in exchange for leniency. Otherwise, they will hang you out to dry,” Gideon said as they walked towards the jail.
“I suppose that you care about my best interest. I guess you feel guilty for breaking my nose,” Cal said sarcastically.
“No, not at all, but I damn sure well would like to see Henry pay for his crimes and not you. You are just a dog turd in the grand scheme of all this,” Gideon said.
Cal shut up and remained silent as Gideon locked him in a cell across the aisle from Starks. Heading straight back to the Lucky Horse, Gideon found Finnie excitedly trying to explain to the two girls what they needed to do. Neither of them seemed to be buying the idea.
Gideon sized up the situation and decided that a little authoritarian persuasion was in order. “You two girls go get what you need to get by for a couple of days. We can get the rest later. Mary is going to take care of you. Hurry, we have to get on the move,” he said sternly. The two whores exchanged glances before marching up the stairs to their rooms.
Finnie looked on in astonishment. “That’s quite impressive. I’ve been arguing with them since you walked out the door. Does that work on Abby too?”
“Hell, no, that doesn’t work on Abby. You try that on her or Mary and you’re liable to get your head blown off. These girls here are used to taking orders. I wouldn’t have done it, but I wasn’t in the mood to stand around all day debating the situation. It’s for their own good anyway,” Gideon said.
“What do we do now?” Zack asked.
“We’ll help the ladies carry their belongings across the street and lock the place. I expect everyone will be running around like chickens with their heads cut off and spreading all the news,” Gideon said.
