“Have you slept yet?” she asks him.
“No, ma’am I haven’t,” he admits.
“How’d you stay in that library all night long?”
“I got to hidin’ when they closed, then hid again when they opened this morning.”
“You need to get some rest,” she tells him.
“It’s not necessary. I don’t sleep much as it is,” he admits.
“Would you like some coffee then?” she asks him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How do you take it?”
“A little cream and a little sugar.”
“What did you find?”
“I’ll wait until Princeton awakes but, ma’am, I do believe I’ve cracked it wide open.”
“I had a feelin’ that you would. There ain’t no quit in you, is there?”
“No, ma’am, I don’t give up.”
‘There wasn’t any quit in Hank either, based on the stories passed down and there ain’t any in Preston either. Some people wonder if it’s nature or nurture that defines who a man is but in this family, nature always wins. That’s why the only part that never made no sense other than the location of this fabled treasure was why Hank turned himself in, it wasn’t in his character. The reason given was always that he and Jeremiah had to protect their families and turning themselves in was the only way they could. But Hank with his mean streak, he would’ve killed the governor if he had to and anyone that came for his family or Jeremiah’s family. Giving himself up, why they could have hanged him for everything that he did and, if he was gonna go out, he would have chosen to go out shootin’.”
“Well, I pieced the story together and I know the ending that’s been passed down is much different from what actually happened.”
“Why, what do you mean?”
“When Princeton wakes, I’ll reveal everything. Hank Wright had a plan and he was so far ahead of everyone at the time, I’m not sure anyone really understood him. He was operating here,” Marshall says as he lifts his right hand high, “and everyone else was down here,” Marshall says as he lowers his hand to the ground.
“Is that how you feel about yourself too?”
“I’m a humble man, ma’am, I would never say that. I’m just an ordinary man with a particular skillset and keen observation.”
“Then I’ll say it for you. This has been a mystery among the four families for close to one hundred and fifty years now. If you was able to solve it with a day and an all-nighter in the library, along with their personal effects, then it is safe to say you are operating on a higher level than the rest of us.”
“I appreciate the compliment; just don’t hold what I found against me. The answers weren’t just at the library though, I had to make a trip to the reservation.”
“I won’t hold what you found against you and neither will Princeton. The truth is never easy. Despite the front he puts up and his gregarious nature, he really is a sensitive and compassionate boy, he’s headstrong and he’s quarrelsome but I’m sure, under your guidance, he will mature. Hell, maybe you can turn him into an honest man, a truthful man.”
“Some things may be beyond my control. No, but he is curious and he cares, he’s brave but he’s undisciplined. I aim to bring him back safe but this man that we seek is elusive and extremely dangerous. I’m sure you heard the story about those heads found outside of Springfield?”
“Yes, it was awful. Things like that don’t happen around here.”
“That was his handiwork. I nearly caught him years ago, before he began his tear across this state. I have made it my personal mission to see him brought to justice.”
“A man like that, he may not let you take him alive.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of ma’am. But that’s for us to worry about; you make an excellent cup of coffee.”
“Young man like you, stable man, you’d make a good husband someday.”
“I’m not as stable as you think, ma’am. I was married once, it didn’t work out.”
“Why is that?”
“She ran off for California when things weren’t going well.”
“That’s her loss. Being a woman, I can tell you this. We change our minds all the time. Princeton’s father never had to worry about money, that money passed down the Wright family line has always been there, he was gifted working with his hands, the man could fix anything, he understood intimately the workings of any machine. In the end, he had back problems; his body fell apart on him. There was no fixing that, the Wright men all tend to die fairly young, none have lived to sixty. But, well I’m losing the thread of what I was trying to tell you, when we met we were at a dance outside beneath the stars, held on a farm, we danced that night but I didn’t know what I wanted, I told him I was too young to marry, I nearly ruined it before our relationship even began but being around him made me happy, when I was with him I felt like my heart might burst, eventually I figured out he was what I wanted all along. My family didn’t approve of him but that never bothered him, he always believed in himself, I never wanted to have kids but he talked me into it and we had Sterling, raising him was like having to raise three children, my hair turned gray, even though I never wanted children, it was the best decision I ever made. With his father gone, he is the light that I look to, I wish he would think more about his future, give up on the explorin’ and the wanderin’ but I know eventually he’ll find his way. My point is, women, we are inconstant, we can have everything in front of us that we ever wanted but we may turn our back on it, I nearly turned my back on the love of my life because I was afraid, I didn’t want to have children because of that same fear, but I decided not to live my life in fear. It sounds like your wife was afraid and she left a good man because of it but that is her mistake and not yours. She will regret it if she has any sense but you’ll find love again and it will be with a woman who deserves it.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“No need to thank me. It’s just the truth. People deserve to have their faith rewarded and I have faith in you.”
“I hope I can prove you right,” Marshall says, he helps her make breakfast; they make omelets and hash browns, then they fry up some bacon. Chester comes down first, he yawns loudly, he holds his head. “What happened?” Marshall asks.
“That boy kept making me drink whiskey, I feel like I’m half-dead,” Chester admits.
“I told you to lay low, you didn’t listen. What time did you two get back?”
“I don’t even remember what time it was,” Chester admits.
“It was two in the mornin’,” Bernice responds. “They came in laughin’ with their arms around each other, probably woke up the whole damn neighborhood. Have some coffee, there’s orange juice in the fridge,” she tells Chester.
“When did you get back?” Chester asks Marshall.
“This morning, closer to noon I guess,” Marshall responds.
“You spent the whole night in that library?”
“They didn’t know I was there.”
“You seem to have a knack for that.”
“I can disappear when I need to; it’s an important skill to learn. If you want, I will teach you.”
“Breakfast is ready!” Bernice shouts out, the cousins come down about twenty minutes later but Princeton doesn’t. Bernice fills a bucket of water and heads upstairs; she dumps it on his head.
“What the fuck, god damn it! Ma, what in the name of hell is you doin’?”
“We have company and I called you to breakfast. Now you shake off that whiskey drunk and drag your ass downstairs ‘cause if I have to do it, I will,” she says sternly. “And watch your tongue around me,” she says as she stomps back downstairs.
“That woman may be the devil in disguise,” Princeton says to himself, he staggers out of bed and heads downstairs, he grabs a towel and wipes off his face and his black hair; his cousins are laughing at him. “I will put my boot up both of your asses if you don’t quit jerkin’ around. You know not to trifle w
ith ol’ Princeton. Detective, when the hell did you get back?”
“I got back this morning,” Marshall responds.
“Mornin’, hell you was gone all night?” Princeton asks.
“Yes, but the important thing is, I discovered where that gold is hidden.”
“You cracked it?”
“Oh yes, cracked it wide open.”
“I knew you would. God damn it, I knew you would. So spill it,” Princeton says.
“It gets complicated. First, we should eat, then send the cousins upstairs. Remember, you asked for the truth and I found it but it may change the way you think about what you heard about Hank.”
“That story never set right with me anyway, in all honesty, at least not the end of it anyway.”
“You were right to doubt it. But the truth shall be revealed, first we eat together, you boys shake off your hangovers,” Marshall advises. They sit down at the table and eat breakfast together.
“Now, this man,” Princeton says as he points at Chester with the handle of his fork, “he can put away some whiskey.”
“I probably have one hundred and eighty pounds on you,” Chester says, “if not more.”
“He tells me about his Ma, I told him about my Pa, before long we forgot that our whole purpose was to find fornication with unsavory women, not unsavory to the eye mind you but unsavory in their character.”
“Now, boy, you watch your mouth at my table. There will be no talk of fornication here,” she demands.
“I’m gonna fornicate on your face,” Cliff tells Princeton.
“I’ll rip your pecker off,” Princeton says.
“You’d needs help to rip mine off an account of its size and girth,” Stafford says.
“Then I’ll chop yours off and feed it to the Cumberson’s dog,” Princeton says.
“I will get up from this table and beat all three of you within an inch of your life,” Bernice says, her flushed face is a deep vibrant red. “We are civilized folk and you are embarrassing yourself and me in front of our guests, I will not stand for that. Now do not test me for you know better,” she says and glares at them. Everyone is silent while they finish their breakfast.
“That was excellent, ma’am,” Marshall says.
“Yes, it was very good,” Chester concurs.
“Thank you, gentlemen, now let me tidy up, you two head upstairs or go out in the yard and play,” she says to Cliff and Stafford. Then run outside the back door hollering, Marshall opens each box and looks at the keys, he takes his own papers out along with Hank’s map, Princeton watches him eagerly, when Bernice is done putting the dishes away, Marshall asks them all to take a seat, he looks at Bernice, Chester, and Princeton, he takes out Hank’s diary and the letters, then he looks at his own papers before he begins to speak.
“Let’s start with the map, it’s in code and each man had piece of it, but here’s the kicker, even if you knew the code, it wouldn’t help you discover the location,” Marshall explains.
“Why is that?” Princeton asks.
“Because you’d have to know Cherokee and I only know that because Hank’s journal is written in Cherokee. Match up the combined code with the Cherokee alphabet and the map starts to make sense. However, there is a problem.”
“What’s the problem?” Bernice asks.
“The map doesn’t show where they originally stashed the gold. And, according to his journal, it’s not there anymore anyway.”
“How the hell did he move it?”
“I have an answer to that too. A piece of that same code was on the back of each letter he wrote to Suzanne and Sterling, alone it would make no sense but put together, it reveals their original location for their haul. He wasn’t going behind the back of any of the members of his gang because they all knew where the stash was, he was intending to leave clues for their heirs. The map never made sense to you because of the code and the markers refer to Cherokee names for places. Now by reading those letters and the correspondence of the rest of the gang along with his journal, the story you heard about Hank and Jeremiah’s capture was only the beginning, records indicate Henry Wright was hanged; only the man they hanged wasn’t him.”
“Then who was he?” Bernice asks.
“To answer that, we have to back up a bit, Hank went to Jeremiah’s house, they moved his family yet again, Hank gave the boys and the boys alone instructions and they followed them unfailingly. After Hank has his wife and son move again, he and Jeremiah would turn themselves in, only then were the boys allowed to proceed with their plan, the first involved them moving the gold, an arduous task that would take them three months, the second would be to aid in the escape of their father. Hank knew that offering himself up wouldn’t necessarily guarantee his family’s safety, but it would buy them time to hide just as it did for Jeremiah’s family, Hank knew the governor could not be trusted and, sure enough, though his terms were clear and in writing, soon after Hank was captured, he was sent to trial, convicted of the murder of fifty-three people, most were those soldiers on that night he was shot up, twenty train robberies, thirty bank robberies, ten stagecoach robberies, and a long list of other transgressions. He was set to hang in seven days, but there was a plan in place before he even held up his hands upon capture, Zeke and five other men that Hank never named, rigged a wall of his cell with dynamite.”
Hank is sitting in his cell, watching his captors with his fiery gaze, the wall of the holding cell crumbles, debris flies at Hank as he flies back and hits the wall of his cell. “Why, I was beginning to think you forgot about me,” Hank tells Zeke.
“This was the plan, here’s your guns,” Zeke said from behind his black mask, he tosses Hank’s belt and holsters at him.
“I think I is deaf in my left ear,” Hank says, he pulls his guns out of the holsters and shoots his dazed captors through the bars of his cell, then he walks through the rubble and into the bright moonlight. “Boys, I’ve been survivin’ on bread an’ water, I reckon I’d kill a man for a steak dinner. Where’s my mask?”
Zeke hands him his black mask and tells him, “That’s not necessary, my Ma will feed you.”
Marshall continues the story, “Now Governor Shepherd was up for re-election, news of the escape of Handsome Hank would put a damper on his political ambitions so seven days later, as scheduled, they hung a horse thief and two-bit criminal named Gus Silfer, brought him out to the middle of town with a black bag over his head and they hung him, no one questioned it. The governor sent a squad after Hank Wright but Hank killed them all, then with the Wilkins boys, Zeke, and the five unnamed men, they freed Jeremiah. Before the election, this new band killed the entourage protecting Governor Shepherd while they were en-route to a town hall meeting and on a rural moonlit road, Hank walked up to the governor’s carriage.”
“Now get out of that carriage you foul-mouthed coward,” Hank tells him, the governor doesn’t respond, Hank jerks the carriage door open, the governor has a revolver in his hand, Hank takes the butt of his gun and knocks the governor’s revolver free, he jerks the governor by the collar of his expensive blue three-piece suit and tosses him onto the dirt road, the governor sees his men dead and a gang with black masks surrounding him, Hank has his black handkerchief on too. “Now you sought to use my family to get to me and here, you’ve got me, now what do you want to do about it, you chicken hawk?”
“We can be civil about this and work out a deal,’ Governor Shepherd says.
“I am being civil, if I wasn’t I would have burned down your home and killed your family, just like my home was burned down and just like you would have done if given the chance. We tried a deal before, you didn’t hold up your end, remember?” Hank asks him.
“I never went after your family or Jeremiah’s either.”
“That was only part of the bargain. Lifetime in jail was what you promised me, no public execution, no public trial, but you lied. I know it’s in your nature as a politician, you lie like other people draw breath.”
> “What the fuck did you expect? All the killing and robbing, you thought it could all just be swept away?”
“You made an agreement but your word is worth nothin’. You killed a man in my place to save you humiliation.”
“My men will not let you get away with this.”
“Look around you, governor. Your men are dead.”
“You mean to kill me; do you think you’ll just be able to walk away from that?”
“Everyone thinks I’m dead, I intend to keep it that way. Besides, after what we do to you, no one will ever find the body.”
“We can make a deal, look, I’ve got power.”
“The kind of power you have is of no use to me and of no use here. Your men tortured me, the ones who didn’t piss their pants when they saw my face, they got nothin’ from me. They whipped me, cut part of my ear off, when they got the hot iron out I wanted to tell ‘em they shouldn’t even bother but they did it and it got them nothin’. Your kind of power only holds sway with the weak-minded and the elderly. But see, I learned twenty years ago, maybe even before that, in this life you become a monster or you’re just like everybody else. Now how boring is that?”
“You will burn in hell, you sick motherfucker,” the governor says, his breathing is quick.
“Then wait for me because if there is a hell, when I get there I will spend eternity teaching you the art of pain. The first lesson you’re going to learn in this life,” Hank says as he pulls down his black mask. “Take a good look, I am well-versed in pain, I will be your best teacher. Now you don’t have the character to survive past lesson one so the rest will have to come later, should we ever meet again, but the first lesson is no matter how bad it gets, you just bite down, don’t bite your tongue off mind you, and don’t scream. But that’s only half of lesson one, the rest you’ll have to experience first. I’m afraid there simply aren’t the words to do it justice, you have to feel it. Let’s begin.”
Detective Tumbler and the Man in Brown (Detective Tumbler Trilogy Book 2) Page 18
