by Scott Connor
Nathan nodded, but Jeff grunted with irritation, and he continued to grumble as they headed to the door. When they were outside he loomed over Nathan.
‘Why didn’t you ask him more questions?’ he demanded.
‘Because you weren’t being subtle.’ Nathan considered his friend until he acknowledged this fact with a rueful smile.
‘I leave being subtle and being curious to you.’ He slapped a large fist against his thigh. ‘And I’ll tell you one thing for sure – I don’t like mysteries.’
‘Then don’t you worry, my friend. That bartender gave me an idea as to how we solve our mystery.’ Nathan winked. ‘As it’s not subtle, I reckon you’ll like it.’
‘What’s that?’
Nathan didn’t reply immediately as he considered the swinging batwings, noting they were incapable of being locked, then looked past the deserted and doorless room beside the saloon until he noticed a store. This room had a large open door.
Nathan pointed. ‘It’s simple. You do what you did in the saloon and ask the storekeeper unsubtle questions about work. I’ll do the rest.’
Jeff provided a low chuckle then a nod. Five minutes later he emerged from the store, shaking his head, and reported that the storekeeper didn’t need help.
Nathan reported that while Jeff was distracting the storekeeper, he’d discovered that the key didn’t fit in the door to the store.
‘I guess we’ll just have to try again,’ Jeff said with a sigh, ‘and keep on trying until we do find which door will accept the key.’
Nathan looked around, totting up just how many buildings were here.
‘Hopefully we can try them all before Wednesday,’ he said.
For the next three hours they worked their way around the parade-ground, then around the buildings outside the gates. They weren’t successful.
Most of the doors to the rooms within the fort were large and were sturdy enough to need a key of the size they had. But the buildings outside the fort were mainly clapboard shacks with no way to keep anyone out, not that they contained anything worth taking.
Nevertheless, they were methodical. Each time, Jeff told the true tale of their search for work, as Nathan offered an untroubling smile while searching for a door, or anything, that could provide a home for the key.
If he saw a likely target, he’d flash Jeff a signal, and Jeff would take that as his cue to ramble on until he’d provided a distraction that’d let Nathan try the key in the lock he’d found.
As the day wore on, Nathan’s and Jeff’s attentions increasingly returned to the central tower and its surrounding buildings.
Few people passed by the center of the fort. So they reckoned it was the kind of defendable location where someone might have hidden $10,000.
They arced their way in towards this area. As they walked past the jailhouse door they saw that the only way into the tower and mayor’s office was through the double doors at the base of the tower.
The two guards who stood beside this doorway watched them approach in a casual way, although Nathan reckoned this was a studied form of unconcern.
Opposite these buildings were the stables. At a steady pace they walked beside this building, while debating in low but casual tones what they should do.
They decided they should abandon the approach they had used so far. The guards might refuse to let them enter and afterwards they would view everything they did with suspicion. They needed to sneak into those buildings unseen.
Maintaining their casual stroll, they headed past the open door without looking at the guards. Beyond the tower, a wall arced away from them and when they’d passed the stables, they walked on until they were out of view of the guards.
They discovered that the wall met the main wall of the fort and in this area there were no other buildings. They considered the imposing, blank walls with the back door to the stables being the only opening that they could see.
After a quick debate, they turned on their heels and headed back to the tower.
It was then that they had a spot of luck.
A wagon had pulled up outside the tower and both guards had their backs to them. One guard was talking to the driver while the other peered at the load on the back of the wagon.
With this fortunate occurrence having distracted the guards, they hurried to the doorway, then side-stepped inside. Although he was hurrying, Nathan noted that the lock on the open doors was too large to accept the key.
They walked through a short tunnel, which opened out onto a plaza. It was the same rectangular shape as the parade-ground outside, but smaller.
At the end of the plaza there was the ruined shell of a mission, the tower was to the left, another door to the jailhouse was to the right, and the mayor’s office loomed over them above the doorway.
After looking around the plaza Nathan turned to the tower and the doorway that led to it. A flight of steps arced away from his view.
They paced to the steps and up them. The steps spiraled in a half-circle before opening up onto a corridor. An open door at the end led to the mayor’s office.
They exchanged a few silent gestures and decided to explore this room after they’d been up to the tower. Nathan had climbed up the first step when a cough sounded behind him.
‘There’s nothing up there,’ a voice intoned.
Nathan flinched, then took a deep breath to compose himself. He turned to face an imposing man, a trim moustache and steely eyes considering them from the doorway to the office.
‘Mayor Decker?’ Nathan asked.
‘I am. How did you get in here?’
Nathan shrugged. ‘We walked in through the door.’
Decker considered this information with his lips pursed.
‘Why are you here?’
Nathan stepped down from the step then gestured to Jeff for him to start his speech.
‘This fort is a mighty fine testament to your administration,’ Jeff said with a wide smile while drawling his words. ‘I must say we’re pleased we came.’
‘It’s good to hear that, but why—?’
‘And you know,’ Jeff said, cutting Decker off with his louder voice, ‘we can’t help but wonder . . .’
Jeff continued rambling on about nothing in particular, as he walked towards the mayor’s office. Decker tried to interrupt the non-stop flow of words again and ask him what he wanted, but Jeff continued walking and talking.
Nathan had heard Jeff’s rambling performance several times today and he couldn’t help but smile as he followed him. Jeff was still talking when they reached the office, where the three men stood in the doorway.
As Decker was still trying to stop Jeff talking with increasingly desperate gestures and louder interruptions, Nathan looked around the office.
Windows were at both ends of the square room, a cabinet stood against the wall on Nathan’s side, and a desk was in the middle of the room. These were the only items of furniture and although both were sturdy, neither was a suitable candidate for accepting the key.
Nathan caught Jeff’s eye and winked, so Jeff mentioned that they were looking for work. Then he fell silent.
Decker continued to stare at Jeff, the irritated grinding of his teeth suggesting that he expected him to start talking again.
‘I wish you’d have just mentioned that straight away,’ he snapped, then flashed a smile. When he spoke again his tone was more politic. ‘I have no work for you. I barely have enough to occupy myself.’
Jeff shuffled from foot to foot, his furrowed brow feigning disappointment and after thanking Decker both men headed away to the steps where they stopped and looked back.
Decker had walked away from the doorway but he hadn’t closed the door.
Nathan watched Decker’s shadow on the wall. Then that shadow lowered as Decker sat. A chair scraped, followed by silence.
Nathan and Jeff looked at each other, shrugged, then turned, but whereas Jeff headed to the steps leading down, Nathan turned to the other steps.
‘We can’t go up to the tower,’ Jeff whispered. ‘Decker has seen us.’
Nathan winked. ‘We’re looking for work and the tower is the best place to see the whole fort and town and what might be available.’
Jeff nodded and then hurried up the steps. Nathan ran to catch up with him, placing his feet to the steps with care while still hurrying out of sight as fast as possible.
The next story opened out on to the flat roof of the room below. Beyond that roof was the top of the wall around the plaza, which led to the main fort wall.
Beside them was the squat tower with a short flight of steps inset into the walls, leading to a door. Joined to its side was a building. This was less than half the height of the tower and it had a large, closed door with a solid lock.
They both smiled. Nathan withdrew the key from his pocket and raised it high.
Then, with mock stealth, he paced to the door with the key held out in his outstretched hand. He aligned it to the lock and pushed.
The key entered the hole smoothly, but when he turned it, there was clear space on either side and the key turned impotently.
Nathan slapped the door in irritation, but to his surprise the door swung open and in the darkened interior, boxes and caskets were stacked high. Even before his eyes became accustomed to the gloom, he saw that many of them had locks, and all of these locks were the right size to accept the key.
Nathan couldn’t help but rub his hands with anticipation.
‘Which one shall we try first?’ he asked.
Jeff raised a hand, calling for him to be quiet, then glanced at the steps leading down to the mayor’s office.
‘People,’ he mouthed, cupping his ear.
A moment later the steady clump of footfalls sounded. When Nathan peered down into the open well of the steps, the shadows of two men were on the wall and closing.
While they silently debated with raised eyebrows and pointing fingers whether the storeroom was the best place to hide, the approaching men murmured to each other, their words short instructions interrupted by bangs and thuds, then grunted curses.
Nathan made an instant assessment of who the men were and what they were doing. He grabbed Jeff’s arm, then hurried to the steps leading into the tower.
There were six inset steps before the door, giving them enough room to hide. They pressed themselves to the wall and listened.
More grunting, cursing and the occasional thud and scrape sounded before the men climbed out on to the roof then headed to the storeroom.
When their scraping footsteps had passed the tower, Nathan glanced out to confirm his guess had been right. The two men were the guards and they were maneuvering a casket, which the wagon had presumably delivered.
The casket was wide enough almost to fill the stairwell and so the task of carrying it had been an onerous one. He darted back and whispered the details of what he’d seen to Jeff, who returned a hopeful grin.
They decided that once the guards had left they would check out the caskets in the storeroom, but they didn’t get the chance.
A creaking of the door above them heralded the worst possible turn of events. Somebody was in the tower.
The door at the top of the steps swung open and a hand emerged to grip the side of the door, but the person wasn’t looking at them.
‘I’ll bring your food later,’ the man said, then laughed.
Nathan didn’t wait to hear the response as, with Jeff, he hurried to the steps to the mayor’s office and pattered down them.
As they rounded the steps, footsteps clumped as the man followed them down. The guards called out to him, but Nathan didn’t hear their words as he and Jeff concentrated on escaping before they could be seen.
They speeded their descent, hurrying on to the first story, noting that Decker was still in his office, then continued on to ground level.
By the time they reached the plaza, both men were bounding with long strides. Jeff was in the lead and he looked back at Nathan, his mouth opening to say something, but he didn’t get the chance to speak.
A man stepped out in front of him, his head down as he aimed to walk up the steps. They collided. Both men went down heavily, sprawling over each other.
‘What the . . .?’ the man said before Jeff’s weight blasted the air from his lungs.
They lay on the ground, entangled, until with a mixture of Jeff rolling away and the man kicking him away, they parted.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ Jeff said, rolling to his knees.
He batted the dust from his legs and looked at Nathan for support, but Nathan stayed quiet. He’d seen the star on the fallen man’s jacket – Jeff had knocked over Sheriff Buckthorn.
‘Assaulting a lawman is a serious offence,’ the podgy and gray-haired Buckthorn said, his small eyes flaring as he rubbed one of the rolls of fat around his belly.
Jeff spread his hands. ‘It was an accident. I’m sorry.’
Buckthorn firmed his drooping jowls at first, but when he’d staggered to his feet and regained his breath with a few wheezing coughs, some of the belligerence had gone from his eyes. He pointed over Nathan’s shoulder at the steps.
‘That’s as maybe, but you’ve got no reason to be up there.’
‘We were looking for work,’ Nathan said, speaking quickly so they could get away before the man from the tower arrived. ‘We saw the mayor. He told us he had no work, so we left. You can ask him if you want.’
Buckthorn nodded. ‘I’ll do just that.’
Buckthorn looked at someone behind him. Nathan turned to find Mayor Decker had come down the steps and was considering them. The man from the tower was at his shoulder and was glaring at them.
‘Their story is correct,’ Decker said. ‘They came up to see me, asking about work. I said there wasn’t any, so they left.’
Buckthorn nodded and held a hand to the side, signifying they could go.
‘Obliged,’ Nathan and Jeff said together, then turned to go, but Decker tapped a foot on the bottom step, drawing their attention back to him.
‘The trouble is, that was five minutes ago, and I wonder why it took you all that time for you to come down from my office.’
Buckthorn snorted a harsh chuckle and swung round to glare at them.
‘And now I’m wondering that, too,’ he said.
He advanced on them but Mayor Decker raised a hand, halting him.
‘You can do that wondering soon enough.’ He clicked his fingers and the man from the tower stepped out from behind him, drawing his gun.
Nathan and Jeff raised their hands. To Decker’s orders, they stood by the wall.
Nathan couldn’t help but notice that Decker directed them to stand before a spot where bullet holes riddled the wall. In a fort that had seen lengthy service this wasn’t unexpected, but the brown stains around several of the holes looked worryingly recent.
Presently the other guards came down from the storeroom. Decker merely glanced at them, silently conveying an order which, from the way the guards rolled their shoulders, Nathan easily deduced.
They paced up to them and without preamble, thundered blows into their stomachs which had them bending double. The next flurry of blows stood them upright and slammed them back against the wall.
With a gun on them, neither man dared to defend himself and they had no choice but to grit their teeth and endure.
Blow after blow rained down on them as the guards took the opportunity to pummel them. Punches landed on chests and faces, and neither guard appeared to be weakening.
Every time they knocked them to the ground, they stood them up then knocked them down again.
Nathan reckoned he must have blacked out because suddenly he realized the blows had stopped. He opened his eyes to find he was lying curled up on the ground.
Jeff was kneeling beside him with a hand on his shoulder.
‘You fine?’ he whispered.
Nathan provided a non-committal grunt. Then he swung round to face Mayor Decke
r.
‘That was just a warning,’ Decker said, speaking with grim authority. ‘Now I’ll hand you over to Sheriff Buckthorn. After he’s dealt with you, if I ever see you again . . .’
Decker flicked his eyes to the side to look at the bullet-ridden wall. Nathan followed his gaze and this time, he had no doubt that the brown stains around the bullet holes were recent.
Chapter Three
‘That’s all we’ve got to say,’ Nathan said.
‘So your story is that you were looking for work,’ Sheriff Buckthorn said. ‘You tried everywhere but didn’t find any and then you tried the mayor’s office, but he said no.’
When Nathan nodded, Buckthorn shook his head then berated them with his disbelief in Nathan’s explanation of their actions.
After the beating the guards had inflicted on him, Nathan had no trouble deafening his ears to complaints. He looked around the jailhouse. What he saw didn’t fill him with hope.
The rest of the fort may have been in a state of crumbling disrepair, but the jailhouse wasn’t.
The walls were thick, the iron window-bars were well set and the huge door – which Nathan had noted was another likely recipient for the key – was formidable. The row of cages along the back wall were each set away from the wall and had bars that were as close together and as thick as those in the windows.
Only one prisoner was within, sitting in the end cell on the floor. He was staring at his feet with his shoulders hunched and registering no interest in Buckthorn’s stream of invective.
Buckthorn had searched them and placed their belongings on the desk, including the key. Nathan was sure that the sheriff would know it unlocked one of the caskets in the tower.
So Nathan avoided looking at the key, but the strain of doing that was only drawing his gaze back to the rusty metal, sitting there in full view on the desk surrounded by coins.
‘You can check out our story,’ Jeff said, snapping Nathan out of his reverie.
‘I intend to,’ Buckthorn grunted.