“She got home safely, didn’t she?” Gant said. “Sometimes, being a lawman isn’t about shooting up the bad guys, but assessing the situation and doing what’s right for the circumstances.”
Rosalind shook her head, and Hawk thought he caught a small groan and an eye roll as she turned her back on Gant and looked over at him. “I knew they’d have to lock you up to keep you from going after them. But it’s a good thing you stayed here because the whole thing was a trick to get everyone away from the depot, which is the intended target.”
Hawk listened as Rosalind explained what she’d overheard. He’d been unable to prove anything against Reggie, and he hadn’t been able to catch Reggie doing anything that might be construed as suspicious. But to be able to catch Reggie in the act? This was exactly the break they’d needed.
“Do you think the other man was Higginbotham?” Gant asked, looking at Hawk. “We haven’t been able to find him anywhere, but if he’s been laying low to help out with this operation, that might explain it. He’s the only man I know with a voice like that.”
“Higginbotham does have a fondness for cards,” Hawk said. “And depending on which saloon he’s going to, I can see why no one has spotted him. Those men aren’t going to turn on their own.”
Gant shook his head. “Not with the small reward they have out for them. I keep saying we need to increase it, but no one listens. Put a high enough price on the man’s head, and every bounty hunter will be crawling out of the woodwork to get him.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Rosalind said. “They were waiting for it to get dark before they came back, and it’s nearly so. We need to have a plan in place and get away.”
Then she turned and glared at Gant. “Putting him in that cell has served its purpose. Now let him out.”
Having just indulged in the reminiscence about Beth, Hawk couldn’t help thinking that in some ways, Rosalind reminded him of his late wife. Most of the time, he didn’t see much of a resemblance between the two women. But he could see how they both appealed to him with their strength of will.
Rosalind wasn’t the kind of woman to sit idly by and wait for things to happen. It infuriated him most of the time, but he didn’t think he could find himself interested in a woman who did.
And as much as he wanted to take a chance on Rosalind, he couldn’t help thinking of the woman who’d bravely faced down an outlaw and spat in his face. She’d counted on Hawk to make the world a safer place. And while he’d failed Beth, he couldn’t fail anyone else. It killed him to think that one of Beth’s killers was still on the loose, still hurting others. And if whoever was behind these plots against Noelle wasn’t stopped, how much more blood would be on Hawk’s hands?
Gant pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the cell door. “I’m assuming you have a plan?”
Hawk stared at him. “Would you listen if I did?”
For a moment, Hawk thought he was looking at his old partner. Gant nodded and gestured at one of the chairs. “If we’re going to get through this, then we have to work together. There’s been a lot of bad blood between us, and I’m not saying that we’ve solved anything. But I’d be a fool if I didn’t admit that when your head is on straight, you’re a good lawman. Your instincts on this case have been better than anyone else’s, so why don’t you tell me what you have in mind, and let’s see what we can do to prevent whatever tragedy is about to happen.”
Hawk hadn’t thought he needed to hear any kind of acknowledgment from Gant, but the man’s praise was a kick in the gut. As much as he hated to admit it, it was nice to be working with someone again.
“We need to get over there and in place, so we can catch them in the act. Rosalind can show us where the men were standing and where she was hiding and we’ll take it from there. I’d also like for her to get Charlie and Hugh. We don’t have time to get the others back from the tracks, but having fewer men and them not suspecting that we’re on to them might give us a better chance at having an element of surprise.”
For a moment, Hawk thought Rosalind was going to try to argue with him. But then she nodded slowly. “I can do that,” she said. “At least you’re giving me something to do rather than sitting at home, waiting for answers.”
“You helped us plenty,” Hawk said. “If it weren’t for you, we’d still be in the dark about Reggie, we’d still be thinking that the plan was all about damaging the line at the curve, and would still have a lot of unanswered questions. You’ve been a valuable part of our team, and I’m sorry if I ever made you feel otherwise.”
He probably should have told her all those things sooner, but he’d thought he’d been protecting her by not saying anything.
Based on Rosalind’s description of what happened, Hawk laid out a plan for where they would all be hiding, and what they would do.
They walked toward the depot, looking around for any sign of Reggie or Higginbotham. They didn’t know for sure it was Higginbotham, but it made sense. The town was quiet, not unusually so. As they passed by the assayer’s office, Hawk could see the light on, and Hugh working within. They quickly stopped in, and Arthur was there as well. Hawk filled the two of them in on what was going on, then went to the depot, where Rosalind pointed out what they needed to know. Rosalind and Arthur continued on to get Charlie. Hawk hadn’t wanted to put Arthur in harm’s way, so accompanying Rosalind would make him feel like he was doing something useful.
They’d barely gotten into position when Hawk heard the crunch of gravel. He looked through the slats on the porch and saw Reggie approaching. A few moments later, he could hear someone else approach.
Higginbotham. One more thing they had been right about, and even though they hadn’t been able to catch him before, thanks to Rosalind’s description, they at least knew what they were facing.
“Did anyone see you?” Higginbotham asked.
“No, and I paid a gal above the saloon a little extra to stay in her room all night and pretend like I was with her. She was glad of the break, and I paid her more than she had made working all night.”
Higginbotham laughed. “She was probably glad not to have to service you. But I’ll admit, it was a nice touch. Now let’s get this business handled. I don’t have one of your fancy girls waiting for me, but I did leave a nice card game in progress. I’m setting them up for a good fleecing, and by the end of the night, they won’t remember that I left for a little while, just that I took all their money. I’m hoping that after this, I can hit the road again. I’ve spent far too long in this place, and I’ve won enough from everyone worth beating.”
Higginbotham sounded bored, and at least now Hawk knew that the only thing he had at stake in the situation was whatever payment he’d been promised for a job well done.
He heard the unmistakable clink of metal against metal and realized that the two men were undoing some of the track.
“When the train hits this spot, it’ll go flying straight into the waiting crowd,” Reggie said. “There will be enough people gathered that there should be dozens of injuries, and probably a few deaths.”
A sour taste hit the inside of Hawk’s throat as he thought about the fact that these men were deliberately planning to harm innocent people. The only comfort he could find was in knowing that they had Gant positioned nearby as well as Horatio in another corner, and Hugh hidden in some bushes on the other side. People might not take Hawk’s word against these two men, but there were enough respectable citizens of the town around, including a lawman, that a conviction was almost a certainty. But they’d been hoping that Charlie and Arthur would arrive soon, just in time to catch them in the act and seal their fate.
Higginbotham laughed. “I know the boss wasn’t sure about this one, but Mayor Hardt will have a lot to answer for. Not only is this going to be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of these people struggling to stay in Noelle, but the ones who remain are going to be wondering why the mayor didn’t have Hawk arrested the first time he caused trouble.”
/> What had he ever done to these men? At least in Hawk’s quest for revenge, the man he was after had murdered someone. He’d given Reggie a chance, a job when no one else had been willing to hire him. And even though Higginbotham was a known outlaw, he and Hawk had never crossed paths in such a way that would have the other man gunning for him. No, Higginbotham just wanted to hurt people, and Hawk had provided an easy excuse. Men like him needed to be stopped. And even though Hawk’s desire for avenging Beth’s death had been about vengeance, it was also about keeping the world safe from men like these. Maybe it wasn’t the best of motivations, but at least it was something honorable.
Worse, what had Charlie done that was so awful? As far as Hawk could tell, Charlie had given everything he had to this town. He’d given people livelihoods and chances at better lives, and even though things hadn’t worked out with the railroad the way Charlie had planned, his decisions were always about what was best for the town.
But, if Charlie weren’t in the picture, and didn’t have so much power in Noelle, it would be easier for the railroad to buy up all the land it wanted and take over the businesses to maximize their profits. It was sick, what all these men were willing to do for money. People’s lives shouldn’t be used as the means to that end. Maybe Hawk was just being too fanciful, but it really was a shame to see how little a man’s life was worth.
Hopefully, they could prove that Stiles and Sharp, as well as anyone else who might be involved, had done it. But if Higginbotham were merely a hired gun, he’d easily turn on whoever hired him. So now, Hawk needed to figure out what Reggie’s role in all of this was. Could they get Reggie to reveal who was behind it all?
He continued watching Higginbotham and Reggie work, noticing that Reggie had the most technical know-how, which was probably the value he gave to the situation.
Hawk caught movement in the shadows out of the corner of his eye. Higginbotham appeared not to notice. Which was good, because Hawk quickly realized that it was Charlie and Arthur. They’d come just in time to catch Higginbotham and Reggie in the act.
Gant gave him a small nudge. “Now,” he whispered.
They crawled out of their hiding spots and drew their guns.
“Put your hands where we can see them,” Gant shouted.
Horatio stepped out from his hiding spot on the opposite end of the railyard. It had to be obvious to Reggie and Higginbotham that the only way out was directly toward the road, which would send them straight to Charlie and Arthur.
Reggie and Higginbotham went exactly the way Hawk had hoped. They weren’t stupid, but in this case, they should have planned a better escape route. Which they quickly realized when they came face-to-face with Charlie’s gun.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, holding his weapon like he meant business.
Reggie looked over his shoulder like he was looking for an escape route.
Charlie’s hold on his weapon didn’t waver. “You can try,” Charlie said. “But I have it on good authority that the man standing behind you is one of the most trigger-happy former lawmen in the West. Hawk would just as soon put a bullet through your head than have to endure going to the trouble of sitting through your trial. And I can’t say that I do blame him. But the good people of Noelle deserve to know why you’re so bent on destroying their town.”
Charlie made him sound like a hired gun. Like a monster with no regard for human life. While it was true that Hawk didn’t mind killing men like these, for the first time, it bothered him to be put in the same category as someone who killed without a thought to the life he was taking.
Reggie put his hands over his head. “You can’t make anything stick,” he said. “I was here on official railroad business, putting final touches on the track and doing last minute repairs. You can’t prove otherwise.”
Hawk wouldn’t show his hand at this stage in the game, but Reggie was in for a rude awakening when he realized just what they did have on him. But as Hawk stepped into the light, he could see the fear on Higginbotham’s face. Reggie might have had confidence in his ability to get out of any charges, but Higginbotham seemed smart enough to realize that he was in real trouble.
No sooner did Hawk have that thought than Higginbotham turned and ran. Hawk drew his gun and fired. Higginbotham crumbled to the ground. The man’s jerky movements brought a smile to his face.
“You missed,” Charlie said, sounding incredulous.
Even Gant stared at him like he couldn’t believe what he’d just seen.
“I didn’t miss,” Hawk said. “If you take a look at him, you’ll find a bullet in his left shoulder, and one in his right leg. Not enough to kill him, but it did the job in slowing him down so he can stand trial.”
Gant came around and handcuffed Reggie, then jerked his head in Higginbotham’s direction. “Someone get the doctor to him and get him over to the jail.”
Then Gant shook his head. “No, first take him over to the jail, and then we’ll think about getting the doctor to him. There’s nothing that says the doctor has to come right away.”
Then Gant looked over at Hawk and gave a slight nod, the kind he used to do when they’d successfully wrapped up a case.
Hawk looked over at Horatio. “You think you can help me get this track set to rights before the train comes in the morning?”
Horatio nodded. “My leg is no good, but that doesn’t mean my arms aren’t strong. We’ll make it work.”
Hugh stepped in beside him. “And I’ll help. I’ve never built a railroad, but I think I can do what’s needed if you give me directions.”
“Between the three of us, we can get it done,” Hawk said.
Then Rosalind stepped out of the shadows. “I’ll hold the lantern for you. It’ll be easier to do the work if you’ve got light to see by.”
The four of them went to work while the others sorted the transferring of the prisoners. Hawk would’ve liked to have helped with that part, but getting the railroad repaired in time was more important. Still, as he watched the others leave, he felt an ache inside him that he hadn’t ever expected to return. He missed being a lawman.
17
The train arrived in Noelle on a dreary, unremarkable day in November that seemed about as ordinary as any other day, except for the fact that the train had finally arrived. There was no fanfare because everyone had been holding their breaths, hoping and praying that nothing would go wrong this time. It hadn’t, and it seemed like the entire town of Noelle breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Rosalind smiled as she watched her windows being unloaded from the train to be taken across the street to her boarding house.
Even though the story about Reggie and Higginbotham’s attempt at destroying the track had been widely circulated throughout the town, no one came up to Rosalind to apologize for how poorly they’d treated her family over the past few months.
Hawk came up beside her. “I still have some work to do over the next few days. So far, neither Reggie nor Higginbotham are talking. Reggie has stuck to his story that he was doing some last-minute repairs and that the track was exactly how they’d found it when they arrived. A lie, of course, but until we do a thorough investigation and have evidence, we are letting them stick to the story.”
“What about Sharp and Stiles?” Rosalind asked. “What do they have to say?”
A dark expression crossed Hawk’s face. He shook his head. “Right now, we don’t have any evidence proving they’ve done anything wrong. We can’t connect them to the crimes. When Gant visited Stiles to let him know what had happened and question him, Stiles said that we must be mistaken about the sabotage plot and that Reggie was likely making last-minute repairs on the track. He demanded we release Reggie and Higginbotham, but we have enough proof of their wrongdoing that they’ll be in jail until their trials.”
It seemed so unfair that while they had Reggie and Higginbotham in custody, they had no proof that Stiles and Sharp were involved, even though it was obvious they had to be. And t
hey still didn’t know who the third man involved in Dorcas’s kidnapping had been. Two men might have been arrested, but the entire puzzle hadn’t yet been unraveled.
Fina passed by, carrying a bundle and smiling. “I’ve wanted this lace for so long,” she said. “I’ve been imagining how it’s going to look in the restaurant for months now.”
Rosalind smiled at her friend. “I can’t wait to see it.”
Fina continued on her way, and as the rest of the happy townspeople—finally able to celebrate the arrival of the train—passed by, Rosalind wished she could feel the same happiness.
Hawk gave her a nudge. “It’s all right to smile,” he said. “It’s been a long day, and none of us got much sleep last night. Go home and rest. We’ll be able to deal with the challenges we still face once we’re refreshed.”
Good advice, but she wasn’t sure she could sleep. Not with so many thoughts whirring in her mind.
She started to walk toward the boarding house, but as she got there, she still felt too unsettled. So she continued walking, headed down the road toward Minnie’s house. The place was likely to be bustling with excitement as Minnie’s mother went through the shipment of goods she’d ordered for the house. Perhaps it would take her mind off of everything. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, mindful of the wind. As she rounded the corner, voices made her pause.
“Gertrude is getting impatient about her house. I need to give her a start date.”
Rosalind made her way closer to where the men were talking and crouched behind a rock.
“We can’t talk about this now,” Sharp said. “I’m doing what I can. Obviously, we had some setbacks.”
“Setbacks?” Stiles’s voice rose to almost a screech. “I hardly think setbacks is the right word for it.”
Sharp gave him a small shove. “Keep your voice down. Anyone can hear us out here. With so much activity and excitement over the train coming, and the Montgomerys living just down the road, who knows who will pass by. We’ll meet tonight at our usual spot. We can speak more freely then.”
Rosalind: A Thanksgiving Day Bride (Brides of Noelle Book 8) Page 20