Spur stared at the man for a moment, then shrugged. "Hell, maybe you are telling the truth. Seems like one damn big coincidence. Oh, you have a bill of sale for that horse, I'd bet."
"Yeah, back in my cabin. This mean I can get my horse and try to find that guy who stole my other mount?"
"Nope. We're going to hold you as a witness to the theft of your horse. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes for you to give a statement to the sheriff down at Fort Smith."
"But...."
Spur looked at him. "I could throw you in jail for a few days, see if you change your story."
Sully did a quick change of attitude. "No, that's fine. I'll give a report to the sheriff."
Spur untied the man's hands. They would have a two hour wait before a work train came through and they could ride in the caboose.
Nothing happened before the work train arrived. Spur watched closely but he saw no one else come out of the woods and board the train. He wondered where the kidnapper was with the $30,000 he had been paid. He could be riding back toward Fort Smith. Or he even could have boarded the northbound that they got off of in Chester. Damn!
Spur took the untied man inside the store so he could talk with Amy. She didn't even look at Sully. She sat nibbling on a homemade cookie and sipping a glass of lemonade.
"Miss Hellman. I know you've been talking to State Attorney General Alger, but would you mind if I asked you some questions?"
"Not at all. You are?"
"Spur McCoy, United States Secret Service. Federal case because of the mail theft. I understand these two outlaws captured you off the southbound train. Is that right?"
"Oh, yes. I screamed and beat at them, but one just threw me over his shoulder like a sack of grain and carried me out of the train. Then he put me on his horse and we rode away."
"Where did they hold you during the kidnapping?"
"Oh, we rode back to a house in Fort Smith and they kept me blindfolded so I couldn't identify them. Then they wore bandanna masks when they were in my room. They tied me up until I promised not to try to escape or scream or break the window. But they didn't mistreat me."
"Can you give us a general description of the three men?" Spur asked.
"Well, yes. One was tall and thin, I think he had a moustache. One was shorter and younger and the third one was large and a little heavy, stocky. He's the one who carried me out of the train."
"Could you identify any of them if we caught them?"
"Oh, my. I don't know. I never thought about it."
"What about the man who brought you on the train? He didn't have a mask and you weren't blindfolded."
She smiled. "Of course not, but they put dark glasses on me, like the kind blind folks wear. Well, I couldn't see a thing and he had to lead me to my seat and all. No, I couldn't identify that man either."
"I'm sorry. This man here, Sully, have you ever seen him before? Was he at the house? Maybe he was the younger and smaller of the three."
Miss Hellman turned and stared at Sully, then she shrugged. "No, he couldn't have been one of them. Even without the mask, he isn't the same as the men at the house. This one looks pleasant, almost nice. No, he wasn't one of the three."
The disappointment showed through Spur's expression. He shrugged. "Well, we tried. Will you be going back to Little Rock with the Attorney General?"
"We were talking about that. Yes, we'll be taking the first boat for Little Rock after we get to Fort Smith. I like the boat, it's so peaceful floating down the river that way. He'll wire my parents that I'm rescued as soon as we get to Fort Smith."
"Good. At least we have one aspect of this robbery problem cleared up. Now there are only three left to worry about."
An hour later, back in Fort Smith, Spur escorted Sully to the sheriff, who took a statement from him about the stolen horse, then Spur and Sully walked to the street.
"The sheriff will let you know if he finds your horse, Sully. I guess that's all we need from you right now. If you can remember what the man looked like who got away with your mount, you be sure to tell the sheriff."
Sully looked a little surprised, then his eyes glinted. "Yeah, figured you'd let me go since I told you I didn't have nothing to do with that kidnapping you been talking about, and I wasn't in on no damn train robbery either. So I can go now?"
"Looks like it. Just don't get in trouble, Sully. I for sure will remember your face forevermore."
Sully turned and walked away.
Spur let him get half a block down, then screened himself by a bevy of women and followed the man. He went first to a hotel, the Claremont, and registered. He didn't even look at the room, but left by the side door and went into the first saloon he came to. Spur watched from near the door as Sully took two mugs of beer to a back table, gave one to one of the soiled doves from upstairs, and sat and drank with her. A short time later, they hurried up the steps to the cribs above.
Spur went outside and kicked at the boardwalk. He was sure that Sully would make a straight run for the man he was working for as soon as he got his freedom. Instead he acted like an innocent man, getting a hotel room, then a whore. His story just didn't hold up. The coincidence was too great. But there was no way to prove it, except by catching the man who picked up the ransom. He could have waited for a northbound train and be halfway to Kansas City by now. Spur wished to hell he knew where that man was who picked up the money. Since Doug was involved in the ranch money, could he also be a part of the kidnapping as well?
Doug Chandler lay in the weeds of the alley behind the house he had rented in Fort Smith and watched the back door for twenty minutes. He saw no activity. There was little chance that the Federal man or the sheriff knew about his hideaway here, but he wasn't in the mood to take any chances. After his close escape of the trap at the summit, he was going to be doubly careful.
Knute should be inside guarding his $20,000 in new bills. He felt the bulge in his jacket pocket. Damn! Another $30,000. This was the way he liked to do business. Now he had the option of picking up Amy in Little Rock or taking the ransom money and the twenty-thousand in new bills and riding the train north to Chicago or even New York. He didn't need her. He'd think about it. She was one luscious chunk of fucking woman.
He lifted from the alley and walked to the back door and went inside, his right hand on his sixgun butt ready to lift it at the slightest cause.
No problem. Knute lounged in the kitchen working on a sandwich he had made. His six-gun was up covering the door when Doug came through. They both grinned and put the hardware away.
"Any trouble?"
Knute took a bite and shook his head. "Nothing happened. Nobody came to the door. Not a damn thing."
"The money still safe?"
"Oh, damn right. I looked at it. Never seen that much before, damn that's nice. But you say the bank people know them little numbers on the bills. How'd they know that?"
"Never mind how, they do. I'll pay you in used bills. That's what it's time for right now. Pay day. Get your gear together and I'll count out your money. You earned it. Five-hundred dollars for you, just as we agreed."
Knute looked surprised. "You really gonna pay me that much? Damn. I figured you was just talking and I'd get maybe fifty. Damn, all fivehundred. I ain't never had that kind of money. What do I do with it? What if somebody robs me?"
Doug grinned. "Hey, right now I'm packing around thirty-thousand dollars and nobody knows it. Put half of your money in your boot, tie it to your ankle. Put some in a shirt pocket. I'll give you mostly twenties so it won't be so bulky. Just don't flash it around and nobody will try to rob you. Now get moving. I want you on the afternoon boat down the river."
Knute hesitated. "What ...what you gonna do? Anything I can help you on? Like working with you, Doug."
"Nothing I'll need any help with, Knute. Actually, I'm gonna find Amy in Little Rock and get a cabin on a river boat and just fuck up a storm all the way to New Orleans. So you see, I won't be needing your help."
Ten minutes later Knute was out the door after stashing his $500 in four places in his bag and his clothes. He still looked self-conscious about it.
Doug sat at the kitchen table sipping from a bottle of whiskey. He'd been too dry too long. He took another pull and sat there trying to figure out what to do next. He had damn near $50,000, should he try for more? Why not? the old coot wouldn't need it. Hell, he'd be dead before he spent all the cash he had on hand as it was. Yeah, help spread the wealth a little bit. That was the idea.
He tipped the bottle again and then heard a knock at the front door. Who would knock? Who knew he was here? He pulled his six-gun and hurried to the front door. Just before he got there the knob turned and the door swung inward a few inches.
"Doug, are you here? Doug Chandler, I need to talk to you. This is Nate. We've got some big problems out at the ranch."
Knute had left the house five minutes before Nate Emerson arrived. He walked toward the river, found the small landing where the steamer stopped and saw a boat there taking on passengers.
"Going downriver?" he asked someone in line to board.
"Better be, or I'm in all sorts of trouble," the passenger said.
At the head of the gangplank, the purser stood taking tickets and cash.
"How much to Little Rock?" Knute asked. He held some bills in one hand and his carpetbag in the other.
"Two dollars," the purser said. Knute gave him two singles and walked on board.
He'd never ridden this boat before. There were three cabins for the rich folks, a few chairs and an inside room with benches and chairs where you could stay dry when it rained. He stood at the rail watching the men get the boat ready to leave.
A few minutes after they left the dock, someone edged against the rail beside him. He glanced down and saw Amy Hellman. She didn't look at him but spoke softly.
"Knute, did Doug get away all right? Did he come back to the house here?"
Knute looked back at the shore, pretending to ignore her. "Yeah, he did. Gonna meet you in Little Rock."
"Good. Don't let on that you know me. Be bad for both of us."
He kept looking at the shoreline and the girl pointed downstream and walked away from him. He sighed with relief.
Amy Hellman smiled as she pranced to the cabin. It was on the main deck and had a porthole which could be covered. She went in and locked the door behind her. It was small and crowded with a single bunk along the wall, one chair and a small dresser.
Attorney General Alger sat in the chair reading some papers from his leather case. He looked up and nodded. "I see you got us away from the dock. That sort of thing doesn't interest me anymore, especially when I have work stacked up I should be doing."
She sat on the bed and pouted a moment, then she unbuttoned her white blouse and let it swing open just a little to prove she wore nothing under it.
"Mr. Alger, I thought since we have over sixteen hours on the river that we might have ourselves a good time."
He didn't look up until the last two words. When he saw her blouse open and the come-on smile, his mouth gaped wide and he showed a shocked, surprised expression. But he didn't look away from the swell at the inner edges of her breasts.
"What do you say, Mr. Alger? It isn't like anyone is going to suspect anything. You're here on business."
Alger dropped the papers he was reading and stared. She flipped back one side of the blouse showing her large breast with full pink areola cir cling it and a hot red nipple.
Amy grinned at his expression. "Come over here and sit beside me, Mr. Alger, I really think we should get better acquainted since we're traveling together."
"Oh my god," Alger breathed.
He put down the leather case of papers and moved to the bed and sat beside her. She pushed back the other half of her blouse and let it fall to the bed behind her.
"Mr. Alger. I'd like you to meet my titties. They're excited about getting to know you. Pet them a little to show them that you like them."
"Oh god!" Alger said. His eyes were wide, his breathing quickened and he moved his legs to let his growing erection find space in the cramped quarters in his suddenly tight pants. His hand reached for her breasts and then he was fondling them with both hands, rubbing them, tweaking her nipples.
A moment later he bent and kissed her orbs and she leaned her head back in delight, crooning to him, encouraging him.
He sucked one breast into his mouth and chewed gently on her firm flesh, then he bit her nipple and she lifted her head and nodded.
"Now, I think you've got the right idea." She reached for his crotch and he pushed her hand away. The next time she reached he made no move and she unbuttoned his fly and worked her hand inside his trousers.
"Oh, my, what a dandy!" she crooned. She fished his stiff penis out of his pants and kissed the purple tip. His hips bucked twice and she moved away.
"Now we don't want you to do anything too quickly, do we, Fiorello? Is it all right if I call you by your first name?"
She didn't wait for an answer. Instead she loosened his belt, knelt beside his legs and pulled down his pants. He lifted up and she tugged them from under him then down and off his legs.
His penis tented out his underwear. She giggled, patted the stiff pole holding them out, then pulled down his underwear until his erection sprang free and clear.
"Oh, yes, now we're getting to the good part. What a dandy. So strong and sturdy. I just want to kiss him." She pulled his underwear off his legs, then knelt between his parted knees and kissed his penis.
Fiorello Alger moaned as her lips slid around the arrow tip of him and sucked him into her mouth.
"Oh, god!" Fiorello hissed.
She bobbed back and forth on his lance and his hips bucked. Then he jolted into a climax pumping six, then eight times into her mouth.
Amy swallowed again, and pulled back from him as he finished.
"There, now, that was easy, wasn't it? We'll give you ten minutes to recover, then see what you can do with your big rod jammed up my tight, juicy cunnie. Why don't you finish undressing me just to keep your interest up. Let's get rid of your jacket and tie and shirt as well. I covered up the port hole before we left the dock so we have some real privacy. Come on, Fiorello, you're going to have to help me."
He did. Before they made their first stop the Attorney General was on his hands and knees on the bed over the woman, her knees parted and lifted and he pounded into her with all of his might. She squeezed him on every stroke with her inner muscles and the Arkansas state official climaxed the second time within fifteen minutes of the first one.
He dropped on top of her, crushing his chest against her flattened breasts.
"Damn, I don't believe this is happening," he said looking down at her from so close she was fuzzily out of focus.
"It's happening, Fiorello and it's going to go on happening until you can't get your wand to stand straight up. Don't you like it?"
"Like it? Yes, I love it. I just never expected that a wonderful looking girl like you with a marvelous body would let me anywhere near you, let alone fuck you till I drop."
She laughed. "Why not? I love to fuck. Besides, now when I want you to do something for me, I know that you will. I wouldn't want to have to tell Daddy that you took advantage of me five times on the boat back from Fort Smith."
"Oh, God! You wouldn't do that?"
"Not as long as you cooperate with me, help me when I get in trouble with Daddy. First, you'll guarantee to him that I had nothing to do with my kidnapping."
"Well, of course, it was obvious from what you Said...." He frowned and stared at her.
"Oh damn it. You were in on it, weren't you? You know who it was on that train, you know who brought the payoff money. You lied like a fucking trooper."
Amy grinned. "Damn, Fiorello, I think you're catching on. How else could I get thirty-thousand dollars out of my skinflint da
d? He's made enough in graft from the state to more than pay for it. You won't say a word about this to Daddy or my Mother. You will convince him I had nothing to do with it. If he asks, you'll say yes, you think I've recovered enough to go on a shopping trip to New Orleans."
"You wouldn't."
"Of course I will. You don't think I can spend all that money in Little Rock and not attract attention?" She reached down and began to bring him back to the ready.
"Fiorello, have you ever fucked standing up? Bet you haven't. Yes, it can be done. Come on, get it hard and I'll show you how. This is only number three. You better be able to get it up at least three more times or I'll be highly disappointed in you."
Doug Chandler looked at his brother-in-law, Nate Emerson, and lowered his six-gun.
"Thought you were a robber or something. Now what the hell you talking about? I ain't got no time for none of your little problems with cattle getting stolen or some horse that's stuck in a swamp somewhere."
"Isn't that kind of trouble. Father Teasdale is sick, real sick. He can't move his right side and he can't talk. I come for Doc Irving. He said I should bring you along. Sometimes these kind of attacks are fatal."
Doug grinned. "I'll be damned. Then let's go. Let me pick up a couple of things in a carpetbag and we'll get riding out of here. Doc taking his buggy?"
"Yes, he's already started out there."
"You go on, I'll get my horse out of the livery and catch up with the two of you."
Nate nodded and hurried out the door. Doug chuckled. Yeah, now if the old man was to kick the bucket about now it would be perfect. Then Doug himself would own half the ranch. That was real money. Place and the cattle must be worth at least $500,000. Yes. He put the new bills from the train heist in the bag, and the $29,500 he had left from the ransom and threw in some clothes. Then he walked out the door and headed for the livery. In less than two hours he would know how bad the old man really was.
Later at the ranch, Doc Irving examined Dylan Teasdale. He was conscious. His eyes looked at one of them and then the other as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't speak.
Spur Giant: Soiled Dove Page 15