Callie Parker looked up from the table she was sitting at. It was another slow night in The Chessman and she had just played a red jack on a black queen as she played solitaire with a deck of cards. Caleb Gant had just stepped in through the front door. He glanced to his right and saw Pete Stover sitting in his usual chair. Stover looked up at him with glaring angry eyes. Caleb merely gave a fleeting look and then strode deliberately past the bouncer without a nod or hint of recognition.
There were two scrubby men leaning on elbows at the bar. They were both tall and thin. They looked somewhat familiar; much like the two men he had shot in Alamogordo. There was no doubt that they were the other two Lowery brothers.
They didn’t turn as Caleb passed them by. Caleb kept his gaze forward as he moved and hoped they hadn’t seen him in the mirror behind the bar or if they had, they wouldn’t know who he was.
“Avery in his office?” Caleb asked as he passed by Callie’s table. He strode past only taking note of Callie’s eyes flitting upwards over her shoulder toward the door to Avery’s office. He hadn’t given her time to utter a word. He merely strode on by. There was a grim expression on his face. His eyes were steely and his jaw clenched.
“I..I didn’t hear you knock,” Avery said, looking up from his desk that sat near the other wall facing the door.
Caleb leaned back against the door as he closed it behind him. “I didn’t knock.”
“That’s okay,” Avery said. There was a look of wonder on his face and he suddenly felt threatened and very cold. His palms began to turn clammy. “It’s just that everyone knows they are supposed to knock. You’re new here. You had no way of…”
“Never mind,” Caleb said. “I had no intention of courtesy.”
“Is there something wrong, Mister Gant?” He was trying to allay any hostilities.
“Tell me about Dave Bishop.” Caleb demanded sternly.
“All I know is he’s missing. Him and his bride. The Whispering Bandit took….”
“I mean the real Dave Bishop. Not that actor you hired to impersonate him.”
Avery’s face paled. He said nothing for a moment, then he forced a smile, but it didn’t hide his nervousness. He straightened in his chair, squaring his shoulders and composed himself, clasping both hands together on the top of his desk. “What is it you really want, Gant?” It was almost a growl.
“Bishop owes me money. That’s all I want.”
A knock came at the door. Caleb could feel the vibration of the big fist pounding against the wood. “Boss! Boss!” It was Pete Stover. He had seen Caleb Gant barging into Avery’s office. He was sure there was something wrong. “Is everything all right in there?”
Avery looked to Gant for instruction. Gant stepped away and toward the side of the door and pulled his gun from its holster. “Tell him to come in,” Gant ordered in almost a whisper. “Don’t give it away, there’s anything wrong.”
Avery nodded. “Come on in, Pete. Everything is okay.”
The door swung open, Pete Stover following through. He barely had a chance to look at Avery when Gant’s left arm lashed out. His hand gripped Stover’s collar and he flung the big man forward to land rolling on the floor and crashing into the sidewall. “Oof!” He grunted. Then, “Ow! Ow!” his hand went to his leg, holding the wounded spot.
Caleb shoved the door back shut.
“Still hurt, Stover?” Caleb stood over him, pistol pointed downward. “I know it was you, the other night at the stable. And Hal Beecham, too.” He stated, not expecting an answer. Then he demanded, “Who fixed you up?”
“Go to hell,” Stover hissed. He was still rubbing his leg.
“It was Kittridge, wasn’t it?” His gaze shifted back to Avery.
“Don’t say nothing else, Pete,” Avery said. “I’ll handle this.”
Then to Gant, he said, “You seem to know quite a lot,”
“Except what happened to the real Dave Bishop. And the money.”
“I suspect, you’re mainly concerned about the money,” Avery said. “Otherwise, if you thought there had been foul play, you would’ve gone to the sheriff with your suspicions.”
“I’m not a lawman,” Gant said. “And I don’t have much use for Dave Bishop anyhow. He double crossed me and two other partners. Got away with money we were supposed to divvy up. I only want my share, I’m not greedy, but the other two fellows are. They want it all and they are here in Gila Bend right now. They won’t be as nice to you as I am, but so far they don’t know what I know. If I don’t get my share, I just might bring them into the fold. I don’t think you are going to like it.”
“How much?” Avery asked.
“Fifty thousand is my share. One quarter of two hundred thousand. I don’t care about Bishop’s share or the other, but I guarantee my associates will want the entire two hundred thousand.”
“But there wasn’t two hundred to begin with,” Avery protested.
“How much was there?’
“Only a hundred and forty-five.”
“Dave always was a spender. He must have already spent the rest,” Caleb mused. “So, how was it you came across Dave Bishop and got a hold of his money. I’m betting you didn’t get it from him while he was alive. If you had, he would have come after you and you wouldn’t be breathing today. My guess is he’s dead.”
“You’re right,” Avery admitted. “If I hadn’t the government would have hanged him anyways.”
“Tell me about it.”
“We teamed up to knock off an Army payroll up in the Dakotas. Us and three others. They were killed during the heist and Bishop got away with the entire loot. I never did know how much it was until I caught up with him. He refused to give me my share, so I shot him. Turned out he had a bank book on him. He had three hundred thousand stashed away in a bank in Santa Fe. That posed a big problem; how to get it out of the bank now that he was dead. I thought and thought about it and then I finally figured out a way to get it.”
“So you hired an actor to impersonate him?”
“Yes. I saw an investment opportunity here in Gila Bend. The Chessman was up for sale, only it wasn’t called the Chessman then. It was called The Diamond Castle, but that’s not important. I decided to keep the impersonation up. I thought I would have a low profile and no one would be suspicious of me.”
“Besides, Ted Thackery having already established himself as Dave Bishop, might have wanted to keep the money for himself,” Gant added, knowingly.
“That’s right,” Avery said with a sigh. “So I convinced him we could make more together as a team and he went for it.” Then he said, “Just how did you find all this out?”
“It seems your pal Beecham was working both ends against the middle. While you had him helping you against Bart Allen, he’d been helping Virginia Allen against her husband and you. Her intent is to get everything. Now that Angie is married to the so called Dave Bishop, she inherits everything if her husband is dead. She sent Beecham out to kill both Thackery and me. She didn’t know your man was a fake. Besides, the marriage wasn’t legal anyways. They didn’t know that either. But you did. I’m sure that was a trump card you were going to play later.”
Avery began to tremble. Rage was beginning to boil. His fists tightened and his knuckles whitened. He leaned forward across the desk. He was thinking more of the double cross than Gant’s accusation. Then as if lightning had struck him, he suddenly bolted upright as realization sunk in. “What happened with Beecham?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Caleb smirked.
“Oh. Oh,” Avery said almost absently, then said, “What about Thackery?”
“He’s still alive. Took a little lead. He needs some patching up, but he’ll be okay. That leads me to my next question.” Caleb paused for a moment. “Where does Doc Kittridge fit into this? Is he working with you?”
“No, but Beecham knew he wasn’t a real preacher, and he used that knowledge to get Kittridge to do his bidding. He threatened to give it away who the reverend really was. It came in
handy when we needed a Doc for Pete. Hal took him out to the Box B to patch up Pete.”
“He wasn’t a very good doc, though,” Pete Stover put in. He had gotten up off the floor and was leaning against the wall. His weight was shifted onto his good leg. “He hurt like hell. I told him to take it easy, but he wasn’t too happy about being there. He was rough.”
Caleb wasn’t listening to Stover’s grumbling. “So, Beecham told you who the preacher really was?”
“Yes.”
“And you kept quiet, hoping that knowledge would be useful later on.”
“That’s right. Now, if you have no other questions, which I’m not about to answer either, just tell me where we go from here.”
“Like I said. All i want is fifty thousand dollars and I’ll be gone. Simple as that. What you do from here on out and what happens between you, Bart Allen and his wife, I simply don’t give a damn.”
“I don’t have that much cash available at the moment,” Avery protested.
“There’s always the bank. It’s flush right now. I understand The Whispering Bandit didn’t get this last shipment.”
“But the bank is closed. Won’t open until morning.”
“I can wait,” Caleb said. He glanced to Stover and then back to Avery. “I’ll see you in the morning when the bank first opens.” He holstered his gun, turned to the door and opened it. He paused for a moment, his back to the men inside. There had been no movement from them. He half turned and said over his shoulder, “Don’t go getting any ideas about me not making it to morning. Remember I’ve got your actor friend stashed away. You still need him. I’m not telling you where to find him until after I get the money.” He smiled wryly, then stepped through the door and closed it behind him.
Callie Parker was no longer at her table and the two toughs at the bar were still there. Gant took a deep breath and strode past them and out the front door.
The night air was cool as Caleb stepped out onto the board sidewalk. He took a deep breath and felt refreshed, but the feeling only lasted a moment when he suddenly was aware of footsteps behind him. His first impulse to turn was suddenly stifled by the unmistakable feel of the cold steel pistol muzzle pressed hard against his spine.
****
Chapter Nineteen
The Whispering Bandit Page 18