BURYING ZIMMERMAN (The River Trilogy, book 2)

by Edward A. Stabler

  "The younger feller asked if his name would get in the newspaper, and Gig told him the Nugget would list all the Rampart reporters once a year. The feller started grinning and said he always wanted to see his name in the paper, so he shakes Gig's hand and his nose starts twitching like he was a rabbit. Gig never told me the feller's name, just called him Rabbit, and he said the feller done just what Joe Murphy asked for, through winter diggings and into the spring."

  "So Gig used him to spy on Perlmutter?"

  "Didn't hurt him none. Rabbit got ten dollars every time he gone two miles up Little Minook to talk to Joe Murphy about Myers Gulch. Whenever he come by, Gig brung him into the tent and gave him a taste of whiskey. Then he took out his notebook and wrote down the news, but he always made Rabbit start with what Perlmutter was doing. Gig said it was Wylie's idea, so sometimes he sat in with Gig and Rabbit."

  "Why did Wylie care about Perlmutter? He never had a claim on Myers Gulch."

  "Wylie and Gig was partners," Zimmerman says, looking at me as if I'm slow-witted. "What was good for one was good for the other."

  "Until Wylie killed Perlmutter," I say. "How did it happen?"

  Zimmerman says Perlmutter and his men dug three shafts that winter, and the first missed the pay-streak, but the next two drifted along it. Through the winter he only washed out enough gold from the dumps to pay his men. In May they left the remaining pay-dirt in piles and began digging a cut that overlapped the two claims, and in late July they stopped digging and started sluicing.

  Shortly afterward, Rabbit stopped by Little Minook and told Gig that his work on Perlmutter's claims would end in mid-August. Perlmutter was going to clean up all the gold and exchange it for bank notes in Rampart. Then he would try to find someone willing to work his claims on a lay until next summer. He planned to book passage downriver to St. Michael and then on to California, so he could spend the winter in Oakland building his bible school.

  Gig told Rabbit the Nugget would miss his faithful reporting and reminded him to come by Little Minook again on his last trip down from Myers Gulch.

  "So Rabbit come back two weeks later on his way to Rampart, and Gig gave him an extra ten dollars and wished him well. Rabbit said Perlmutter was up on the claims by hisself for a couple of days. He said maybe a feller named Tom on 4 Above could bring Gig the news from now on. Gig said he'd be sure to go visit Tom as soon as he could.

  "The next morning, Gig and Wylie was on the Minook Creek trail before dawn. They took their Winchesters and made it up Slate Creek to the mouth of Myers Gulch before the mosquitoes was rising. Up at 8 Above, they waited on the path until they seen Perlmutter come out of the cabin carrying an empty bucket. He was going to his dammed-up sluice pond, so they follow him over, moving quiet. On the other side of the cabin they gone past a log corral where Perlmutter got his horse penned up, but the horse didn't mind 'em none.

  "Gig said him and Wylie come up behind Perlmutter when he's bending down to fill his bucket. Then Wylie pumps his rifle once and Perlmutter jerks back so fast he drops the bucket in the pond. He spins around crab-like and looks back and forth from Gig to Wylie like he's trying to reckon if he knows 'em. Then he holds his palms out to show he ain't armed and stands up slow. Takes off his eyeglasses and wipes 'em off, then puts 'em on again, but he still don't know who's on his claim.

  "'When a rat crawls into a snake burrow,' Gig says, 'he better make sure the snake is moved out or dead. You jumped my claim even though you knowed I wasn't neither.'

  "Perlmutter looks at Gig like he recognizes him now. He says 'I just followed the rules. You had a chance to record it yourself. If you done that, I would of moved on to another claim.'

  "Gig points at the slope above him and waves his arm across to the hills on the far side of Slate Creek. 'There's pups and benches all the way up this valley and over the divide to the next one, and the one after that' he says. 'Hundreds of miles of creeks just waiting for someone to find prospects and stake discovery. But you ain't been ten minutes in the Yukon and you start taking what another man found. Like a rat that can't dig its own burrow.'

  "Perlmutter points to his cut with a line of sluice-boxes running down it and a pile of tailings at the bottom and tells Gig he been digging his own burrow for almost a year. Said he was a feller that don't mind living by the sweat of his brow.

  "Wylie says 'Well you ain't sweating now, and I don't see nobody else hoisting a shovel, so you must be done sluicing. How much did you clean up?'

  "Perlmutter sneaks a look at his cabin, then looks back at Wylie. He pushes his eyeglasses up his nose but don't say nothing, just shakes his head a little.

  "Gig says 'That don't matter. We ain't here to rob you. I just want a fair share of what was mine before you come along.'"

  "That's a thin argument," I say. "I guess the Winchesters made his case more persuasive."

  "Gig told me they was pointing their guns at the ground. He said Perlmutter asked him what he wanted and Gig said fifteen percent. Perlmutter says he been working 8 Above and the top three hundred feet of 7 Above. The bottom two hundred feet ain't been worked yet. He says he'll sell Gig that piece of 7 Above for a thousand dollars, due on clean-up.

  "So now Gig knows Perlmutter got to answer Wylie's question, 'cause you can't tell what the bottom part of the claim is worth if you don't know what come out of the top.

  "'How much did you clean up?' Gig says, and this time Wylie raises his rifle to his hip.

  "'About eleven thousand,' Perlmutter says. But he says some of it come from 8 Above.

  "Gig says he'll take the fraction for five hundred and pay on clean-up. Maybe Perlmutter don't care about the money or maybe he ain't happy with the look of Wylie's gun, but he says he'll settle for five hundred. Says he'll go into the cabin and write up a notice of sale and sign it and give it to Gig. He's packing out to Rampart the next morning and he'll meet Gig at the Commissioner's office at four to record the sale.

  "So Gig nods and Wylie lowers his shotgun to his side and Perlmutter goes into his cabin, then comes out a few minutes later and hands Gig a sheet of paper that says Notice of Transfer of Deed across the top. Gig seen it says two-hundred feet on 7 Above Myers Gulch for five-hundred dollars on clean-up, so him and Wylie turn back toward the trail.

  "After a couple steps Gig looks back at Perlmutter and says 'if you don't show up tomorrow at four, you'll get a visit from the snake.' And Wylie still got his shotgun pumped, so he can't help hisself. When they walk past the stake for 8 Above, he points the muzzle at Perlmutter's name on the face and pulls the trigger."

  Chapter 46

  I reach for my cup but it's empty, so I snare Zimmerman's along with it and stand up. The cabin seems to list a bit. My vision steadies as I cross to the counter. To fill the cups halfway I have to tilt the cask. Back at the table I slide Zimmerman his whiskey, and he keeps his eyes on me while he drinks. My sip flares into a mental image of the claims on Myers Gulch.

  Zimmerman said 8 Above was a fractional claim, and Perlmutter bought it for twenty-three hundred. But 7 Above was a full claim, and Perlmutter sold Gig almost half of it for five hundred. So he was being generous, even though he didn't owe Gig anything. I point this out to Zimmerman and ask him what went wrong.

  "Far as Gig knowed, things went wrong when Perlmutter didn't make it to Rampart. Gig was at the Gold Commissioner's office at four, and he showed 'em the paper he got from Perlmutter. The clerk gave him a claim-sale form and he signed it and waited. When Perlmutter ain't come in by five, Gig stopped in at a few saloons, but no one seen him. So Gig went back to the office and told the clerk he'd bring Perlmutter in tomorrow to sign the form.

  "Then he started up the Minook Creek Trail, keeping his eyes open for Perlmutter coming down. When he got to the turn onto Little Minook around eight, he figured Perlmutter must still be up at Myers Gulch. Gig said he was thinking about what to make him pay for not showing up at the Commissioner's office. Maybe his whole line of sluice-boxes.

  "Ba
ck at the claims, Gig seen Wylie wasn't in the cabin, and he notices Wylie's horse is gone. If Wylie went down to Rampart, Gig should of met him on the path, so maybe he's out on one of the other creeks. It was getting dark and Gig figured he'd be back before long. He ate dinner in the cabin and stretched out on his bunk, but Wylie never come in that night.

  "Gig said he woke up in the dark and knowed he had to go back to Myers Gulch. He lit a candle and cooked oatmeal on the stove, checked the cartridges in his Winchester and set out. It's two miles down to Minook Creek then five upstream to Slate, and Gig said he felt black inside when he ain't seen Wylie by dawn. A mile up Slate Creek he turned onto the trail for Myers Gulch.

  "Even if you don't see nobody, sometimes you can tell by sniffing if miners is on a claim. There'll be smoke from a shaft fire or a stove-pipe, or the smell of bacon and flapjacks when the trail come close to a cabin. Gig said he only seen one feller collecting wood, but he knowed the lower claims on Myers Gulch was all being worked for the end of summer diggings. He said he heared voices from a tent across the pup on 6 Above, but 7 Above was dead quiet.

  "When he got to the stake that Wylie shot-gunned, Gig broke off the trail for the cabin on 8 Above. The sun was hitting the tops of the hills but there wasn't no smell of smoke. He figured Perlmutter was gone. He knocked loud and backed up a step and pumped his Winchester, but no one come out. So he opened the door and gone inside.

  "Gig said the stove was cold, just ashes and no embers. Pots and cups was put away, and there was a couple packed bags, like Perlmutter was fixing to leave. Most miners got some kind of fur robe or quilt for sleeping, but there was only an old blanket left on the bunk. And there wasn't no sign of gold. Gig dug into the bags, poked through the cabin top to bottom, and walked around outside, but he didn't find an ounce of dust, even though he reckoned Perlmutter must of cleaned up fifty pounds. Maybe more."

  "No corpse, no gold. So how did Gig know Wylie killed Perlmutter?"

  "First thing was a horse," Zimmerman says. "He went down to the sluice pond and walked right past the corral before he seen what was wrong and turned back to look. It was Wylie's old black gelding watching him over the rail. There was enough light to see the mosquito welts under his eyes and the scar on his hindquarters. Perlmutter got a young chestnut mare, but she was gone."

  "Wylie took her?"

  "Someone took her," Zimmerman says. "Could of been Perlmutter. But Gig reckoned whichever one had the mare got the gold, and the other got bit by the snake. So he held his barrel up and walked down the edge of the cut, then along the pup through the trees to the bottom of the claim. That was the part of 7 Above where Perlmutter ain't worked yet. Gig crossed the pup and started back up the far side along the base of the gulch wall.

  "He found Perlmutter at the back corner of 7 and 8. You can't see that spot from the cabin or the trail 'cause there's willows along the pup. He was sitting with his back to the stake, with his name and 8 Above carved on the face. His belly was stabbed open and a knife Gig ain't seen before pinned his neck to the post, with his chin hanging down over the handle. Gig said he pulled the head back by the hair, but Perlmutter's eyes was already glazing. His face was bruised on the temple and it looked small with no eyeglasses. Gig seen 'em lying on the moss behind the stake, with one side crushed like they was stepped on."

  "So it wasn't Wylie's knife in Perlmutter's neck?"

  "Wylie had a Bowie knife, and Gig said it was a dagger in Perlmutter's neck. Probably come from Perlmutter hisself. Gig reckoned Wylie didn't want to shoot him 'cause of the noise. Maybe caught him by surprise coming out of the cabin. Knocked him in the head and stabbed him in the belly, then slung the body on his horse and walked it down to the stake."

  My reservations about Wylie rise back toward the surface, but I still can't identify what seems wrong.

  "His horse? Wylie must have trusted it, so that makes sense. But when he was done, why did he take Perlmutter's horse and leave his own in the corral?"

  "Wylie was packing his own bags and fifty pounds of Perlmutter's gold," Zimmerman says. "And he knowed the mare was stronger than his gelding."

  "But leaving his horse on Perlmutter's claim was like leaving his calling card."

  "Most folks would of said Wylie's horse was Gig's horse. That's what Gig reckoned. And he already told the Commissioner's office he was buying a piece of 7 Above, before Perlmutter stood him up."

  I follow Zimmerman's logic. The clerk knew Gig was angry at Perlmutter for failing to sign the claim-sale documents. And other miners in Rampart knew Gig thought Perlmutter had jumped his claim in the first place. So Gig would be the first one suspected of murdering Perlmutter and stealing his gold, and he had no convincing alibi. Zimmerman says that's why Gig decided to take Wylie's horse back down to Little Minook, pack his gear, and catch a boat downriver before the body was found.

  But for some reason Zimmerman's previous remark is the one that stays with me. Most folks would have said Wylie's horse was Gig's horse. And my doubts resolve into a glimmer of recognition, as if a fog shrouding Wylie has been burned away by the sun.

  "Wylie didn't worry about leaving his horse in the corral at Myers Gulch because he knew Gig would be blamed for killing Perlmutter."

  Zimmerman looks at me without responding, but his expression doesn't refute my claim.

  "Even though you said Gig and Wylie were partners, and what was good for one was good for the other."

  Zimmerman doesn't answer, but his eyes narrow.

  "And Wylie tried to strangle Alice Maine and stole her gold."

  His mouth tightens.

  "While Gig was pouring whiskey for the cheechakos in Dawson, it was Wylie stealing grub from their tents."

  He lifts his cup and draws a malevolent sip.

  "And Wylie was haunted by the glowing girl in his dreams. The Indian girl who tried to drown him in Miles Canyon and Quartz Creek."

  With his story interrupted, Zimmerman looks again as if all the gears are spinning behind his eyes.

  "You said when you left home to join Gig in the Yukon, you didn't think he killed Jessie. But something you saw on the Inside changed your mind. It was Wylie, wasn't it? It was his fear of the glowing girl. When he tried to strangle Alice, he thought she was the glowing girl."

  And now a step backward in time, from the Yukon to Cabin John, seems unavoidable.

  "He killed Jessie, didn't he? Because he thought Jessie was the glowing girl."

  "Wylie done it," Zimmerman says softly. His eyes look washed out again, as if the gears behind them have stopped.

  "Most people would have said Wylie's horse was Gig's horse," I repeat.

  Both of my hands grip the edge of the table as I stare at Zimmerman. My anger rises with my voice, and I reflexively raise the knife and stab it into the table near Dawson.

  "Because there was no Wylie! Wylie was Gig!"

  My heart races now as I wait for Zimmerman to contradict me, but he doesn't reply, just stares back at me as his mouth curls into a twisted smile. The seconds tick by, and the longer I wait for a denial, the less likely it seems one will come.

  Chapter 47

  Zimmerman stares at me like a cornered panther and neither of us speaks for what seems like a long time. My thoughts careen down this newly revealed path. Did Wylie exist or not? For Zimmerman – for the purpose of neutralizing any threat I pose tonight – Wylie has proven useful. He's a scapegoat who can be blamed for Gig Garrett's misdeeds. If it was Wylie who did the stealing and strangling and killing, then Zimmerman can justify his continued friendship with Garrett during their days together in the Yukon.

  Maybe Wylie did exist. Maybe Zimmerman met him. Maybe he was just an ordinary sourdough who partnered with Gig in Circle City and Dawson. Or maybe Gig had different partners in different places. If the Wylie who shared a tent with Gig in Lousetown was different from the Wylie who worked alongside Gig on Little Minook Creek, then neither would have had to travel five hundred miles downriver from Dawson to Rampart
by himself in the dead of winter. Maybe Zimmerman has fused Gig's gold-seeking accomplices into a single character in his story, named the character Wylie, and handed him all of Garrett's misanthropy and fears.

  Even if I ask Zimmerman who the real Wylie was, I can't trust any answer he provides. So I'd rather focus on the real threat.

  "Gig Garrett killed Perlmutter and stole his gold. Admit it."

  "That ain't what he told me in Nome."

  "What did he tell you?"

  "That Wylie done it, but that it don't matter, 'cause miners in Rampart was going to pin it on him. He said maybe Nokes and the bounty hunters gave up on him after they lost the scent, but after Perlmutter got killed, someone else would be coming after him. Gig said Nome was so full of crooks and gamblers and guns, it was the only place in Alaska he felt safe."

  "So he admitted he was running from the law when he left Rampart. He had a dispute with Perlmutter, and then Perlmutter got stabbed. You must have known that Gig killed him, but maybe you hid the truth from yourself the way you've been hiding it from me tonight. You invented Wylie and made him responsible for Gig's crimes because you couldn't accept the truth about Gig."

  "I knowed Gig for what he was," Zimmerman says with an edge to his voice.

  "He was a thief. From the time he was old enough to steal watermelons on the docks. And he was prone to stabbing people – starting with you, Henry. He cost you half a finger."

  Zimmerman lifts his left hand a few inches from the table, rotates the severed digit toward me, and cracks a disconcerting smile. "It was my own doing," he says.

  I try to keep my thoughts on track. "And he was afraid of ghosts. Or phantasms, delusions, whatever made him think a glowing Indian girl in his dreams was trying to drown him. Sometimes he saw the phantasm when he was awake, and he lashed out or fled to save himself.

  "That's why he tried to strangle Alice. That's why he killed Jessie. Maybe he was jealous of Drew, but that wasn't the only reason. Maybe jealousy triggered him and made him think Jessie was the Indian girl."