Chapter Eleven
Stevensville Saloon — The same night
Luke sighed contentedly as the amber liquid ran down his throat. The familiar burn comforted him, and after today, he needed it. Caleb made a similar sound as he drank his shot of whiskey in one big gulp. Lifting two fingers toward the saloon’s bartender, he immediately ordered a second round.
Not surprisingly, it was a busy night. The saloon was one of the oldest buildings in town, but they had recently added new gaming tables, which drew people in.
The atmosphere was great, with most of the folks being in high spirits, cheering, drinking, and generally having a good time.
The pianist was working hard to keep up with his requests, and Moe McFadden—the bartender and owner of the saloon—and his oldest son, Moe Junior, could barely keep up with all the orders being shouted at them.
Two lightly clad women frequented the tables, mostly hovering around the three new additions where men were playing cards or betting on coin tosses.
Moe had just brought over their second round of whiskey and turned to the next patron demanding a drink next to Luke and Caleb when the doors to the saloon swung open, and a group of three unknown men entered.
Whenever strangers turned up in town, Luke was immediately on high alert. Many of the folks in the establishment stopped what they were doing and stared at the newcomers as well. Even the pianist halted his play for a minute. One could never be too careful these days.
“We heard there was a new delivery of whiskey around here,” one of the men announced loudly as all three of them held up their hands to show they’d come in peace. “All we want is a drink.”
They looked like trappers, wearing a mixture of different kinds of furs and leathers, not an uncommon sight this time of year. When they slowly walked toward the bar, the pianist started playing his tune again, and the others went back to what they were doing.
While the trio scanned all the faces at the bar, Luke tipped his hat at them.
He wore his sheriff’s star openly visible to everybody, especially to new faces, but the three men ignored him and planted themselves almost right next to him and Caleb at the bar, where two younger men immediately vacated their spots as they stepped closer. Not everybody liked strangers.
Luke allowed himself to relax, but he was cautious nonetheless as he and Caleb exchanged a quick glance, silently signaling to remain vigilant. Fortunately, the newcomers really did just order a few rounds of whiskey and enjoyed the alcohol much like he and Caleb were.
“Hey, bartender! What’s your name, good sir?” Luke heard one of the group ask. It was the tall one. As it was ingrained in him, Luke listened with one ear as the stranger started asking questions.
“My name is Moe,” the middle-aged man replied. “Another round of whiskey?” he asked, ready to grab another bottle.
“Sure,” the tall one with the beady eyes said with an even cheesier smile.
Luke immediately had an inkling that he was one of those scammers who sold overpriced snake oil.
“But we were hoping to find out some information from you, Moe. After all, you’re the man in town who must know everybody and everything what’s going on here, am I right? ” He laughed at his own joke.
Luke didn’t think it was funny.
His fake smile revealed a row of crooked, yellow teeth, before he spit a dollop of chewing tobacco into the spittoon near his feet. The long coats of all three men seemed to be made of beaver and coyote furs, which were a hot commodity these days.
Luke turned his head to openly look at the group and scan each of their faces. He was certain that he had never seen any of them before.
Moe, who was wiping down the counter with his rag, shot a quick glance at Luke before he joined in with a fake laugh. “Yeah,” was all he said.
“So, Moe,” the guy continued, overly familiar, as he leaned over the counter and closer to the bartender. “We’re looking for a young lady and two small children. They went missing from their home about a week ago.”
Caleb, who was obviously also listening, touched Luke’s elbow with his, and when Luke looked at him, Caleb raised his eyebrows.
“Oh?” Moe’s one-word answers obviously weren’t particularly helpful, and the tall man sighed.
“Yeah. So, we were hoping to return this young lady and those precious little children to their home. Safely, of course. Did you happen to hear anything about them?” The tall man faked another smile at Moe, whose face remained unmoving, as he shook his head without answering.
“Nothing? Not even a hint?” the tall man enquired again.
Luke got the impression that the man’s tone was much more demanding.
“What do they look like?” Luke asked, looking sideways at the tall man, who now turned to him, openly studying Luke from head to toe.
“And who are you?” one of the other two men chimed in with a somewhat dismissive tone as he stepped out behind the tall man to stare Luke down.
Luke turned around to them, and all of their eyes shot down to the sheriff’s badge on his vest. “My name is Luke Cross. I’m the local sheriff in this town; therefore, I am also responsible for missing persons cases. What do they look like?” he asked again, this time a little firmer.
The three men exchanged glances, as if they had to reassure each other that it was okay to speak to the lawman. Luke got the distinct impression that they weren’t too happy about him being there, injecting himself into their conversation uninvited.
“Ah, nice to make your acquaintance, sheriff,” the tall one said, overly polite.
“But there’s no need to waste your precious time, sir,” he added evasively as he rummaged around in his trouser pocket to grab a couple of coins before placing a few of them on the counter.
“You see, it’s not really a missing person’s case, but rather a case of a runaway.
Her fiancé got worried when he couldn’t find them after a few days. ”
“No problem for me,” Luke said to the tall man, as he left his spot, walking around the small group—which pinned them up against the bar—to stand face to face with him.
Luke was almost the same height as the other man, which enabled him to look him straight in the eyes.
“I’d like to help either way. So, let me ask again. What do they look like?”
Luke saw that the other two men, who kept in the shadow of their obvious leader, didn’t say much, and also paid for their drinks. It was clear that they were all ready to turn around and leave.
By now, several young men had overheard their conversation, and since Luke had gotten involved, he noticed that they’d formed a casual circle around him and the group, watching intently.
Luke was familiar with most of them, and when some of them nodded in his direction, he knew that they’d have his back should things kick off and become ugly.
It was very reassuring, to say the least.
“Ah, nothing special. The older girl is a short, curvy thing with black hair, the small girl is blonde, and the boy has brown hair.”
“And it’s her fiancé who’s looking for her?” Luke required with a little more authority in his voice, since the man was clearly talking about Madelaine, Belle, and Simon. “What’s his name?”
The three looked around, and Luke could see in their increasingly nervous stance that they had noticed the casual wall of townsfolk blocking their way. Luke was almost certain that they would have shoved him aside and made a run for it if it had only been him and Caleb.
“That’s not important. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” the tall man replied.
“Well, that’s unfortunate, because I’d like to make a big deal out of it.
You might have noticed that it’s in the middle of winter.
If a young woman and two young children are missing in this kind of weather, we most certainly need to make a big deal out of it, wouldn’t you agree?
” Luke made his point. Looking at his support circle behind him earned him a few nods of agreement and “yeahs” from the other men.
The trio seemed to squirm like worms on fishing hooks, and Luke decided he’d had enough.
“I think you need to tell me everything you know about this young lady and those children, so we can make absolutely sure that they do return home safely. I’m pretty sure her fiancé would appreciate that,” Luke said, putting special emphasis on the word fiancé. “What is his name?”
Before the tall man could come up with yet another dumb excuse, Luke stepped right in front of him and spoke directly to him.
“Let’s stop playing games, here. Tell me what you know about this woman and those children, or I will put all three of you in my lovely little jail cell for the night, until I find out what’s going on here!”
As soon as the man confirmed their names—Belle, Simon, and Madelaine—Luke froze on the spot, and things became completely personal. Outwardly, he managed to maintain his casual demeanor.
“Who is the fiancé?” For some reason he couldn’t really explain, anger rose in him at the fact that this man obviously hesitated to divulge this information.
Caleb stepped closer when the tall man stopped speaking and openly put his hand on his revolver in the holster resting on his hip. “Do we need to take measures?” he asked.
“Phineas. Phineas Greed. He is the new owner of the Peterson ranch,” the tall man said.
Luke took a minute to process this information.
“The ranch was sold? I didn’t hear of it being up for sale,” Caleb mentioned casually.
Luke tilted his head toward the tall man with a questioning look.
“It wasn’t. Mr. Greed is family. I think he’s her cousin or a nephew or something.” The man lowered his head, clearly annoyed about this interrogation.
Luke and Caleb looked at each other for a moment. What they’d just heard was interesting news for both of them. It changed everything.
Without saying another word, Luke turned around, pushed his way through the wall of men behind him, and made his way to the exit. He heard Caleb pay for their drinks before he followed in a hurry.
This needed to be dealt with immediately.
Luke needed to confront Madelaine about this, and part of him fought the rising suspicion that she might not have told him the whole truth.
There were too many facts that simply didn’t line up, when she clearly remembered Simon and Tinsel, as well as all the horse knowledge she obviously possessed, plus several other things—such as the way Belle liked pancakes.
He hadn’t questioned it when Evelyn had brought it up, but right now, everything bubbled to the surface.
It enraged him. Infuriated, he mounted his horse and immediately kicked it into a frenzied gallop, racing back to his ranch.
One thing Luke didn’t allow anyone to do was lie to him and make him look like a fool. At this point, he couldn’t be certain that his suspicion was true, and if it turned out that Madelaine really did suffer from amnesia, he could always apologize after.
However, if he came to find out that she had lied to him this entire time about her apparent memory loss, there would be Hell to pay.