Chapter 13 #2
“Did you talk to the villain?” he asked.
“Some.”
“Did you get any information out of him?”
“I got a name.”
Zeke sent Caleb a surprised look. “I didn’t know you got him talking at all.”
“When I run him down.”
“I couldn’t squeeze a word out of that snake.”
Patterson hushed the sheriff. “Did he mention Goulden?”
Caleb put his glass down on the table beside him. “No. But have you ever heard of a fella named Elijah Starr?”
“I have, indeed.” The judge’s face lit up. “Damn me, Marlowe, but that’s nearly as good.”
Patterson began pacing again, unable to hide his excitement.
Caleb’s gut twisted, and a sharp pain fired from his chest to his brain. Here was proof that the bastard was alive. Elijah Starr had never been punished for what he did to Caleb’s mother. Never paid for the crime he committed.
But for all the turmoil churning within him, Caleb kept his mask of indifference on tight.
“This Starr fella works for Goulden?” Zeke asked.
“Not only works for him. He’s his top man in this whole region.”
“What exactly does he do?” Caleb asked.
“I believe, on paper, he’s an operations director for the company.
Officially, he’s one of the men who oversee the construction of the railroad lines.
But in truth, he’s no more than a henchman.
He directs gangs of brutes who eliminate anyone who opposes the expansion of Goulden’s rail empire.
They will threaten, geld, or kill anything that slows them down or stands in their way.
He terrorizes the workers and clears the land of any homesteader, rancher, and townsman who refuse to knuckle under. ”
Caleb thought about the kind of man who would succeed in such a position.
He’d seen them serving as officers. They were men who followed orders without hesitation or question.
They were men who, in turn, issued orders that caused indescribable pain and hardship—on their own soldiers and on people identified as the enemy.
Arrogant, ambitious, ruthless men. Men without souls.
Elijah Starr was exactly that kind of man. But to go from being a school master to this required rising from the ashes like some vile phoenix.
“Don’t recall ever hearing that name afore, Judge,” Zeke put in.
Patterson shrugged. “He’s a company man, and that’s well known. But he’s one of only a few who direct the strongarm work for Goulden.”
The judge crossed the library to the cabinet, filled his glass and returned with the bottle. He refilled Zeke’s glass, but Caleb waved him off. Now, more than ever, he needed to keep a clear head.
“I should have guessed he’d have a hand in the attack on my life,” Patterson continued. “He’s the one who was sent to Elkhorn with an offer to buy out everything along the route Goulden has planned. The offer was a mere pittance.”
So Elijah had come to Elkhorn. “When was that?”
“Last month. Let me see. He arrived in town a day or two after the last attack on the Wells Fargo stagecoach.”
“I never heard nothing about it.”
“You were out beyond Devil’s Claw, tracking down those outlaws.”
“Nobody said nothing about my land.”
“Because I sent him packing. I’ve been securing the deeds for quite a bit of the property Goulden wants. Without my agreement here, they can’t extend the line south.”
There were legal issues about the rights of way, but Caleb couldn’t care less about any of that now. Besides, the judge and Goulden were just two dogs fighting in an alley over a very juicy bone.
“This Starr fella couldn’t talk you into line,” Zeke put in. “So he sent some killers to put you under.”
“His boss gets what he wants, and he doesn’t care how.” Patterson stared thoughtfully at the brandy tumbler in his hand. “But now that we have a confession, I can tie Goulden to the attack. That gives me leverage.”
They had no confession, but Caleb wasn’t going to come clean. He finished his drink. “Any idea where Elijah Starr is now?”
“Yes, I believe so. They’ve been running a rail spur up along the Roaring River from the mining country south of the Blue River. Their center of operations is in Bonedale, and Starr runs his gang out of there.”
Caleb traveled through that area a couple of years ago.
It was about two days’ ride west of Elkhorn.
Back then, the place had no name. It was just a tent city of prospectors moving north from Aspen in search of more gold.
Perched on the river’s edge, the future town was situated in what was the Ute tribe’s shrinking territory.
“I believe I seen the place,” he said. “But it wasn’t much of anything then.”
“Goulden started building fairly recently, after bringing in cheap labor to work on his railroad. I understand that they’ve got a town going now with enough gaming, drinking, and whoring operations to keep the miners and the men coming.”
“And broke once they get there, I reckon,” Zeke put in.
“It’s a wild and lawless place, from all accounts,” the judge added.
Now that Caleb had a destination, nothing would stop him from going there.
“I’ll go and fetch Elijah Starr for you,” he offered.
Surprised, both men fixed their attention on him. Caleb knew that with the judge’s new army of men, he’d be left out of going after Starr. There’d be no chance for revenge once Patterson brought him back to Elkhorn.
“You can do whatever you want with him once you got him under lock and key here.”
The judge stared at him for a moment before answering. “Getting Starr won’t be easy, but I admire the way you think. The way you see things through.”
Patterson had no idea.
“When are you leaving?” the older man asked. “I want this business cleared up long before the eclipse.”
They had more than five weeks. “I leave tomorrow.”
“Take some of my men with you.”
“I go alone.”
Zeke started. “Marlowe, you just got stuck like a prize pig in winter. That’s rugged going between here and there. How are you going to manage it?”
“I’ll manage.”
The sheriff stared at him and then shook his head admiringly. “You are the damnedest…”
The judge strode to the desk and sat down, immediately starting to write.
“It probably won’t help if you get into trouble, but these papers call for Starr’s arrest. And I want you wearing a badge when you go after him.”
Caleb looked over at Zeke’s outstretched hand. He was holding a tin star. He must have gotten it from the body of the murdered deputy.
“Are you well enough to take this on?” Patterson lifted his head from the documents he was signing.
Caleb took the badge from the sheriff and slipped it into his pocket.
“Never been better.”