Chapter 13 #2
“Do they generally keep their promises?” Alice asked. Her expression indicated she knew how unlikely that was.
“I don’t know,” Michael said.
“Mmm, from what I saw at the farm, the likelihood of these men leaving that many witnesses al—” Warren began, but Kyle moved quickly, kicking him in the shin. “Ouch!”
“Sorry,” Kyle said insincerely. There was no need to alarm Alice any further than she already was.
“What is the likelihood?” Alice asked.
Kyle knew what Warren was going to say. He had the same fear and had come to the same conclusion.
“You only don’t bother to cover up your face as a criminal if you plan to leave no one around to point you out to the law,” Michael pointed out.
“I was afraid of that,” Alice said. “Chrissie is so convinced that Joel will go and leave them be.”
“Joel?” Michael asked.
“Joel Holt, her husband Jason’s cousin,” Alice said.
“And how do you know that?” Kyle asked, remembering the Joel who had walked into the restaurant the other day when they were at Sylvester’s saloon. The man had to be the same person.
Alice looked abashed. “I went to talk to her when all of us first went out there,” she said.
“I hid in the sugarcane, and we had a little chat without her guard knowing. But Joel brought all his men to the farm and told them they could stay there. It sounds like they have something planned for the next week. Chrissie doesn’t know what, but they told her they will be leaving then. ”
“Only a week,” Michael said. “That gives us no time at all.” He rubbed his chin with his hand. “I think we need sleep first and then a plan. I’m surprised any of us are upright.”
Kyle had to admit that he was also finding it challenging to keep his eyes open. Now that his stomach was full and he was clean and safe, all he wanted to do was go to sleep.
“Maybe a solution will come to us while we’re sleeping,” Warren suggested.
“Stranger things have happened,” Kyle agreed, although he couldn’t think of an example.
They finished their meal and then went up to their rooms. Although his ribs were feeling a good deal better, all the exertion and exhaustion had brought some of the pain back. After trying to get some sleep for about an hour, Kyle gave up and took some laudanum.
The sun was low on the horizon when he woke.
He had slept the whole day away. Instead of feeling refreshed and awake, he had a strangely wrung out, crusty feeling inside his skin as though it had been used by someone else while he was asleep, and they hadn’t had the courtesy to wash it before giving it back.
Stumbling downstairs, he found the bar packed. It was loud in there, and at first, it was too much for Kyle. His head was still swimming in some undefined, drug-induced dream. All he could remember was that it was unsettling, but what was unsettling about it, he had no idea.
“Kyle?”
Turning, he found Alice at the bottom of the stairs. She was carrying a tray of drinks.
“Didn’t you rest?” he asked.
She smiled and shook her head. “I only managed to sleep for an hour. I’m just not good at napping.” She frowned at him. “How are you feeling? You look pale.”
“Hey! Our drinks!” a man at a nearby table called.
“Sorry, Mr. Brown,” she called. “I’m on my way.” And she hurried over to their table.
After delivering the drinks to Mr. Brown and his friends, she walked back to Kyle. “Did you get some sleep?”
He nodded. “I think I shouldn’t have bothered. It hasn’t made me feel any better.”
“If it’s any consolation, Warren and Michael look unhappy too,” she said, turning and looking in the direction where they were sitting at the bar.
From the way both men were slumped, Kyle guessed that their naps hadn’t been satisfactory either.
“I’ll go and sit with them,” he said.
She nodded. “I’ll come talk to you when I can.”
He smiled at her and, without thinking, reached out and touched her cheek gently, running his fingertip along her soft skin. “You’re really the best thing in his whole place, you know that?”
She beamed and hurried away.
Michael looked up when Kyle took a seat beside him at the bar. “Oh, you’re finally awake. How did you manage to sleep during the day? I thought my room was too stuffy. I couldn’t get my window open wide enough to coax some air in.”
“I find that if you cover your eyes with a cloth?—”
“Warren, not again,” Michael complained. “I can’t listen to all of that again. It was such a long explanation.”
Kyle smiled. “You can tell me all about it later,” he said.
Warren wasn’t perturbed. That was one of the great things about him as a person. Things that would insult or upset others had no effect on him at all. “I think it would be very informative for you.”
“Thanks,” Kyle said. “So, how is the plan coming on?”
Michael grumbled. “I don’t have anything good.”
“But you spoke to Sheriff Butler,” Kyle said.
“That’s the problem,” Warren said. “It seems that Sheriff Butler and Sheriff Wilkes from Cherryville aren’t on speaking terms.”
Kyle couldn’t believe his ears. “They’re not talking, so he’s not willing to help.”
“It’s not that cut and dry,” Michael said with a deep sigh. “Sheriff Butler is a kind and good man, but there is a longstanding rivalry between the two towns. He’s not convinced that him riding into Cherryville to save the day won’t be misconstrued.”
“So, he’s willing to run the risk of an entire town being wiped out?” Kyle asked, his voice rising.
“I think it’s more than that,” Warren said. “After my nap, I went for a walk around town, and I noticed a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Well, there are men watching the bank a lot,” Warren said.
“Maybe those same men that you noticed when we first arrived. They’re not bad at it, but they’re not good.
They sit on the porches next to the place and keep one eye on it.
I don’t recall that from before. It seems that our talk about bandits in the area has made them all a little more cautious. ”
“Or I was right, and they’re going to rob the bank,” Kyle said with a sigh. That would be the icing on the cake for this whole trip!
“So, we might know their target,” Michael said, looking thoughtful. “Maybe if we can find out when they’re planning to do the heist, we can plan some way to intercept them.”
“Well, they kept telling everyone they’ll be gone in a week,” Kyle mentioned. “Maybe that’s when they plan to do this. Maybe they’ll rob the bank in a week.”
“Why? What’s happening then?” Warren asked. “Is more money coming in?”
“Could be,” Michael said.
Just then, Alice came up to them. She was holding a small envelope. “This came for you at the telegraph office,” she said. “They brought the message since none of you have been visiting regularly to check.”
“Oh,” Kyle said sheepishly. “I guess we forgot.”
Alice laughed. “Don’t you have a telegram office in your town?”
“No, not yet,” Kyle said. “But we’re working on it.” He didn’t want Unity to seem like anything but a wonderful place. He still held out the hope that Alice would one day come and stay with him there.
“It’s from the railway company,” she said. “Every passenger got one.”
Michael opened the envelope and read the message out loud for them. “New train to arrive Saturday, October 30. Will depart Sunday, October 31, at 9:00 a.m. Passage secured. Three-sleeper berth. It’s signed by the railway company.” He looked a little annoyed. “Well, that doesn’t give us much time.”
“Four days,” Warren said.
“I know what the hold-up is,” Kyle said, realization suddenly dawning. “The bandits have been waiting for the train!”