Buffalo Bill Wanted! by Alex Simmons

case.”
    Owens nodded. “And this time, we don’t have Sherlock Holmes to help us sort things out.”
    Dooley ran his fingers through his tousled hair. “I don’t know how he can remember everything to do with a mystery.”
    â€œI know what you mean,” Wiggins admitted. “All the time we were talking with Buffalo Bill, I kept worrying that I had forgotten things I ought to be asking about.”
    â€œMaybe Sherlock Holmes can hold everything in his head, but we don’t have to.” Jennie drew her notebook and pencil from a pocket. “Let’s write down everything we know, then we can come up with a list of things we don’t know.”
    She licked the pencil lead and got ready to write.
    Wiggins felt his lips twist into a wry grin. Jennie didn’t have to say anything, but she might as well have taken that pencil and underlined how important it was for all of them to read and write.
    â€œWe know that the copper was nearly beaten to death and then scalped,” Dooley began.
    â€œBut we don’t know what he was doing around the stables that night,” Owens pointed out. “He wasn’t on duty. In fact, he wasn’t even in uniform.”
    â€œAnd he wasn’t actually shot. The newspapers got that wrong. Buffalo Bill’s pistol was loaded with blanks. Turnbuckle wound up with powder burns and was beaten.” Wiggins frowned. “I don’t think it’s likely he just happened to walk past the stables and spot a burglar coming out with Cody’s gun.”
    â€œIf it wasn’t a burglar, then the attacker had to be connected with the show,” Jennie said. “Perhaps there’s another connection. Chief Tall-Like-Oak mentioned that Constable Turnbuckle was the one who stood up to that buffalo when it went wild.”
    â€œWe know.” Owens nodded. “Turnbuckle passed a remark that Silent Eagle didn’t understand—and didn’t like.”
    â€œBut there were two other men involved in all that,” Dooley said. “What about that big bloke who keeps chasing us? He was one.”
    â€œZeke Black.” Wiggins remembered the name. “He sure doesn’t like us nosing around.”
    â€œAnd then there was the funny-looking fellow with no chin,” Owens chimed in.
    â€œDoes he work for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West?” Jennie asked. “They’ve been here almost four months. But Silent Eagle said that fellow came from the ship that just arrived from America—the one that brought the buffalo. Zeke Black brought him.”
    â€œAll right, so we have two men connected to the constable.” Owens rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Where do we go from here?”
    â€œLet’s just suppose that Zeke Black is the attacker,” Wiggins said. “Working backstage, it would have been easy enough for him to get hold of Buffalo Bill’s gun. He could have been around the stables that evening.”
    Wiggins leaned back in his seat. “When Mr. Holmes investigates a crime, he looks for certain things, like the means of committing the crime and how the guilty person had the chance to commit it. We’ve just gone over those. Another thing Mr. Holmes looks for is the motive. Why would Zeke Black attack and scalp a copper?”
    â€œWhy would the chinless bloke do it?” Dooley asked in frustration.
    â€œScalping would set people looking in the wrong direction,” Jennie replied. “Everyone would blame the attack on an Indian.”
    â€œAnd there are nearly a hundred of them at the Wild West camp,” Wiggins said.
    â€œBut why would Zeke Black go after Mr. Pryke?” Dooley asked.
    Wiggins raised a hand. “First things first. Why would Zeke Black use the gun on the copper?”
    â€œA gun with blanks,” Owens added. “He’d know that—he’s part of the show.”
    Jennie looked up from her scribbling. “When