me none. Stay out of their way, they’ll leave you alone. Fact is, I’m claustrophobic.”
He slapped his gloves together, sending a cloud of dust ballooning skyward, and skated down the embankment toward the pile of timber.
“That mine’s been off-limits for years,” he called out to me. “But that doesn’t keep people out. Last summer we caught some kids sneaking up there and having themselves a fine old time. Yes, sir. Cigarette butts, beer cans, liquor bottles. Other things,” he said, winking. “Had a young man get bit not more’n twenty feet inside the mine’s entrance. Had to medevac him out. Boy nearly lost his leg ‘cause of messing around in that shaft.”
“So if it’s that dangerous, what makes you think Mr. Earp would be up there?”
“Man’s a drunk. Claims to have it licked, but a thing like that don’t ever stay dead. You can go years without a drink and then one day you take a sip, slip off the wagon, and fall so far and fast they don’t find you until the paramedics bring you in with a sheet over your head.”
The way he said it made me wonder if Garrett had struggled with drinking himself. Or known someone who had.
“I think that old security guard has been sneaking off when he’s supposed to be patrolling the grounds. Him being absent from the guardhouse yesterday when your family arrived wasn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened.”
The deputy hoisted a new timber on his shoulder and carried it up the hill the way a slugger might carry a bat to home plate.
I asked, “Why haven’t you said something?”
“Like I got time to do his job and mine. Marshal fires Earp, that’s just more work for me. Here, give me a hand shoving this one in place.”
I walked over and knelt beside him, placing my hand on the end of the new lumber. Together we shoved it under the rails.
“No, if you’re asking me who has it in for Bill, I’d say start where your vacation began—at the guardhouse. See, what I think happened is that Bill found out about Earp’s drinking. Bill’s dad was a drunk, and that sort of thing can scare a boy. Maybe Bill confronted Earp. Told him to knock it off or he’d go to the marshal.”
“I can’t see Mr. Earp killing Billy the Kid over something like that.”
“Obviously, you’ve never been around an out-of-control drunk. They can say and do things a normal person wouldn’t dream of doing. Could be Earp took a swing at Billy. Or pulled his gun on Bill. You asked who had a reason to see Bill gone, I’m telling you to talk to Earp. And I bet if you look in that old mine you’ll find evidence that old man’s been up there taking a drink or two.”
“One last thing. That burial mounds place, any truth to the rumor that it’s haunted?”
“Boy, you got a wild imagination. No, that’s just another of Earp’s tall tales. He likes to scare folks that way.”
“So all this, the disappearing bank robbers and farmer and that cowboy on the train with his stand-up routine, nothing to it?”
“You know I can’t tell you how it’s done. But if you’re thinking this ghost business is real, you’re a worse detective than Iam.” He wiped his face with a bandana and said to me, “I need to finish this up or else the marshal will think I’m goofing off.”
I mounted my pony and turned him toward the tunnel. My list of suspects remained a jumbled lineup of revolving characters. James still looked to be the most likely candidate. He had the most to gain with Billy dead and that gave him motive. Obviously James knew how to handle a pistol. That gave him means. And parking his vehicle in Lazy Jack’s put him at the crime scene during the time of the murder.
Garrett had an alibi and no apparent motive, though he had seemed awfully quick to point me in Earp’s direction.
Probably bad blood between Garrett and Earp
, I thought.
Or maybe just good detective work by the deputy
.
The elderly security guard seemed like an odd choice for my lead
He slapped his gloves together, sending a cloud of dust ballooning skyward, and skated down the embankment toward the pile of timber.
“That mine’s been off-limits for years,” he called out to me. “But that doesn’t keep people out. Last summer we caught some kids sneaking up there and having themselves a fine old time. Yes, sir. Cigarette butts, beer cans, liquor bottles. Other things,” he said, winking. “Had a young man get bit not more’n twenty feet inside the mine’s entrance. Had to medevac him out. Boy nearly lost his leg ‘cause of messing around in that shaft.”
“So if it’s that dangerous, what makes you think Mr. Earp would be up there?”
“Man’s a drunk. Claims to have it licked, but a thing like that don’t ever stay dead. You can go years without a drink and then one day you take a sip, slip off the wagon, and fall so far and fast they don’t find you until the paramedics bring you in with a sheet over your head.”
The way he said it made me wonder if Garrett had struggled with drinking himself. Or known someone who had.
“I think that old security guard has been sneaking off when he’s supposed to be patrolling the grounds. Him being absent from the guardhouse yesterday when your family arrived wasn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened.”
The deputy hoisted a new timber on his shoulder and carried it up the hill the way a slugger might carry a bat to home plate.
I asked, “Why haven’t you said something?”
“Like I got time to do his job and mine. Marshal fires Earp, that’s just more work for me. Here, give me a hand shoving this one in place.”
I walked over and knelt beside him, placing my hand on the end of the new lumber. Together we shoved it under the rails.
“No, if you’re asking me who has it in for Bill, I’d say start where your vacation began—at the guardhouse. See, what I think happened is that Bill found out about Earp’s drinking. Bill’s dad was a drunk, and that sort of thing can scare a boy. Maybe Bill confronted Earp. Told him to knock it off or he’d go to the marshal.”
“I can’t see Mr. Earp killing Billy the Kid over something like that.”
“Obviously, you’ve never been around an out-of-control drunk. They can say and do things a normal person wouldn’t dream of doing. Could be Earp took a swing at Billy. Or pulled his gun on Bill. You asked who had a reason to see Bill gone, I’m telling you to talk to Earp. And I bet if you look in that old mine you’ll find evidence that old man’s been up there taking a drink or two.”
“One last thing. That burial mounds place, any truth to the rumor that it’s haunted?”
“Boy, you got a wild imagination. No, that’s just another of Earp’s tall tales. He likes to scare folks that way.”
“So all this, the disappearing bank robbers and farmer and that cowboy on the train with his stand-up routine, nothing to it?”
“You know I can’t tell you how it’s done. But if you’re thinking this ghost business is real, you’re a worse detective than Iam.” He wiped his face with a bandana and said to me, “I need to finish this up or else the marshal will think I’m goofing off.”
I mounted my pony and turned him toward the tunnel. My list of suspects remained a jumbled lineup of revolving characters. James still looked to be the most likely candidate. He had the most to gain with Billy dead and that gave him motive. Obviously James knew how to handle a pistol. That gave him means. And parking his vehicle in Lazy Jack’s put him at the crime scene during the time of the murder.
Garrett had an alibi and no apparent motive, though he had seemed awfully quick to point me in Earp’s direction.
Probably bad blood between Garrett and Earp
, I thought.
Or maybe just good detective work by the deputy
.
The elderly security guard seemed like an odd choice for my lead
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