Murder at Thumb Butte by James D. Best

me?” She threw her arm in the direction of the door. “Leave, or my pa will be upset.”
    “ I apologize. I mistook you for someone else.” I kneeled to pick up a jackstone, and she knelt beside me.
    “ Go now, or you’ll ruin everything.” She had whispered, but it had been an order.
    I stood and walked briskly out the door. I had found that it was best not to disobey a McAllen.
    Maggie was the fourteen-year-old daughter of Joseph McAllen. Her mother had long ago divorced him and married a preacher. The new family had moved to Durango, Colorado, but McAllen and his daughter still saw each other on occasion. The previous fall, Sharp and I had rescued Maggie from a bad situation. At first, everyone believed Utes had abducted her, but we eventually discovered that it was an old enemy of the captain’s who wanted to exact revenge by forcing him to help rob a silver shipment.
    What was she doing here? There was a familiarity in her whispered order, so she had recognized me. I looked over the men on the street. McAllen had to be close by. He would never let his daughter venture into the territory without escorting her. I didn’t see him on the street, so he had to be inside. I decided to wait until the two of them came out. I realized I was on the Whiskey Row side of the town square, and any respectable family would exit on the opposite side, where Mrs. Potter had her café. I hurried around the outside of the building and arrived in time to see Maggie and two other people leaving the courthouse. Neither of the two were Captain McAllen … nor were they her family from Durango.
    I immediately turned my back and knelt to straighten my cuff. As I fidgeted, I peeked around my leg and watched them walk to Gurley Street and turn right. As soon as they disappeared around the corner, I followed, walking as normally as possible given my anxiety. When I turned the corner, they were gone, but I knew immediately where they had gone—Prescott House was only half a block away.
    I climbed the two steps into the hotel, and there they were, chatting amicably with a man I assumed was the proprietor. I ignored Maggie’s annoyed glance and waited for them to go upstairs to their room.
    As soon as they broke off their conversation, the innkeeper turned his attention to me. “Yes, sir. How can I help you?”
    I kept my eyes only on him but spoke loudly enough for Maggie to hear as she started to climb the stairs. “Do you offer afternoon tea?”
    “ It’s a bit early, but yes, we do.”
    I handed the man a coin. “I’ll take a newspaper to read while I wait. When you start, would you be so kind as to bring me service for one?”
    “ Of course, sir.”
    He went behind a counter, and I had an idea. “Do you have old issues?”
    “ A few.”
    “ Give me a current issue, and then when you’re not busy, collect all the old issues you can find. I like reading old newspapers when I come into a new town. I found it’s a fast way to get familiar with people and events.” I nodded toward the coin in his hand. “You may keep the change.”
    I saw him rub the silver dollar with his thumb. He handed me a newspaper and made a little bow, before saying, “Of course, sir. Take any seat you’d like.”
    The lobby was small and lavishly decorated. There were so many chairs and divans that the room felt crowded with no one around. The walnut chairs and sideboards kept the powder blue and red from being too obnoxious. This was definitely a woman’s room.
    I picked a chair in the corner and sat down. Now the onus was on Maggie or the man and woman who always kept to either side of her. It didn’t take long. In less than five minutes, a nattily dressed man came down and sat in the chair opposite me. The lobby was unoccupied, so I felt no need to be restrained.
    “ Mr. Schmidt, I’m pleased to see you again.”
    He shook my hand. “If memory serves, you are Steve Dancy.”
    “ Correct. Are you investigating a fraud?”
    “ We were. It