Whistler in the Dark by Kathleen Ernst Page B

Raven—
    â€œOh!” On the next line Emma wrote, The Raven? Could Dixie John have been referring to the saloon itself?
    Something else nagged at the back of her mind. Emma curled up in the chair, hugging her knees, as she tried to remember. Suddenly it came to her: Jeremy telling her about climbing the twin pines. “Climbs easy as a ladder,” he’d said, “and you get an eagle’s view once you’re up a ways.”
    Was that what Dixie John had meant? That if she climbed the tree and looked down on the whole town, she’d see something important?
    Emma stared at her notebook, trying to make sense of her ideas. Finally she shoved it away. “This is all nonsense!” she muttered, feeling foolish for even trying to make sense of a drunken man’s ramblings. In the morning, if Dixie John showed up for breakfast and seemed sober, she’d just ask him.
    After washing her face and visiting the outhouse, Emma was reaching for her nightgown when her hand stilled. Should she try to wait for The Whistler again? She eyed her bed wistfully. It had been a long day, and she was tired.
    She decided to curl up in the chair by her own window instead of waiting downstairs. She was turning over the exchange with Dixie John in her mind when she dozed off.
    Whistled notes slid through the night like a ghost, jolting her awake. Maggie by My Side .
    Avoiding the window, Emma shot to her feet, raced through the hall, and skittered down the stairs. The last notes of the chorus reached her ears as she fumbled with the front door. She didn’t want to scare The Whistler away! Then she slipped into the damp night air, heart pounding.
    The whistling had stopped. Emma darted onto the boardwalk just in time to see a shadowy figure disappearing down the street, away from the more permanent buildings. Laughter spilled from The Raven, and a horse tied to the hitching rail out front snorted impatiently. No one else was in sight. Emma turned to follow the man.
    The saloon glowed with lamplight, as did the meeting room above Mr. Boggs’s store, and some of the miners camped near the creek had lit a small bonfire. Most of the town, however, was dark. Following the man away from the lively oasis of The Raven, Emma felt another flicker of unease. I shouldn’t be doing this , she thought—but she couldn’t bear to give up now, not when she was so close.
    The man had a good head start, but her prickling nerves warned her to move stealthily, keeping to the shadows. As she closed the gap, she noted that he was short and slightly built—and that he walked with a limp. Emma felt a sudden sheen of sweat on her skin. Surely this was the man who’d asked about the Hendersons during their journey west!
    The Whistler led her toward the outskirts of Twin Pines, where the scattered cabins and tents were shadowed and silent. Emma’s footsteps slowed. The half-moon slid behind a cloak of clouds, and the saloon noise had faded behind her. A sudden snarl split the night. Emma almost jumped from her skin. It’s just a couple of dogs fighting over an antelope bone , she told herself, but when one of the creatures slunk away from the shadow of a tiny cabin, she saw that it was a coyote instead. She stifled a cry and scurried backward.
    The Whistler had melted into the shadows, but Emma couldn’t will her feet to follow. An icy finger of fear traced down her spine. For a moment Emma stood rooted in the road, heart hammering. Then she snatched up her skirts and fled back to the boardinghouse.

C HAPTER 10
    A L IKELY S USPECT

    Emma woke the next morning very annoyed with herself. I was so close! she fumed. Twice yesterday she’d gotten spooked—once in the saloon when Dixie John was holding her wrist, and later following The Whistler. Her father had faced battle without running away! Surely she could have done better. Mother, who had slipped into bed long after Emma had curled lonely and cold