Читать книгу Violence of the Mountain Man - William W. Johnstone - Страница 8

Frisco, Colorado

The ill-fitting blue suit that had literally screamed prison issue was gone, replaced by a pair of denim trousers and a white shirt. The clothes, like the black hat and the brown boots he was wearing, were new. Van Arndt had used Gibbs’s money to buy himself new duds to include a new pistol and holster. He had bought a new horse and saddle as well, but rather than ride the fifty miles to Frisco, he had taken the train, buying passage for his horse in the attached stock car.

Stepping down from the train, Van Arndt saw a town that was alive with commerce. The streets were filled with the traffic of wagons, buckboards, and horses. Men and women moved up and down the boardwalks, and went in and out of the many stores that fronted Center Street. Across the street from the depot, a new building was going up and men hammered, sawed, and shouted at each other. Next to the depot was a large holding pen, and though it was almost empty at the moment, the ground was redolent with the droppings of thousands of cattle deposited over the last several months. This was both visual and olfactory evidence of the cattle commerce carried on at the Frisco railhead.

Retrieving his horse from the attached stock car, Van Arndt led the animal down the street to a livery, where he made arrangements for it to be boarded. Then he walked back up the street to the Railroad Hotel, which was just across from the depot, and there, he took a room. After that, he went to the bank to have a look around at the way the bank was laid out. If this little bank really did have one hundred thousand dollars, as Gibbs had stated, than Van Arndt intended to relieve it of that burden.

He chuckled to himself as he realized how he had just thought of it as “relieving the bank of its burden.”

The bank was unremarkable in that it resembled all the other banks in all the other towns Van Arndt had seen. Just inside the door was a table, on which there were bank deposit slips and counter drafts. A little farther back were the tellers’ cages.

“May I help you, sir?” one of the tellers asked, seeing Van Arndt standing by the table. “Do you wish to make a deposit?”

“I might,” Van Arndt replied. He stepped up to the cage and handed the teller three twenty-dollar bills. “But first, I would like to have these bills changed into tens, if you don’t mind.”

“Why, I don’t mind at all, sir,” the teller said, taking the money and making the change.

“I have a lot of money in the bank in Denver,” Van Arndt said. “I plan to buy some cattle while I’m here, and so I would like to move my money to this bank. But I’m a little worried.”

“Worried? May I ask what you are worried about, sir?” the teller asked. “Perhaps I can ease your fears.”

“Well, I’m sure you can understand why I’m worried,” Van Arndt said, continuing the charade. “It’s just that the bank in Denver is rather substantial, and I am absolutely certain that my money is safe as long as it is there. Please don’t get me wrong, sir,” Van Arndt said obsequiously. “I truly mean no insult, but you must admit that this is a rather small bank, and I just imagine you don’t have a lot of money on deposit.”

“Well now, that’s just where you are wrong, sir,” the bank teller said. “It just so happens that we have well over one hundred thousand dollars on deposit right now. And at least eighty thousand dollars of that money is deposited in one account.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Yes, sir, it is a fact,” the teller insisted.

“That must be quite a wealthy man, to have so much money in one account.”

“I think he represents an industry that is wealthy,” the teller said. “But he is not in the least worried about the safety or efficiency of our bank. So, I’m sure you can see that, regardless of the size of your account, we will quite able to handle it.”

All the time the teller had been talking, he had been counting out money. “There you go, sir,” he said, shoving a small pile of money through the teller’s cage. “Sixty dollars in ten-dollar bank notes.”

Van Arndt picked up the six ten-dollar bills, folded them over, and stuck them in his pocket.

“Well, I thank you very much,” he said. “You have been very helpful. I’ll be returning to Denver soon and, when I do, I’ll draw the money out and bring it back here for deposit.”

“We’ll look forward to doing business with you, Mister—” The teller dragged the word out, waiting for Van Arndt to supply the name.

“Yes, thank you, I’ll see you when I get back,” Van Arndt said, making no effort to supply a name.

In his hotel room that night, Van Arndt developed the plan he would use in order to relieve the bank of its money. During his time in prison he had met three men that he believed would be helpful to him. One thing that made them particularly valuable to him was the fact that he knew them, but they didn’t know each other. And, for the time being, they wouldn’t know him, for he had no plans to sign the letters.

It was going to cost him sixty dollars to put the plan into operation, but sixty dollars was little enough to spend for the return he expected from his investment.

Van Arndt wrote the three letters. Then, as he put the letters into the addressed envelopes, he also included two ten-dollar bills in each one. Because he knew the men, he was certain that the money would get their attention. Tomorrow he would take the letters down to the post office and put them in the mail.

A line shack in Gunnison County

Zeb Tucker had been the first to arrive, reaching the line shack by following the directions in the letter. The letter had contained two ten dollar bills along with a promise for much more money if he would follow the directions.

Following the directions above, you should arrive at the shack no earlier than one o’clock and no later than two o’clock on Thursday, the seventh, instant. You will be the first to arrive. You will find that the shack has been stocked with enough food and coffee to provide supper that night and breakfast the next morning for three people. You are to be one of the three I have chosen.

Stick a white feather in your hatband. The other two men are also being instructed to mark their hat with a white feather. This will be the signal of recognition among you. Be wary of anyone who is not wearing this signal of recognition.

Each of you will be given a few random words. When you put the random words together, it will form a sentence of instruction that will prepare you to take the next step. Your words are:

TUCKER READ INSTRUCTIONS FOUND

Tucker had no idea where the instructions he was supposed to read were found, but he assumed it would be made clear to him when the two others arrived. He located the coffee, and had just made a pot when he heard a horse approaching from outside. Making certain he had a white feather in his hat, he pulled his pistol, then stepped into a shadowed corner of the room so he could watch the door.

The man who stepped in through the door was also wearing a white feather in his hat.

“Anybody in here?” the man called out.

“Yeah, I’m over here,” Tucker said. “You have a letter with you?”

“Yeah.”

Tucker put his pistol away. “The name’s Tucker,” he said.

“I’m Clay.”

“That your first or last name?”

“Clay,” he repeated without being any more specific. “According to my letter, there will be three of us.”

“Yeah, that’s what my letter said as well,” Tucker said. “Do you have any idea who sent the letter?”

Clay shook his head. “I don’t have a clue,” he said. “But there was twenty dollars in it, with the promise of more.”

As the two men were talking, they heard the third man approaching, and they stepped out front so they could watch him as he rode up. He was wearing a white feather in his hat.

“Do you know who this fella is?” Clay asked.

“No. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

“Interesting. Whoever the fella is that sent us these letters, seems like he just don’t want us to know each other,” Clay said.

Because the two men standing in front of the line shack were both wearing white feathers in their hat, the rider continued his approach without apprehension. “Hello, boys,” he said as he swung down from his horse. “The name is Rawlins. Either one of you boys know what this is all about?”

“No, but now that all three of us are together, I reckon we’ll be findin’ out soon enough,” Tucker said.

When Rawlins went inside, the three men compared their letters and found that each of them had only one part of a cryptic message. Putting it together gave them the first step.

TUCKER READ INSTRUCTIONS FOUND ON THE TOP BUNK UNDER THE RED BLANKET

Tucker opened the envelope they found under the red blanket, read it quickly, then looked up at the others. “I’ll be damned,” he said.

“What is it?” Rawlins asked.

“Why don’t I just read it to you?” Tucker said and, clearing his throat, began to read aloud.

If you have found this letter, that means all three of you are together. What I propose is difficult and dangerous, but the reward is great. If all goes as it should, we will be dividing one hundred thousand dollars.

“One hundred thousand dollars?” Rawlins said. “Is that what you said?”

“That’s what it says here,” Tucker said, holding out the letter.

“Holy shit! I ain’t never seen that much money at one time in my life. I didn’t even know there was that much money in the world.”

“Go on, finish reading the letter,” Clay said.

At this point, make certain that you are agreed to carry out my instructions. Tucker, if even one man says he does not want to do this, do not read any further.

Tucker looked up. “Are you both in?” he asked.

“Hell, yes, I’m in!” Rawlins said.

“Me, too,” Clay said. “Read the rest of the letter.”

At the present time there is on deposit at the bank in Frisco, Colorado, over one hundred thousand dollars. I have checked the bank out myself. There are no armed guards and only two tellers. The tellers are meek-mannered men and unarmed. Use your guns and you will get no resistance. After you get the money, return to this cabin. I will be here to meet you and, at that time, we will divide the money four ways.

“Wait a minute. I don’t know about this,” Clay said. “I mean, if you think about it, we’re the ones takin’ the risk, but whoever this fella is who wrote the letter is goin’ to get his share? That don’t seem right.”

“Yeah, but don’t forget, it’s one hundred thousand dollars,” Tucker said. “And even split four ways, one hundred thousand dollars is, uh…” Tucker paused for a moment, trying to divide one hundred thousand by four.

“Twenty-five thousand dollars,” Clay said.

“Yeah, twenty-five thousand,” Tucker agreed.

“Son of a bitch, that is a lot of money,” Clay said.

“So, what do you say? Do we do it?” Tucker asked.

“Yeah, hell, yes, I say we do it,” Rawlins said.

“What do you think, Tucker?” Clay asked. “Do you feel all right with this?”

“Well, for one thing, you’ve already said that you would,” Tucker replied. “And for another thing, whoever wrote this is the one who found the bank. And he is also the one who found us. It appears to me that he seems to have it all planned out. So, you tell me, Clay. Are you willin’ to just walk away from your share of one hundred thousand dollars just because you think it’s not fair?”

“No, I guess not,” Clay answered. “If you two are goin’ along with it, well, I reckon I will, too.”

“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Rawlins said. “How does this fella, whoever he is, know that we aren’t going to just take the money and ride away without givin’ him his share?”

“Well, think about it. Do you know who he is? Or what he looks like?” Tucker asked.

“No, I don’t,” Rawlins said.

“Do you know who it is, Clay?”

“No,” Clay answered, shaking his head.

“Uh-huh, and neither do I. But the thing is, he does know who we are. And not only that, I’d bet a dollar to a dime that he knows exactly what each one of us looks like.”

“So what does that have to do with it?” Rawlins asked.

“Well, suppose we took the money and didn’t give him his share. He could come right up to one of us—shoot us if he wanted to—and we wouldn’t even know to be worried because we wouldn’t know who he was,” Tucker explained.

“Yeah,” Rawlins said. “I see what you mean. I guess you have got a point at that. Anyway, like I said, I’m all for it. Clay, it’s up to you.”

“No, it ain’t up to him,” Tucker said. “At this point, I figure on doin’ it with or without him.”

“I’m in,” Clay said.