While the trio scanned all the faces at the bar, Luke tipped his hat at them. He wore his sheriff’s star openly visible to everybody, especially to new faces, but the three men ignored him and planted themselves almost right next to him and Caleb at the bar, where two younger men immediately vacated their spots as they stepped closer. Not everybody liked strangers.
Luke allowed himself to relax, but he was cautious nonetheless as he and Caleb exchanged a quick glance, silently signaling to remain vigilant. Fortunately, the newcomers really did just order a few rounds of whiskey and enjoyed the alcohol much like he and Caleb were.
“Hey, bartender! What’s your name, good sir?” Luke heard one of the group ask. It was the tall one. As it was ingrained in him, Luke listened with one ear as the stranger started asking questions.
“My name is Moe,” the middle-aged man replied. “Another round of whiskey?” he asked, ready to grab another bottle.
“Sure,” the tall one with the beady eyes said with an even cheesier smile. Luke immediately had an inkling that he was one of those scammers who sold overpriced snake oil. “But we were hoping to find out some information from you, Moe. After all, you’re the man in town who must know everybody and everything what’s going on here, am I right?” He laughed at his own joke.
Luke didn’t think it was funny.
His fake smile revealed a row of crooked, yellow teeth, before he spit a dollop of chewing tobacco into the spittoon near his feet. The long coats of all three men seemed to be made of beaver and coyote furs, which were a hot commodity these days.
Luke turned his head to openly look at the group and scan each of their faces. He was certain that he had never seen any of them before.
Moe, who was wiping down the counter with his rag, shot a quick glance at Luke before he joined in with a fake laugh. “Yeah,” was all he said.
“So, Moe,” the guy continued, overly familiar, as he leaned over the counter and closer to the bartender. “We’re looking for a young lady and two small children. They went missing from their home about a week ago.”
Caleb, who was obviously also listening, touched Luke’s elbow with his, and when Luke looked at him, Caleb raised his eyebrows.
“Oh?” Moe’s one-word answers obviously weren’t particularly helpful, and the tall man sighed.
“Yeah. So, we were hoping to return this young lady and those precious little children to their home. Safely, of course. Did you happen to hear anything about them?” The tall man faked another smile at Moe, whose face remained unmoving, as he shook his head without answering.
“Nothing? Not even a hint?” the tall man enquired again.
Luke got the impression that the man’s tone was much more demanding.
“What do they look like?” Luke asked, looking sideways at the tall man, who now turned to him, openly studying Luke from head to toe.
“And who are you?” one of the other two men chimed in with a somewhat dismissive tone as he stepped out behind the tall man to stare Luke down.
Luke turned around to them, and all of their eyes shot down to the sheriff’s badge on his vest. “My name is Luke Cross. I’m the local sheriff in this town; therefore, I am also responsible for missing persons cases. What do they look like?” he asked again, this time a little firmer.
The three men exchanged glances, as if they had to reassure each other that it was okay to speak to the lawman. Luke got the distinct impression that they weren’t too happy about him being there, injecting himself into their conversation uninvited.
“Ah, nice to make your acquaintance, sheriff,” the tall one said, overly polite. “But there’s no need to waste your precious time, sir,” he added evasively as he rummaged around in his trouser pocket to grab a couple of coins before placing a few of them on the counter. “You see, it’s not really a missing person’s case, but rather a case of a runaway. Her fiancé got worried when he couldn’t find them after a few days.”
“No problem for me,” Luke said to the tall man, as he left his spot, walking around the small group—which pinned them up against the bar—to stand face to face with him. Luke was almost the same height as the other man, which enabled him to look him straight in the eyes. “I’d like to help either way. So, let me ask again. What do they look like?”
Luke saw that the other two men, who kept in the shadow of their obvious leader, didn’t say much, and also paid for their drinks. It was clear that they were all ready to turn around and leave.
By now, several young men had overheard their conversation, and since Luke had gotten involved, he noticed that they’d formed a casual circle around him and the group, watching intently. Luke was familiar with most of them, and when some of them nodded in his direction, he knew that they’d have his back should things kick off and become ugly. It was very reassuring, to say the least.
“Ah, nothing special. The older girl is a short, curvy thing with black hair, the small girl is blonde, and the boy has brown hair.”
“And it’s her fiancé who’s looking for her?” Luke required with a little more authority in his voice, since the man was clearly talking about Madelaine, Belle, and Simon. “What’s his name?”
The three looked around, and Luke could see in their increasingly nervous stance that they had noticed the casual wall of townsfolk blocking their way. Luke was almost certain that they would have shoved him aside and made a run for it if it had only been him and Caleb.
“That’s not important. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” the tall man replied.
“Well, that’s unfortunate, because I’d like to make a big deal out of it. You might have noticed that it’s in the middle of winter. If a young woman and two young children are missing in this kind of weather, we most certainly need to make a big deal out of it, wouldn’t you agree?” Luke made his point. Looking at his support circle behind him earned him a few nods of agreement and “yeahs” from the other men.
The trio seemed to squirm like worms on fishing hooks, and Luke decided he’d had enough. “I think you need to tell me everything you know about this young lady and those children, so we can make absolutely sure that they do return home safely. I’m pretty sure herfiancéwould appreciate that,” Luke said, putting special emphasis on the wordfiancé. “What is his name?”
Before the tall man could come up with yet another dumb excuse, Luke stepped right in front of him and spoke directly to him.
