“Jeez, Ben, you’re not exactly a stranger to me. I’ve known you all your life, or near to. It occurs to me that you have a niggling question you can’t figure how to ask. If that’s the case, just ask it.”
“All right.” He lifted his chin to indicate Phoebe. “I was wondering if you maybe spoke to Brewer about her. About the investigation, really. Haven’t heard anything in a while, not that it’s my business, not directly, but I was there that night, waiting, same as everyone else, and I set out to find her with your father and the sheriff.”
“I remember.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got an interest.”
Remington arched one dark eyebrow. “You do?”
“Sure.” He saw Remington’s gaze return to Phoebe. “Oh, no. You got it wrong. I like her just fine,likeher, you understand, but my interest is in getting justice for her.”
“Has she talked to you about that?”
“No. And I don’t bring it up. Figure it’s a tender spot, and I’m not one for poking at it the way you do.”
“Me?”
“You’re the one that took her back to Thunder Point. If that’s not poking at what’s tender, then I don’t know what is.”
“What makes you think we went there?”
“If you’re saying you didn’t, I’m going to have to call you a liar. My mother overheard Thaddeus and Fiona arguing about it. Maybe she shouldn’t have told me, but she did, probably because she knew I was concerned. I haven’t repeated it. I can’t say whether Phoebe might have said something to anyone, but if she has, it never reached my ears that way.”
Remington said nothing for a time, rolling the potential responses over in his mind. “I’ve been talking to SheriffBrewer. I’ve had concerns, same as you. I want justice for her, same as you.”
Ben nodded. “Good to know we’re of like minds and on the same side. Her side.” He straightened and dug his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. “So what have you heard? Brewer must know something by now. Lord, it’s been what, better than eight weeks?”
“About that.”
“So?”
“You know Northeast Rail sent one of their detectives to investigate. Michael Smith.”
“Yes. Thaddeus told me that. It was expected.”
“Brewer informed me the other day that Smith left the Butterworth a week or so ago. Cleared out. He—Smith—could no longer justify his stay to the company. Nothing he learned led anywhere.”
“Nothing?”
Remington shook his head. “Lots of information from the passengers but nothing to give him a trail to follow. In the meantime, there have been no other robberies.”
“So that’s it. He’s gone and Brewer’s done.”
“It’d seem that way.”
Frowning, Ben knuckled the bridge of his nose. “What else? There’s something else. I know you, too, and I can tell when you’ve got more to say and are still thinking about whether you want to say it.”
Remington slanted a wry grin Ben’s way. “Seems that Blue might have stumbled onto something significant.”
“Blue? Our Blue Armstrong?”
“You know another Blue?”
“I thought maybe one moved to town. Jumpin’ Jesus on a griddle. Blue Armstrong. I’ll be damned.”
“Brewer says that his deputy’s biggest advantage is that people underestimate him.”
“That’s fair. What’s the significant something he stumbled on?”
