Call and Laurel waited until they were outside before they spoke. “I noticed the serial numbers weren’t consecutive,” said Laurel.
“I didn’t expect them to be,” Call told her. “If they’re in the range of the bills that the bank in Denver sent out, that’s plenty good enough. We’ll know that at least one person in town is passing the money.”
“I’ll send a message to the bank when we get back.”
“Send it to Sheriff Cook. He’ll investigate for me and he already has Digger Leary in custody. Digger might have more to say once he knows Pye is dead and the money is in someone else’s hands.”
Laurel nodded. They were approaching their horses when she saw Sheriff Carter leaving his office. She nudged Call with her elbow.
“I see him,” he said. “Keep walking. We can’t assume he’s interested in talking to us.” The words were barely out of Call’s mouth when Carter shouted at him to hold up. Call stopped, turned, and waited for the sheriff to cross the street. Out of the side of his mouth, he told Laurel to keep going. There was no time to express his surprise as Carter was upon him. Call nodded in greeting. “Sheriff. What can I do for you?”
Carter jerked his chin in Laurel’s direction. “Where is Miss Morrison going?”
“Back to the station. Did you need her? You only called for me.”
“No. No, you’ll do.” He looked Call over. “Theo Beckley told me you were at his place yesterday. With the doctor.”
“That’s right.” Call had an urge to step back to an arm’s length distance from the sheriff, but he held his ground because he figured Carter wasn’t used to that. The man’s size put him at an immediate advantage in most situations. “Is there a problem?”
“You tell me.” He rubbed the back of his bull neck as though he were thinking on it. “Guess I’m wondering why you didn’t stop before or after your visit. I like to be kept informed of the goings-on. Mr. Stonechurch might have hired you to look into the robbery for him, but I’m still the law here. I’ve got a right to know what you’ve learned.”
“Of course.”
Carter waited a few beats, and when Call didn’t elaborate, he said, “Well?”
Call maintained a pleasant demeanor in spite of his annoyance. “It wasn’t my intention to keep you in the dark. Honestly, I didn’t think of stopping by to tell you wewere on our way to Beckley’s because I figured if you were in your office, you’d see us and come on over. And on the way out, the doc and I were anxious to get Miss Morrison back to the station as she was feeling out of sorts after what she witnessed.”
“Lots of women I know wouldn’t have been in the room.”
“Maybe so, but she insisted.”
“Mind of her own, that one.” He looked past Call’s shoulder to where Laurel sat patiently waiting on her horse. “Are you and she...” His voice trailed off, leaving the question hanging.
Call was not going to let the sheriff off so easily. “Are she and I what?”
“I know you’re working for her some, but are you, um, calling on her?”
Call hadn’t expected the sheriff to put it quite so delicately. Physically he was more bull in a china shop than dainty dancer. Call had to be careful not to smile. “No,” he said. “Not calling on her.”
Carter nodded thoughtfully. “Right.” Then he was back to business. “So what did the doc have to say?”
“Didn’t Mr. Beckley report all that? He was present throughout the autopsy.”
“I want to hear it from you. I’d rather not have to ask Miss Morrison.”
There was a threat there that Call did not care for. He told the sheriff what Dr. Singer had learned, all of which he was certain Theo Beckley had already reported.
“So he was murdered, tied, and pitched over the falls. Is that what we’re supposed to believe?”
“He was shot and allowed to bleed to death. As for getting trussed, that could’ve happened before or after he died, but he was never thrown over the falls. His injuries would have been more substantial. He was transported to the pool, weighed down with a rock, and dropped in to sink to the bottom.”
“Huh. Seems a lot of work. Pushing him over the falls makes more sense.”
“There’d be no guarantee that he’d stay under. A rock hitched to him up above wouldn’t likely stay hitched on the way down.”
“Maybe so. Still, seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to. Could’ve left his body up there and it might not have been recovered yet.”
“I was up there,” Call said. “I would have found it days earlier.”
