Call dropped his saddlebag on the chest at the foot of his bed and sat on the bunk. He removed his duster and hat, tossed them over the saddlebag, and then lay back. He had perhaps a half hour of shut-eye before everyone would start to rise. He wanted to take advantage of every minute of it.
Call washed up after chores and before breakfast so he came to the table looking less bleary-eyed than he felt. Rooster had introduced him to the new hire while they were moving horses to the corral for exercise, and Jelly Palmer, the preacher’s kid, was sitting in what Call thought of as his seat. Call was not amused that after being gone only five days, there was a stripling occupying his chair. Dillon and Hank snickered as he waved the boy to scoot over. Even Rooster smiled. Only Laurel failed to think there was anything humorous about the gesture or Jelly’s hasty compliance.
“Don’t you sleep in your own bed at night?” Call asked as Jelly passed him a platter of scrambled eggs.
“Mostly.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Laurel said, “I told him he could bunk with everyone else since it was raining so hard when he was done for the day.”
Jelly nodded. “And I was plenty grateful. Still am. Miss Laurel is all kindness. Everyone says so.”
It wasn’t possible to miss the boy’s doe-eyed admiration. Jelly was smitten. If Laurel knew, she didn’t attend to it, but the Booker brothers wiggled their eyebrows while exchanging sly grins. Rooster kicked one of them under the table. Call got the other.
“How goes your investigation?” Rooster asked Call as he speared a sausage link. “Learn anything about the money?”
Dillon didn’t wait for Call to answer. “What about Josey Pye? You come across his sorry self?”
Call had avoided answering questions while they went about their chores, but there was no putting them off now, and he really didn’t want to. Everyone but Jelly had a stake in what he found out. Call looked sideways at the boy, taking his measure. Jelly seemed to understand because he raised a forefinger to his sealed lips and held it there. Call might have laughed if the boy had not been so in earnest.
“I’m not back here with the Stonechurch Mining payroll,” said Call.
“That’s disappointing,” said Hank. “I wagered Dillon that you’d return with it.”
Call’s smile was wry. “Yes. Disappointing.”
“I only meant—”
“I know what you meant,” Call said. “I didn’t find Josey Pye or come back with Penelope either. Did you have wagers on that?”
“No, sir,” said Hank.
“No, sir,” said Dillon.
“I did have an interesting conversation with Digger Leary, though. You understand that he was an accomplice in the robbery, don’t you?”
Everyone but Laurel regarded him blankly.
Rooster said, “He wasn’t riding shotgun on the day of the robbery.”
“That’s right,” Call said. “His absence was the message. It told Josey Pye that the payroll was on board. Mr. Stonechurch was expecting the payroll to be delivered the following day, but because Sam Henderson caught a rumor that some fellows were showing an unnatural interest in the stage, the timing was changed. There were very few people who knew, Brady and Digger being the most important. When Digger claimed the previous night’s drinking left him with a hangover that prevented him from riding, Brady went on alone. Even if he had taken on another shotgun, the message would have been the same because Digger was always Brady’s partner.”
Call bit off the end of a sausage link, chewed, and swallowed. He was aware they were following his every word, but damn, he was hungry. Mrs. Lancaster had come into the dining room with a coffeepot and now she was standing beside Laurel at the table’s head simply holding it, hanging on his explanation.
“When Digger didn’t arrive, Josey knew it was time to act on their plan. Digger denies it was his idea, but I’m not so sure. At this juncture, it’s not what’s most important. Recovering the money is.”
Hank asked, “How did Josey get at the strongbox? I don’t understand that. All of us were around.”
“It only required a few minutes of inattention. You had no reason to watch his every move. You were all going about your business. He replaced the strongbox with a nearly identical box with newspaper clippings and a bag of pebbles and stones to add the weight of coins. Miss Morrison and I found the box from the stage in one of the chests in the bunkhouse. Josey didn’t hide the strongbox in his own chest, where it might be connected to him. He hid it in one of the other chests. In fact, he used the one at the foot of the bed where Jelly slept last night.”
Jelly’s wide grin split his face. “Well, ain’t I just that much tickled? I never been so close to nefarious goings-on before.”
Call and Laurel chuckled while Dillon and Hank rolled their eyes. Rooster shook his head and Mrs. Lancaster clucked her tongue and began pouring coffee.
“You weren’t all that close now,” said Call. “Digger took the box the last time he was here.”
Shoulders slumping, Jelly said, “And here I was all set to get a look at it. How’d you know he made off with it?”
“I checked for it before and after.” His gaze circled the table. “Any of you have it?” Call was met by shaking heads all around. “Didn’t think so.”
