“Sheriff?” she said to the man seated behind the desk. He was middle-aged and clean-shaven, neatly dressed in a leather vest worn over a shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
The man glanced up from the newspaper he’d been reading and set it aside. “No, ma’am. The sheriff’s gone fishing with his brother, does every weekend. I’m Deputy Barnes. What can I help you with?”
“My father, Charles Mitchell, is missing. He came here a few months ago. The information I have is that he staked a claim in this area. Is that how you say it?”
“Good enough.” The deputy grinned. “And what makes you think he’s missing?”
“Because his habit was to write home often, but he hasn’t sent another letter since he informed us he arrived here and began mining. Too much time has passed since then. We fear he may be hurt—or worse.”
He looked solemn now as he said, “That I can find out immediately.”
He opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a ledger. He turned a few pages in it before he glanced up at her again. His new expression made her heart sink.
“The sheriff usually deals with bad news, but obviously this won’t wait till he’s back,” he said in extreme discomfort. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Your pa died two weeks ago. He was known in these parts as Charley, not that anyone knew him all that well. I recall now that Dr. Wilson let us know about it. He fills in when Dr. Cantry goes away. Your father had been Doc Cantry’s patient for more’n a month and never regained consciousness after an accident that happened at his mine. Another mine owner brought him to the doctor. He’s the one who found him. I think their mines are in the same area.”
Violet started to feel faint, and the deputy helped her to a chair. She heard his words; they just weren’t sinking in yet. Dead? Her brothers were going to be as crushed as she felt. She’d been so sure she would see her father today. She couldn’t believe she’d never see him again! He was really dead?
A handkerchief was being waved in front of her face. She realized she was crying. It had been so long since she’d seen her father, yet she still had so many memories of him, walks and picnics in the parks, him teaching her and her brothers to swim in Springton Lake, boat rides on the Delaware River, and the four of them gathered in the parlor where he would read stories to them with her leaning against his shoulder and the boys sitting at his feet. The memories overwhelmed her. This news overwhelmed her. What was she to do now?
“Callahan, the man who brought your father to town, was checking on his condition whenever he came down from the hills,” the deputy was saying. “Even left money for a funeral if it was needed. He got back to town a few days after your father died and was buried in the graveyard on the edge of town.”
She was so numb! He couldn’t really be dead. It could be a mistake, some other man with the same name....
“Dr. Cantry might be able to tell you more. And Morgan Callahan—well, never mind him.”
“Why?”
“Callahan is something of a hermit, abides up in the hills where no one else lives and doesn’t come to town often. Most folks figured he was just a mountain man when he showed up in a bear coat last winter, complete with the fur and looking as shaggy as one. Acts like a bear, too, if you ask me. Turns out he’s been mining all this time and just tried to keep it a secret, which is not surprising, with the big mine owners around here buying up the little mines pretty fast. But the news got out that Morgan had found a pretty rich silver vein, and only your father managed to figure out where. Anyways, Morgan’s just too gruff and surly for a lady such as yourself to speak to.”
She nodded her agreement. “My father’s belongings? Where might they be?”
“Probably still at his mine. And you might want to close out your father’s bank account here, too, if he had one, but that will have to wait until tomorrow when the bank’s open.”
“Where is the doctor?”
He helped her to her feet to escort her out, saying, “I can take you to him now. He might have something to recommend for your shock, too.”
“And my father’s mine, where it is?”
“You would need to check with the claims office tomorrow, though that won’t be helpful other than to confirm he staked a claim. They might give you the general direction in which it lies, but not much more. You’ll need a guide to take you to it in any case, if it is indeed near Callahan’s, though I doubt anyone knows where that is. Morgan seems a mite obsessive about keeping the location of his mine a secret, always leaving town in a different direction.”
Despite the warnings, she had to ask, “But Mr. Callahan could show me?”
The deputy sighed. “He might be the only one who knows exactly where it is, but honestly, ma’am, you won’t want to deal with him.”
“Is he in town?”
He appeared glad to say, “No, least, I haven’t heard that he is, and I would’ve heard. He stirs up gossip when he does show up, but that’s not often. And when he does, he only spends one night in a hotel, then is gone the next day. But I can point you to the hotel he usually stays at. You could leave a message there for him if you’ve a mind to. Maybe he’ll draw you a map and you can hire someone not as ornery to show you the way.”
The last was said without any conviction. If Morgan Callahan was still keeping the location of his mine a secret, he would never draw a map to it, not even for his friend’s daughter. Had he and her father been friends? Or just passing acquaintances? No, they must have been friends if Callahan had paid for the funeral, so maybe he would actually draw her a map—if it came to that. And just in case it did...
“Could you show me the hotel first?” she asked.
“Certainly.”
The desk clerk at the hotel, which was in a newer section of town than where Violet was staying, told her Callahan hadn’t been there for weeks.
“Kinda expected to hear that,” Deputy Barnes said; then, noticing her crestfallen look, he added, “That’s good news if you’re determined to meet him. Means he’s due to show up, maybe in the next week or two. I’ll ask around, but I’m pretty sure Morgan’s location is still a well-kept secret, and with reason. Used to be competition was cutthroat and claim jumping a major problem around here until the big mine owners bought up all the small mines. All the miners you see in town work for them. There aren’t many small mines left near town, which is why I figure Morgan’s mine is a long distance from Butte and why he doesn’t show up often. But come along, the doc’s office is in the next block and he lives upstairs from it, so he should still be there even if the office is closed.”
