Ironhorse

67

“Ransom! Dear God! The gall!” Hobbs said. “What more? This is madness, absolute madness.”

The governor took the telegram from Hobbs. Then he leaned over in the chair, rested his elbows on the arms of the chair, and stared at the telegram.

“What did you mean,” Virgil said, “as far as you could tell this telegram was from Tall Water Falls?”

“The telegram could come from anywhere in the loop,” Sam said.

Jenny nodded.

“Yes, but as I previously mentioned, I know that operator; there are two of them at the depot. That operator is from Tall Water Falls. I don’t know the operator personally, but I know that fist. That is Ernest C.’s fist.”

“Fist?” Hobbs said.

“The operator’s key pattern,” I said.

“Every operator has a fist,” Jenny said. “A signature way of keying. We all key a distinct style. Though that wire is cryptic, that is Ernest C. from Tall Water Falls, no doubt about it... But...”

“But what? Something wrong?” I said. “You curious about something?”

Jenny looked at me then looked to the governor.

“Ernest C. didn’t provide a sine or confirmation to the wire,” Jenny said. “Sine is an operator’s signature.”

“Which is unusual,” Sam added.

“It is,” Jenny said. “Normally all railroad- and depot-dispatched transmissions are retyped in complete with sine. That way depot communications maintain a high degree of accuracy for zero confusion and safety. Right after I received this wire I replied with a received confirmation but got nothing back. With the Express not arriving in Tall Water Falls and everything that has happened this morning, compounded with the nature of this note, I knew something was wrong.”

“What are you saying?” the governor said.

“I believe Ernest C. is under watch or something of that nature,” Jenny said.

“So there is no telling where the note really came from?” I said.

“There is not,” Jenny said.

“Have you had any other communication with Tall Water Falls?” Virgil asked.

Jenny shook her head and said, “No. The last contact we had was prior to this note, and that was last night, right before I closed.”

“Which was what?” Virgil asked.

“I received word the Express out of Paris did not arrive at the scheduled time in Tall Water Falls,” Jenny said.

“You tell anybody about this?” Virgil said. “Last night?”

“Pardon?”

“When you got that news about the Express, you tell anybody else?”

“I left and alerted Sam right away,” Jenny said.

“Nobody else?” Virgil said.

“No,” Jenny said. “Well... except when I was closing the office there was a man who came just as I was leaving, asking about the next express to Fort Smith.”

Virgil looked at me, then back to Jenny.

“Tall man,” Virgil said. “Silver hair?”

Jenny looked back and forth between Virgil and me and said, “Why, yes. He was a tall man, silver hair.”