Ironhorse

68

Virgil looked to the governor, who was looking at Hobbs.

“Goddamn Lassiter,” the governor said.

“What did you tell him?” Virgil said.

“I told him I was not certain when the next northbound would come through.”

“You tell him why?” Virgil said.

“You mean did I explain to him why I was uncertain?”

“Yes.”

Jenny thought for a moment.

“Well, I believe I said because there was trouble with tonight’s Express not arriving in Tall Water Falls. I told him he would have to check today for the next scheduled train, but that was it.”

“He ask you anything else?” Virgil said.

“No, sir.”

“He send a wire himself?” I asked.

“No,” Jenny said. “He did not.”

“The son of a bitch liar,” Hobbs said. “He told me he wired to alert the authorities.”

“Yep,” I said. “Told us that, too.”

Virgil looked to Sam.

“You said you got a number of messages about what happened on the track?” Virgil said.

Sam crammed her hands into her front pockets. She looked to the clock on the wall for a moment before she looked back to Virgil.

“Yes, sir,” Sam said. “We got us a bad situation here, Marshal.”

Sam fidgeted a bit, looking at Virgil and the governor.

“Go on,” Virgil said.

“Them telegraph lines started buzzin’ with everything goin’ on,” Sam said. “From every direction. Jenny?”

“The Express not arriving in Tall Water Falls,” Jenny said, “started the normal, or I should say necessary, transmissions for a situation like this.”

“We’ve never had nothing like this happen, ever,” Sam said.

“Section gangs already figured out a lot about what happened last night,” Jenny said. “First, the main terminal stations in both — Paris to the south, and Division City to the north — were alerted of the situation so the train and the schedules would be put on hold.”

“There was one Southbound Express already en route out of Fort Smith,” Sam continued, “but it was delayed until the foul cars are removed. Section gangs were dispatched to survey and report their findin’s first thing this mornin’.”

“Which were?” I said.

Sam shook her head.

“Well, last night there was some serious bad business I can tell you,” Sam said. “Nobody would have ever expected nothin’ like what has happened here. Some of it I ’spect you already know about. Some of it I ’spect you don’t.”

Sam stopped talking and looked to the governor.

“Go ahead,” the governor said.

Virgil offered a short nod.

“There was a robbery on the evenin’ Express out of Paris, which resulted in folks gettin’ killed. All along the track, from the top of the rise here at Half Moon all the way up through the woods of the Kiamichi, there have been a number of men found dead. We found these cars here with the burnt Pullman, and at the top of the rise, north of town here, we found another coach and a body of a man with his throat cut on the track. Along with the dead, Standley Station, the next way station up, also found an abandoned coach on the track. That car was full of passengers.”