No Less Than the Journey (31 page)

CHAPTER 21

When Wes, Aaron and Old Charlie neared Denver, riding hard, smoke was still rising from the charred ruins of the house behind the Thespian Club and as they drew closer the smell of the devastating fire hung heavily in the air about the town.

Not daring to voice their thoughts, they turned their horses into the street where the house had been – and their worst fears were immediately realized.

Where the house had once been there was now no more than a heap of smouldering rubble, with only a skeletal framework of blackened timbers remaining at the end of the site farthest away from where Pat Rafferty’s room had once been.

‘Oh God…! Anabelita …’ Wes spurred his horse forward to where bystanders stood in sombre groups, gaping at the scene of devastation.

As Wes leaped from his horse, the smoke-grimed figure of Pat broke away from one of the groups and hurried to meet him, his face distorted in anguish.

‘Pat … Where’s Anabelita? Is she all right?’

Aware that a grim-faced Aaron was making his way towards them, Pat said, ‘I’m sorry, Wes, there was nothing I could do. I was still in the Thespian Club when the fire was discovered. Anabelita and Lola had gone off early because there was hardly anyone in the club gambling. She’s in Welensky’s …’ He named the undertaker whose establishment was in nearby Market Street, ‘… We can’t begin looking for Lola until things have cooled down.’

The one-armed man was close to tears, but Wes was tortured by his own thoughts. ‘Was she caught in the fire…? I mean … How did it happen?’

‘She didn’t suffer, Wes …’ Appearing increasingly distressed, Pat added, ‘but she wasn’t killed by the fire, in fact she was making her escape from an upstairs window … but … someone shot her in the back as she was about to drop to the boardwalk.’

‘Shot her?’ The question came from Aaron before Wes was able to speak. ‘Who shot her … and
why
?’

‘I can’t answer that,’ Pat replied, deeply distressed, ‘but someone said the shots came from an upstairs room of the Nugget.’

‘You say you’re still looking for Lola?’ a grim-faced Aaron asked, ‘Do you believe she and Anabelita were together when the fire began?’

‘I don’t know,’ Pat replied, ‘They certainly left the Thespian Club together – and more than one person has said there were two shots fired from the Nugget, although only one hit Anabelita.’

‘You think the other one might have been aimed at Lola…? Perhaps if she was at the window from which Anabelita was dropping?’ Aaron was allowing none of his anguish, or anger, to show.

‘I think it must have been, Aaron. Men have been scouring
Denver for her without result. We’re waiting now for the remains of the house to cool down, so we can sift through what’s left. I’m absolutely devastated that this should have happened. You trusted me to take care of them …’ His voice broke and he could say no more.

Aware of Pat’s torment, Aaron said, ‘Don’t blame yourself, Pat, this was carefully thought out. The targets were not the girls, but Wes and me – and we believe we know who did it …’

He told Pat of the arrival of Gideon Denton and ‘Curly’ at the outlaws’ cabin, and the information that had been shouted to Ira Gottland.

‘What time would that have been?’ Pat asked, regaining some control of himself.

‘Soon after dawn. When was the fire discovered?’

‘The alarm was raised at about two o’clock, but the fire had really taken hold by then. I tried to get into the house by the back door but the flames drove me back. I think the whole ground floor was ablaze. It must have been about that time that Anabelita was shot. To be honest, there was so much smoke around that whoever shot her wouldn’t have been able to tell whether they were shooting a man or a woman – and Anabelita was wearing your coat, Wes. It must have been the first thing she found when she woke up and realized the house was on fire.’

‘Was Chief Kelly around when all this happened? Does he know about Anabelita?’ Aaron put the question to Pat.

‘I never saw him at the fire and I ran to his office when Anabelita’s bod … when Anabelita had been taken to Welensky’s, but Kelly wasn’t there. The officer on cell duty said he’d gone home right after releasing Walsh.’

Startled, Aaron said, ‘Chief Kelly released Walsh
before
Anabelita was found?’

‘He must have done,’ Pat declared.

Aware of Aaron’s thoughts, Wes said, ‘That means that Gideon Denton, thinking he’d shot both of us must have gone straight along and told Kelly.’

‘Not only that,’ Aaron pointed out grimly, ‘For Kelly to be in the police office at that time of night means he must have been expecting the news. We’ll have a few words with Chief Kelly – but not until we’ve re-arrested Mr Vic Walsh.’

Turning to the one-armed man, Aaron’s composure almost cracked when he said, ‘Have the ashes of the house searched as soon as you can, Pat – and let me know as soon as you find anything.’

‘I’ll stay and give Pat a hand,’ Old Charlie had remained silent until now. ‘You and Wes go off and get Walsh. You won’t want me around when you find him.’

When Aaron and Wes arrived at the Palace, a servant girl told them that the Palace owner had packed hurriedly and caught the morning train heading east out of Denver.

‘He’s escaped … yet again!’ Wes exclaimed angrily.

‘He hasn’t got away yet,’ Aaron said, ‘We’ll call in at the telegraph office on our way to speak to Chief Kelly. I’ll send a message to Sheriff Murray at Trego, asking him to board the train and take Walsh off there. He’ll have no problem. Most of the passengers on board will be able to point Walsh out to him.’

On the way to the telegraph office the two men needed to pass the charred remains of the house once again. There was still a large crowd of sightseers gathered outside and they appeared to be having an impromptu meeting with Old Charlie and Pat in their midst.

When Aaron and Wes were sighted word went around the crowd and a man Aaron recognized as Denver’s Mayor,
Solomon Colville, flanked by two of the Denver councillors hurried to meet them.

‘Here comes trouble!’ Aaron said, grimly ‘but I’m not in any mood to humour them.’

However, the mayor and his companions were about to spring a big surprise. Acting as their spokesman, the mayor said, ‘Marshal, we … myself and the Denver council, deeply regret the tragedy that occurred during the night, resulting in the loss of your home and the very sad death of at least one of your staff. She was, so I am informed, a personal friend of both you gentlemen.’

‘She was more than a friend, Mayor,’ said Wes, bitterly, ‘We were to be married and it wasn’t just a sad death, it was cold-blooded murder. It’s also probable that we are going to find the body of another murdered woman in the ruins of the house.’

‘So I believe,’ said the mayor. ‘You have my deepest sympathy and that of my colleagues … but am I right in thinking you know who perpetrated these acts, Marshal?’

‘I do,’ Aaron said, ‘We actually witnessed them boasting about it when we were watching an outlaw camp early this morning. Unfortunately, there were more than twenty of them and only three of us, so we were unable to do anything about it right then – but it would seem that your chief of police was aware of what was going to happen some time before the event. We’re on our way to arrest him now.’

The Denver mayor was visibly shaken. ‘Chief Kelly has been less than efficient in maintaining law and order in Denver … but I was unaware of his involvement in anything dishonest.’

‘Well you are now,’ Aaron said curtly, ‘So if you’ll excuse me and my deputy we’ll be doing what should have been done by you and your council a long time ago…. Come on Wes, let’s go.’

He turned to leave, but Mayor Colville said, ‘Wait, Marshal. Do you intend going after the murderers and the gang to which they belong?’

‘I intend to hunt them down and see that each and every one of them receives the punishment he deserves – but you’ll pardon me if I don’t tell you, or anyone else in Denver, what my plans are.’

Colville adopted a pained expression, but he said, ‘I fully understand your mistrust of us, Marshal, but this is a frontier town in a raw and largely untamed Territory and perhaps we have been far too tolerant towards the lawless element in our midst. Nevertheless, every man in this town deplores the cold-blooded murder of a woman. If you intend forming a posse to go after these outlaws I can promise you the support of every able-bodied Denver man – and I include myself in that number.’

Aaron looked speculatively at the mayor before saying, ‘We’ll put that to the test, Mayor, but before you commit yourself I think you ought to know I won’t be taking you off on a futile jaunt that you’ll be able to joke about at one of your evening parties. I know where these outlaws are hiding-up and that’s where we’ll be going – and I’m talking about the
Denton
gang. They will neither run, nor give themselves up. They’ll fight – and they’ll fight hard. I’m telling you this so that any man who volunteers knows exactly what to expect. I’ll take as many armed men as are willing to come with me – and I’ll be ready to move from here in exactly one hour from now. Go back and tell the others of the situation and let’s see just how many men match up to your fine opinion of your fellow Denver citizens.’

Chief Kelly was not in his office when Aaron and his two companions arrived there. A nervous young police officer, the
only person in the office, told them he had put in an appearance earlier that morning but had returned to his home, feeling ‘unwell’.

As they made their way to the chief’s home, the three men were joined by Pat, who, like the others, was carrying a rifle and had a revolver holstered on his belt.

Each of them had been up all night and they were tired, but, grim-visaged, they were determined to have a showdown with Kelly. They were a daunting quartet for the chief’s wife to have to face when she opened the door to them.

She repeated the policeman’s story that her husband was too unwell to be at work, but Aaron cut her excuses for him short.

‘I understand your concern for your husband, ma’am, but insist that I speak to him. Tell me where his bedroom is and I’ll go there on my own while these three men keep you company.’

When she protested, Aaron brushed past her and tried two doors in the single storey building before finding a bedroom where the police chief lay in bed with the bedclothes drawn up to his chin.

Wasting no time on polite conversation, Aaron reached out and pulled the covers from the ‘unwell’ police chief. Looking down contemptuously at the fully dressed man, Aaron asked, sarcastically, ‘Are you so ill you are too weak to even remove your boots, Kelly? Well, it means there’ll be no time wasted in getting dressed. You’re coming downtown with me. There should soon be some men waiting for you there.’

‘You wouldn’t be party to a lynching, Marshal you couldn’t do that. I swear I didn’t know anything about any women being killed.’

‘Of course you didn’t,’ Aaron said with a stony expression
that terrified the police chief more than had he showed anger, ‘You thought it was me your friends had shot, after setting fire to my place. That’s why you released Walsh, a Federal prisoner. As for lynching … if there’s any hanging to be done it’ll be by order of a judge, not an unlawful mob. No, I’ve some work for you to do. You’ll find this difficult to believe, Kelly, but the good citizens of Denver have volunteered to form a posse to bring in the Dentons. I think they’d like you to join them. On reflection I’ll rephrase that. I insist that you come along with us, so I suggest you get well right away, strap on your gun and come along with me before my deputy comes in here to fetch you. In case you don’t already know, he was planning to marry the girl who was shot dead and he’s a little short on forgiveness and understanding right now.’

When Aaron, accompanied by the others took Chief Kelly to meet the posse, he was taken aback by the number of armed and mounted citizens awaiting his instructions.

Wes estimated that at least fifty men were volunteering to take on the Denton gang. It was unprecedented. Aaron warned them they were going to besiege the outlaws in their canyon cabin in the Rocky Mountain foothills and he was determined that every man in the Denton gang would be taken ‘dead or alive’, but not a man dropped out of the posse.

He next asked how many of the posse had fought, on either side, in the Civil War which had been over for more than ten years. When three-quarters of their number raised their hands he knew he had a force he could at least count upon not to run when the first shot was fired.

Pat Rafferty had wanted to be included in their number but Aaron asked him to arrange for a couple of days supplies and blankets to be sent up to the men of the posse, after which he wanted him to supervise the gruesome task of locating Lola’s body in the remains of the burned-out house.

When all had been arranged it was a grim and unnaturally silent band of men who rode out of Denver soon after noon that day, but – with one exception – every one of them was determined that the menace of the Denton gang would be eliminated from Colorado Territory once and for all.