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* * *
Amos leaned back in his chair and looked at the empty jail cell behind him, bored. He was a good sheriff who always preferred the cell to be empty whenever possible because, to his mind, it meant that all was well in Elmwood when there was no one in jail. An occasional drunk was no big thing, but anything more than that made Amos anxious. It made him feel as if he wasn’t doing his job.
Leonard had tried to point out to him more than once that if he wasn’t doing his job, the cell would always be empty. The fact that it had occasional people in it meant that Amos was hard at work.
Amos’ eyes moved from the cell back to Leonard, who was busy tapping the buttons and turning the dials of the telegraph.
“Anything?” Amos asked.
“Sure,” Leonard said, and Amos sat up straighter in his seat. “Deputy Rosco tells me that over in Blisspeak they had a big thunderstorm that overflowed the river. Though I don’t think he has much business calling it a river when everyone knows it’s more of a stream. And over in Thunderbend, the mayor’s running for re-election.”
Amos rolled his eyes. “I meant anything about the Beauty Bandits.”
Leonard could not help chuckling. He’d known perfectly well what Amos had meant, he was just getting a little restless sitting at the telegraph for the last hour waiting for anything important to come in. So far, nothing had.
“Nothing yet,” Leonard told him.
Amos let out a sigh. “How can three beautiful women rob a train, shoot a man, and get away clean?”
Leonard held his next breath, contemplating his words. His earlier argument with Irene replayed through his head, and though he hated to admit it, he was starting to think she had a point. He cleared his throat before speaking. “Are we certain this last train robbery was really the Beauty Bandits?”
Amos shot him a look. “Of course it was. You read the paper. You got the report in from the sheriff of Thunderbend.”
“Yes, I know,” Leonard said. “But just because the sheriff of Thunderbend says the Beauty Bandits are responsible for a crime doesn’t make it so.”
“You’re saying that the sheriff lied?” Amos asked, scoffing. “Did he lie when he said that last seen, they appeared headed our way?”
“No,” Leonard said shaking his head. He’d known Amos would react this way. “I’m not saying he lied. All I’m saying is that this last crime doesn’t sound like the Beauty Bandits. That’s all.”
Amos shrugged and picked up his pencil, tapping it against his desk, something he always did when he was frustrated. “I admit that this last robbery was different than any of the ones before it in that they killed a man, but all that means is that they are getting desperate.”
“Desperate for what?” Leonard asked, irritated. Amos could be so stubborn when he wanted to be.
“Marshal Decker is closing in on them, and they’re afraid they’re going to be caught.”
“So that drove them to kill a man? A farmer?”
“People do dumb things when they get desperate.”
Leonard gritted his teeth together. “I’ll agree with you that desperate people are more likely to make mistakes, but it’s not just killing a man that’s different about this last crime. It’s the first time they’ve robbed everyone on the train, not just the rich folks.”
For half a second, the tapping of the pencil stopped and Amos looked at him. “I thought of that already.”
“And?” Leonard asked.
“And I think they’ve gotten greedy is all. Goes back to their being desperate.”
Leonard shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said.
Amos smirked. “You know them so well, do you? You get into the heads of three women and figure out what they’re thinking and feeling? That’s a neat trick if you have, and one I’d like to learn. Think you could teach me?” His face remained stoic for a moment before he burst into laughter, irritating Leonard.
“All I’m saying is—”
“I know what you’re saying,” Amos interrupted him. “And I just don’t think you’re thinking about this right. The Beauty Bandits are desperate. They’re also afraid they’re gonna get caught. That right there is enough for them to change their game. They want as much money as they can get as quickly as possible, and they’re jumpy about it because Decker’s closing in on them. All we’ve got to do is keep our eyes open. If three beautiful blonde women we’ve never seen before come rolling through town, we arrest them first and ask questions later.”
“That’s another thing,” Leonard said. “According to the paper, these women weren’t beautiful at all.”
Amos shrugged. “Everyone’s got their own perception of beauty.”
“I guess,” Leonard said, realizing he ought to just drop this before it went any further. One argument a day was enough for him. He was still on edge from what had passed between him and Lucille. The whole argument had left him feeling unsettled, and he hated that.
Amos and Leonard sat in silence for a while after that, each one frustrated with the other. Curt came in a little while later and looked at the two of them. “Anything new?” he asked, drawing his eyebrows together.
Amos gave him a look, and Curt sat down without another word. He was a thin man with almost abnormally large biceps for someone so skinny. Had he weighed more, his arm muscles would not have looked so out of place. Leonard didn’t think he ate enough, though he often saw Curt snacking on penny candy between meals. He was only twenty though. Maybe in another few years, he would bulk up and even out.
The three of them sat there in silence now, Leonard debating with himself as to whether or not he ought to bring up the subject of leaving early. He was anxious to make up with Lucille and had been sitting at the telegraph devising several ways he might go about it, all of which involved tasting her honied lips and caressing her smooth, creamy skin pale as freshly churned butter.
He was just on the verge of bringing the matter up when Reverend Lerner came running into the station, his face red and his fists shaking. “We’ve been robbed!” he shouted. “Holy Lord in heaven, we’ve been robbed.” He fell into the seat opposite Amos and ran one shaky hand across his face.
“Whoa now,” Amos said. “Take a deep breath and tell us what it is you’re talking about. Who’s been robbed?”
Reverend Lerner looked at him with red eyes. “Me. Us. The church.”
Amos’ jaw slowly fell open. Leonard felt his own jaw join in. “What do you mean the church was robbed?” Leonard asked.
Reverend Lerner drew in a deep breath and let it out again just as Amos had told him to do. “The poor box in the church that I collect donations for was broken into last night. I found it empty this morning.”
Amos let out a low whistle. Leonard’s face tightened. He’d met a lot of crooks in his day, but never one so low as to rob the church’s poor box. He would never have dreamed anyone would do such a thing.
Curt started taking notes. “It’s almost noon,” he said. “If you found it broken this morning, how come you didn’t come by sooner?”
Reverend Lerner shrugged. “I got to the church a little late and didn’t immediately notice what had happened. When I did, I... I just couldn’t believe that anyone would do such a thing. I thought perhaps it was a mistake. That someone had only accidentally broken it, or maybe they’d broken it but then change their minds and left the money somewhere in the church. I spent the rest of the morning searching for it and finally give up. It’s not there.”
“Did you lock the church doors last night when you left?” Leonard asked. Reverend Lerner nodded. “And were they still locked when you got there this morning or had they been broken open as well?”
Reverend Lerner’s face went blank. “I... I don’t know. I didn’t think to even check.”
Amos and Leonard exchanged a look, and he knew they were thinking the same thing. For someone to break into the poor box at a church, they had to be desperate, and if Amos was right, there were three desperate women out there right now who’d last been spotted very near Elmwood.
* * *
