CHAPTER 28
In his office at the train station in Laramie, Frazer Rice winced as Mackey finished telling him all that had happened since leaving Dover Station. Rice had given in to his determination to come west.
“You’ve had a hard trail, Aaron.” He looked at Billy, who was building a cigarette. “You too, Deputy.”
“I’ve had better times,” Billy said, “but we’re still here to tell the tale.”
“Indeed,” Rice agreed. “And thank God for that. How’s your back, Aaron? I hope you’ve had a doctor tend to it.”
“Some of your Pinkerton men were handy with a needle and thread on the trail,” Mackey said. “I’m fine. I’m more worried about Mr. Van Dorn and Lagrange.”
“Mr. Lagrange is having his wounds tended to as we speak by my personal physician,” Rice told him. “Unfortunately, Silas’s wounds are deeper and will require more intricate attention. How he allowed himself to become addicted to such a substance is beyond me.”
“Likely wasn’t his doing,” Mackey said. “Sounds like Grant fed it to him without his knowledge. Doesn’t take long for a man to get hooked on it. A couple of times usually does the trick.”
Rice pushed himself away from his desk and walked around his office. “I’m awfully tired of hearing that name, Aaron. James Grant has become the bane of my existence. He has caused more trouble for my company than anyone else I have ever employed, and yet I can never seem to be rid of him. He always manages to somehow evade getting caught red-handed.”
“Not anymore,” Billy said. “You’ve got that report Lagrange sent you a week or so ago. You know Grant had a hand in those three dead Chinese women. You know that man I killed was working for him. Now, with Mr. Van Dorn’s testimony that he got him hooked on laudanum, we’ll have enough to swear out a warrant for his arrest.”
“Multiple warrants,” Mackey added. “I can head to Helena straight from here with signed affidavits from all the witnesses. All of that, combined with a letter from you to Judge Forester, should be enough to put an end to Grant once and for all.”
Rice cast a nervous glance at Billy, and Mackey felt his stomach drop.
Some bad news was coming their way.
“Deputy,” the wealthy man said, “I was hoping you might be good enough to give Aaron and I a few moments to speak privately.”
Mackey said, “No need for that. Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of Billy.”
“Not everything, Marshal, I assure you.”
“And I assure you that you can,” Mackey persisted. “I almost got killed out there, Mr. Rice. If I had died, then you would’ve lost the only man in the territory who knows your mind in full. Now is not the time for secrecy, especially now that we’ve got Grant ready to fall. I’m not saying our conversations need to be transcribed and printed in the Record, but it’s safer if Billy knows as much as I do.”
Mr. Rice hesitated. “I’m not sure I agree.”
“You don’t have to,” Mackey said, “because it’s not open to discussion. Either you tell Billy now or I tell him after I leave here. Either way, he’s going to know everything we speak about in this room today.”
Mr. Rice did not appear to like it, but he also seemed to understand he did not have much of a choice. “Fine, Aaron. I’ll try someone else’s way for once in my life. You see, going after James Grant has become far more complicated than I had first believed.”
Mackey knew that explained the look that had given him a pit in his stomach. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that Montana’s statehood is just around the corner,” Mr. Rice explained. “Statehood will mean a lot for this territory. It’ll mean a lot for you, as well as for Deputy Sunday here. There’s a big difference between being a frontier marshal and the marshal of one of the United States of America.”
“It’ll also mean a lot for you, too,” Billy observed. “And your company.”
“Of course,” Mr. Rice admitted. “Why do you think I invested in Dover Station in the first place? For my health? You both saw how I increased my investment after witnessing what the town endured during Darabont’s attack. I was impressed by the way the townsfolk rallied together in defense of their town. But I’m also not given to investing millions of dollars in a place just because nice, brave people happen to live there. Surely, both of you knew there were other factors involved.”
“Never thought otherwise,” Mackey said. “I still don’t see what it’s got to do with letting Grant go.”
“Then I’ll explain it to you.” He inclined his head toward the office door. “For one, there is no way Silas Van Dorn will press charges against Grant for getting him hooked on laudanum. He’d have to admit it in public, and that’s something I know his pride won’t allow. Addiction is too shameful a shortcoming for a man in his position to admit, no matter the circumstances.”
Mackey hadn’t thought of that. “Then his butler will attest to it.”
“Not if he wants to continue working for Silas, he won’t,” Mr. Rice said. “Besides, without Silas’s testimony, no judge in their right mind would issue a warrant. Not even with my backing.”
Mackey felt himself sitting forward. “And what about those three dead Chinese women Lagrange told you about in his report?”
“You mean the corpses of the three foreign whores and their murderer in the house you admit to having burned by your father to protect Billy here?” Mr. Rice asked. “I’m not blaming you for doing it. Why, if it was a choice between Deputy Sunday facing difficulty and letting James Grant go free, I would have done exactly the same thing. But the destruction of those bodies also took away the only leverage we had against Grant concerning those murders. According to you, the man who killed them also went up in flames, so we can’t ellicit a confession from him or even prove his identity, much less his association with Grant, now can we?”
Mackey grabbed his stomach. He had walked into Mr. Rice’s office believing he had just served James Grant to him on a silver platter. Now that he looked at the platter, he saw it was empty, for everything Mr. Rice was saying was absolutely true.
“Damn it,” Billy said, “there has to be something you can do. Fire him. Or call him to New York on business. Something!”
Mr. Rice thought it over for a long moment. “It just so happens there is something we can do. I’m afraid it’s the only thing we can do, but you gentlemen are not going to like it.”
Mackey couldn’t speak, so Billy spoke for him. “What is it?”
“We can allow James Grant to have Dover Station.”
Mackey almost came out of his chair but remained right where he was.
Because although it was difficult for him to admit, Mr. Rice may be on to something.
Mr. Rice sat on the edge of his desk. “I’m not taking his side over you, gentlemen. I’m trying to be practical. You’re a federal marshal now, Aaron. Your place is in Helena now, not Dover Station. You’re the marshal for the entire territory. Judge Forester and the governor have been making a lot of grumbling back in Washington that you have spent too much time in your hometown and no time at all in the capital.”
“I went after Henry Hancock first because you wanted me to,” Mackey reminded him.
“Which is why I’ve given you suitable cover in Washington. So far, they’ve turned a deaf ear to the governor and the judge, but they won’t ignore them forever and especially now that statehood is gaining momentum. They can’t afford to ignore them, and even the slightest oversight will be magnified.”
“Scandals, too,” Billy said. He set his cigarette in the ashtray. “You’re worried about a scandal affecting your company too, aren’t you?”
“Not just my company, but the bid for statehood itself,” Mr. Rice said. “What do you think will happen if word gets out that one man was not only able to turn my partner into an addlebrained puppet, but to also take over my investments and the mayor’s office of the town I built? Every company I own would be at risk from ridicule and stockholders questioning my authority. And they’d be right, too. I know we tried to stop Grant at every turn, but he always managed to stay just one step ahead of us when it really counted. I believe he’s guilty of every crime we’ve accused him of. But we cannot prove it. And even if we could, no one would really care.”
“Because all it amounts to,” Mackey said, “is three dead whores and a town no one’s ever heard of in the middle of Montana.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, my friend,” said Mr. Rice. “There are plenty of people who have heard of Dover Station. More and more people hear of it every day. That’s why my plan works in the long run. Allow Grant to continue to run the town. Let him think he’s won. You marry the lovely Katherine and take her with you to Helena. You belong there anyway, and I’ll see to it you’re well provided for. After a year or two, new blood will flow through Dover Station. The same appetite for change that created James Grant will ultimately become his undoing. Maybe then, with the formality of statehood in place, the opportunity will be right to wrest Grant from power.”
Mackey spoke through clenched teeth out of fear he might be sick. “He could have the whole town ruined by then. He’s got your company in one pocket, the police in the other, and the criminal element tucked in his belt. The Hancock family aren’t much now, but they will be in a year when they have some of their own money behind them. Maybe they’ll have enough to buy off Underhill’s men and turn them against him. I don’t know what you’ve read about that family, Mr. Rice, but they’re not just a bunch of ignorant hillbillies and rustlers. They’re mean and stupid. And when you give people like that money and power, you’re looking at a world of trouble. Not just for Dover Station, but for the whole territory.”
Mr. Rice began to speak, but Billy cut him off. “I might not have your head for business or Aaron’s head for tactics, but I know how to handle people. I know trouble when I see it and I’m telling you this Grant problem will get a whole lot worse before it gets better. And so will the Hancock family. You think they’re bad now? What happens when they start looking at Helena as their next target?”
Mr. Rice clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the floor. “What do you propose, Deputy?”
“I say we go at them now while we’ve got some support in town. Wipe Grant out forever, then go about our marshaling business in the rest of the territory or the state, if statehood happens. What you say might go all right if Grant just cared about Dover Station, but he doesn’t. Tomorrow, maybe he’ll look at another town to take over north or south of there. And when that one falls, maybe another, then another until he becomes a real problem for the governor. Hell, he might even be governor by then or have his hooks so deep into him that it won’t matter who’s in office.”
Mackey knew everything Billy was saying was true, but he also knew Mr. Rice had a point. Becoming federals had saved them from Grant’s chopping block when he had become mayor, but it had also expanded their responsibilities well beyond Dover Station. He did not like the idea of giving up, especially to Grant. He did not like letting go just to get a better hold of him later on.
But there was a time when a man had to know when to give up the chase. Just like they had decided against hunting the sharpshooter in the woods. Sometimes, enough had to be enough.
“Billy, maybe he’s—”
“Don’t you say it, Aaron.” Billy was on his feet now. “Don’t you dare say he might have a point, because he doesn’t.” He looked at Mr. Rice. “I know you’re a good man and you think you know what you’re talking about, but you’re wrong. Aaron and I saw what happens when you let a problem go on for too long while we were in the army. When you see the warning signs all around you and just hope it’ll go away or die down. We saw it when people hoped the Apaches would just calm down and go along peacefully, and we saw what happened when they didn’t. A lot of people got killed later on when only a few in the right places would have done the trick. The same thing is happening in Dover Station, sir. Just because Aaron and I happen to be from there doesn’t mean we’re partial to the place. If we turn our back on Grant now, we’ll regret it in the future. And so will you and your company.”
Mr. Rice frowned as he returned to his desk, picked up a newspaper, and tossed it down in front of Mackey and Billy. “I’m afraid Dover Station may already be lost, gentlemen, as Grant seems to have made his boldest move yet.”
It was a copy of The Dover Station Record that bore the screaming headline:
UNDERHILL CUT DOWN
ON FRONT STREET
Is Dover Station a Lawless Town?
MAYOR APPOINTS TEMPORARY CHIEF
AL BRENNER
Mackey read the headline aloud for Billy’s benefit. He looked at the date of the newspaper. “This is two days old.” He quickly read through the article, written by Charles Everett Harrington. “It doesn’t say if Underhill is alive or dead.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Mr. Rice said. “Grant wired me about what had happened a couple of days ago. The weasel hides these kinds of events from me, but he probably figured this was too big a development. I’ve come to rely on Mr. Lagrange to be my eyes and ears in town, but with him here, I have no idea what’s really going on in town. I have no idea if Underhill is alive or dead and, what’s more, I don’t think it matters.”
Billy looked up from the paper he couldn’t read. “That’s a cold way of looking at things, mister. He helped you in those early days when you were looking at Dover Station.”
“Yes,” Rice allowed, “and he also helped Grant solidify power and take the town from me.” Rice waved down the arguments before Billy or Mackey made them. “Yes, I know he seemed reluctant about it, but he could have thrown in with you once he realized what Grant was up to. I would have seen to it that he would have gotten his federal badge back, but he didn’t do that, did he? No. Instead, he had his nice title and big office and enjoyed Grant’s good graces. I know he’s your friend and you like him, but his vanity has caused us almost as much difficulty as Grant’s. I know it’s unpleasant to hear, but you know I’m right.”
He looked at the lawmen from behind his desk and waited for a response.
Mackey sat back from the newspaper and ignored the pain webbing through his body from the wound in his back. “Damn.”
“I don’t know if Chief Underhill is alive or dead,” Mr. Rice admitted. “And I no longer think Dover Station is worth the trouble of taking it away from Grant. And neither do my investors.”
“That’s easy for you to say, mister,” Billy said. “It’s not your home.”
“No, but it is my property,” Mr. Rice countered, “at least most of it is, anyway. Grant has been wise enough to see to it that it pays a handsome dividend each and every month, which further weakens my position in having him removed. My board is happy with his progress and would protest if I tried.”
“You’re willing to let him get away with all of this,” Mackey said, “because he’s making your company money?”
“And because we can’t prove anything,” Mr. Rice countered. “We suspect him of much but can prove little, if anything at all. I think he’s guilty of everything you’ve said, Aaron, and probably of some sins you don’t even know about. But there’s only so much I can do at this point to stop him without pulling everything down. And for what purpose?”
Mr. Rice held up a hand to stop Billy from interrupting. “Not because of my profits, but because of what he’s done for the town. He’s popular because he’s been prosperous and, as for the rest of it, no one really cares, not even in Dover Station.” He looked at both of them. “You know I’m right.”
Mackey lowered his head and slowly ran his hand over his hair. Billy sat quietly, looking at the paper.
Both men knew Mr. Rice was, indeed, right.
“I know the way you view the world, gentlemen. You view everything as either a victory or a defeat. A man is either guilty or innocent. In this case, I recommend you make the tactical decision to delay the battle until such time as you have sufficient resources to wage it.” He tried a smile. “Go to Helena, Aaron. It’s a lovely city, I assure you. Enjoy your position and expand your influence. And, when the time is right and Grant has become complacent, we’ll oust him from power. Please. It’s the only practical way.”
Mackey could not open his eyes or raise his head. He was not angry at Mr. Rice. He did not even disagree with him, because the man was not wrong. He had followed the man’s direction for quite awhile now and had always done well by it. He had done good work, too. Henry Hancock was dead because of Mr. Rice’s suggestion, and they had tried to stop the Hancock family from coming to Dover Station the best way they had known how. They had saved Silas Van Dorn’s life and had rid the world of a lot of Hancock men.
No, Aaron Mackey was not angry. He was exhausted. It was a feeling that seeped through his bones and into his soul. His mind hurt from all of the twists and turns and steps it took to chase James Grant from one rabbit hole to the next only now to finally wind up in a dead end.
He knew Grant would hurt himself eventually, but that could take years. If Montana was ever going to be a state, then it needed to have laws, and those laws needed to be enforced. They needed to be enforced by men like him and Billy if the state had any hope of surviving.
Mackey looked at Mr. Rice. “What if I just kill him?”
Mr. Rice considered it. “That would technically be against the law.”
“Doing right doesn’t always follow the law,” Billy said, “especially where Grant is concerned.”
Mackey decided to make it easy on the man who had become his patron, maybe even a mentor. “I’m not asking your permission, Mr. Rice. I’m not asking for your help, either. I’m asking you to let it go if it comes to that.”
Mr. Rice kept his hands clasped on his desk as he appeared to give it some thought. “Were you to ask my investors, most of them would tell you that James Grant is an indispensable part of the Dover Station Company.”
Then Mr. Rice looked at the lawmen and smiled. “But cemeteries are filled with indispensable men, aren’t they?”