He rose carefully, dressed and took out a notepad. He had all the pieces, he thought. He just had to put them together.
He started writing down a timeline, including everything that had happened, everything he knew.
Then he went to get the books he’d bought at Desert Diamonds to read through them.
Caleb Hough hadn’t been a nice guy. He’d argued with just about everyone. Including Grant Winston.
And he’d gotten the history books from Grant Winston’s Desert Diamonds. Jay Berman had the same books.
There had to be something in the books. Something to do with the infamous gold heist?
Two people—one a man, one a woman—had attacked Zoe and Jimmy Hough.
A stranger, Jay Berman, had been killed, and so had a local, Caleb Hough.
Just how many people were involved in what was going on?
10
Jane came out of Sloan’s room, wearing the same robe she’d worn before, to find that he’d already brewed coffee and had apparently been working for several hours. He had the books from Desert Diamonds on the table, along with sticky notes, a poster board and a long list of notes for himself.
“As we started to discuss earlier, I think there’s a clue in the books,” he said. “I’ve skimmed them both. The one by Sheriff Fogerty talks about the town around the time the stagecoach filled with gold disappeared. So, I’m beginning to suspect that Sage knew something about the robbery—and that’s why she was killed. She charmed everyone who came to the bar after her performances. And while a lot of the rougher clientele preferred the saloon, I’ll bet Sage had her share of admirers who came to the theater. She might have heard something from one of them. And I don’t believe she was having an affair with Red Marston. From what I’ve been reading, they were friends from back east and he came to town with a reputation for being a playboy.”
“Why did she visit Trey Hardy in his cell?” Jane asked.
“The same reason—simple friendship. Sage was a charmer and so was Trey Hardy. They might’ve seen each other as kindred spirits. I gather that most people liked Trey, just as they liked Sage.”
“So why kill Red? If we’re right about that...”
“I think both Sage and Red were killed because they knew too much—just like I think Zoe and Jimmy were attacked because someone thought they knew too much. And I’m convinced that Jay Berman came here because someone he knew was in on the situation, and that he was murdered because he got greedy—or because someone thought he’d spilled the beans.”
Jane poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from him. “But if this is all about gold, why would these murders be taking place now? It’s not illegal to look for gold lost over a hundred years ago.”
“I don’t know,” Sloan said, sounding frustrated. “I’m assuming the state would weigh in on the gold, since it was stolen, but there’d have to be an enormous finder’s fee. Maybe the people involved have no intention of handing it over to the state. And everyone’s always assumed that the gold’s around here somewhere. The stagecoach never made it to Tucson. It just disappeared. It would be easy enough to make a stagecoach disappear in the desert. The horses were probably let loose and could have been adopted by Apaches in the area. This book—the one by Brendan Fogerty—suggests the driver and guards were murdered and buried in the desert, and the gold was hidden somewhere, secreted away.”
“What would the silver mine have to do with it?”
“Again, I don’t know—unless it was being used as some kind of cache or even a meeting place. The mine didn’t go out of action until long after the stagecoach disappeared.”
“So you really think this is about gold?”
“I can’t figure out anything else. It’s almost as if digging up the corpses from the past is like a warning to someone who’s involved. One of the conspirators, if you will. That’s why I’m not sure the theater is safe.”
She nodded in agreement.
“Let’s get going. Logan says he’ll rent a car in Tucson. He and Kelsey will be in town sometime in the midafternoon. Before then, I want to start on a few things. I’ll ask Johnny Bearclaw to bring that water bottle you found in the mine to the lab. We must be able to get a DNA hit off it, and that could at least send us in the right direction.” He shook his head. “I should’ve done that right away. But now I want to get to town and question everyone at the theater about the live rounds in that gun—and when they last saw Caleb Hough.”
“I’ll get dressed,” Jane said. “And the bottle is tied to the saddle I was using.” She shrugged.
“Good. I’ll let Johnny know,” Sloan told her.