Sharpshooter by Dusty Richards

Author:Dusty Richards [Richards, Dusty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

They discovered nothing more at the murder scene or around it, except that Cody found a few very small pieces of ruby. The reflection off them struck his eyes. In an instant, he dropped to his knees and gently freed them from the dirt with the blade of his jackknife.

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you find rubies in that cave?” He held the small pieces in his palm.

Chet nodded. “Michael asked me where they got them—the Spanish. I said, probably in another cave around here.”

“Think he found it?” Billy Bob asked.

“No telling, but it would give those outlaws a reason to kill them. I never saw any of that in the ground samples we took around here. Nor are there any other tiny pieces in the ground here in the yard—so maybe these fell out of his pocket or hand, handling the rubies.”

“Where do we look?” one of the other boys asked.

“Keep looking. We find some, we will all share.”

“We’re looking.” Shirley said.

They began to make wider circles around the homestead but the few grains of red were all they found.

It was obvious to Chet that the gang had abandoned the previous camp that Cole and Salty had scouted out. No one had used that site west of their first camp in a long time. Chet and his crew searched, but the outlaws weren’t anywhere near that area, and when they talked to a few prospectors on the move, Chet learned that no one had seen the Meadowses’ murderers.

Chet’s posse was camped nearby Joseph Lake that cold morning and Chet told them that unless they found out more, they’d head home in the morning. He hated to give up but no new evidence about the murders showed up nor did any leads to the possible killers appear. To admit his investigation had come to a dead end was not easy, but he told Lisa the night before he had to face the truth—they’d done nothing to solve the deaths of that family.

The storekeeper thanked him for his efforts. “Everyone up here appreciates you and your people coming up here and looking into this matter. No one else did it. And I knew it would be hard to solve the matter, but I knew if anyone could—you had the experience to do it.”

“Rory, there is nothing I can find to point a finger at who did it. A horrible crime, but without more evidence it goes unsolved.”

“Yes. But thanks anyhow.”

“I have some ranches to run. Good luck to you.” They shook hands and he went back to their camp setup.

Lisa met him coming in. He dismounted and walked to where he planned to unsaddle.

“I know this never happened to you before—but some things can’t be solved.”

“Exactly. Well, we’re five days away from Flagstaff and everyone needs to go back to work. You all can go from there.”

The gathered crew stood around, nodding at his words.

“I’ll be back in time to head another herd to Gallup,” Cody said. “But thanks for thinking of me.

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