Till Death by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2021-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

“Once we’d gotten to know you, that was actually the Oworst of it,” Beatrice said a short time later. “Deceiving you, I mean. Even though it was for a good cause.”

The Texans and the four mail-order brides were in Captain Cruickshank’s cabin aboard the Byron Mowery. The captain had seen and heard the confrontation a few minutes earlier and was as flabbergasted by the revelations as Bo and Scratch were. He had offered to let them use his cabin to hash things out.

The ladies were seated at a table that had a map of Alaska Territory spread out on it. Scratch had taken a ladderback chair, reversed it, and straddled it. Bo was the only one still on his feet, so mad that he had to suppress an impulse to pace back and forth. The cabin wasn’t really big enough for that.

Scratch thumbed his hat back and said, “Deceivin’ is a pretty word. I’d call what you did out-and-out lyin’, ma’am.”

“Was anything you told me on the John Starr true, Mrs. O’Rourke?” Bo asked.

“Nearly all of it was,” Beatrice said. “And I don’t appreciate being called a liar.”

“Then maybe you should try telling the truth.” Caroline said, “Aunt Beatrice didn’t have any choice. She thought that if you knew why we were coming up here, you wouldn’t bring us.”

“Darn right we wouldn’t have brought four ladies to work a gold claim in the middle of Alaska,” Scratch said. “That’s the most loco notion I’ve ever heard.”

Beatrice leaned forward in her chair and looked at Bo as she said, “Listen to me, please. My husband . . . my late husband . . . actually was a member of the Mounted Police at one time. He arrested a man who had crossed over from Canada into Alaska and did some prospecting in that gulch. That was before anyone had found gold in this area. Cushman didn’t even exist then. But this man told Daniel he was convinced there was gold here, and that gave Daniel the idea of coming to look for it someday.

“Then my father got him the job at the steel mill and lured us back to Pittsburgh. But Daniel never forgot about trying to find that gulch the man had told him about. When he . . . left me . . . he came up here . . . and he found it.”

She shrugged and went on. “Of course, by that time, other men had discovered gold in this region, too, and it wasn’t wide open anymore. Even so, he made what he believed was a good claim, and he got a letter out to tell me about it. He . . . he said that if anything happened to him, he wanted me to have it. He put in the legal paperwork he got from the clerk here in town when he filed the claim.”

“Did he actually die of a fever?” asked Bo.

Beatrice shook her head. “No, he was killed in an avalanche. At least, that’s what Mr.

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