Dalton and the River of No Return by Ed Law

Author:Ed Law
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2023-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“I recognize that ridge,” Dalton called, pointing.

Nobody had spoken for several hours and this comment dragged the other two out of their torpor.

“Yeah,” Mattie said. “That’s a high point above Warren’s Crossing.”

Their journey had been incident free. The water level had dropped since Dalton’s journey upriver and their passage along Wilmington Creek had been safer than they’d expected. They’d seen no sign of Rutledge or Barrington so they presumed they’d left them far behind, although Dalton presumed they would be heading downriver.

Dalton craned his neck while turning his mind to how they would get to dry land and avoid just sailing past. The water wasn’t as fast-flowing as it had been, but Dalton still reckoned jumping off the ferry would be too dangerous.

“What do you reckon we can do?” he asked.

“There’s nothing we can do, but enjoy the trip and hope we beach up somewhere close by,” Mattie said.

“Then what?”

Mattie shrugged and turned to Locke, inviting him to talk. On the journey he had been quiet and seemingly brooding, but for the first time he appeared animated as he nodded.

“I’ve had a year to work out what happened to Gabriel Thornton,” he said. “Now is the time that everyone else should know. I owe his sons that much.”

“What did happen to him?”

Locke’s blank eyes suggested he wouldn’t reply before he turned to the river. When he spoke his neutral tone sounded as if he were talking to himself rather than answering the question.

“Gabriel and I were good friends, but we argued about everything. Sometimes we just had to be apart so when he went to Warren’s Crossing, I wished him well. He prospered, but he did too well. Barrington Warren wanted to run the ferry and he planned to set up a rival operation. My ferry had failed so Barrington invited me down to talk about how they could do it.”

“I assume the Thornton family didn’t like that,” Dalton said when Locke had been silent for a while.

“Even though I refused to help Barrington, they weren’t happy, but I admit I made a mistake in talking with him. After I’d argued with Gabriel, like we always did, I called him aside one night to explain why I’d never side with Barrington. Gabriel accepted my explanation, but the next morning the ferry had come loose and Gabriel was dead.”

“Who did it?”

“The answer isn’t as simple as just who did it, and the people who need to know what happened deserve to hear it first.”

Locke waited until Dalton nodded before he returned to facing the banks as he waited for Warren’s Crossing coming into view. He didn’t have to wait for long. They rounded a bend after which the town was ahead.

They were in the center of the river so when they sailed on by, they would be far enough away from the town that it was likely they would be seen but not recognized. This concern must have been on Locke’s mind as he faced the town while Dalton faced the other side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.