The Regulator by Ethan J. Wolfe

Author:Ethan J. Wolfe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2015-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Murphy rented a buggy in Orangeburg and set out with Nelson to the Winters’s farm located seventeen miles west of the town.

They rode along a winding dirt road that forked several times and they covered the distance in just over three hours, as it was necessary to rest the two horses several times along the way.

The dirt road forked to another private dirt road that led to the Winters’s farm. There was an archway with the name Winters painted in gold lettering. A tenth of a mile from the archway stood the three-story high, white and yellow farmhouse.

Winters lived alone. Close to sixty-years-old, the retired Colonel wore a gray beard and his graying hair to his shoulders. When the buggy arrived at the house, Winters stepped out onto the porch and said, “I can’t believe it, Nellie. After all these years.”

Stepping out of the buggy, Nelson said, “So you received my telegram then?”

“Yes, this morning,” Winters said. “Come sit on the porch. I made a fresh pot of coffee.”

While Winters ducked into the house, Nelson and Murphy took the steps onto the porch where a table with four chairs sat beside a swinging chair.

After Winters returned with a tray that held pot, creamer, sugar, and three cups, he poured and sat.

“I was sorry to hear of your wife’s passing,” Nelson said.

“That’s the reason I retired,” Winters said. “To take care of her. The pain is gone, but the memory is still intact.”

Nelson nodded. “This is Congressman Murphy. This visit concerns what happened in sixty-eight at the Quad farm in New Mexico during the railroad expansion. Anything you can tell us about him is vital.”

“I wrote a detailed report on that,” Winters said.

“I read it,” Murphy said.

“Then you know what happened.”

“I do,” Murphy said. “I need to fill in between the lines.”

“After thirteen years, why?”

“That’s classified information. If I tell you I have to insist upon your secrecy.”

“You have it as an officer.”

“Have you read any news accounts of these killings on the railroad and along settlements out west?” Murphy said.

“A few. Why? Do you think it’s Quad?”

“He was released earlier this year and shortly thereafter the killings started,” Murphy said. “He has a grudge against the railroad and the settlements. He is a trained sniper and all the killings have been from a distance of a thousand yards or more and he’s left-handed and the killer is left-handed.”

“How do you know that?” Winters said.

“One shooting victim survived the initial gunshot. He cut his throat and the cut was made right to left indicating he’s left-handed.”

Winters nodded. “What do you want to know?”

“You led the detail to Quad’s home to tell him the railroad needed his property to run the line through,” Murphy said. “How did he react to the news?”

“How would you react?” Winters said. “He fought in the war and then spent almost two years out west during the Indian pacification. After his discharge he moved his family west to the three hundred acres he purchased and broke his back planting a crop and then we show up to throw him out.

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