The mystery of silver fa.., p.1
The Mystery of Silver Falls, page 1
The Mystery of Silver Falls
I. J. Parnham
Published by Culbin Press, 2022.
Names, characters and incidents in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.
First published in 2015 by Robert Hale Limited
Copyright © 2015, 2022 by I. J. Parnham
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Sign up for I. J. Parnham's Mailing List
Further Reading: Incident at Pegasus Heights
Also By I. J. Parnham
Chapter One
“It’s my great pleasure to declare the final stretch of railroad track open,” Finnegan Kelly announced. “I’m confident the new bridge will herald an era of prosperity for Silver Falls.”
Finnegan carried on speaking, but the cheering crowd drowned out his words. Then the engine delivered a lengthy blast on the whistle before the train lurched into motion, forcing everyone to rush away from the railroad tracks.
Standing on the edge of the platform, Wyndham Shelford had mixed feelings about today’s ceremony, and the sour expression on the face of his colleague Crosby Jensen suggested he, too, was having misgivings. While the bridge at Silver Falls was being built, Wyndham and Crosby, along with five other men, had provided security for the site.
The work had been uneventful as, aside from a few thefts, there had been no trouble. Now that the job was complete, they were out of work so Wyndham would welcome a few more months of routine, paid employment.
Despite his concern, he joined the townsfolk of Silver Falls in cheering the train as it trundled out of the station to embark on the five-mile journey to the bridge and then beyond for the very first time. When the last car moved away from the platform, most of the crowd hurried after it while waving their hats above their heads.
Then several riders appeared from town and they flanked the train while shooting into the air. Within moments the crowd thinned out, leaving Wyndham and Crosby standing at one end of the platform and Finnegan standing at the other.
“Where’s the free liquor?” someone asked behind Wyndham.
He turned to find that his friend Gareth Wilson had joined them along with most of their colleagues who had provided security for the bridge.
“I thought you were staying at the bridge to watch the first train go across,” Wyndham said.
“We were,” Gareth said. “Then Finnegan sent us a message that the drinks in the Station Saloon would be free for the rest of the day.”
“They are.” Wyndham turned around. “Where’s Ewan?”
“He decided to board the train and be one of the first across.” Gareth pointed past Wyndham, picking out Finnegan. “Come on. The quicker we get our old boss to the saloon, the quicker we can start drinking.”
Everyone laughed as they joined Gareth in hurrying across the platform. Wyndham joined them, but as he wasn’t as eager to get some liquor in him as the others were, he turned again to the train.
The people on foot had now slowed to a halt, but the riders were still flanking the train, looking as if they would accompany it all the way to the bridge. It may have been Wyndham’s recent work that made him uneasy, as for the last few months he had been suspicious of everything, but he didn’t think anyone should be so excited that they would ride along beside the train.
So he waited until a rise took the riders and the train out of sight. Then, with a shake of the head, he dismissed the matter and hurried on to join his friends.
The moment the train brakes screamed Ewan Douglas made his move. The two bandits guarding the door lurched forward, but Ewan let the sudden deceleration propel him from his chair.
He stood tall and before either bandit could right himself, he drew his Peacemaker. Two crisp gunshots rang out. The first shot caught the left-hand bandit in his gun arm while the second sliced into the other bandit’s chest, dropping him.
As Ewan moved down the aisle toward them, the wounded man struggled to raise his gun so Ewan dispatched him with a deadly shot to the head. Then he turned to the passengers.
“I’m a bridge security guard,” he said. “So you folks have nothing to fear now. Just stay here and I’ll deal with the others.”
He caught the eyes of several people and when they provided relieved smiles he moved on to the door. He hoped that the squealing brakes had masked the gunfire, leaving the rest of the bandits feeling confident, but the fact that they were making the train perform an unscheduled stop suggested he had to act quickly.
He edged up to the inset window. Nobody was outside so he slipped through and then made his way to the door to the last car. A blind had been drawn down over the window, but the inside of the car was well lit revealing the outlines of men moving around.
This suggested that the bandits had already opened the other door in readiness for a fast departure. The engine was about to trundle on to the bridge across the Black River. He judged that when the train stopped the bulk of the train would be on the bridge while the end car would be ten yards from land.
This left him with about three minutes to make his move. He used the first minute to check on either side of the train. Nobody was waiting for them, but this raid had been well-organized, even if he didn’t know what the bandits were planning to steal.
As he waited to make his move, he couldn’t help but smile at the irony of this situation. During the construction of the bridge he had encountered few problems. Then, on the inaugural train journey, and a few hours after he’d been paid off, the train had just left the town of Silver Falls when, in a coordinated move, bandits had made their presence known.
Several riders who had been flanking the train in apparent celebration had moved in and boarded the end car. At the same time, the bandits who had mingled in with passengers had seized control of the train without trouble.
In truth, dealing with this problem was no longer his responsibility and he didn’t have the help of his trusted friends, but he dismissed that concern with a shrug. The end car was twenty yards from the bridge when Ewan reached for the door.
By then below was the rapidly flowing river that ended abruptly several hundred yards on at the waterfall that had given the town of Silver Falls its name. He ignored the scenery and burst in through the door.
The scene was just as he’d imagined it. The four railroad guards were bound and sitting on the floor on either side of the car, while two men were dragging a strongbox out through the door.
They raised their heads while smiling, clearly anticipating that their fellow bandits had arrived. Their smiles died when Ewan jerked up his gun, and with both men having their hands on the strongbox, he hammered a shot into the chest of one of the men before either could retaliate.
As the wounded man slumped over the strongbox, Ewan swung the gun to the side, but the second man stepped out of view on to the platform at the back of the car. The strongbox had been in a precarious position on the edge of the platform, but then the brakes squealed insistently, making the train lurch.
The wounded man slipped away and a moment later the strongbox followed him, toppling from immediate view. Ewan reckoned that when the train stopped the men who had taken control of the engine would arrive, but he still moved on cautiously while reloading.
Then a shadow moved beyond the door that he took for the other man jumping off the train, so he sped up. When he next caught sight of the man, he couldn’t help but smile. The strongbox had taken an unfortunate deflection off the railroad tracks and that had moved it toward the side of the bridge.
The strongbox was still tumbling end over end, and Ewan judged that it was moving quickly enough for it to topple over the edge. But its momentum died out at the point where it was standing on its end and one more movement would make it drop from sight altogether.
The bandit reached the strongbox and went to his knees while slapping a hand on the side, securing it. Then he swung around to face the train, and it was to find Ewan standing in the doorway with his gun already trained on him.
Ewan gave a warning shake of the head and the bandit raised his free hand. The train was still moving when Ewan jumped down.
“This sure is an unfortunate turn of events,” he said as he walked down the tracks. “Who are you? And what’s in the strongbox?”
“I’m Kane Cresswell, and there’s fifty thousand dollars in silver in the box,” the man said. “It’s the railroad’s last payment now the work’s done, except now it’s mine.”
Ten yards from the strongbox, Ewan stopped beside the man he had shot. He noted that the man was lying still.
“I’ve never heard of you. Yours wasn’t one of the names the railroad mentioned,
Ewan laughed, making Kane snarl at him.
“I planned this raid down to the last detail and I’ll still walk away with the silver.” Kane nodded down the bridge. “The moment the train stops, the rest of my men will come down from the cab and they’ll cut you to ribbons.”
“You don’t give the orders here. Get on your feet and step away from the strongbox!”
As behind him Ewan heard the train shudder to a halt, he and Kane faced each other. Kane was the first to turn away and with a resigned shrug he raised his other hand. He got up on one knee.
Then he moved to stand up, but instead of rising he jerked down behind the strongbox. Ewan was alert to Kane’s likely response and he blasted a shot at him. Kane moved too quickly and the shot thudded into the metal rim of the strongbox sending up sparks.
Hunkered down, only the top of Kane’s hat was visible as Ewan walked to the side. He was confident of what Kane’s next move would be, and sure enough Kane slapped his gun hand on the strongbox and fired wildly around the area where Ewan had been standing.
He got in two shots before Ewan fired. Ewan aimed at Kane’s fingers, but the bullet nicked the barrel of the gun, jerking it out of Kane’s hand. Kane stumbled into view while wringing his hand, but only for a moment as he nudged against the strongbox and toppled it over.
The strongbox rocked down toward the edge of the bridge and despite Ewan’s previous comments he didn’t want to lose the money. He hurried forward aiming to save the strongbox, but thankfully Kane was quick-witted and lithe enough to still its progress.
He grabbed a post with one hand and then, with a mixture of his other arm and his legs, he brought the strongbox to a halt. Even so, when the strongbox stopped moving it was angled over the edge of the bridge with only Kane keeping it from falling.
Ewan moved around to stand behind Kane where he could keep an eye on him while facing along the bridge. As Kane had promised, the other bandits had come out of the cab and they were moving forward.
“Help me get this back up,” Kane said.
Ewan noted the sweat on Kane’s brow and his strained muscles.
“You’re doing fine on your own. Just keep pushing and you’ll—”
Ewan broke off when a ferocious burst of gunfire came from the farther down the bridge, the possibility of the imminent loss of the strongbox forcing the bandits to act. As lead sliced into the posts near him, Ewan hunkered down and took aim at the nearest bandit, but just then hot fire punched him in the chest.
The next he knew he was on his back and what felt like a heavy weight was pressing down on his chest. With a supreme effort he rolled on to his side to lie on the edge of the bridge where he was confronted by Kane’s grinning face.
“They got you, and your last sight will be us riding off with the silver,” he said with relish.
Ewan couldn’t drag enough air into his lungs to reply as Kane shifted position to raise the box. Then with a sudden lurch, the strongbox slipped down. Kane arrested its movement and for a frozen moment he and the strongbox stayed still.
Then his hand lost its grip of the post and he and the strongbox fell. While only moving his head Ewan followed their progress as both man and money tumbled toward the moiling water below.
They hit the surface of the water, sending up two surprisingly small splashes. A few heartbeats later the disturbances on the water dissipated, lost amid the waves. Ewan could hear the other bandits hurrying down the bridge, but the sounds appeared to be coming from a great distance.
He figured he was in big trouble, but he’d always enjoyed the sight of the river so he turned to the water. A minute passed before he caught sight of Kane’s body. He was already several hundred yards away and he appeared to be lying face down in the water trapped in an eddy behind a floating tree trunk.
Then the trunk plummeted over the falls and a few moments later Kane followed it. With nothing left to see, Ewan closed his eyes.
Chapter Two
“The train got raided,” Norman Pierce announced.
He continued to explain, but Wyndham Shelford struggled to hear him. Like Finnegan Kelly earlier, the crowd drowned out his speech, although unlike before everyone was concerned rather than excited.
Ten minutes ago a rumor that something had gone wrong at the bridge had reached the Station Saloon and Finnegan, along with several other railroad men, had hurried away. Every few minutes a new rumor had arrived, ranging from the train breaking down on the bridge to the bridge collapsing.
Now the boss of the railroad office appeared to have definitive news so the bartender, Benny Stokes, encouraged everyone to quieten by insistently banging a glass on the bar. When silence had descended and all eyes had turned to Norman, he got up on the bar.
“Bandits raided the train on the bridge,” he said. “There was plenty of shooting and several bandits were killed. Finnegan will be back soon with the full story.”
The customers cheered, although Norman’s pensive expression suggested that it wasn’t all good news. As he got down off the bar, everyone returned to exchanging animated conversation, but when Gareth Wilson noticed that Wyndham wasn’t joining in, he turned to him.
“I reckon I might have seen the bandits,” Wyndham said with a frown. “These men rode out of town and they left flanking the train.”
“I didn’t see them,” Gareth said.
Crosby nudged him in the ribs. “That’s because you were too busy looking for the free drinks.”
Most of the others had noticed the riders, although that didn’t clarify whether these men were the bandits. A lull in the chatter in the saloon curtailed their discussion and when Wyndham turned around, Finnegan had arrived.
Even before he reached the bar Finnegan’s thunderous expression and the tense postures of the railroad men with him showed that the full story he had to tell would be a troubling one.
“The bandits were led by Kane Cresswell,” Finnegan announced in the quiet saloon, making several people shrug and murmur that the name meant nothing. “Kane was killed along with several other bandits. The survivors fled.”
Finnegan frowned and with him not saying anything more, Benny took it upon himself to make the obvious comment.
“We can tell you have bad news,” he said. “You’d better let us have it.”
“Kane was after the fifty thousand dollars in silver that was on the train.” Finnegan raised his voice when the customers gasped in surprise. “The money was the railroad’s final payment to its backers after the completion of the bridge. In the confusion the money fell off the train and then fell off the bridge. It’s no doubt been lost forever.”
“Why keep that payment a secret?” Norman asked. “And why take it on the train’s maiden journey?”
Finnegan turned to Norman and pointed a stern finger at him.
“You no longer work for the railroad.” Finnegan then pointed at people individually, picking out railroad workers and daring them to retort. When nobody met his eye, he snorted in irritation. “Then I’ll turn this around. Anyone who still wants to work for me had better come up with a useful idea.”
Wisely, nobody drew attention to themselves, although when Finnegan turned to Wyndham’s group, Gareth spoke up, his tone lilting after all the free liquor he’d consumed.
“Were the bandits those men who rode out of town?” he asked. “Because there were these riders and we wondered if they might have been Kane and his. . . .”
Gareth trailed off when Finnegan glowered at him, confirming that trying to be helpful in this situation wasn’t sensible.
“I can confirm those riders were the bandits, but you’re one of the men I paid to look after security and you did nothing when you saw a bandit gang ride off to raid the train.”
Gareth shrugged. “You paid us off this morning.”
Wyndham laughed as did several others, but Gareth’s inappropriate attempt to make light of the situation made Finnegan gesture at his ever-present hired gun, Marvin Reynolds. Marvin made his way through the crowded saloon with his shoulders hunched.
Wyndham’s group bunched up to meet the threat, but Marvin didn’t even reach them. Several customers closed ranks to rebuff him and when Marvin tried to advance, they knocked him away.
