“I don’t suppose a man is ever really lookin’. Most times, the notion falls in his lap.” He laughed again. “Either that, or the notion smacks him upside the head.”
“This is Aspen Valley, Creakle. A man can’t stay employed if he entertains such thoughts.”
Creakle huffed dismissingly. “Some things is more important than a job, you mark my words.”
“I happen to like my job.”
“But it don’t make you happy.” Creakle gestured to Charles who had paused in his sermon again to wink down at Willow. “Look at yer buddy there. He was a big ol’ lump o’ misery until that little gal came along.”
Gideon didn’t think he would go so far as to call Charles a “big old lump of misery,” but he had to admit that Creakle had a point.
“And Mr. Jonah. Well, now. That man has had his life handed back to him—and I’m not talkin’ about the way the doc operated on him. He’s finally lookin’ toward the future instead of the past.”
“I’ll admit that Charles and Jonah have found something special, Creakle. But I’m not shopping for what they’re selling. And even if I were, Miss Tomlinson would be the last woman I’d pursue.”
Finally, Creakle sat back, his eyes twinkling. His only response was, “We’ll see.”
But Gideon wasn’t paying attention any longer. He’d happened to glance toward Lydia, only to find that she was looking at him.
And there was something about her too-innocent expression that made his heart pump a little bit faster.
* * *
Lydia waited until the last miner had left the Meeting House before allowing her feet to still at the organ. The final chord died with a sigh, leaving a moment of heavy silence. Then, the women began gathering their things.
Iona brought Lydia her coat and bonnet. A wrinkle of worry had settled between the older woman’s brows.
“It’s only a matter of time before someone starts noticing that there are men missing from their shifts.”
Lydia had spent the night mulling over the problem and had finally come up with a temporary solution.
“I know, but I think I’ve come up with a way to prevent anyone from pinpointing our involvement for a little longer. I assigned Myra and Miriam to make some quarantine placards. With Jonah already diagnosed with measles, it’s not a stretch that there could be other cases.”
Iona’s eyes crinkled at the corners in delight.
“Not a stretch at all.”
“And we wouldn’t want the new cases to infect the rest of the population.”
“No. That would be horrible.”
“Make up a list of the men we have so far. As soon as we have the quarantine signs in place, we’ll take it to the mine. Who’s running things now that Jonah is being kept at home?”
Iona’s gaze sparkled with amusement. “Charles Wanlass.”
Lydia grinned, knowing that they had an ally who would take their list at face value, no questions asked.
“Wonderful. And you’ve arranged to have lunch with Phineas Bottoms?”
Iona’s cheeks grew pink. “Yes.”
“I know you’ll charm the socks off the man.”
The older woman offered a sound that was very near a girlish titter. “I doubt that, but I’ll do my best.”
“So that leaves...”
Lydia walked to the windows, watching as Gideon Gault strode across the street to the Pinkerton offices.
“What are you going to do with that one?” Hannah asked, nodding in the man’s direction. “The other men have been easy to sway to our cause, but he’ll never willingly concede.”
“He’s going to catch on and raise the alarm,” Sophie added with a note of doom.
“Then we’ll have to take him by force.”
The other women regarded her with wide eyes. So far, the men had been easy to catch—a blanket thrown over their shoulders or an invitation to the Dovecote. After a quick explanation from the women, they’d been willing to play along. But Gideon Gault would not prove to be so biddable. Even if they managed to kidnap the man, they would have to find a way to keep him hidden and under their control.
“We’re going to need those iron manacles we saw in the Pinkerton office,” Lydia said slowly. “And some of Sumner’s sleeping powders.”
Sophie gasped.
Hannah smiled.
“When will you make your move?” Iona whispered, despite the fact that none of the men were nearby to overhear them.
“As soon as we can gather our supplies and I can get the man alone. Get everything ready and bring it to the Dovecote. I’ll arrange to have the Pinkerton join us for a meal.”
* * *
Gideon’s stomach rumbled as he pored over the latest ore reports from the mine. With the rails damaged, there would be no trains arriving at the warehouse near the station in town. Batchwell Bottoms Mine employees were going to have to haul the ore through the pass, then far enough overland to hook up with the railroad. They would have to use teams and wagons for at least ten miles, maybe more. On Gideon’s end, that meant double the guards, double the headaches.
The entire situation wasn’t completely new to Gideon. He’d come to Aspen Valley a few years before the railroad had been completed, so he knew the challenges and dangers involved in shipping the silver by wagon. But with everything so unsettled in the mining community, and his morning spent looking for whoever had spent the night in the pass, his gut warned him there would be trouble ahead. Trouble with a capital T. Trouble with—
“Problems?”
He started, then burst to his feet when he looked up to find Lydia watching him with arched brows.
“So sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She offered him an innocent smile, but he wasn’t buying it. This woman managed to set off his inner alarms more than the thought of hauling a warehouse full of silver out of the valley.
“Miss Tomlinson,” he murmured, wondering how she’d managed to sneak up on him without a hint of warning. “I thought you promised me that you’d stick to your guard today.”
“He was busy helping Iona in the cook shack, and I knew I’d only be gone a few moments.”
She set a plate on the blotter of his desk along with a mug of coffee.
“I didn’t see you come into the cook shack after the morning Devotional, so I figured I’d bring the food to you.”
She
