Chapter 14 – Another Way Out

The second telegram arrived from Denver while Ginny was trying to figure out Frank and Bea's meeting place. She was upstairs with Mae when there was a knock on the door. "Sammi Jo, it's Alfie. I got a telegram for you." Ginny unlocked the door and Alfie handed her the wire. "How're you doin' up here? Do you need anything?"

"We're fine, Alfie. Thanks for bringin' this to me." Ginny unfolded the paper and read it over, feeling some measure of relief when she was finished.

"Good news?" Mae asked.

"It is," The Pinkerton agent replied. "I left my favorite black dress in Denver when I came here, and my friend Mariel accidentally sent it to her sister. Now it's on its way to Kansas City." The telegram actually read: 'Sammi Jo – My sister is two steps ahead of me. Your dress, along with a pair of your shoes, has left New Mexico and is on its way to you.'

Ginny had to smile – the knot in her stomach began to loosen. She assumed the 'dress and shoes' reference tomean both Bret and Bart were traveling to Kansas City. It was the first really good news she'd had in weeks. Now all she had to do was wrap this case up . . . like that was going to be so easy to do!

"Must be a real special dress," the blonde remarked.

"It is. Oh my, it is." Malone slipped the telegram in her pocket and sat on the bed next to Mae. "How well did you get to know Frank when you got shot?"

"Why? Are you interested in him? Because he certainly seems to be interested in you."

"Yes, he does seem to be, doesn't he? I just wondered. Where does he live? He's always here at Lil's."

"He's got a little cabin just south of the city. If he's not here, that's usually where he is."

"South, you said? Do you know where?"

Mae gave her that look again, that 'I know you're not what you say you are' look, but made no further remark. "If you take Front Street all the way out of town, you get to a turn off that goes east about two miles. There's a sign that says 'Kansas City Three Miles' at the turn. Follow that down another mile and his cabin is off the road about fifty feet."

"Would Beatrice know where Frank lives?"

Mae brightened. "Oh, sure. She came out to his place a bunch a times when I was laid up there. I didn't have any place to go, and Frank took care of me."

"Frank said you blamed him . . . well, just that you blamed him for what happened."

"I don't, not at all. I never did. I can't imagine why he'd think that."

"Mae . . . about the girls that have disappeared . . . what do you know about them?" Ginny couldn't think of any other way to ask the question. Mae already suspected Ginny wasn't what she purported to be, but Malone needed the information and Mae was the only one she could trust.

"Not much more than anybody else knows. Nobody knows what happened to Thelma and Anna Marie. Betty left in the middle of the night, and Chloe ran away with a cowboy she was seein'. At least that's the story that went around."

"Do you believe it?"

"I might . . . except for Anna Marie. She left all her clothes and personal things here. No woman runs off on her own and leaves all her stuff behind."

Ginny nodded. "I have to agree with you. It does seem odd, doesn't it?" Anna Marie Burton was a Pinkerton agent. A fact that Frank and Bea had discovered, no doubt. Mae was right; Anna Marie hadn't left of her own free will.

"I have to leave for a while, Mae. I'm gonna let Red know I'll be back in a couple hours. Don't let anybody in but him."

"Sammi Jo . . . if you're goin' out to Frank's place . . . be careful."

"Now who said anything about Frank's place?" Ginny laughed. Of course, that's exactly where she was headed. She'd have to think of some excuse for being gone again. Right now her main focus was to get out of Diamond Lil's without being seen.

XXXXXXXX

They'd been traveling for days and it seemed like they'd never reach Kansas City, the destination that, by his winning a coin toss, Bart had chosen. Bret protested, but a deal was a deal, and they'd agreed the winner would choose their destination. They'd also agreed that, since they both had a story to tell due to their extended time apart, the winner would have to 'spill his guts' first. Which meant that Bart had the unenviable task of explaining to Bret how he'd been forced into opium addiction in New Orleans. And the long road back to physical and emotional health he endured home in Texas.

It took almost three full days for the story to unwind, and Bret felt guiltier than he'd ever felt for not being there when his brother desperately needed him. If it hadn't been for their father's intervention, Bret would be an only child – Bart's situation was that dire. "Bart . . . I don't know what to say. I shoulda been there. I could've stopped it before it got started. Instead I was off doin' nothin' to speak of with Ginny . . . I'll never forgive myself."

Bart shook his head. This was exactly why he'd been afraid to tell Bret what he'd been through. "Bret, don't do this, please. You almost died yourself – you needed the time to recover. I'm glad you weren't there, for your sake. How do you think I woulda felt if somethin' had happened to you while you were tryin' to save me from Matt Langford?"

Bret kept staring at the ground while they rode. He couldn't help it . . . if Bart had died . . . and he came oh-so-close to doing just that . . . he would have blamed himself for the rest of his life. Maybe his separation from Ginny was a good thing after all. Maybe it was fate trying to tell him something . . . it was the sound of his brother's voice that brought him back to the present.

"So that's my tale. Now you know why I slacked off for a while on the coffee, and I'm hopin' that this whole thing is behind me. Sure does answer a lotta questions about where that deep-seated anger of mine came from." Bart glanced sideways at Bret and noticed that his head was still down; it looked like his brother was wrestling with some of his own demons, although Bart would be hard-pressed to understand just what demons Bret might have. "How about you? What happened between you and Beauty? And why is she in Kansas City alone and posin' as Sammi Jo Whoever?"

Bret sighed. Looked like the rest of his demon-wrestling was gonna have to be done out in the open. "It started when Arthur called Ginny into his office . . . "

XXXXXXXX

Getting away from Lil's was easier said than done. Ginny slipped down the staircase and high-tailed it into Red's office, where she found him looking over a ledger and frowning. "I need your help, boss."

He looked up and smiled. Sammi Jo, or whoever she really was, brightened his day considerably when she appeared. "Anything you need, Sammi."

"Is there another way out of Lil's that I don't know about?"

"You need to leave and you're avoiding . . . ?"

"A couple people. Please don't ask who or why. I promise to tell you soon as I can. Now, about that other way out . . . "

"The storage room where the liquor's kept. There's a locked door and I've got the key. You need to go right now?" Red pulled his desk drawer open and gave Ginny a small gold key.

"Right this minute. Can you keep them occupied out front for a while?" Ginny was grateful for Red's help. Suzanne had been right when she told Ginny he was one of the finest men she'd ever met.

"I can do that. Give me five minutes and then head on back there. You will be back today, won't you?"

"Sure will. Thanks, boss." And she leaned across the desk and planted a kiss on Red's cheek, which caused Mitchell to turn as bright a shade of red as his hair.

"Go. Shoo," he told her, rising from his desk and heading out the door. She heard him calling as she slipped out of his office and back towards the storage room, "Frank, Alfie, can I see you both at the bar, please?"