Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly,
while bad people will find a way around the laws."
~Plato
Later that morning, there was palpable tension inside the jailhouse. Allen Lowery sat in a chair in front of Jack's desk, staring straight ahead, his facial muscles taut. Bill continued his interrogation. "What brought you to Coal Valley?"
Allen sneered as he retorted, "My horse."
"No," Jack corrected from his seat at his typewriter. "That's not your horse. That horse belongs to the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. You stole it the moment you deserted."
Allen gave Jack a disdainful look.
"Why did you come here?" Bill restated his question.
Allen shrugged. "It looked as good as any town for me to get some money."
Bill and Jack looked at each other, realizing that Allen had not targeted Coal Valley. It seemed Coal Valley was just unlucky enough to have another unsavory character happen upon it. Jack turned back to the typewriter, documenting the interrogation.
"What were you going to do with all that money you stole from Trevoy?" Bill inquired.
Allen scoffed. "What do you think people do with money?" he answered back. "I was gonna spend it, stupid!"
"On what?" Bill asked, trying to hold his temper, though Allen was making that difficult.
"I needed traveling money," Allen replied.
"Traveling to where?" Bill queried.
Allen looked at Bill and narrowed his eyes. However, he suddenly grew silent.
"Traveling to where?" Bill asked again, his voice rising with frustration. When Allen just stared at him, Bill tried a different strategy. "Well, wherever you were heading, you certainly won't be getting there now."
Allen shot Bill an angry look, but remained silent.
Bill took a step toward Jack and said, "Okay, let's get a telegram to headquarters and get this guy sent on to Medicine Hat."
Allen's head swung around and he glowered at Bill and Jack. "What's the rush? I thought we were talking here," he told them.
Bill raised his eyebrows to Jack and then turned to Allen. "You want to talk? Then, talk."
Allen exhaled and rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. What do ya wanna know?"
"Where were you planning to travel to?" Bill asked, again.
Allen considered his answer for a moment before replying, "America."
Bill's eyes widened. "America, really?"
Allen just stared at Bill.
Bill turned away from Allen, deciding to let that go for a a little while, and took a few steps back to the jail cells. He stood with his back to Allen and Jack. After a few moments, he asked, "What were you going to do with the bullets you stole?"
Allen looked up at Bill, shocked, then his eyes dropped to the floor. Bill turned around and glared at him. "That was insurance," Allen said in a low voice.
"Insurance?" Jack questioned, confused.
Allen turned to Jack. "Yeah, in case Trevoy got wise to me. I figured I might need them to get out of the saloon if he caught on to me one night."
Jack looked up at Bill, an astonished expression on his face, surprised that Allen was that ruthless. Bill continued the questioning. "So why did you become a Mountie? You don't exactly seem like one to live up to our motto of Defending the Law."
Allen scoffed. "No!" He took a breath before he continued. "It was my Pa's idea. Well, his and the mayor's."
"Why would they want you to be a Mountie?" Jack asked.
"Because they thought it'd straighten me out," Allen yelled back, anger in his voice. "I got into some trouble back home. Pa was outdone with me for it and then he and Mayor Flynn dreamed up this stupid idea of me joining the Mounties."
"If you didn't like the idea, then why did you go along with it?" Jack inquired.
"Because they gave me no choice!" Allen fired back. "It was either join the Mounties or they were throwing me in jail."
"Sounds like it was some serious trouble you were in," Bill observed.
"Oh, they said I stole a bunch of money and such from some rich widow in town. But they had no evidence that it was me. I have no idea how all that stuff ended up in my closet. It was probably one of my good for nothin' brothers," he explained.
Jack exhaled an annoyed sigh as he typed, prompting Allen to turn to him. "What's the matter with you? You calling me a liar?" he spat at Jack.
"So, why didn't you run away as soon as you got to the Academy?" Bill asked, pulling Allen's attention back to the interrogation. "Why stick around?"
Allen let out a laugh. "Because they were teaching me some good skills I thought I could use later on. Fighting, shooting, tracking... thought they'd come in pretty handy one day."
"Okay," Bill continued, "so why did you desert when you did? Why not head on to the assigned post and the sneak off from there?"
"Because they were taking me too far away from Wyoming!" Allen exclaimed."Whitehorse? Way up in the Yukon? Really? There was no way I was going all the way up there!"
"So, what made you decide to leave when you did?" Jack inquired, taking a brief break from typing notes.
Allen shrugged and answered, "I just finally got sick of taking orders from that jerk! It was time to go."
Jack shook his head, a bit incredulous. Bill shook his head and exhaled his disapproval of Allen's behavior. Then, he queried, "So, where were you planning to go? You said Wyoming?"
Allen looked between the two Mounties, hesitating. Both Bill and Jack watched him, expectantly. Finally, Allen replied, "Okay, okay! I'm heading to Wyoming to catch up with the Hole in the Wall Gang."
Bill released a brief burst of laughter as Jack looked at Allen, astounded.
"What?" Allen asked them defensively. "Now, you're laughing at me?" he asked Bill pointedly.
Bill took a couple of steps toward Allen before answering. "It's just, well, the Hole in the Wall Gang really doesn't exist anymore."
Allen lowered his eyebrows and frowned. "What do you mean? It don't exist anymore?"
"Well," Jack answered, "most of those outlaws have been captured. The last we heard from the U.S. Army, none of them were still hiding in the Hole in the Wall Pass."
Allen shook his head. "No, no! No law men ever got into Hole in the Wall Pass! The gang can't be caught!"
"Well, they didn't stay in the pass all the time. They were captured, or killed, when they left the pass to do their robberies," Jack told him. "They're done."
Allen looked stricken.
Bill watched Allen and, then, he looked up at Jack, his eyes wide with realization. He walked over to the desk and sorted through some of the papers. He found the stack of dime novels he'd found in Allen's room at the saloon and held them up. "Is that why you had all of these things? You wanted to join them?"
Allen looked at Bill, anger returning to his expression. "Still want to," he answered defiantly.
Bill laughed outright this time, stoking Allen's temper. "Didn't you hear Constable Thornton? The Hole in the Wall Gang is no more. You can't believe everything you read. Especially in these things!" He tossed the dime novels back on the desk. "Looks like you're about twenty years too late to be a Wild West outlaw!"
Allen leapt from the chair, his hands still cuffed, and shoved Bill against the wall. "Shut up!" he yelled. "Just shut up!
Jack scrambled from behind the desk as soon as he saw Allen move. He shoved Allen off of Bill and back into the chair with one forceful move. Allen fell back against the chair and almost flipped backwards. Somehow, he managed to plant his feet back on the floor, keeping himself upright. Jack then turned to Bill, who was slumped over, catching his breath.
"You okay?" Jack asked.
Bill nodded but Allen interjected, "He won't be if he keeps laughing at me and saying stupid things!"
Jack turned to Allen. He grabbed his arm, pulled him up from the chair, and pressed him toward a jail cell. "That's enough!" Jack admonished. "Time to go back to your cell."
"Keep him away from me!" Allen warned Jack.
Jack pushed him into the cell and removed the handcuffs. As he exited the cell, he slammed the door shut and warned Allen, "Lay down and cool off."
Hang in there, Hearties! There will be some Jack and Elizabeth time, soon. It's just time for some action! Hope you're having as much fun reading it as I am writing! If you have a minute, please share your thoughts in a review. Thanks for reading!
