Chapter Forty-Five

"Our lives are fashioned by our choices.

First we make our choices.

Then our choices make us."

~Anne Frank

Early Saturday morning found Henry Gowen working at his desk in the mine office. He reached for his cup of coffee and took a gulp of the hot liquid as he continued to study the file. His attention was pulled away from his work as the door swung open forcefully and Pinkerton Richardson walked into the office.

"Good mornin', Mr. Gowen," he greeted his boss.

Gowen replied with a scoff as he returned his attention to the file. "Do you have information for me that will make this a good morning?" he demanded, his tone revealing his foul mood.

Richardson frowned. He'd borne the brunt of Gowen's anger for the last two days and was hesitant to be the bearer of more bad news. He exhaled and replied, "I have information, but I'm afraid you're not going to like it."

Gowen slammed the coffee cup down, spilling coffee into the saucer holding it. "What is it?" he asked as he stared at Richardson.

"Turns out, he's in debt to several of the miners from his card playing at the saloon. It's not good at all," Richardson reported.

Gowen exhaled sharply and his eyes narrowed. "Is he just bad at gambling or what?"

"It seems he does well early in the night but then, as he drinks more, his playing gets worse and worse." Richardson replied. "He plays hard and he drinks hard. Of course, that, also, has led to arguments with the miners."

"Any more fights?" Gowen inquired, his brow furrowing with concern.

"No, but the argument last night came awfully close to it," the Pinkerton answered. "Bart Lindstrom was about to deck him, but I stepped forward and managed to get Lindstrom to stand down and leave."

Gowen's expression darkened and he lowered his gaze to his desk as he considered this.

"That's not all," Richardson added, prompting Gowen's head to snap up, his face contorted in anger. "Inspector Avery was watching him last night, too. He was about to move in when the argument broke out. That's why I went to the table to stop it."

Gowen's frown deepened. "Why is Avery watching him?"

Richardson shrugged. "Not sure. The gambling may have caught his attention."

Gowen's gaze fell again as he contemplated the information. Then, he shook his head. "No. I suspect our friend has expressed an interest in Abigail Stanton." The word friend was spoken as a growl. "That would definitely get Avery's attention."

Richardson nodded, acknowledging Gowen's conjecture. "You may be right. So, what do we do?"

Gowen pushed back from his desk and stood. He walked silently over to the window and looked outside. Coal Valley was waking up as Main Street was becoming busy with people going about their Saturday business. He watched the comings and goings for several moments. Richardson grew restless, shuffling his feet and looking around the office, as he waited for his boss' reply. Finally, Gowen spun around and faced Richardson. "It's time to share the information we received with Inspector Avery."

Richardson's mouth flew open in surprise. "What?" he asked, clearly confused.

"You heard me, Mr. Richardson," Gowen answered matter-of-factly as he walked back to his desk. "Go tell Avery what we know."

Richardson was still perplexed. "But, just a couple of days ago we paid McIntyre to lie to get him out of jail."

Gowen lowered himself into his desk chair as he replied, "That was before the Pinkertons sent information about him that changed everything."

"You insisted that he was Mr. Fletcher's right hand man here and that we had to do everything to make sure he had a favorable impression..." Richardson started to protest.

"Fletcher failed to share critical information about his right hand man," Gowen angrily interrupted. "It's in our best interests for Mr. Wiley to go away now. Far away. Go find Avery and tell him what you learned from the Pinkerton office." He picked up another folder and started to peruse it but then snapped his attention back to Richardson. "But leave my name out of it. You will speak to him as a Pinkerton, not as my employee," he commanded before he returned to his work.

Richardson watched Gowen flipping through the file for a several moments before he finally turned and exited the mine office.