12
SHERIFF LEWIS INTERVENES
As they hurried to town, Alice explained to Bruno—in English, so Marie-Grace would understand—about all the clues they had found, and how they had hid in the cabin and seen Clancy Bond and Mr. Anon.
Marie-Grace was going to remind Alice that they hadn't exactly seen Mr. Anon, but she kept quiet.
Bruno was quiet, too. Marie-Grace felt grateful toward him for taking them to town. She also felt safer with an older person near.
When they came to Cairo, it seemed like a ghost town. It was so quiet and dark, with no people or wagons rolling through the streets, at this hour.
Marie-Grace didn't know where the sheriff's office was, but Bruno and Alice seemed to know the way.
They both led Marie-Grace to a small house, with the sign SHERIFF LEWIS over the door.
Bruno was breathing heavily from their run, and he still looked sleepy, but he managed to gasp out to the girls, "Stay here. I'll get the sheriff."
He went inside the house, leaving them in the dark, standing on the wood porch.
Alice shivered. "I'm still scared from being in the cabin with the criminals," she said. "I can hardly believe we're going to catch them!"
Marie-Grace shook her head. "What if they've already got away?"
Alice was about to reply when the door to the sheriff's office opened. A tall man with graying hair, and two pistols hanging at his side, stood in the doorway, Bruno behind him.
"I heard you girls have found Clancy Bond," the sheriff said seriously.
The girls nodded.
"But he will escape if we don't hurry to the cabin, where he's staying!" Alice cried.
"You girls aren't coming to catch the criminal!" Sheriff Lewis gasped, shocked. "I'm having some of my deputies help me. They'll be here soon enough."
"But he will already have escaped!" Alice protested. "There's no time!" And she hurried off down the street.
"Wait!" Sheriff Lewis called to her. He, Bruno, and Marie-Grace chased after Alice.
Alice was a fast runner. They all soon tired, trying to catch her, and kept following at a slower pace. Marie-Grace soon realized her cousin was leading them back to the cabin in the woods.
Alice stopped running when the cabin appeared in sight, a few yards off.
"Look!" she gasped. "There's a light on inside! There must still be someone there!"
It had been about twenty minutes since the girls had been hiding in the cabin. Marie-Grace was a bit surprised the criminals hadn't already deserted it.
Sheriff Lewis stroked his short beard thoughtfully. "I would usually need more deputies for the job," he mused. He turned to Bruno and offered him one of the two guns from the holster on his belt. "Do you think you can handle this?" he asked. He took the other gun for himself, and Marie-Grace noticed his finger was already on the trigger, ready to shoot.
Bruno seemed surprised, but he nodded, and took the pistol.
The girls crept up to the cabin with the sheriff and Bruno.
"You girls stay here," Sheriff Lewis whispered to them.
Alice nodded, and pressed herself and Marie-Grace against the wall, under the window.
Sheriff Lewis listened at the door for a moment, then flung it wide open, holding out his gun. "Put your hands up!" he shouted.
A surprised cry came from inside the cabin, and there was the sound of something hitting the floor.
Marie-Grace grinned and Alice whooped. The girls rushed into the cabin.
Clancy Bond stood near the fireplace, his hands high in the air, glaring. A necklace was on the floor by his feet.
"They're caught! . . . " Marie-Grace began, but her voice faded. She looked fearfully around the cabin, then at Sheriff Lewis. "Where is Mr. Anon?"
"Who?" the sheriff asked, looking puzzled.
Marie-Grace swallowed hard, realizing Bruno must not have mentioned that two men were in the cabin.
Just then the backdoor of the cabin opened, and a man stepped in. His face was shadowed from the hard light from where he stood, but it was evident he was holding a long shotgun.
Alice gasped, and Sheriff Lewis turned pale.
"Drop your gun, and put your hands in the air!" the man ordered. He didn't sound at all like Mr. Anon, Marie-Grace realized, but his voice was strangely familiar.
Sheriff Lewis slowly lowered his gun, then dropped it to the floor. It landed with a loud thud.
"Marie-Grace, turn around!" the man ordered.
Marie-Grace realized now that this man was in fact not Mr. Anon, because he didn't have the heavy, French accent that her papa's friend had. She was also puzzled by the man's request. Why would he order just her to turn around? And if he wasn't Mr. Anon, how did he know her name?
She obeyed, turning around with her hands in the air, so that she was staring at the open, front door of the cabin.
The man's footsteps signaled he was coming forward.
Alice suddenly gasped, and before Marie-Grace could ask what was wrong, she heard two loud, thumping noises. The man groaned, and Marie-Grace whirled around to see him laying on his face, on the floor. His gun was on the ground near him.
Bruno stood behind the man, holding a pistol, the backdoor open. His arm was out, showing that he had hit the man over the head with the pistol Sheriff Lewis had given him.