Chapter 1
"That will be all, Mr. Milton, and I hope you will be able to bring me good news soon."
The man in the little bowler hat bowed his head in farewell, withdrew from the opulent parlor, and closed the door softly.
The owner of the parlor - Mr. Leviticus Cornwall - had been in a very bad mood lately. Not long ago, he heard that one of his trains had been robbed. It was not a very big thing, for he had plenty of such trains in his company. Some crude benzene goods were robbed by petty thieves, it was nothing but a small daily cost in these days,. But what made him very angry was that the robbery made him lose a large number of bearer bonds.
The bonds were actually nothing to the wealthy Mr. Cornwall, but - " No one could get anything for nothing from Mr. Cornwall! No one!"
In this rising industrial nation, there is nothing that money can't wrangle. The Pinkerton Detective Agency is the best policing force in the country, much better than the state police idiots. Sure, they charge a little more, but under the watchful eye of their sleepless eyes, it's rare for anyone to get away with it, whether it's bandits, bootleggers or leaders of labor movements.
"Colm O'Driscoll." Mr. Cornwall knocked his glass heavily on the table and pronounced the name through clenched back teeth, "You'll pay for this!"
"Sir, there is a Aiden O'Malley asking for an audience." The butler came in cautiously.
"I'm not available." Mr. Cornwall said grimly. Such people who wanted to see him without an appointment would be as many as a company of infantry every day. He waved his hand impatiently, as if the message would be driven away like a fly in this way.
"He said ... he said he had some information about the O'Driscoll gang that might interest you."
Mr. Cornwall's waving hand paused.
"Send him in." Mr. Cornwall paused for a moment, "No weapons allowed."
"Ask Mr. Aiden O'Malley, Mr. Melvin Tacitus, and Mr. Fenton Callahan to come to the parlor; they are waiting just outside the main door." The butler, who had received the order, instructed the valet.
A few minutes later, several burly men with rude manners came to Mr. Cornwall's parlor. The one, Aiden O'Malley, was slightly more well-dressed, and Mr. Cornwall could tell that his vest was of fine velvet, although his ridiculously large gold chain and ring still revealed his hick aesthetic. And the Callahan, whose old hat, rumpled coat and dirty shirt seemed to have been worn for decades made Mr. Cornwall so uncomfortable that he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if someone had told him it was a bandit who had just escaped from New Austin.
"So this ... Mr. O'Malley, you say you have information on the ... O'Driscoll gang?" Mr. Cornwall asked warily.
"You are too anxious, Mr. Cornwall, I have not had time to introduce myself. Shouldn't you at least offer a cup of coffee to a guest who has come from afar, especially when they have something of interest to you in hand?" O'Malley responded, smiling but irresistible.
"Serve these gentlemen a couple of cups of coffee." Cornwall hesitated for a moment and ordered the valet.
"Thank you for your kindness - please close the door behind you, thank you, it's much better. I'm an honest man, Mr. Cornwall, very honest, so I'm not going to hide who I am." After confirming that there was no fifth person in the room, he pulled out a copy of the Blackwater Ledger and placed it in front of Mr. Cornwall, "Based on your sensitivity to numbers, I'm sure you can tell at a glance that $15,000 is standing in your parlor right now."
Mr. Cornwall glanced down, and the most conspicuous part of the spread-out paper was a wanted notice:
Wanted
Dead or Alive
Dutch Van der Linde
Robbery, Murder
$5,000
This wanted notice has the face of this unwanted guest printed on it.
"We believe this will save us all some trouble, sir, especially for our old friend, our hard-working old Milton, he won't have to waste time testing the water." The fair-haired Melvin Tacitus spoke up, with that same polite but irresistible smile, "Hosea Matthews, at your service."
"Then, Mr. Van der Linde, you do not mean to compensate me with your own head for the loss I have suffered at O'Driscoll's, do you?"
"No, no, of course not, sir. You see, I am a hick, but I am not a fool." Van der Linde took a good puff on his cigar, "A very nice cigar, sir."
"In that case, what is the business of your visit to my humble abode, the great and famous Van der Lind Gang leader?"
"Business, business of course, my dear sir. This is America, and nothing is off limits to business. What else could we expect when we risk being hanged to pay a visit to one of the most successful businessmen?"