"Heyes, why would anyone want to grab Lom?" Kyle asked, real concern evident in his voice.

"More importantly, why would you think we'd have anything to do with it," Hank growled, indignant at the mere idea of it. "That ain't our kinda job at all, now is it."

Kid glared, "Well, what did you expect us to think. Last I heard, you were planning a kidnapping."

"Sure, that's right. But Lom? Don't make a heap a sense to kidnap a sheriff. Besides, we always liked Lom. We wouldn't wish him nor his family any harm at all. You should know us better than that after all this time." Hank looked genuinely hurt at the thought of it.

Heyes raised his hand for silence. "Okay, so we made a mistake about that. I can see that now."

Hank and Kyle nodded. "You're darn-tootin', you did," Hank said.

Kid shot him a glare before nodding at Heyes to continue.

"Like I was saying—now I know you guys didn't do it. But that leads us to a new problem." He looked meaningfully around the circle of men. "If not you, then who."

They stood silent for a few moments, trying to figure out the answer to that question. Then Heyes and Curry, as one, turned toward the door, making ready to leave. Heyes called over his shoulder, "Good to see you boys. You take care of yourselves now."

Kid swung around, "Almost forgot—where's our guns?"

Kyle gestured with his head toward the counter where he'd put the guns after gathering them up earlier. "Right there, Kid. But hold on a minute—I wanna help you find Lom. He's my friend too, you know. Even if he is a dirty, stinkin' lawman; I got a lotta respect for him."

Heyes looked dubious. "Oh, now. I dunno. I mean, that's mighty grand of you, Kyle, but—well, we work better alone. Just me and Kid, I mean."

"Sure, sure, I get that, Heyes. But I think you're forgetting one small detail," Kyle said.

Heyes frowned, "What's that?"

"I think you're forgettin' that Kid ain't on the same side of the law as you anymore. Ain't that gonna make things a mite difficult for working together?"

"Hm..You bring up a valid point, Kyle. A very interesting point, I might add."

Kyle's face lit up, "Yeah? I made a point? And a valid one, at that. How do ya like that," he laughed happily.

Kid handed Heyes his gun. "Yep, it's a valid point," he said, slipping his own sidearm into its holster. "But I agree with Heyes; we work better alone. But don't you worry, Kyle. If we run into trouble, you're the first person we'll call to come dig us out, okay?"

Kyle beamed, "I'll be waiting for your call. You can count on me, Kid. And Kid?"

"Yeah?"

"You find Lom, okay? And when you find out who nabbed him, you take 'em out, you hear me?"

Kid tipped his hat, "I'll do my best, Kyle."

The two men exited the ramshackle shack, noting that the gang members had all returned to their various stations hanging around outside to watch them leave. Under their watchful and suspicious eyes, Heyes and Curry retrieved their horses. Before putting his foot into the stirrup, Heyes tipped his hat in the general direction of the assembled men, "Gentlemen." And with that, he swung one leg over his mount and settled into his saddle. Kid followed suit and they slowly, without any outward show of urgency or haste, urged their horses down the dusty trail.

Heyes hadn't realized he was holding his breath, half expecting one of the less stable gang members to shoot one or both of them in the back as they took their leave until they rounded the first bend on the road out of Devil's Hole. Then a huge expulsion of breath came out of him, followed by a huge swallow of air to replace that which had left his body. Kid cut his eyes in his direction and smirked, even though he had had a large knot in his belly while in the company of his former cohorts. "What's the matter, Heyes? Fellas got you riled up a mite?"

"You could say that, Kid. To be honest, I'm more than a little happy to take our leave. And relieved to find out that those guys aren't responsible for nabbing Lom. But now we're back at square one, trying to figure out who did."

"Yeah." Kid paused thoughtfully. "You mind filling me in on what the ransom note said? Maybe I can help you work it out."

"That's just it, Kid. It didn't say much of anything other than they had Lom and he was their prisoner, whoever 'they' are."

"Hmm…kinda weird wording for a kidnapping note, don't you think?" Kid mulled this information over in his head. "Shouldn't they be asking for some kind of ransom? And why use the word 'prisoner'? Something don't seem right about that. Seems more…ominous, I guess"

"Exactly my thoughts," Heyes nodded in agreement, grimly.

"Ok, so I guess we ride back to town and see if anything new has happened, right?"

"Wrong. Sorry Kid. I can't let you ride into town with me. That would be like signing your arrest warrant right there."

"Come on, Heyes. You can just tell people that I'm Thaddeus Jones, just like the old days."

"Except in the old days, we were Smith and Jones. You come riding into town with me, Hannibal Heyes, you fitting the description for Kid Curry—now how do you think that's going to turn out. No, if you're going to work with me on this, it's going to have to be behind the scenes."

Kid opened his mouth to argue but realized immediately that Heyes was right. There was no way he could ride into Bickleburg easy as you please and expect anyone to believe he was anything other than Kid Curry. The two looked at each other for a long second, wishing things were different, riding in unhappy silence for the several minutes.

Finally, Kid couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "Ok, Heyes. Maybe I can't ride into town with you. So I'll hole up in your house for a few days while we work this through. You know you're gonna want my help. Even if it is behind the scenes like you said."

"I can't think of anything I want more, Kid. But the first thing I need to do is go talk to Deputy Grant and find out if anything has happened since we've been gone. You come to my house after nightfall and we'll talk." He reached out and gripped Kid's shoulder affectionately and urged his horse to quicken his pace. "See ya later, Kid," he yelled as he hurried toward town. Kid Curry watched him as he rode off into the distance, wishing more than anything that he was free to ride into Bickleburg next to his best friend.

Hannibal Heyes rode his mount down Main Street, surprised to see so many people lining the street. All eyes watched his arrival. The townspeople were mostly silent although he could see a few of them exchange mumbled words, hands in front of their mouths. He studied their faces as he passed them; some hopeful at seeing his return, some looking worried and some, mostly young women, with signs of recent tears on their faces.

Raising his voice to be heard by as many of the scattered people as possible, he called out, "Now don't worry, folks. We're going to get Lom back safe and sound, you can count on that. Deputy Grant and I have the situation well in hand." He allowed himself to smile with far more brightness than he felt in order to convey his confidence through his words.

A few people attempted smiles in return but most just continued to stare as he passed by, feeling uncomfortable under their scrutiny and wishing he was right; that they did have the situation in hand; all the while knowing that was far from the truth.

Finally, he pulled up in front of the sheriff's office and dismounted smoothly, his back held straight and tall, conveying to all who watched a sense of confidence. With an audible sigh of relief he walked through the door, finally freeing himself from the weight of all the searching eyes in the street. His posture sagged as he leaned against the door he'd just passed through.

Dusty Grant jumped up from his seat behind the sheriff's desk. "Mr. Heyes! I sure am glad you're back. I've been going crazy sitting here by myself. And I'm scared to leave…all those folks out there just waiting to hear something about Lom."

"Is there any news, Dusty?" Heyes asked, hopefully.

"Nothing, Mr. Heyes. Nothing at all." The young deputy shook his head miserably, his glazed eyes staring morosely at the floor.

"Ok. Well, listen here. It's getting dark out. Most everybody seems to be heading home to make dinner. Might be a good time for you to go home and get some rest too. I'll stick around for a little while. Maybe something will come to me. Otherwise, we will put all our resources to work tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I bet by then the kidnappers will reach out again. Ok, see you in the morning. Say hello to your ma and pa for me, ya hear?" As he talked, he put his hand on Dusty's back and gently prodded him toward the door, smoothly reaching up to retrieve his well-worn hat from the peg on which it rested. He placed the hat smartly on Dusty's head, opened the door and guided him out, quickly closing the door behind him before the deputy had a chance to speak. Once he was alone in the office, he clicked the lock, leaned his head against the wooden door and expelled a huge breath of air.

He felt drained of energy, knowing that he—and Kid too—were Lom's best hope of coming home safely. He dragged himself over to the creaky wooden chair that was usually Lom's domain and sat down heavily. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the note from the kidnappers. With weary eyes, he reread the note, searching for some hidden clue in the words printed on the thick, creamy stationery.

"Lom Trevors is our prisoner now. Don't try to find us or we will kill him. This is not a joke."

Heyes puzzled over the note for a time, reading it over and over. It was starting to sound less and less like any ransom note he'd ever heard of. He sat back in his chair, his eyes wandering around the office, deep in thought. Finally, his gaze settled on the wanted posters on the wall next to the jail cell where the note had been found. He reached into his other vest pocket and pulled out the pieces of the wanted poster for Worth Carter, carefully laying them out on the desktop like pieces of a puzzle. He thought, "A puzzle. That's what this is. A real puzzle."