"Thanks, oh thanks," murmured the lean one.
Sheriff Gray looked at Sue. "I have a rough idea who is going to get the worst of this thing," he said with a sly grin.
"Yeh," said Sue. "Jolly, isn't it? Heh! Heh!"
Gary looked at Jerry Black. "Monthly report?" he said questioningly.
Jerry nodded. "The state assigned me as a special investigating agent to see if I could get any ideas as to who was killing people in the Espectros. That's why I pretended to be writing a book while I stayed at the old Mills place. It gave me an excuse to look about in those mountains. Frankly, I didn't believe much in those killings, but I liked the freedom the job gave me except when I was keeping an eye on you two characters."
"What do you mean?" asked Tuck.
Jerry grinned. "Oh, I was watching you. It wasn't easy because of that dog. He seemed to know a real Apache was prowling about. The only time I really got worried was the night you boys were coming out of this canyon and Gary took a couple of potshots at me."
"So that was you!" said Gary. "You nearly scared us to death!"
"How do you think I felt when you shot at me?" said Jerry. "Kid, you shot as fast and as accurately as any combat Marine I ever knew."
"I wasn't trying to hit you," said Gary. "Just scare you off."
"You did that!"
"Did you ever really suspect anyone?" asked Sue.
Jerry shook his head. "I had no leads at all. Of course I knew there were all kinds of oddball characters poking about those mountains. I had nothing on any of them."
"Did you ever suspect Fred Platt?" asked Gary.
"Him?" Jerry threw back his head and laughed. "The Candyman is scared to death of those mountains. He is the last person I'd ever suspect."
"That's rich," said Jim Kermit with a grin. "The Candyman! Hawww!"
The sheriff shook his head. "You kids," he said with a smile.
"Tell 'em, Tuck," said Gary.
The lean one emptied his coffee cup. He told 'em, complete with histrionic gestures and intonations that would have put a Barrymore to utter shame. At the conclusion of his harrowing tale, Sue took out the three gold ingots and handed them to the sheriff. He hefted them and whistled softly. "You say there are a lot more of 'em in that mine?"
"Enough to make all of us richer than Croesus," said Sue offhandedly. She casually inspected her dirty and broken fingernails. "Maybe buried forever, of course," she added.
"Incredible," said the lawman.
They took the three worn-out kids up behind them and rode to the jeep. Gary got the motor started on the third try.
Jerry leaned on his saddle horn and eyed Gary. "Did you know there were a number of rewards posted for the murderer?" he asked.
"No," said Gary. He was sick of talking about the Candyman.
"Amounts to somewhere between three and four thousand dollars as far as I can recollect. Dead or alive, Gary."
"We can guide you back to the body, Jerry." said Gary. "But I'd rather not talk about it now."
"I understand."
Gary drove to the graveled road and then along it toward the main highway. Tuck spoke when they were on the pavement. "Well, we found out the truth about Asesino and the Lost Espectro. I wonder what Fred Platt thought when he saw me coming down that slope. Must have been quite a jolt."
"It was," said Gary. "Enough of a jolt to kill him off. The Candyman! When I think of those four days I rode in the same truck with him, shooting off my mouth about my theories on the Lost Espectro and all the clues I had, it makes me pretty weak inside, I tell you."
"He must have spent a lot of time in those mountains," said Sue, "without even a good lead on the Lost Espectro until we showed him the way."
"Poor Lije," said Tuck. "All he probably wanted was a can of Elberta peaches from the Candyman. It was his death sentence. They'll never find Lije's body now."
"Maybe that's the way he wanted it," said Gary quietly.
"There will be more ghosts in the Espectros tonight," said Sue. Suddenly she shivered.
"As far as I'm concerned," said Gary, "they can have the Espectros. I've had my fill of them."
"Me too," said Sue fervently.
A gentle and melodious snoring came from the lean one, seemingly echoed by the low growling of thunder over the rain-misted Espectros.
15
A Person Without a Dream Is Dead
Gary Cole came out of the shop with his mother's Christmas gift tucked under his arm. The cold December wind swept down from the Espectros and moaned through the lamplighted streets of Cottonwood Wells. Gary looked up and down the street for Tuck and his Honda. The lean one was standing at the nearest corner beside his motorcycle talking to a girl. Gary walked toward them. It would be a good Christmas for the Coles. What with the reward money and the money from the gold they had taken from the Lost Espectro, the Coles were making plans for the dude ranch Pete had always wanted.
Gary eyed the girl as he came up behind Tuck. She was a doll, tall, dark-haired, and well dressed. "Hey, amigo," he said. "Introduce me!"
Tuck turned slowly. "You loco, man? Remember our partner when we hunted the Lost Espectro? The one who got shipped off to boarding school in Phoenix to keep her from fooling around the Espectros?"
Gary stared at her. Gone were the ugly braces and the generous sprinkling of freckles. Gone was the short-cropped and untidy hairdo. Gone were the Levi's and the faded checkered shirt, the battered old hat, and the dusty boots. Susan Alice Browne was no longer the hoyden who had helped solve the mystery of the Espectros. She was now a young lady.
"Close your mouth, Gary," she said gently. "You look much better that way." She smiled. "I was allowed home for Christmas."
"You make it sound like a reform school," said Tuck.
Gary swallowed. "How is it, Sue?" he asked.
She raised her head a little. "I must say the atmosphere is more congenial and much, much more polished than that of Cottonwood Wells Union High."
"Yeh," said Tuck. "Lookit her, Gary!"
Gary actually felt embarrassed. The metamorphosis of Susan Browne from lowly caterpillar into lovely butterfly was almost impossible to believe.
Tuck grinned. "Gary doesn't have a date yet for the Christmas dance, Sue."
She smiled gently. "A kid dance? Rock and roll no less!"
Gary eyed her and the devil took over. "Well, Sue, I'd be happy to take you, but I'm not sure I want to go myself. Jerry Black thinks he has a good lead on a couple of burroloads of silver that were buried near Massacre Spring about seventy years ago, and since we have Christmas vacation now, Tuck and I figured we'd take a crack at looking for it. So we have to get our plans made and our gear ready. Sorry about the dance. Good night, Sue." He started to walk toward his jeep.
"Gary Cole!" she snapped. "So happens I do want to go to that dance with you! So happens I have a Christmas vacation too! And if you think for one minute that you and my cousin Tucker C. Browne are going to look for that silver without me, you have another think coming!"
Tuck rolled up his eyes. "Now you've done it, Gary," he said. "Can't trust you one minute."
The three experienced treasure hunters started out through the cold night air toward the Cole ranch, Sue Browne riding beside Gary in the jeep, and Tucker C. Browne leading the way on his roaring Honda, trying to cut down his time between The Wells and the ranch. To the northeast bulked the dark and brooding Espectros, still holding many of their old secrets and perhaps some new ones as well. They held a spell over those who had been born in their shadows, a spell that could never be broken in a lifetime. For if the Espectros had not given the trio of treasure hunters great riches, at least they had given them a place to hunt for them, and a person without a dream is dead.