“Maybe,” Kyle answered.
“What do you mean maybe? Who else could have done it?”
“The train was also transporting a deputy and his prisoner,” Kyle said. “Both were riding in the express car. Right now, the prisoner seems to be missing.”
“A deputy and his prisoner were riding in the express car? There should be only one person in this car—and that would be Mr. Kingsley, the express agent.”
“I guess the railroad made an exception in this case,” Kyle said.
“This is unconscionable,” Deckert said. “My company shall certainly send a strongly worded message to the railroad for this breach of security.”
Finding no one in the car, Kyle decided to have a look at all the bodies to see if there might be one in chains. He had the conductor point out Kingsley and Hayes. That was when he saw the small bullet hole in Hayes’s forehead.
“I’ll be damn,” Kyle said.
“What is it?” the conductor asked.
“The deputy,” Kyle replied. “He’s been shot. I guess that solves the mystery as to who took the money.”
The officials who were running the rescue operation broke the passengers down into three groups. Those who were not injured, or were only slightly injured, were allowed to board the train on their own. Those who were seriously injured were put into a car that was being converted into a hospital, while the last car was serving as a morgue-on-wheels.
Matt walked with Louise Dobbs as she and her son, Jerry, went to board the first car. Then one of the officials saw that the little girl Mrs. Dobbs was carrying was dead. He reached for her.
“I’ll take care of her for you, ma’am,” he said.
Louise jerked the little girl back and glared angrily at the railroad official. “No, she stays with me.”
“She can’t stay will you, madam.”
“But she must!” Louise insisted. “Suzie would be terrified if she is separated from me!”
“Madam, your little girl is dead,” one of the railroad officials said. “It will not matter to her whether she is with you or not.”
“It matters to the lady,” Matt said. “Let the girl stay with her, it can’t hurt anything.”
“Who are you?” the official asked.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. I’m someone who knows right from wrong,” Matt answered. “Let the girl stay with her mother.”
“This is not railroad policy,” the official said.
“How about train wrecks?” Matt asked. “Are train wrecks railroad policy?”
“No, of course not.”
“Maybe not, but you had one, didn’t you?”
“Sir, I fail to see how that is relevant.”
“Here is what’s relevant. The mother wants to keep her little girl with her,” Matt said.
“What’s going on here?” Kyle asked, coming up on the conversation. Then, seeing the woman holding the little girl, he took off his hat. He knew the woman, knew that she and her husband lived on a small ranch just outside Sentinel.
“Why, Mrs. Dobbs,” he said. “I didn’t know you were on—” It was not until that moment that he saw that the little girl was dead. He stopped in mid-sentence and paused for a moment before he resumed speaking. “Oh, no, not your little girl,” he said solicitously. “Mrs. Dobbs, I’m so sorry.”
“I want to keep her with me,” Mrs. Dobbs said. “But he says that I can’t.”
“As I tried to explain to the lady, we have a car reserved for the deceased. The little girl must go in there.”
“No!” Louise said, holding her baby even more tightly.
“I think you can make an exception in this case,” Kyle said.
“You may be a United States marshal, but I am an agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad,” the man said haughtily. “And I will inform you, Marshal, that in terms of railroad policy, I am the one who makes the decisions.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“You are under arrest,” Kyle said.
“What?” the railroad agent gasped. “Under arrest for what?”
“For manslaughter,” Kyle said. “By maintaining an unsafe railroad, you caused the death of this little girl.”
“Are you insane? I had nothing to do with that!”
“You said you represent the railroad, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I hold the railroad responsible for the death of this little girl, as well as the deaths of the others who were killed. And as you are a representative of the railroad, I am putting you under arrest. Boomer, put cuffs on him.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” the railroad agent said. “Isn’t there some way we can work this out?”
“There may be,” Kyle said. “Do you have any suggestions?”
The railroad agent sighed. “Suppose I let the little girl stay with her mother.”
“Then I suppose we could work something out so that you wouldn’t be under arrest,” Kyle said.
“That’s not right, Marshal. That is pure coercion.”
“Really?” Kyle said. “I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as common sense.”
“Very well,” he said. “The woman can keep the girl.”
The railroad agent’s acquiescence was met with words of approval from the other passengers nearby.
Noticing that several of the other passengers had gathered around, Kyle took the opportunity to address them.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention for a moment? I would like to ask for your assistance. I am United States Marshal Ben Kyle. We had word that this train was transporting a prisoner—a convicted murderer—to Yuma Territorial Prison for hanging. He was riding in the express car.”
“Are you sayin’ he ain’t in there now?” one of the passengers asked.
Marshal Kyle nodded his head. “That’s what I’m saying. He’s gone, and the deputy who had him in custody is dead. I believe the prisoner killed the deputy who was transporting him.”
“What makes you think the prisoner killed the deputy?” the passenger asked. “A lot of folks got killed in this wreck.”
“Yes,” Kyle said. “But how many of them were shot between the eyes?”
“You say the deputy was shot between the eyes?”
“Yes.”
“You’re right. That could only mean that he was killed of a pure purpose,” the passenger said.
“What does this fella look like?” another passenger asked.
“I don’t know,” Kyle replied. “We didn’t get a description of him, just his name. His name is Matt Jensen and he would’ve been in chains when he got on the train.”
Matt glanced at the passengers. Of those who had boarded at Purgatory, only Jerry and his mother had survived. That meant they were the only ones who could identify him. He saw Jerry staring back at him.
“Marshal?” Jerry said.
Jerry’s mother shushed him, then put her arm around him and pulled him to her.
“Yes, son, what is it?” Kyle asked.
Jerry looked up at his mother, and she shook her head no. It was then obvious to Matt that she was not going to give him away.
“I didn’t see anything like that,” Jerry said.
“What about the rest of you?” Kyle said to the others. “Are you telling me that not one of you saw a prisoner being put on board when the train was in Purgatory?”
The uninjured passengers looked at each other and shrugged, but no one spoke up.
“All right, folks, let’s get on the train now,” the railroad official said. “We have to get out of here so we can bring up the wrecker engine to start cleaning this mess up and getting the track open again.”
“Young man,” someone said to Matt, and looking around, he saw that he had been addressed by the doctor. “I noticed you while we were rounding up all the injured. You seemed to know what you were doing. I wonder if you would ride in the car of the injured with me?”
At first Matt was going to refuse, but then he decided that riding in the car with the severely injured might actually be the best thing for him. The marshal would, no doubt, be questioning everyone in the other cars.