Word Count: 72,055
Summary of Events:
Hazel had dinner with Mr. Andrews, during which he talked so long he hardly ate, not to mention they lost track of the time and Hazel was the only one of them who was able to get to the meeting Mr. Waller had arranged to have, although she was grateful to be away from Mr. Andrews. The next morning a local widow came to the sheriff's office and told Joseph and the sheriff that a trapper who stayed in her rooming house had returned from checking his traps with two children; Joseph meant to find out if Hazel was in town and bring her to find the children. On his way, though, Joseph ran into his fiancée's father who was not impressed with Joseph and spewed a torrent of angry words at him . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
Joseph went into the livery and crept silently to Tempest’s stall. The gelding nickered to him. Joseph tried to smile, but he couldn’t really, nor could he bring himself to speak without being afraid he was going to burst into sobs.
He wrapped his arms around the horse’s neck and leaned his head against the soft coat. He let a few tears crest the edge of his eyelids and track down his cheeks. No one could ever claim that words didn’t hurt.
After a few minutes Joseph felt a little bit relieved and dried his eyes. He heard footsteps stop behind him and turned around calmly.
“Can I help you sir?” the liveryman asked.
Joseph opened his mouth, but then he closed it. He didn’t need to ask about how full the stables were. Eustace wouldn’t be here unless the rest of the search party was. He knew the answer to his question, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a different one.
“If a person from England was to come down here to Santa Fe,” Joseph said. “No matter how unlikely it might seem to you that such a thing would happen, where do you think they’d choose to spend their night?”
“A person from England?” the liveryman asked. “Do you mean a rich one or a poor one?”
“A rich one,” Joseph replied.
“Well, every rich person in town stays at the Conquistador,” the liveryman replied.
“Conquistador,” Joseph repeated.
“It’s the finest hotel in town, built out of brick and everything,” the liveryman said.
Joseph nodded. “Thank you.”
The liveryman nodded back and turned away, but then stopped and turned around to look at Joseph again. “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a lady from England, would you?”
“Why?” Joseph asked.
“There was a lady with a strange accent who came in here to board her horse,” the liveryman replied. “Had perfect English, but I’ve never heard her kind of accent before. I usually hear Spanish, or your accent.”
Joseph slipped out of the stall. “Where’s the horse?”
“Here,” the liveryman replied, indicating a stall.
Immediately Joseph strode over and looked inside. Looking back at him was a stocky-built grey horse he recognised immediately as Rocky, Denton’s only sidesaddle-trained horse. Mrs. Chalmers was here.
“Thank you very much,” Joseph said to the liveryman.
“You’re very welcome,” the liveryman replied.
With that, Joseph strode off for the Conquistador Hotel. He could just take Mrs. Chalmers with him on the trip to where, according to Mrs. Lewis, Ruby and Teddy Dirk waited for them.
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