The Captain Finds the Key
The Captain Chronicles, Book Three
by
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PROLOGUE
Sunday, around Midnight
Three men met in the dark, in the deeper shadow of a tree beside the road. The one they called the Boss puffed on his cigar, lighting his face with a strange, orange glow in the darkness. He lifted his chin to blow out a cloud of smoke. He seemed very satisfied.
Eldridge Payne backed away and fanned the smoke away from his face. “What are you trying to do, Boss. Choke us?”
“When did you get so delicate?” the Boss answered, almost smiling. Then he motioned toward the covered wagon, which had been pulled by two strong horses. “I see you got the gold. Any trouble?”
“No. Verge already had it loaded. He told us all about it.”
“What did he say?” asked the Boss.
“It took him some time,” said Eldridge. “He nailed a framework of two-by-fours across the bottom of the wagon and divided the bags of gold up between them. Then he laid a false bottom over that and loaded the sacks of wool as a cover. He showed us one bag of gold before he nailed the last board down. It’s gold, all right. He knew you’d want to see it, so he said to tell you he left the last board a little loose.”
Caleb, who was Eldridge’s grown son, smiled crookedly, looking at the Boss for approval. There was something childlike in his manner. “I helped load the wagon.”
“And then what did you do?” asked the Boss, ignoring Caleb and directing the question at Eldridge.
Eldridge shrugged and glanced at Caleb, then measured his words. “I took care of the banker, just like you said. You don’t have to worry about anybody finding him. If anybody knew he had gold in the vault, they’ll figure he took off with it.”
“Good.” The Boss rummaged in his saddlebag and brought out a hammer. “Show me that loose board. I want to see the gold.”
Eldridge walked to the back of the covered wagon, lowered the tailgate, and pushed a tow sack of wool out of the way. Then he reached for a lantern that hung inside. “All right if we have a little light?” he asked.
“Sure. We all need to see what you’re carrying,” said the Boss.
It was only after the lantern was lit that Eldridge saw that there was an “X” marked in pencil on the board.
The Boss stepped forward to pry the board up. It wasn’t hard to do. Watching him, Eldridge felt an odd sensation, as if things were just a little too simple, too well planned. Did the Boss always carry a hammer in his saddlebag? But of course it was all planned. The Boss must have told Verge exactly what to do.
The Boss lifted the small, heavy sack and set it down on the tailgate. He untied the drawstring and spread the top to open it. Then he reached in and lifted out a handful of gold coins that gleamed in the lantern light. The Boss’s eyes reflected the gleam, and he grinned triumphantly at the two men beside him.
“We’ve waited a long time for this,” he said. Then he handed a coin to each man. “Here, you might need this when you get to Savannah.” He put another coin into his own pocket. Then he replaced the other coins, closed the bag, and instead of putting it back into its hiding place, he walked over to his horse and dropped it into his saddlebag…
Holding the hammer thoughtfully, the Boss frowned at Eldridge. “What were you thinking, anyway, killing the sheriff in front of a witness and making a run for it? Now they’ll never stop looking for you.” He waited, but Eldridge only lowered his eyes and shook his head. The Boss went on. “They would never have tied you to that mess last year. I had that all taken care of. All you had to do was just play it safe a little while longer, and you could have stayed on your farm forever, if you wanted to.”
“I’m sorry, Boss.” Eldridge said. He seemed genuinely penitent. “It was that preacher. Everything started falling apart when he rescued the girl and moved to Choestoe. He’s the one who botched it up. I have a score to settle with him.”
“You can just forget that,” said the Boss. “Lucky for you I’m here to clean up your mess again. If you can just follow instructions, you might still come out of this alive.” The Boss lifted the hammer and seemed to estimate the weight of it, letting the head of the hammer drop into his hand. Then, as if he had reached a decision, he set the hammer down in the wagon bed. “There’s one more thing.” Then he smoked and frowned at his cigar while Eldridge waited silently. Finally he dropped the cigar to the ground and ground it out with the toe of his boot.
“I took care of another problem for you tonight,” he said.
“What problem was that?” Eldridge asked warily.
The Boss looked at Eldridge with narrowed eyes. “Your son Theodore came home on Friday—the day after you left. Did you know about that?”
“Theo!” Eldridge seemed startled. “No. How would I know that? I haven’t seen Theo since the war.”
“I wondered how he happened to show up,” said the Boss, looking intently at Eldridge.
“I don’t know,” Eldridge said, defensive now. “I warned him when he left that he couldn’t come home again, and he never did.”
“So, maybe he found out you had left Choestoe.”
“I don’t know who could have told him,” Eldridge insisted, shaking his head. “I swear, I didn’t know if he was alive or dead.”
“Well, now you know,” said the Boss with a slight shrug. “He was alive; now he’s dead. They’ll probably think you did it.”
Eldridge nodded wordlessly. His oldest son had returned, and this man had killed him.
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About the Book
The Captain Finds the Key is the exciting conclusion to a trilogy that began with The Captain Takes a Wife and continued with The Captain Seeks the Lost.
As the story opens, Captain Harry Richardson and his friends and family are still reeling from events that occurred when a stranger came to Choestoe to threaten Harry’s wife and kidnap his son. In some way that he can’t understand, Harry knows that all the frightening events of the past two years are related. The man who is behind it all is called “the Boss,” and he is so feared by his followers that none of them will call him by name. The deacon who killed the sheriff may get away with murder if something isn’t done to bring him to justice, but is he the Boss, or is there someone else out there who is calling the shots—someone even more frightening than the deacon? Harry is determined to find out. Then he receives a warning note:
Harry read it aloud. “If you care about your boy, don’t try to find me.”
Ned looked at the note over Harry’s shoulder. “That’s [his] handwriting,” he said. “No question about it. What are you going to do?”
Harry’s voice was quiet, but dangerous. “I’m going to find him.”
Ned nodded. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
About the Author
Doris Durbin was a school librarian and a mystery reader who sponsored a writer’s club and produced a literary magazine for many years. When she retired, she began a new career as a writer. She and her husband, Ed, a retired history teacher, live in the mountains of north Georgia, where “The Captain Chronicles” take place.