Work Text:
The Secret
By Nell McKeon
“Where’s Kid?”
The older mustached man at the bar gave a little start at the hissed voice in his ear. He finished his beer, set the empty glass on the gouged bar and flicked his eyes towards the ceiling.
“Again?”
“Still’s more like it, Heyes. I ain’t seen him come down for hours. Your partner has a real fondness for Charity. It’s a good thing we don’t come down this side of the mountain too often or you might have a problem on your hands.”
“Yeah, well, the saying is charity starts at home and speaking of which, get the boys together and get ready to ride back to the hole. I’ll give Kid five more minutes and iffin’ he don’t come down on his own I’ll go up and get him.”
“Better you than me.” Wheat Carlson moved away from the bar to start gathering the Devil’s Hole Gang’s members strewn around the crowded saloon.
~~~*~~~
The window slowly rose and the shabby lace curtains parted. A scuffed boot reached for the floor from the wide ledge outside the second story window followed by the rest of Kid Curry. The scantily dressed girl napping on the bed opened her eyes, smiled and languidly came to her feet.
She draped her bare arms around Curry’s shoulders and blew provocatively into his ear. “I was beginnin’ to wonder if you were comin’ back. I kept the bed nice and warm after you left. Wanna see?”
“Darlin’, I’d love to, only it took longer than I thought.” Kid grinned as he encircled the blonde’s tiny waist with his arms in a quick hug.
Charity silenced his objection with a kiss full on the lips. Curry drew her closer in an embrace and deepened the kiss. Small, soft hands started pulling his shirt from his pants. The sounds of men talking, horses stamping and leather creaking drifted in through the open window. Kid broke the kiss reluctantly and extricated himself from the girl’s arms to look out at the scene below.
“Darn! It’s later than I thought. Sorry darlin’ but I really do gotta go. My partner will probably be up here any minute. Thanks for coverin’ for me. This oughta compensate you for your time.” He laid a collection of bills and coins on the bedside table.
Charity glanced over at the money. “That’s more than enough; everyone knows you’re my favorite.”
“I did take up your whole afternoon and I appreciate you keepin’ the secret. Besides you’re worth it.” He winked over his shoulder as he reached for the door handle.
“Honey, I don’t know no secrets. All I know is that you take your pleasure with me and then you go off to some old widow, old enough to be your mother, and she apparently feeds you, before you come back for dessert.”
“Charity, that’s all there is to know. I just don’t want my partner to know. It’s not good for my reputation.”
Knock, knock, knock.
Kid jerked open the door with his right hand as he was stuffing his shirt back into his pants with the left. He registered the open mouth, ready to utter verbal chastisement and the annoyed look on Heyes’ face. He brushed past him and started briskly down the hall.
“Oh good, you’re here. I’m ready to leave. You got the men gathered together?” Kid tossed over his shoulder business-like.
Heyes stared down the hall for a moment, glanced into the room in time to catch Charity’s not quite apologetic wave then hurried after his best friend.
“Kid.”
“Yeah?”
“Kid, as my lieutenant, that’s your job. You’re also supposed to be watchin’ my back when I’m playin’ poker not layin’ on your back.” Heyes crossly reminded his lax partner.
“Heyes, even loyal lieutenants need rest and relaxation. You knew where I was. I studied the poker players and the bar’s occupants, there was no one there we needed to worry about. Besides, I assigned Lobo sentry duty and he’s the next best gun after me.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Did you come out the big winner?”
“Yes.”
“Were you threatened in any way?
“No.”
“Did you feel threatened in any way?”
“No.”
“Was there any trouble at all in the saloon all afternoon?”
“No.”
“Did you have a nice relaxin’ time? Didn’t the boys behave themselves?”
“Yes and yes. But…”
“But what, Heyes?”
“Oh, never mind.” Heyes decided it wasn’t worth arguing over. “Kid, you were up there for hours. What were you doing?”
“A gentleman never tells, Heyes.”
“The whole time!”
Kid smiled enigmatically as he mounted his horse and kicked into a trot.
~~~*~~~
“Heyes, Hognose says the fresh meat supply is gettin’ low. I’m thinkin’ I’ll go huntin’.”
“Okay, Kid, why don’t you take Lobo with you?”
“Nah, I rather leave Lobo’s gun here while I’m away, besides, I’m gonna try the ridge on the other side of the mountain. I saw some fresh spoor and deer trails on the way back from town last week.”
“Take someone else than. I’d prefer you didn’t go by yourself.”
“You know I have better luck by myself. I’ll be fine. I’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon. I wanna scout out the area for new huntin’ grounds.”
“I guess it’s okay. It’s been quiet lately and I didn’t hear any rumors of the law in the area. Make sure you’re back before dark tomorrow.”
~~~*~~~
The gray-haired widow removed the last of the fried chicken from the skillet. She placed the platter on the table among the mashed potatoes, spinach, roasted beets and fresh bread. She leaned over the cooling blueberry pie in the deep windowsill and called out the window to the nice young man visible through the open barn doors.
“Dinner’s ready!”
The young blond man looked to the neat house and waved. “I have two more things to load on the wagon then I’ll be right there, Mrs. Schmidt.”
Kid Curry inhaled deeply and his stomach rumbled as he washed his hands at the sink pump. Mrs. Schmidt smiled knowingly and thought how nice it was to feed someone again, especially a young man who appreciated good cooking and had such nice manners.
“Thank you, ma’am, for cooking dinner early so I could eat.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hotchkiss, for your kind offer to help get my son’s tools, papers and his tinkerings packed up and shipped.”
“John, ma’am.” Kid urged as held the chair out for his motherly hostess before he sat down at the table.
“John, it was no problem. I don’t want you to have any difficulty with your boss and we must make sure you leave in time to run the errand for him. Please tell him I thank him for letting you help me out every now and them. My son will be so surprised to receive his things in Philadelphia much earlier than he expected.”
“Glad to help ma’am. You seemed like you could you use it when I overheard you talkin’ at the mercantile. You sounded very proud of him being a college graduate and havin’ a good job with an important company.”
“Yes, I am. I wish his father, God bless his soul, could see that all that tinkering Samuel did in the workshop came to good use. He told me that the company that hired him was really impressed by the idea he showed them at his job interview. My husband was a fine locksmith and gunsmith, John. He passed his passion for mechanical things onto my youngest son. He died just before Samuel graduated but he was proud that his son was going to be an engineer.”
“Where are your other children, ma’am?”
Dinner was consumed with pleasant conversation regarding the comings and goings of the Schmidt children. Mrs. Schmidt was pleased to have such an attentive audience and was genuinely sad to see young John Hotchkiss leave after the early afternoon dinner. She waved good bye after extracting a promise to return, if his boss agreed sometime next week.
Kid looked at the position of the sun in the sky and hoped he didn’t have to search long for the deer he spotted last week; otherwise, he would have some explaining to do to Heyes that he rather not get into just yet. He cut short his musing when he caught movement in the underbrush along the trail out of the corner of his eye. Curry drew his gun and fired once, hitting his target.
Kid tied the rabbit to his saddle horn quickly. He judged he had about five hours to bring down a deer, field dress it and ride back to the Hole before dark. He was cutting it close but if his luck held he’d make it in time.
~~~*~~~
“Heyes?”
“What Kyle?”
“Whatcha readin? That don’t look like no story. There’s as many numbers as words on the page.”
‘It’s a safe manual, Kyle, not a story. I’m workin’ not relaxin’. If I can figure out how the P & H ‘76 safe is built maybe I can figure out what they did to it to make the ‘78.”
“Don’t let it trouble you none, Heyes. Next time I’ll make sure to bring the good stuff and plenty of it.”
“Dynamite didn’t work, Kyle. The good stuff won’t make a difference.”
“Sure it will, Heyes.”
“Kyle.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you come in here for a reason?”
“Oh, Kid’s back. Thought you’d want to know. I know you’d be wonderin’ since it’s almost dark. He’s got a couple of rabbits, a nice buck and even some grouse. He said he’d come see you after he takes care of his horse. Hank and Hognose will take care of the game and get the smokehouse goin’.”
“Thanks, Kyle. Tell who’s ever cookin’ to start supper. Kid’s liable to be hungrier than normal after two days of huntin’, eatin’ trail food and the men are probably ready to eat too.”
~~~*~~~
In the early gray light of dawn Heyes stood beside his mounted partner and quietly asked, “You got enough supplies with you?”
“Yep.”
“You didn’t forget to pack paper and pencil? You have the watch?”
Kid looked down at his partner, struggled to keep his amusement from showing, and patted his saddle bag. He dug his left hand deep in his coat pocket and pulled out the dented pocket watch, flipped it open and showed his serious partner the time.
“Note the travel times, how long the water stop lasts, if there are guards and their routine if there are, how many cars each way and anything else you think important.”
“I know what to do, Heyes. Quit worryin’.”
“Observe two different stops and three round trips, ride the train for one round trip, don’t get into any trouble in town and then get yourself back to the Hole.”
Kid nodded patiently, touched two fingers to the brim of his hat and lightly kicked his gelding into motion.
“Kid?”
Curry reigned to a stop and looked over his shoulder at his approaching friend.
“Kid, you know Wheat usually does this sort of reconnoitering. You’re usually too antsy to spend three or four days camping, hidden by the side of a railroad track, watching the trains go by. In fact, you’ve been volunteering for a lot of errands, anything you want to tell me?”
“Nope, just feel the need to get away for awhile on my own. There’s nothin’ goin’ on you need know about. Trust me.”
Heyes’ brown eyes searched Kid’s face for any signs of evasion, finding none, he let go of the bridle he had been holding onto.
“Go on then. Be careful.”
Heyes watched the man he trusted with his life ride away with the feeling that Kid was hiding something and he didn’t like it.
He turned around at the sound of the heavy tread of boots coming up from behind him.
“Wheat.”
“Charity, Heyes.”
“Huh?”
“You’re wondering why Kid insisted he do my job. I told ya, ya gotta problem on your hands and her name is Charity. Mark my words, he’ll do what you sent him to do but he ain’t hurrin’ back. After a nice little stopover in town, Kid’ll be back at the very last moment.”
Heyes stared at mustached member of the Devil’s Hole Gang and had an awful feeling that Wheat was right, not that he’d ever admit it to him.
“Kid knows better than to get involved with a woman…” Heyes was drowned out by the loud guffaws an incredulous Wheat let loose, not the least bit intimidated by his leader’s glare.
Heyes walked silently back to his cabin with furrowed brow, tamping down the hurt welling up inside him at his partner’s secretive behavior and tried to disregard Wheat’s words.
~~~*~~~
“Ah hah! This makes everything worth it.” Kid smiled broadly as he looked through the stack of notebooks he emptied from the last drawer of the workroom’s desk. He rose to his feet, walked silently to the adjoining door to the barn and let his eyes sweep the surroundings. After discerning he was alone, he swiftly packed the purloined papers into his saddle bags hanging by his saddle in the deserted barn and went back to putting the last of the notebooks into the carton on the floor.
Mrs. Schmidt watched her young helper, that nice John Hotchkiss, load the last of the cartons and finally the desk into the full wagon. She helped him tie the contents down and sighed.
“Anything wrong, Mrs. Schmidt?” Kid asked as he looked up from tying the last knot.
“No, nothing’s wrong. It was just nice to have you around and to cook for a man who obviously enjoyed eating. I’ve enjoyed your company. It’s nice to know there are still well brought up young people around. Not too many young men these days are willin’ to help an old woman that they’re not obligated to in any way.”
“Well ma’am, I’m glad to be of service to you. After I get back from deliverin’ this load to the train station and seein’ it gets on it’s way to Philadelphia, how ‘bout you and I sittin’ down for a last piece of pie before I take my leave.”
“That would be lovely, John. Are you sure I can’t pay you for your time?”
“Ma’am, you cookin’ for me is enough. It was my pleasure to do a good deed for you. Just tryin’ to follow the teachin’s of the good book.”
“And you’ll be rewarded, John. I just know it.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”
~~~*~~~
Heyes sat in the comfortable chair by the fire in the leader’s cabin and stared out the window. The book in his lap sat forgotten. He noted the sun getting closer to the horizon and his emotions vacillated between anger, concern and hurt as Wheat’s words of three days ago circled in his mind, He’ll do what you sent him to do but he ain’t hurryin’ back. Charity, Heyes. His chin lifted and his face hardened as the sound of familiar hoof beats pounded in. Heyes straighten up in the chair and settled in to wait for his partner and his answers.
Eventually the cabin door opened and a dusty Kid Curry entered. Kid hung his hat on the hook by the door and emptied his coat pocket of watch and folded papers onto the table before making his way hurriedly to his room with barely a glance to the man sitting stiffly in the chair.
He dropped his saddle bags on the bed and called out to the other room, “Hi, Heyes. I’m back. You were right about the trains. The third trip, northbound, is the one to hit. The second stop is the best opportunity. The information you wanted is on the papers I left on the table. I’ll be out in a minute. Heyes? Heyes, can you hear me?”
“I hear you, Kid?”
Kid abruptly stopped unpacking. Heyes’ voice held a hard edge to it that he didn’t expect or like. He stared at the open door for a minute in thought. A slow smile passed across his lips as he realized his partner’s patience had run out, Heyes didn’t like having his need to know and to control exactly what was going on stymied. Kid put on his poker face and went to talk face to face with his best friend, who was probably feeling a little betrayed.
“You were gone the longest amount of time I thought you’d be. Did you have any problems?”
“Nope, nobody saw me by the side of the track. Nobody paid any attention to me on the trip. The trains were running mostly on time. The weather was fine.”
“Horse alright?”
“Horse is fine.” The corner of Kid’s mouth tugged into a slight grin.
“You didn’t go anywhere else or do anything else?”
“Well, now that you mention it, Heyes. I did go help a woman.”
“Help, is that what you call it?” Heyes’ eyes widened and started to smolder as he muttered under his breath, “Charity for Charity.”
“What did you say?” Kid came and stood over his partner.
“Wait here. I’ve got something in my saddle bag for you. I got it helpin’ a widow. Tell you all about it in a minute. I didn’t want you to know what I was doing ‘cos nothin’ might have come of it and I didn’t want to get your hopes up for no reason.” Kid turned and quickly strode into his room, leaving a still irritated and slightly baffled Hannibal Heyes staring after him.
He soon returned with a notebook in hand and dropped it into Heyes lap. “Have a look at this.”
Heyes glanced up into Kid’s beaming face, blue eyes sparkling with pleasure and a wide smile brightening his youthful features. He tentatively opened the large black notebook and read the heading on the first page – Notes, diagrams and calculations for improvements to the locking mechanism of the Pierce & Hamilton 1876 model safe.
A dark head nodded in sudden understanding and sly smile of anticipation formed as he scanned through the pages as Kid watched, all suspicions forgiven and forgotten.
~~~*~~~
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.