Love on the Line - Deeanne Gist [5]
“Yes, with all due respect. Just like that.”
The pen stopped. The brim of the Stetson slowly lifted. “If you’ll recall, Landrum, all those campaigns were unsuccessful.”
“Not at flushing him out, sir. Only at apprehending him.”
Skin weathered from years on the trail was as much a badge of the job as the five-pointed star on the captain’s lapel. “And apprehending him is the result we’re after.”
“Which I plan to do. I will do. But he could rob a dozen more trains in the time it would take me to discover his whereabouts were I to go undercover. If you’d let me have a company of men, we could go into Washington County, flush him out, and then I’d have him.”
Heywood returned his pen to its holder and leaned back in a wooden chair almost as old as he was. Its springs creaked in protest. “That’s what you said last time.”
“I brought in six of his men.”
“None of whom are talking.”
“We found out Comer’s laying low. We found out he and his men own land in Washington County. That they’re holing up in their farmsteads and splitting their time between farming and thieving.”
“We already suspected that.”
“And now it’s confirmed.”
“You got nothing from the train passengers.”
Lucious tightened his jaw. “They protect him, sir. They believe the newspapers and he plays on it. They have no idea of his real nature.”
Heywood placed his elbows on the arms of the chair, lacing his fingers together. “You don’t have to go undercover, Landrum.”
Lucious allowed himself the first easy breath he’d had since entering the office. “Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll send Harvey in. He won’t mind going undercover.”
“No.”
Heywood lifted a brow. “No?”
“I don’t need Harvey or anyone else doing my job for me.”
“Good.” Heywood sprang forward and shuffled through a stack of papers, sending dust wafting through the air. “You’ll check in with . . .” He extracted a page from the middle of the pile, dropped it in front of Lucious, then tapped it with his fingernail. “A Miss Georgie Gail. She’s switchboard operator for the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company. She’s been told a troubleman is on his way.”
Lucious skimmed the assignment.
NAME: Lucious Landrum
COMPANY: “A”
ALIAS: Luke Palmer
POSITION: Telephone salesman/repairman
Incl. bill collection, books, accounting
LOCATION: Brenham, Texas
OFFICES OF: Georgie Gail, Operator
Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company
Lucious looked up. “Luke Palmer, sir?”
Heywood had already returned to the document he’d been working on previously. “Thought it would be easy to answer to, Luke being a shortened version of Lucious and Palmer being your mother’s maiden name.”
Lucious dragged a hand across his mouth. “Would it be all right if I just did repairs and the bookkeeping?”
“You got something against selling telephones?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. It’s dishonest, sir.”
Heywood whipped up his head, brows lifted. “Dishonest?”
“Those contraptions aren’t reliable. They barely work under the best of circumstances, but you can always count on them to go down in emergencies. They’ll lull people into a false sense of security. I’d just as soon not be party to it.”
Had he voiced his concerns to anyone else, they wouldn’t have understood. But Captain Heywood did. He knew better than any the distrust Lucious had for modern communications.
“You’re the best tracker we have, Lucious,” the captain said, gentling his voice. “And I need you. But I didn’t sign off on this without some reservations. The sheriff of Washington County is incompetent. The townsfolk think Comer’s a hero. And you tend to grow a mite impatient with that kind of thing. It’s occurred to me, more than once, you might not be the right man for the job.”
Had Heywood walloped him in the gut, it couldn’t have caught him more off guard. He’d looked up to this man his entire life. Working for him had been a privilege. An honor. To discover his captain had doubts did not bear thinking.
“Is there a manual of some kind?” Lucious asked. “I don’t know the first