Wanted! Belle Starr! (15 page)

“
I hopes he looked in good
spirits,” Blue Duck drawled, but without any noticeable sincerity
in his voice.

“
He looked spry and
happy,” Belle declared. “Where’re you bedding down,
Boston?”

“
At a small rooming house
not far from the railroad depot,” Crayne answered. “And my name
is—!”

“
Just ‘Boston’ will do for
us,” the lady outlaw interrupted, but in a friendly manner.
“Anyways, he probably knows you went there. So we’d best get you
moved out. Or, better still, if you don’t have anything you value
and need in your room, you can stay away altogether.”

“
I don’t have anything I
need. At least, nothing that can’t be replaced,” Crayne asserted.
Knowing he would have to take flight immediately, if he succeeded
in his purpose, he had realized the futility of bringing anything
of value which could help trace him should he make good his escape.
“But I don’t want to leave Mulrooney until I’m su… Until after I’ve
seen what happens to Icke.”

“
That’s all right with
me,” Belle accepted and pointed to a small wooden shack standing
slightly away from its neighbors. “That’s where we’re staying. It
isn’t luxurious, but it’s clean and, if you’re so minded, you can
move in with us. Provided you’re willing to leave handling
Buckt—Icke—to me.”

“
You’ve got a deal, Miss
Starr,” the Bostonian declared without hesitation.

Even before coming to the rescue of Geoffrey
Crayne, whom, at her own insistence she never knew other than as
‘Boston,’ Belle Starr had been engaged upon the preliminaries to
extract vengeance upon David Icke for the betrayal and imprisonment
of her friends. Putting to use the facilities available to her, she
had learned all she could about her intended quarry and, based upon
this information, had selected from her extensive repertoire of
schemes those she had felt best suited to her needs. The active
stages of the preparations had been commenced two days before the
arrival in Mulrooney of the receiver and his other pursuer.
However, she had not settled upon the exact method to be used until
after they had come.

With the supposed offer of the
stolen jewelry for sale having been accepted, the robbery having
taken place although the identity of the outlaws responsible was
still not know, the lady outlaw had travelled to the town she
designated as rendezvous with Icke. To establish the character she
would be playing, she had booked by telegraph a room at the
Railroad House Hotel in the name, ‘Darlene-Mae Abernathy’. She had
arrived complete with a blonde wig, suitable clothing and baggage,
letting it be believed she had come accompanied by her maid to
attend to a business matter for her very wealthy family in
Richmond, Virginia. This had allowed her to appear, as the occasion
demanded, in two different guises inside and out of the
hotel.
^xix

The intervening period had been spent by
Belle in making the contacts necessary for whichever deception she
finally selected. Being the most complex, those involving the
National Trust Bank had demanded most of her attention. In fact,
having satisfied herself it offered what she needed, she had
intended to make use of it in another direction if Icke did not
play the part she planned for him. Her shrewd assessment had helped
her select which of the tellers would best suit her purpose.
Telling Cyrus B. Cockburn that she was instructed by her family to
look over various properties in the vicinity with a view to
purchase, she had persuaded him to let Dennis Hobert accompany her
to inspect such prospects as might prove of interest.

For obvious reasons, Belle had been
compelled to adopt her less flattering appearance when visiting the
railroad depot to keep watch for the man she was awaiting who was
descending from a west-bound train. Being something of an authority
where such matters were concerned, it had taken more than the
removal of a beard and moustache, plus the addition of a few years,
to prevent her from recognizing a hated face from the past.

The biggest surprise for the lady outlaw had
come from learning that the murderer of her aunt and uncle was also
the receiver she had enticed to Mulrooney. It was a discovery which
had led her to change her motives and ultimate goal. She had been
merely going to fleece him of the money which he had brought in
response to her story and any other valuables he might have in his
possession, by means calculated to cause him great humiliation when
she sent news of it to his home territory. Instead, she had elected
to inflict a much more severe penalty. However, in the earlier
stages, she had not needed to revise her modus operandi on account
of the proposed victim having proved to be Raymond ‘Land-Grabber’
Buckton, the erstwhile scourge of Oklahoma.

Having noticed the young Bostonian and his
obvious interest in her quarry, although willing to admit it
required the most experienced eye to detect the ‘hair’ and ‘beard’
he was wearing were false, Belle had first thought he might be a
criminal with a similar desire for revenge against the receiver.
Wanting to deal with ‘Mr. Wilson’ personally particularly after
having realized his other alias and not wishing him to be
frightened off by a bungled attempt on his life, or through
discovering he had been followed from the east by an enemy, she had
had Blue Duck and Sammy Crane help her keep Crayne under
observation.

Handling the surveillance of the Bostonian
at the time, the lady outlaw had followed ready to prevent him from
using the revolver he was carrying to kill Icke. Seeing Stephen
Forey and Lee Potter waiting in the almost deserted shipping pens
district, aware that they were acting as bodyguards for the
receiver, she had realized Crayne was being led into a trap.
Contriving to pass around the rear of the buildings, unnoticed by
any of the men, she had appeared in a position to prevent the
Bostonian from falling into it. He had then remained in the care of
her two companions. Dressed after the fashion of a cowhand from
Texas, but taking care never to speak where they could hear him, he
had on two occasions been close to Forey and Potter during their
search for him and they had not suspected their quarry was so
near.

Although Belle had been considering more
than one scheme for achieving her original purpose, any of which
would have served even in the new circumstances, she had finally
elected to use the confidence trick involving the National Trust
Bank. She had had another potential ‘mark’ in mind for it, in fact,
but changed her objective when she discovered Icke had deposited
the money in the vault. Ensuring he saw her in the company of the
young man he knew to be a teller at that establishment, having
concocted a satisfactory story to explain why their supposed
relationship was not known if the matter should be raised, she had
set the scheme into operation. She remembered how ‘Buckton’ had
acquired a reputation for lecherous proclivities in Oklahoma.
According to her information about Icke from sources in the East
and from Crayne, these remained unchanged. Therefore, she had felt
sure ‘Darlene-Mae Abernathy’ would be sufficiently attractive for
him to be willing to exploit the situation where she was concerned,
under the pretence of helping her ‘half-brother’.

With the other preparations made, and having
ascertained that Hobert was ambitious, not over burdened with
scruples or loyalty to his employer, the lady outlaw had had no
difficulty in ensuring he would be absent from the bank at the
appropriate time. At her instigation, he had sent a message
claiming a sudden attack of grippe would prevent him from coming
into work. He had then set off to inspect a property some fifteen
miles from Mulrooney, having been led to believe the ‘Abernathy
family’ were interested in it and that he would be a beneficiary,
rather than the banker, should a successful deal for its purchase
be concluded.

Knowing that Icke was staying close to the
hotel, waiting to hear from the outlaws bringing the stolen
jewelry, Belle had intended to call at his room to tell her story.
However, seeing him coming into the reception lobby while on her
way to his room, she had taken the opportunity to intercept him.
The competence of her acting had achieved the desired effect and he
had set off with the intention of retrieving the money he had
deposited before it could be impounded. Being aware that the
elderly teller had no liking for his younger and more forceful
colleague, she had counted upon his annoyance over any work caused
by the absence to produce an attitude suited to her needs when the
receiver arrived. Although she did not know, her efforts had
succeeded.

Having followed the scheme through to where
it would have ended under her original plan, and leaving the hotel
with all the valuable loot in her possession, the lady outlaw had
set into motion the revisions required as a result of the changed
circumstances. Learning of what had happened to Andrea Crayne had
merely strengthened her resolve and made her all the more
determined to put through the new portion of the plan.

Waiting outside at the time it had been
estimated the effects of the drugged drink would wear off, Blue
Duck had contacted Icke on his appearance in the lobby. His
reaction to the story about ‘Gold-Brick Annie and Winnie O’Toole’
had been as was anticipated. Belle had guessed he would prefer to
retrieve his property personally, rather than trust the task to his
bodyguards or the man who had brought him the ‘information’.
However, in case she had been wrong, he was led to assume neither
bodyguard would be available that evening, and was quoted a higher
price than he could afford for obtaining the services of Blue Duck.
Knowing his publicly stated abhorrence of firearms, ownership was
far from a true condition where he personally was concerned, she
had felt sure he would have weapons available to be used in the
attempt. She had also done something which, it was hoped, would
help bring about the desired result.

Going to Forey and Potter, Sammy Crane had
told them where the man they were seeking could be located and, if
absent when they arrived, how he was likely to be dressed on his
return. Shortly before their employer was brought to the shack by
Blue Duck, they were inside with the intention of carrying out his
orders by disposing of the young Bostonian.

Having avoided being seen by the receiver as
he passed with his informant, the other conspirators had concluded
he was taking very seriously what he had been told about the
dangerous qualities of the ‘O’Toole sisters’. He had been wearing
the woman’s cloak, deliberately left in the wardrobe by the lady
outlaw, hoping it would enable him to reach the building in a less
suspicious manner than with his masculine attire showing. However,
even if he had not adopted such a line of action, bursting in upon
the waiting pair holding the whip it gun, it was unlikely he would
have been given an opportunity to clarify the situation before they
started shooting.

As it was, everything had gone as Belle
wished!

A honest and upright young man had been
saved from committing an act which even if he had not been caught,
tried and hung would have ruined his life!

For her part, although she later had to
dispose of the ‘hot’ money in a fashion she had not anticipated on
acquiring it, the lady outlaw was adequately recompensed for the
time and expense of the scheme. Having had the contents of the
pocket book deciphered, she arranged for the withdrawal of the bank
accounts kept by the receiver under assumed names. Furthermore, she
had taken an appropriate revenge upon a man who had fully deserved
what happened to him at her instigation.

Legal justice had been unable to touch David
Icke, even in his previous identity of ‘Raymond “Land-Grabber”
Buckton’, but retribution had come to him at the hands of Belle
Starr.

Noticing that the cashier of the Crystal
Room Cafe was looking pointedly in his direction, after having
spoken with the couple who had earlier asked him to be their guest
at what must have proved to be a most costly lunch, Hubert Charles
Penfold the Third assumed the cashier was being informed that his
host would settle the check on their return to the cafe. Nodding
and giving a confirmatory wave with his pudgy right hand, he
settled back on his chair in self-satisfied contentment. Taken all
in all, he considered the events of the day were combining to make
his visit to Fort Worth, Texas, more lucrative than he had
originally envisaged.

Tallish, brown haired and in his late
thirties, Penfold was bulky albeit in a soft fleshed fashion. His
somewhat porcine features invariably bore an expression he
considered to be masterful, but only made it appear he was smelling
an unpleasant odor. Currently, his face was far from improved by
having the skin peeled due to being exposed to a much stronger sun
than that to which he was accustomed in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Although somber in color and devoid of everything he considered to
be ‘frivolous adornments’, his clothing was cut from the best
quality materials and in the latest Eastern style.

Imbued by wealthy and over indulgent parents
with a sense of his own importance and superiority to those about
him, Penfold nevertheless prided himself upon being a ‘stout and
upright’ Christian. To ensure this sterling quality was not
overlooked, having discovered there were many advantages to having
people believe he possessed it, he never left anybody for long
unaware of it and frequently found reasons for declaring his
unswerving adherence to the doctrines of the Eastern Traditional
Baptist Church. He had selected this particular sect because, while
expanding its numbers, little enough was generally known about its
particular beliefs for him to be caught out when he wished to use
it advantageously.