Chapter 17: In the Hunting Cabin

We left town immediately. After a few hours of walking in the dark, we arrived at the hunting camp led by the Old Indian. The camp was in a small, sheltered fissure of a canyon. During the short trip to the camp, Maggie had become more withdrawn, refusing to let anyone but the Old Indian touch her. Once at the camp, George and the Old Indian set up camp. I investigated the cave, finding a small cell in the back that the Indian had used as a sweat bath. I got the idea to cure Maggie with some mumbo- jumbo, the sweat bath, and my necklace.

With the Indian's help, I set up the bath and invited Andrea and the Witbiers inside. Using the necklace I relaxed them while fueling Andrea's natural lust. I started by making George talk about what was bothering him. He was mad that Maggie wouldn't tell him about what the Sheriff was doing to her. I then made Maggie tell her side. She told how she hated the Sheriff for what he did to her, but how, at the same time, it excited her in new ways. She said she still loved her husband but no longer felt worthy of him. She described the acts that made her feel "dirty" or "bad." I invited her to do these to George and Andrea, joining in when everything was in full swing. After we had finished, we dried off and went into the main cavern to eat.

Over dinner we compared notes. I was excited that we had concrete proof that we were in a separate dimension. George's mind had vivid memories of the South's great victory at Bull Run, followed by their capture of Washington and President Lincoln. England and France had become CSA allies, while Germany and Russia signed treaties with the USA. With both CSA and USA weakened from their disrupted economies, France and Mexico reclaimed vast territory in the Southwest.

After dinner, Sue went to the back of the chamber with me to sit down and discuss what she found at the Sheriff's house. She showed me the books and pictures she had stolen from the Sheriff's safe. I recognized a man in one of the pictures as Detective Neil. The ledger book recorded amounts of silver bullion the Sheriff gave to Michael, presumably Detective Neil, and the number of suspects turned over for interrogation. The entries were regular, spaced 1 week apart. The diary included notes on travels to other dimensions made by the Sheriff before being assigned to this post.

His duties in Fry included watching for strangers that passed through the gate and accounting for the bullion mined in the illegal silver mine. Each week, he would deliver the box of bullion to Michael, who was the steward for "Lord Peter." What really caught my interest was the matrix of origins, coordinates, and destinations for the Sheriff's Time Machine. The Sheriff had been a meticulous traveler, recording how to get there but also places to stay, how to dress, and where to get equipment in each world. All that remained for me was to find which location hid Peter and then find Lucy's killers.

That night I figured that they have only one or two days before Michael came to check on the Sheriff. Everyone took turns at a lookout post that guarded the road from the arroyo to the town. My only worry was that the French would arrive and complicate things.

One afternoon, while on lookout with Sue, she asked me about the look of concentration I had when I put the Sheriff to sleep. She wondered if I had some kind of telepathic power. I flinched, her guesses coming too close to the truth. Trying to make light of her comment, I told her that it was all a coincidence. The sheriff had been drunk and just passed out. Sue didn't buy it and I knew it.