Chapter 11

I decided that it would be a good idea for me to escape the ranch while a lot of heavy decisions were being made about the wedding. This would be a good time for me to begin a serious investigation of the circumstances surrounding the attacks on Sarah and me, so I headed into Julesburg with my four dragoon guards.

I went by to see the Justice of the Peace. I told him that I wanted to search the dead lawyer's office for any information he had on the Yorks which might help in our legal transactions. I didn't tell him, but I really wanted to look for any information there might be on the attacks. The JP said that he thought that would be OK, so I should go ahead. If anybody complained, send them to him. I expressed my thanks and left.

I had no trouble getting into the office. I unlocked the door with one of my skeleton keys and walked in as if I owned the place. I had found that a bold front could cover a multitude of sins. The office was remarkably orderly looking, as if the previous occupant had a neatness fetish. For whatever reason it was like this, the orderly arrangement made life easier for me.

I did not expect to find what I sought in any of the obvious places, but resolved to look. I did not want to miss anything from my own carelessness. I first looked through the trays of papers on the desk and then opened the desk drawer. I had to pop the drawer open with my knife blade, since I did not have a suitable key. There was the usual junk as well as extra pens and pencils, a pen knife, some paper clips, etc., and a single key. I looked around to see if I could spot where the key fit. No luck, but I took the key, anyway.

I looked at the books in the bookcase. taking each one out and riffling through the pages, hoping to find a useful loose paper. Again, no luck. A search of the filing cabinets yielded the same result. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to find anything useful.

At this point, the marshal walked in. He asked what I was doing. I told him what I had told the JP and that I had the JP's permission to be here. He grunted, said good luck, and left.

I decided to think about the problem for a bit in hopes of generating an idea. I sat in the chair behind the desk and surveyed the room, looking for something out of the ordinary or out of place. Suddenly, I noticed that one of the filing cabinets was not as deep as the others, but its front was even with the rest. Was this significant, or was it just part of the neatness fetish? I went over to the odd filing cabinet and tried pulling it away from the wall; it moved easily! Behind the cabinet I found a ten by twelve by three inch thick locked metal box. The key from the desk drawer fit its lock!

Inside the box, I found a journal and many loose papers. This was it! I had found my gold mine of information. The journal was a diary of his activities for what he called the Brotherhood. He recorded the heinous activities he had been ordered to do or supervise. The loose papers were invoices and receipts for items he had procured and expenses he had incurred. The journal also listed his income from his Brotherhood activities; he obviously never needed a client with all of the money he received from the Brotherhood. No wonder they were so pissed at him for screwing up! I knew that I had been in the office long enough, so I straightened out the office and did my best to remove all evidence of my search. I relocked the door and got on my horse to return to the ranch. My guards and I left.

At the ranch, I took the box into my office in Fort York and locked it in my safe. I went to the main house for lunch and to tell Sarah what I had found. I said that I was going to start studying it that afternoon and I would fill her in on what I found in it. I also commented that I would give the journal to her to read whenever she wanted it, but I was sure she was too busy to bother with it right now. Sarah agreed and I returned to my office.

I took out the journal and began to read. It was both amazing and disgusting. This was a record of Brotherhood activity in southern NMT in such detail that I could hardly believe my eyes. Scattered through the journal were the names and job functions of all the trainees, for that's what they were. The greatest horror to me was that most of the nefarious activities were simply done as a learning experience with no particular ultimate goal in mind, except the death of all non-Brotherhood people in southern NMT. Except for the training experience, the Brotherhood's ultimate goal could have been better achieved by unleashing a terrible, fatal plague on NMT. I wondered, with a shudder, if they had thought of that, yet.

I read until late that evening, only taking a break for supper. I did not even take part in Sarah's spirited talk of her plans for the wedding. I knew that I was setting myself up for some serious trouble with my gloom, but I could not help it. I just could not get excited by the wedding prospects while I was still so deeply immersed in the horrible activities of the Brotherhood described on the pages I was reading. When I finally came to the end of the journal, with the note of the invitation to the banquet, I could only just sit for nearly an hour and contemplate the pure evil I had just read! How was that possible?