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room.
     
    “I was hoping they’d get to us,” Arlo said, “because it’s damn near impossible for us to get to them.”
     
    Arlo smoothed out the wrinkled paper to disclose two printed words:
Late tonight.
     
    The night wore on, and the cowboys took turns watching, one dozing on the bed while the other waited at the unlocked door. It was well past midnight and Arlo was on guard in the darkened room, when suddenly there was a min ribbon of light from the hall, and their door moved just a little.
     
    “I’m Kelly,” she whispered. “Please let me come in.”
     
    Arlo eased the door open enough for her to enter, then silently and swiftly closed it behind her and woke Dallas.
     
    “Here,” Arlo said, “you take the chair. Dallas and me can sit on the bed.”
     
    “You were Uncle Henry’s friends,” she said softly, “and the last time we saw him alive, he spoke kindly of you. He knew he could trust the two of you with the gold and that you’d look out for Kelsey and me. Kelsey wanted to come too, but we were afraid for both of us to leave at the same time.”
     
    “How old are you and Kelsey?” Arlo asked. “How much longer until both of you are legally free?”
     
    “Practically forever,” the girl sighed. “We won’t be eighteen until the twenty-third of this December. Seven more months.”
     
    “Tell us what we can do to help you,” Dallas said.
     
    “Find Uncle Henry’s gold,” she whispered, “and keep it for Kelsey and me until we’re eighteen. Gary Davis is a devil. He’ll steal our share and kill you for yours.”
     
    “Your Uncle Henry warned us about him,” Arlo said. “You’d better tell us the rest of the story.”
     
    “Gary Davis was once Uncle Henry’s partner,” said Kelly, “until he ruined the girl Uncle Henry was to marry. Jed Logan, our daddy and Uncle Henry’s only brother, had a freighting business going, and Gary Davis started a competing freight line. Davis cut rates, took Daddy’s contracts, and finally forced him to sell out. Daddy took a job with Davis, and …”
     
    She paused, gathering her strength, then continued.
     
    “It’s so … sickening,” she said, “there’s no decent way to tell it. Our mother had an affair with Gary Davis. He sent Daddy on long hauls, and while he was gone, Davis and our mother …”
     
    “That’s enough,” Arlo said. “We can see how it was. You think Davis had something to do with Jed—your daddy—being killed?”
     
    “Oh, God,” the girl cried, “we almost know he did. Kelsey and me heard Daddy confront Mother. He calledher a whore and she laughed at him. A week later, Daddy was shot off the wagon box, and two weeks after that, Mother married Gary Davis.”
     
    “There was no proof that Davis was behind Jed’s killing?” Dallas asked.
     
    “None,” said Kelly, “but me and Kelsey knew. Some of the Davis wagons had been attacked before by outlaws and the freight stolen, but when Daddy was killed, nothing was taken. There’s been talk, but still no proof, that Davis is the head of a gang, attacking and looting his own wagons and then claiming the insurance. The only way Daddy’s killing makes sense is that Gary Davis wanted him dead.”
     
    “Has Davis mistreated you and Kelsey?” Arlo asked.
     
    “I have scars all over me,” said Kelly, “and so does Kelsey. We ran away right after Mother married him, and when they caught us, Davis beat us half to death.”
     
    “Your mother …” Dallas began.
     
    “Our mother did nothing,” said Kelly bitterly, “except threaten to send us to a house for wayward girls in St. Louis. Please,
please
find the gold, and don’t let Gary Davis get his hands on any of it.”
     
    “Kelly,” Arlo said, “if there’s a claim, we’ll find it, and we’ll live up to your Uncle Henry’s trust in us. And we’ll go farther than that. We’ll help you and Kelsey escape your prison.”
     
    “Oh, if you only could!” she sighed. “But what can