Unexpected Hope (Book 2 in the Red Valley series)

Chapter 28

It had been two months since the stranger on the train left town. Everyone in Red Valley knew that Levi and Jed had a falling out but only Andy and Cole knew why. Fortunately, no one thought that he was responsible for Jed's death anymore. The first few days had been a little difficult but having Andy on his side and Hope vouching for his whereabouts that evening squelched any lingering doubt.

Several days after the train left Red Valley, a couple of drifters found the nude body of a woman near the rail road tracks. The drifters took the woman into the town of Wellers, a small town about thirty miles away, to the sheriff. Two more women were found within a week and a half after that. They were all nude and they had all been strangled. Andy had already telegraphed the sheriffs of all the towns along the rail road for one hundred miles hoping to get information, but also to give a warning.

When the first woman was brought in, the sheriff of Wellers had immediately let Andy know about it. The day before the telegram came from the sheriff of Wellers, Lulu from the saloon had been in to see him and let him know that Maria was missing. She'd gone with a man who had come in on the train. They hadn't gone upstairs at the saloon, so she assumed that it was the man that was in the private car, but there was no way to know for sure. It looked suspicious, especially when two more women had been found, and all three had black hair.

It was very unsettling that all of the women were eerily similar to Hope, pretty much confirming what Levi thought. They also finally got an answer from the railroad about who the mysterious man with the private rail car was. His name was Philip Huntington. Levi hired a Pinkerton to go to Savannah. As soon as Philip's name had been given to him, he immediately sent a telegram to Nigel Fenter, the Pinkerton detective, giving him this new information. Several weeks later, Levi received a telegram back saying that he had a plethora of information. Nigel needed to confirm a few more things and then he would be on his way back to Red Valley.

Levi paced back and forth on the train platform anxiously awaiting the arrival of the afternoon train. All he could think about was the last message he received from Nigel. In a way he wanted this mysterious person to be Hope's former fiancé. If it were, then they would know what he looked like and who he was. One always needed to know who one's enemy was, and this Philip person was a cold son of a bitch. Just the thought of his sweet and loving Hope being married to a monster like that made his stomach churn.

The sound of a shrill whistle blowing in the distance brought Levi's thoughts back to the present. He lifted his eyes to see tiny puffs of smoke billowing out of the engine. Reaching up, he pulled off his hat and slapped it against his thigh as he shoved his fingers through his shaggy hair causing it to stand on end. He set his hat back on his head and tried to wait patiently for the train to come into the station. He hadn't been this nervous about the train's arrival since Hope came.

A few minutes later the train chugged up to the platform. Clouds of white steam billowed around the engine as the metal wheels squealed to a stop against the tracks. Levi stood back letting the passengers disembark. Finally a tall slim man wearing a brown suit and string tie, with a brown bowler hat stepped off the train. Although the two men had never met, they instinctively knew who the other was.

The tall slender man in the suit walked straight over to him. "Mr. Levi Matthews?" Levi nodded and held out his hand. "I'm Nigel Fenter. It's a pleasure to finally meet you sir." The man looked a tad on the soft side but when Levi shook his hand, he was impressed by the strong grip.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Mr. Fenter."

"Nigel please. Mr. Fenter is my father. Where can we go to talk, I have a lot of information for you."