“To ferret out the rat within my crew.”
Minchin leftthe RV storage area and headed out of the campground giving a call to Jennings and Evans so they could meet up and discuss their new assignment. Two days was not a long time to find someone they didn’t know was even still in the state. Dan hadn’t been seen since June. It was one thing to look for Justus and Chaney, but Dan.
The three of them met up in a seedy bar across town in a back-corner booth where they would be less likely to be spotted or overheard. It wasn’t happy hour yet, so the bar wasn’t very crowded.
“I’ve got a new assignment for us and we have a two-day turnaround time on it so listen up. The boss has strict orders that if anyone gets arrested on this job that he will not be posting bail. Do you understand?” Minchin said straight off.
“Two days?” Jennings said. “Why the urgency?”
“Because we’ve been doing such a piss-poor job that our neighboring counterpart from Arizona is coming in to help him out. That’s why. And we’ve got to show them we can stand on our own two feet just fine,” Minchin said giving them his take on the situation. “He wants us to find that screw up Dan who went missing after the raid. I’m going to head over to Fool’s Gold to look around. That’s the last place that Dan was seen. I want the two of you to stay in town and search, maybe head over to the university and look around. That’s where Nuchols met up with him. Maybe that’s where he worked or hung out before they met. Go out of the Springs from all directions if you have to, but leaveno stone unturned. Just keep it under the radar of the police. You hear?”
“Yeah,” Jennings said. “We can do that.”
Minchin tossed two photos of Dan on the table. “One for each of you to show around. If anyone asks, here’s the story you tell: He’s your pal that you haven’t seen in a while. You work out of town a lot and just got back and realized he is missing. No one has seen him for two months. You’re trying to find him. You’re afraid something might have happened to him.”
“Got it,” Evans said.
“Do you really think he’s still in the area?” Jennings asked. “I mean, it has been two months without a sign of him.”
Minchin shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. He might have run like a scared rabbit after the raid, but the boss wants him found. He wants to know that he didn’t turn state’s evidence.”
“I get it,” Evans said. “Makes sense.”
“I’ll contact you when I return from Fool’s Gold,” Minchin said.
As he drovethrough the pass into Fool’s Gold, Minchin thought about where the most people would hang out in the town. Would it be on the main street or would it be at a local bar. He knew there was Gunny’s Watering Hole out near the old ghost towns and mines. He’d stopped there to eat before when he came this way on business for Leland. He thought that would be as good of a place to start searching for Dan as any.
It was late afternoon and the Watering Hole looked to be busy by the number of vehicles parked outside it. He found a spot beside a truck on the third row and walked to the tavern wondering if there was something special going on that would bring this many people here so early midweek.
But when he got inside, there were plenty of vacant tables which had him scratching his head wondering about the parking lot.
“Booth or table?” A waitress wearing a tan t-shirt that said Gunny’s on the front in camo letters, asked. Her brown hair braided in two plaits reached her shoulders.
“The bar is fine. I’m alone. Don’t want to take up space,” he said.
“Suit yourself, but we aren’t that busy,” she said.
“But your parking lot says otherwise,” he replied.
“There’s a meeting of the Brotherhood Protectors going on at their headquarters. They park here,” she said. “You still want the bar?”
“Booth then, if you have a small one.”
“We have a two-seater,” she said. “Follow me.”
As he did, he saw the initials RJ on the back of her t-shirt and he couldn’t help admiring the sway of her hips as she walked. She laid a menu on the table as he sat. “Can I get you anything to drink to start off?”
“Anything on tap is fine.”
“Okay then. I’ll be right back.”
When she left, he glanced over the menu and made up his mind on what to have and when she returned with a frothy mug, he placed his order. “Before you go, I was hoping you might be able to help me,” he said.
“I’ll try,” she said.
“I’m in Fool’s Gold searching for a pal of mine. I work out of town often for months at a time so when I returned I discovered no one had seen him since June,” Minchin reached into his light jacket pocket and pulled out the picture of Dan. “This is him. Might you have seen him come in here? I was told he was in Fool’s Gold around that time.”
She shook her head. “I don’t recognize him, but if you let me take this photo with me I can ask the other waitress who is on break right now if she might.”
