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“Like Earl Durand?” I’d learned a few months ago about the 1930s manhunt for him after he killed several men.
“Not old enough. We need a classic. Like Butch and Sundance.”
“They mostly stayed south of us. The Hole in the Wall is much closer to Casper than us. They robbed trains running across the southern part of the state and I think a couple in Montana—”
“Skipping us,” Mike grumbled.
“I bet no one minded back then,” I said.
“Not very forward-thinking of them,” Mike complained. “Red Lodge not only had part of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang or the Wild Bunch or whatever name they were going by in their town to rob the bank, but they foiled the robbery and returned them to jail after they’d broken out in South Dakota.”
“Wait, what’s this?” I asked. “Butch and Sundance tried to rob a bank in Red Lodge?”
I’d been in the town just across the Montana border without seeing any mention of that. On the other hand, I’d been intent on meeting Tom’s sister, Jean-Marie, who lived there. However, with my parents coming for the wedding this summer and always being on the hunt for interesting side trips to keep them occupied while I was working, my priorities shifted.
“Not Butch. That’s probably why things went wrong. He was the planner in those gangs. There was a bank robbery in Belle Fourche, S.D., in 1897 that got less than $100 and was a comedy of errors. Was the Sundance Kid involved? Wasn’t he? Some say it was a different person using that name. The records are a mess. Some broke out of jail. Then another group — supposedly with the Sundance Kid, again — showed up in Red Lodge, tried to rob the county bank there, but had to skedaddle before getting any money. The county sheriff chased them a good distance and captured them.
“They got sent back to South Dakota... and escaped.”
“Wow. That’s—”
“Great stuff, impossible to pin down, and no use to us at all,” Mike complained. “Because they skipped over us even when they were botching robberies. And that’s if it was even Sundance involved.”
But it was of use to me. I saw a visit to Red Lodge in my father’s near future.
“They probably rode through Cottonwood County,” Audrey consoled him. “At least on the way to the robbery. Law enforcement would have taken a different route to return them to South Dakota authorities.”
“Even worse. Come look at the spot where Butch—”
“Butch wasn’t...” Audrey didn’t finish reminding him Cassidy was never included in this group.
“—and Sundance’s horses’ hooves might have touched before they botched a robbery and got sent back to jail. That’s not going to get us any hires.” In an abrupt change of topic, he asked, “What are you working on, Elizabeth?”
“DNA test scams.” It must have been conditioned after mostly hiding what I was really doing from our dear departed news director Les Haeburn — that’s dear because he was departed. He’d been the furthest from dear possible while he was here.
“There’s a scam going around about DNA tests?” Audrey asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
But she must have picked up something in my tone. “I’m going to get off now and let you two talk.”
As soon as she did, Mike said, “I know it’s harder with the staff stretched, but we all want you doing investigations when they come up, Elizabeth. And we know they’re not going to always pan out — at least I do. You need the freedom to explore and poke around to find the gems. A lot of water flows past when you’re panning for gold.”
Now I felt really bad.
“I do know that, Mike. I’m sorry. It just came out. Probably partly because there really are DNA test scams that I want to do for Helping Out! The scammers approach people on Medicare and say one of the benefits is a DNA test for genetic testing. All they have to do is hand over their Medicare information. And poof, the scammers are gone, with their identities.”
“Uh-huh. Sounds like a good Helping Out! segment.” Which we both knew were already abundant. “But what about Keefe?”
“Hey, are you saying you’re no more interested in my official beat than Haeburn was?”
He was not going to be guilted into backing down. “Since your official beat now includes exploring stories of potential investigative interest, I’m very interested in it. And if you want to do the DNA-Medicare scam story, that’s fine, too. But right now I want to hear about Keefe.”
“You will. Promise. When I have something to tell. I’m basically picking up rocks — no, pebbles — and seeing if there’s anything under them.”
“I can help with that.”
“I know you can. But is that the best use of your time, what with owning KWMT, not to mention your job there in Chicago?”
