The young man’s body shook with sobs.
“Hush! Hush!” whispered Carson, wiping away his own tears. “I think I hear your mother coming.”
CHAPTER XXV
PIECING THE THREADS
Creel was the first to confess. Sitting in the office of the commandant, in the presence of Inspector Cameron, Corporal Rand, Reynold Carson and Dick, he poured out his story. Confronted by Carson, who identified him as being one of the men to whom he had sold Dewberry’s secret, Creel saw that only the truth could help him. His deep-set eyes glowed dully. He moistened his lips.
“It’s true,” he began. “Frischette and me robbed Dewberry. Took his money and his poke. For months, we’d been waiting our chance. Dewberry stopped at the road-house several times, but nearly always it was during the middle of the day. Usually he’d hit our place about noon and stay not more than an hour. He preferred to go on and spend the night with Meade, who was his friend.”
The sun, shining in through the window, bothered the old recluse and he hitched back his chair. Not until he became comfortable again did he resume:
“Our chance come finally. Dewberry, delayed in a storm, drifted in one afternoon late—about four o’clock. He hadn’t time to make Meade’s that night. It was a cold day and miserable. A blizzard out. You could scarcely see ahead o’ you. I was surprised when Frischette come over and notified me that Dewberry was there. I hadn’t expected to stir out of my cabin. I didn’t want to walk back through the storm with him, but Frischette said it was the best time for our plan, that we’d have to strike that night if we ever intended to. After while I agreed and we walked over and I hid in Frischette’s room.
“Neither one of us had any idea that that man MacGregor was playing the same sort o’ game as us. He was stopping at Frenchie’s that night, along with a lot of others, and, of course, we thought nothing of it. You see, we was sure that we was the only ones ‘in’ on the secret. We had got the dope from the kid and had made our plans.”
“Was a part of your plan to kill Dewberry?” Inspector Cameron interrupted.
Creel nodded.