One More Sunrise (18 page)

“I agree,” said Tag. “He just isn’t the type.”

As Doke Veatch rode down the steep slopes of the mountains along the bank of the Cache La Poudre River toward Fort Collins, he let his eyes roam about him, taking in the beauty of the Rockies. All around him lay a vast sweep of towering peaks and sunken gorges. The peaks were timber-clad up to timberline, which in the Rockies was about 11,200 feet. Above that rose the jagged peaks of rock that reached toward the sky.

A magnificent golden light showed upon the western firmament—the afterglow of sunset. The highest peaks wore crowns of gold. All the lower tips of ranges were purpling in shadow. The marvelous light from the setting sun magnified the rocky cliffs on every side, and the winding ranges took on a look of unreality.

Doke lowered his gaze down along the bank of the foamy river and put his mind back on Tag Moran and his gang. He wondered actually how long they could elude the law. It seemed to him that sooner or later, some posse would finally catch up to them, and they would end up behind bars for a long stretch. He shook his head and told himself if he had the opportunity to gain a million
dollars by being an outlaw and robber, it wouldn’t be worth the risk of getting caught and going to prison for it.

Suddenly the gelding stopped, bobbed his head, and stared across the river. Doke looked to the opposite bank and saw two male mountain lions staring at him and snarling. He shivered as he peered into their eyes. “Boys, I’m sure glad you’re on
that
side of the river. I wouldn’t want to tangle with you, and neither would this horse.”

Doke urged the gelding onward, and soon they were out of sight from the cougars. He put his mind on his job with the Wells Fargo Stagelines and concentrated on getting back to Fort Collins.

In Denver, at Mile High Hospital, Tharyn Tabor was assisting Dr. Lyle Goodwin in an appendectomy on a ten-year-old boy.

When they had finished and were in the surgical washroom cleaning up, a nurse came in. “Tharyn, a certain handsome young man is here to see you. He’s just outside the door.” She giggled. “I think you might know him.”

Tharyn’s heart leaped in her chest. Scott’s train from Pueblo was due to arrive at Denver’s Union Station some thirty minutes ago. She had had a hard time concentrating on her work, knowing he no doubt would stop by the hospital to see her before he went home.

She smiled at the nurse. “Alice, do his initials happen to be S. H.?”

Alice giggled again. “How’d you guess?”

“Oh, I’m just so supremely intelligent!”

“I’m sure Dr. Goodwin will agree with that!”

“Absolutely!” said the silver-haired physician, while drying his hands on a towel.

“What can I say? Tell Scott I’ll be out in just a few minutes.”

“Will do,” said Alice, and moved out the door.

Dr. Goodwin dropped the towel in a basket provided for used linens and looked at Tharyn. “Do you think Scott is going to propose to you soon?”

She smiled. “It just might happen tonight.”

She then looked at her reflection in the mirror, dabbed at her hair to make it just right, and headed for the door. “I’ll see you later, Dr. Goodwin.” With that, she opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.

The instant Tharyn closed the door behind her and caught sight of Scott, she sensed that something was amiss. There was a strange look in his eyes, and she could tell he had been raking his fingers through his unruly hair.

He pressed a smile on his lips and stepped up to her. “Hello, Tharyn.”

“Hello, Scott. I’m glad to see you back.”

Tharyn started to lift her arms to embrace him, but at the same moment, two nurses came walking by. The nurses smiled at the young couple and kept their attention on them, though keeping their stride. Tharyn took a step back. Showing affection for the man whom she was sure was about to become her fiancé was a private matter. She didn’t want a gawking audience.

A few seconds passed. Though the nurses now were no longer looking at them, Scott made no move to embrace her, which was unusual for him.

When the nurses were farther yet down the corridor, Tharyn looked deeply into Scott’s eyes, moved close to him again, and took hold of his hand. “Scott, is something wrong?”

Scott was about to reply when Dr. Albert Parker—who was one of the hospital’s prominent surgeons—rushed up. “Tharyn, we have an emergency. Dr. Goodwin just told me that you’re free right now, as far as he knows. I must do a lithotomy on a very sick woman. I need your help immediately. All the other surgical nurses are busy. Can you help me?”

“Of course, Doctor.” Looking at Scott, Tharyn said, “I’m sorry, but I must go with Dr. Parker right now.” She noticed a look of relief come over his face.

“It’s all right, Tharyn. I understand.”

“Can you come to the house and see me this evening?”

Scott nodded. “I’d take you out to dinner, but I have some things to do right away. I’ll be tied up till about seven-thirty. I’ll come as soon as I can. Probably by eight o’clock.”

“All right. I’ll be watching for you.”

As Tharyn hurried away with Dr. Parker, she was puzzled by Scott’s demeanor. Not only was there a strange look in his eyes, but his voice also told her something was wrong.

Dr. Parker and Tharyn were soon in one of the surgical rooms hovering over a woman in her early fifties who was suffering severely with a bladder stone. The doctor discussed the impending operation with the patient and learned that this would be her first surgery ever.

While Dr. Parker made preparations to perform the lithotomy, Tharyn poured ether into a cloth and said to the patient, “Mrs. Kraft, I know you’ve never had surgery before, so you’ve never had an anesthetic. Listen to me now. It will seem like I’m smothering you when I place this cloth over your face. Don’t let it frighten you. Just inhale the fumes as quickly as you can, and you’ll be under the anesthetic in no time. When you come to, it’ll all be over.”

Helen Kraft looked up at her with pain-filled eyes and nodded slightly. “You’re so sweet, dear,” she said weakly. “You’re a born nurse. God bless you.”

Tharyn smiled down at her. “God bless you too, ma’am. Here comes the ether.”

She pressed the moist cloth to the patient’s nose and mouth and held it there.

Helen fought it, gasping for breath.

“Don’t be afraid,” Tharyn said softly. “You’ll be fine. Just breathe in the fumes deeply.”

Helen closed her eyes and did as instructed. In less than two minutes, she relaxed and went limp.

The surgeon was ready to begin, holding the scalpel close to the skin.

Tharyn bent low over the woman, lifted an eyelid, and studied the pupil and the iris. “She’s completely under, Doctor.”

The doctor nodded and went to work to remove the bladder stone. While Tharyn was wiping blood away from the incision and periodically applying more ether to keep the patient under, her mind went to Scott. She wondered if a problem had developed between him and his parents. Or was it possible that one of them was seriously ill? Or—
Well, it could be one of many things. I’ll just have to wait until this evening to find out
.

A
t Denver’s First National Bank, President David Tabor was at his desk in the enclosed area at the rear of the building, talking to a customer.

The area had a waist-high wooden fence around it, and two swinging gates to allow employees and customers to enter and exit the area. There were three other desks in the enclosed area. Two were occupied by vice presidents, and the third was occupied by middle-aged Arla Yunker, who served as secretary to all three executives.

Tabor also had a private office adjacent to the enclosed area where he could meet with employees and customers when their business required privacy. Besides his desk in that office, there was also a large table where he held regular meetings with the bank directors.

Both vice presidents were away from their desks in another part of the building as David Tabor’s customer walked away. He looked up at the clock on a nearby wall and saw that it was almost five o’clock. He ran his gaze around the interior of the bank and noted that there were still several customers in the place. Some were at the tellers’ windows, and others were at the counter in the center of the lobby, making out deposit slips or doing paperwork
that related to the business they would have with the tellers.

It was then that he noticed Arla standing at one of the area’s small gates, talking to a well-dressed man. David did not recognize him. He figured the man might be new in town and possibly had come in to open an account.

Arla said something to the man that David could not distinguish, then turned and headed toward him. As she approached the desk, she said, “Mr. Tabor, I have a gentleman here who says he would like to talk to you about a loan. I told him it’s only a few minutes till closing time and asked if he could come back tomorrow. He said it is very important that he discuss the loan with you now.”

David thought of Tharyn and knew that she would be expecting him at about five-twenty. He always picked her up on weekdays at that time. The hospital staff shift change was at five o’clock.

He glanced past Arla and looked at the well-dressed man. “Since it’s important to him that we discuss the loan right now, tell him I’ll see him.”

Arla turned and went back to the man. “Mr. Tabor will see you.”

The man smiled broadly and followed Arla as she led him to the bank president’s desk.

David rose to his feet behind the desk and smiled at the man.

“Mr. Tabor,” said Arla, “this is Mr. Edward Fremont.”

David extended his right hand across the desk. As they shook hands, he said, “Glad to meet you, Mr. Fremont.”

“Nice to meet you too, sir,” said Fremont.

“Please sit down.”

Fremont sat down on one of the two chairs that stood in front of the desk, and the bank president sat down in his desk chair facing him.

Arla said, “Mr. Tabor, would you like for me to stay in case
you need me to help with the loan papers?”

David shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, Arla. It’s eight minutes to closing time. You go on home as soon as you need to.”

“All right, Mr. Tabor,” Arla said, and returned to her desk.

“I’m sorry to come in so close to closing time, Mr. Tabor,” said Fremont, “but this really won’t take long.”

David adjusted himself on his chair. “All right. Tell me how much you need to borrow, then we’ll get into the information I will need.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Arla leave her desk and head for a nearby supply room.

Fremont’s features went stonelike as he leaned forward, keeping his voice low. “I want to borrow all the cash you have in the bank. I mean in every teller’s cash drawer and in the vault. I won’t be signing any loan papers, of course, and I will never pay the loan back.”

David felt a flutter in his stomach as he leaned toward the man. His right hand was already in his lap and he kept it out of the man’s sight. “So this is a robbery.”

“You guessed it. Now I want you to look over there at the counter in the middle of the place.”

David shifted slightly on his chair and looked at the counter, and the man and two women who stood there. The women were busy writing. The man was looking directly at him. “See the man in the dark hat who’s lookin’ at you?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s one of my accomplices. Now look over there by the front door. Do you see that man? He appears to be waiting for someone who is doing business at the tellers’ cages.”

David eyed the man. “Yeah. I see him.”

“Well, if I don’t signal them in a moment that all is well, they’ll start shootin’. Understand? They’ll put bullets in your employees and in your customers. So, let’s you and me go into the vault and get the money that’s in there. I’ll give the signal, and my
pals will let people leave unharmed. As soon as the bank is closed, we’ll also take the money from the tellers’ cash drawers.”

David Tabor was filled with rage. There was a thunderous rush of blood in his ears. This slick, polished bank robber was so sure of himself that there was no weapon in either hand.

David’s right hand was still beneath the desktop. His own voice was now stonelike. “Tell you what, Fremont, or whatever your name is. I want you to signal your pals that all is well, and motion for them to come over here.”

The robber looked at him blankly. “What are you talkin’ about? I want them right where they are.”

A frown deepened on David’s face. “You’re not getting what you want.”

“Oh? And what’s to stop me?”

“This Colt .45 I’ve got trained on your belly underneath the desk.”

The robber’s head jerked slightly. He looked at Tabor with wide, incredulous eyes. “You’re bluffin’.” His face went white when he heard the unmistakable sound of a hammer being cocked.

“Am I?”

The robber swallowed hard, but did not reply.

“Now, you signal your pals to come over here this instant, or you’ll have a belly full of hot lead.”

At that moment, Arla Yunker was returning to her desk from the nearby supply room. She frowned when she observed the scene before her. She could tell by the way her boss had his hand underneath the top of the desk that he was holding his revolver trained on the man sitting in front of him. She knew he always kept the Colt .45 in a holster attached to the desk in case he should need it. Both vice presidents’ desks were equipped the same way.