did odd jobs around town, and that he watched my house, but I never saw him.” The boy looked at Joe. “Sir, for all his size, he’s hard to spot.”
“He was looking out for you.”
“I think so. That night … that night …” He swallowed, and Joe’s arm went around him. “I was studying at the dining room table and Papa was drinking. He always did that. I can’t remember what I said to him—it never took much—but he started to shout. When he swung his hand out, I ducked and he knocked over a lamp. It fell against the wall and set the curtains on fire.”
He sobbed now, reliving the moment, holding out his arms. Joe grabbed him and held him close as he cried. Tommy made no move to leave Joe’s lap when his tears subsided.
Captain O’Leary had been toasting cheese. Silently he pulled the cheese off the stick with two pieces of hardtack and handed it to Tommy. The boy accepted it with the ghost of a smile and leaned back against Joe as he ate.
“Will you tell me exactly what happened then?” Joe asked quietly. I have to know what Nick did, he thought. I just have to. “Close your eyes and think. I promise I will never ask again.”
Tommy obediently closed his eyes, relaxing in Joe’s arms. When he spoke, his voice was calm. “Papa grabbed his shoulder and rubbed it, and then he grabbed his chest and fell to his knees. The room was on fire.”
“He had a heart attack,” Joe said, more to himself than to the boy in his arms. Nick Martin didn’t murder Frederick Hopkins to save Suzie’s son. He was there to watch, a guardian.
Tommy turned slightly to look at him. “A heart attack? I tried to pull Papa away from the flames, but I couldn’t. I … I thought maybe he would live if I pulled him out.”
“He was probably dead before he hit the floor. It happens. There wasn’t anything you could have done.”
Tommy sobbed and turned his face into Joe’s chest. Joe just held him until he was calm again.
“Did Aaron get you out?”
Tommy nodded. “I heard a window break, and he was there. He picked me up and didn’t stop running until we were out of Carlisle.”
“Did you start working your way west then?” Captain O’Leary asked, to fill in the silence. Joe noticed that all the troopers were seated near the fire now, listening.
“We’d walk, and stop and work, and then maybe hitch a ride, and work some more.”
“What kind of work did you do?” Joe asked, interested.
Tommy grinned. “You name it, we did it! Washed dishes, wrangled horses—I liked that best—painted a church, shined shoes, mucked out a stable or two, slaughtered hogs.” He made a face. “Aaron dug graves once. I got paid to be a mourner at a funeral. One whole dollar.” That must have been a good memory because he looked satisfied. “It was supposed to be fifty cents, but I sang ‘Rock of Ages’ and the old ladies cried.”
“You’re pretty resourceful,” Joe told him. “Your mother will be impressed.”
Tommy chuckled. “Promise me you won’t tell her that I stole a pie once.”
“Cross my heart. Good pie?”
“The best. Aaron was a bit strange. He told me we were visiting the seven churches of Asia. When we passed through Smyrna, Indiana, he wanted to preach there. I talked him out of it. Kind of hurt his feelings. He said I reminded him of unfruitful missionary companions. I don’t know what he meant.”
“I’ll explain it to you someday, son.”
Tommy grew serious then. “Things changed in Omaha, because Aaron was sure we were being followed.”
“You were. Your mother and I hired a detective from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to find you.”
Tommy stared at him, his eyes wide, very much a little boy again. “Pinkerton? Really?”
“Cross my heart again. I got a letter from William Pinkerton himself, telling me that you and Aaron gave him the slip.”
Tommy’s mouth was a perfect O. “We fooled William Pinkerton?”
“You did. He lost your trail.” He looked at Tommy’s expressive face, so like his mother’s. “What else happened in Omaha? Aaron didn’t come with you to Cheyenne, did he?”
“No. We spent three weeks in Omaha with the army, taking care of mules and wagons. Did you know the army is planning a big expedition against the Indians?”
“We’ve heard rumors,” Joe said mildly as the troopers in the background chuckled. “Did you stow away in a wagon?”