Ambrose Hayes picked up an escort as soon as he reached Southern Starr land. The pair of hands following him traded off a few times, but Jimmy Bradbury stayed beside him all the way to the house. There, he saw Scarlet and Ella with men he thought could be their husbands. Only Ella looked glad to see him. He dismounted, and took his saddlebags before Jimmy led his horse away.
Ella performed the introductions, "Marshal Ambrose Hayes, this is my husband, Dr. Alan, and Scarlet's husband, Fritz."
While shaking hands with Dr. Alan, Ambrose asked, "How's Archie?"
Alan replied, "He's doing well. I extracted the bullet yesterday."
Ambrose shook hands with Fritz, then spoke, mostly to Scarlet, "I recognize that you don't have much trust in anyone out of Houston these days. Can't say that I blame you. But right now, you and yours are the only ones I can trust to help with the White Investigation. Phillips is a leak, but there were other leaks before he ever showed up. You called Phillips a carpetbagger, which is a completely accurate label as far as I'm concerned. He's got his own goals, and doing a good job for the people of the county he is assigned to is not one of them. "I read your file and went out to talk to Wheeler about you last week, to see if he agreed with my first impression of you last year. I don't mean this to sound like a carrot..."
"Then stop there before you insult me in some way, because I've had a belly full of that," Scarlet said, interrupting him. "Just tell me you would like our help because we are good at the job we do, or maybe we're all you got. I don't care what it is as long as it's honest, Hayes. As for trust, there are two men in Houston I trust with my life, one who has lost my respect and the trust I did have for him, and then there's you. Trust is something that is earned around here, always has been. If that's what you want from me, be honest with me. I'll admit, trust may come a little harder nowadays, but know this, this is my home and if I didn't have some sort of respect for you, you wouldn't be here."
"I would like your help because you are good at the job. All of your people are good, but you particularly have a history of doing the job well. And, right now, you are all I'm sure I can trust enough to help with this."
Ella thought no one else was going to ask the question that was preying on her mind. "Deputy Hayes, why do you trust us?"
Ambrose looked a little startled at the question, and clearly had to change mental tracks. "First, because you all are a team of women and men who work well with women. Every identified member of their team has shown a disregard for the abilities of women. It's like they don't think women can do anything outside of the house. Second, because you did not probe," after a glance at Ella's blush he amended that, "you did not get caught probing into the matter."
"That had more to do with having enough other things to do than any lack of curiosity," admitted Ella. "But we couldn't see any harm in reviewing our own files."
"I would be very interested to see what you have in your files that didn't make it into the reports that were sent to Houston about your contacts with their group, the times you have seen their tattoos."
Scarlet watched his body language, listened to every word he spoke. His eyes crossed over everyone in the room, he was looking to be accepted among them and a bit nervous about it. She was sure the thought of being tossed out was crossing his mind. It would have been hers in that position. Unless he was good at hiding his emotions, he was being honest with them.
"Tell me something, Hayes," Scarlet said.
"What?" he said looking at her.
"Why should we trust you and why should we trust you enough to let you see files that I'm sure some men would like to see burned. How do I know you're just not waiting to put the finishing bullet in Witts and ride outta here?"
"I don't think I can earn your trust with words. You are welcome to listen to what Archie reports, so that the information he has been risking his life to collect is not at risk of being lost. You are welcome to see all the information I've got regarding the White investigation, which should let you figure out what information in your files I would be interested in." Ambrose pulled a fat folder out of his saddlebag and handed it to Scarlet. "Although I would like to swear Dr. Coatsworth in as a special deputy, and reactivate Mrs. Coatsworth as a deputy before they look at it. I can stay in town, so that Archie is not in danger from me, if you all will give me advice on how to stay out of Phillips's way."
Ella asked, "Why did you wire me to protect Archie from Phillips?"
"Isaiah Phillips went to school with Perry White, and they became great friends who still keep in touch, according to Mrs. Thompson, Phillips's oldest sister. Phillips is now another interesting person to the White investigation. I need your help to investigate him without alarming him. That's why Marshal Thompson sent these with me, with instructions for me to use them when appropriate." He pulled a couple folded papers out of his pocket and handed them to Scarlet.
She opened it and saw that one was a recall order for Marshal Phillips, and the other was an appointment of Ambrose Hayes as temporary Marshal with instructions to recommend a permanent Marshal.
"Why you, what do you get out of all of this when it's over if the White investigation is successful?"
Hayes hesitated before answering. No one's expression gave him any clue as to the answer they wanted to hear. Scarlet had asked for honesty, so he answered, "Thompson's job."
"Does Thompson know you're after his job?"
"I think so. Right now, he is embarrassed over the lack of caution that allowed his wife to leak information to Phillips. He has told me that he intends to resign when I return to Houston. I'm one of the three deputies at the right level to be considered as his successor."
"Who are the other two?" Scarlet asked out of curiosity.
"Arnold Kelly, Patrick Henry Robinson."
"You're welcome to stay here. Phillips will not find out you are here from anybody on the Starr," she said, loud enough the hands would hear, then looked at him. "It would be nice to have somebody to work with our team not judging us twice as hard because some of us are women."
"Let's go in to talk to Archie," said Ella, leading the group towards the infirmary.
The small ward at the infirmary was crowded. Scarlet, Fritz and Alan sat on the other bed, while Ella cleared away Archie's dinner tray. Ambrose Hayes stood at the foot of the bed where Archie lay propped up on pillows.
"About a year ago, Perry met a friend he called 'Eyes' at a bar in St. Louis. Most of the conversation was normal for old friends catching up. Eyes had been traveling around, staying with each of his sisters after getting out of the Navy, and was considering what to do next. After I appeared to pass out, the conversation got more interesting. Eyes told Perry that the Marshals had an eye on him, and suggested he drop out of sight for a few months. It was lucky for me that Eyes didn't know how close the Marshals' eye was."
Archie chuckled, then took a sip of water before continuing. "Perry encouraged him to have the brother-in-law who was a Marshal in Houston get him a job so he would be in better position to hear useful information. Then there was a conversation that didn't make sense. Perry said, 'I'm the Duke of New York. Pick your title.' I heard pages turning, then Eyes said, 'The King of the Detectives.' Perry replied, 'That's Ray's. Pick another.' More pages turned before Eyes said, 'Badger and Company' and Perry said, 'Fine.'"
Ella slapped her hands together. When everyone looked at her, she exclaimed, "Archie, you just gave us the keys to their codes!"
Hayes looked puzzled and asked, "Codes?"
Ella answered him, "Phillips has been exchanging messages with a place in New Mexico called Castle. They are using a book code, with stories from the Fireside Companion as the keys. Phillips's messages are coded with a story titled, "Old Sleuth, Badger & Company". Eddie hasn't figured out yet what story is a key for the messages Phillips receives."
Archie took another sip of water. "Earlier in the day, Dick Kane had been recruiting scouts in that bar, so Perry decided that's where we were going. After we left Fort Fetterman, Perry went back to planning bank robberies. Perry sent and received messages at local telegraph offices, but they were coded in some way I couldn't break. I was being a lot more careful, and couldn't get warnings out ahead of time. Several times, I dropped messages for Houston wrapped around a silver dollar, hoping that some of them would be picked up by people willing to carry the message to the telegraph office. Perry took me with him to visit what he referred to as 'The Castle', in Eddy County, New Mexico. From the outside, it looks like a normal ranch house, but the cellar connects with an extensive series of natural limestone caves. Some of the caves have been mined for guano by the local ranchers for years." Archie took another sip of water.
"When Perry decided on robbing the bank in El Paso, and talked Ben Pole into taking the job, I didn't know if Perry remembered El Paso as the home of the 'bounty hunter' and the 'doctor lady', but I decided to risk slipping out of the camp early in the morning in order to give warning. I wasn't quiet enough, or someone was watching me. I got onto my horse, but was shot. I don't remember much after that. I think I fell off the horse, and crawled into cover. I crawled some more after the sun was up, and passed out again."