“You want to bet?” she said.
He glanced at her with a frown. “What do you mean?”
“I spent the evening last night visiting some of the stores and meeting some of the local women.” Andre said “I even managed to meet Wyatt’s girl. Josie Marcus, and have dinner with her And nobody would admit to knowing anything about those three Observers. Who they were, how they died, nothing. They all wanted to know where I came up with such a story. It was news to all of them.”
Lucas simply stared at her. “What the hell is going on here?”
“I don’t know,” said Andre, “but it’s as if somebody told the whole town not to talk about it.”
“Wait a minute.” Lucas said. “That barman downstairs, what’s his name, Mohan, he talked about it, remember?”
“Good luck getting him to admit it.” Andre said. “I spoke to him briefly after dinner. He looked blank when I brought it up. Said I must have gotten mixed up with a story about something that happened somewhere else. Denied ever telling us anything about it and looked at me like I was crazy.”
“Somebody got to him.” said Lucas.
“Apparently.”
Lucas looked worried. “That might explain why Neilson didn’t make any contact.” he said. “Our cover might be blown already.”
“How? We haven’t done anything to tip anybody off,” she said. “We’ve only just arrived in town.”
“Maybe we were recognized,” said Lucas. “There are people in the Network who know who we are. If one of them spotted us when we came into town, our cover could have been blown right there and then.”
“I suppose that’s possible,” Andre said. “Only if that’s the case, what would be the point in hushing up the deaths of those Observers? That would only put us on our guard.”
Lucas shook his head “You’re right. It makes no sense. And how the hell could they get to everyone so fast and make sure nobody talked about it?”
“They were late getting to Mehan.” Andre said.
“That makes no sense, either,” Lucas said, with a frown. “You’d think he would’ve been the first one they’d warn to keep his mouth shut. And the fact that they could do that, whoever they are, would presuppose that they control the entire town. That doesn’t seem possible.”
“Maybe it doesn’t seem likely.” Andre replied, “but it’s not impossible.”
“That would mean that this whole town is a Network operation,” Lucas said. “I can’t believe that. There’s got to be some other explanation.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” Andre said
Lucas sighed heavily, “Yeah. The trouble is. I haven’t got any. Did you talk to Finn?”
She shook her head. “I saw him going into the Oriental Saloon shortly before I went to dinner. He was with a couple of cowboys, so I didn’t try to make contact.”
“And he didn’t make contact last night’?” Lucas asked, with concern
Andre shook her head. “No. But then he could have gotten into an all-night poker game or picked up a lead on a job at one of the ranches that the rustlers work out of.”
Lucas shook his head. “I don’t like it. He should have made contact by now.”
“There’s got to be a reason why he didn’t,” Andre said.
“Maybe he learned something that warned him off.”
“Or maybe something happened to him.” Lucas said. He struck the bed with his fist. “Damn it! We only just got here and already things are out of our control! What aren’t we seeing? What don’t we know?”
“Whatever it is, we’re not going to find out now,” said Andre. “You look beat. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?
I’ll stand watch.”
She reached into her carpet bag, pulled out a laser pistol and double-checked its chargepak.