The Five Dollar Mail (Book 1: The Green & Book 2: Lynch's Boys)

37: Whispers

Book cover art by Angela Taratuta, graphics by me. Featured chapter artwork  of Hellbender is by the incredible Laura Hollingsworth, the writer/illustrator of The Siver Eye webcomic at http://www.thesilvereye.com/.

Bender, seated with his elbows propped up on Lily's writing desk, closed his eyes and let his head fall forward onto his hands. Lily knew that look. That was the standard look of a man who desperately wanted a nice, bracing drink of something that could conceivably get him fired.

The candle on Lily's windowsill flickered and danced within it's glass enclosure, the light sparkling in the dark windowglass behind Bender's head. The snake pellet lay drying in the unwrapped napkin on the desk before him. It was late and most of the house had gone to bed. Lily knew it wasn't seemly to have Mr. Bender in her room at this hour, but the matter at hand was more important than what was proper or not. And besides, it was the best time to talk to him without anyone knowing.

He dug his fingers into his scalp and scratched, sighed, then looked up at her over the tops of his knuckles. "Anybody else know about this, love?"

Lily sat down heavily on her bed. "Not unless Fiona or Tommy's figured it out." She shook her head. "Mr. Bender, I feel terrible about this. I don't like this keeping secrets from anyone...but...I just don't know what to think. I don't want to be starting rumors...I might not even be right thinking this." And Fiona is so torn up...with her worrying about Mr. Storm and all...I don't know how she might react. I'm afraid to mention it to her. "Tell you the truth," she went on, "if Luis really did what I think he did...I'm scared to death for both him and Storm."

Bender nodded. He rubbed the tawny stubble on his chin and leaned tiredly against the chair-back. "I got to admit to you, Lynch's boys get into more trouble than just about any other station crew I've seen. Even when it was just coaches, his lot practically lived down at the jail, right? It's like he collects stirrers and hooligans."

Lily thought about this. On one hand, she was a bit troubled about the fact that her brother, who she wanted to keep far from the influence of hellraisers and people who might lead him astray, was currently working and living with a pack of that very ilk. On the other hand, she had to consider that he was enough of one already to have been hired on.

And then there was the matter of her own employment here. She frowned unhappily.

"So..." she ventured in a small voice. "What about the other stations? Who hired you, for instance?"

Bender did a double take at her, then shot her an exasperated smirk. "Lynch," he admitted.

Lily felt a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I see."

"Now look here, Miss Lil," he protested, sheepishly. "At the very least, I manage to elude questioning by men with badges." There was barely- contained mirth sparkling in his autumn-colored eyes. "Which is more than I can say for our crew here. And getting to the point, we still don't know for a hard fact Luis put those snakes in the Yarl's dunny."

"No," Lily agreed. "But the evidence is pretty damning. Did you know he was gone all morning before it happened, digging through prairie dog holes? He even mentioned rattlesnakes."

Bender's face had gotten very serious. "Go on."

"He was gone for some pretty long stretches. It was the same morning you..." She felt her face heat up with embarrassment. "Well...that you came in and broke up that fight between Jesse and Richard Galloway. He was distant before that...I figured it was because he was worried about Mr. Storm." She picked at the threads on her skirt, feeling like she was betraying Luis. "Bender..." she whispered. "I don't want anything bad to happen to him. And I don't want anything to happen to Mr. Storm, either. This is such a mess."

"Well," Bender said, keeping his voice low. "Don't spill it just yet, the fewer who know about it, the better. Luis is out on a run, we can't do anything about him right yet anyways. Let's just concentrate on keeping Storm out of the...uh...out of the sh...kettle for now."

Lily gazed at the man sitting at her desk and nodded, glad that she'd decided to share her suspicions with him. She'd been rattled, unnerved by the thought that Luis may end up to have, inadvertently or not, killed a man. Bender may have had a scary streak buried underneath his friendly, disheveled exterior, but he was a fast thinker and kept his cool under pressure. And he was clearly on her side. For that, Lily was grateful to have him around right now.

"So," she said finally. "What do we do?"

"We wait to see if it blows over, love. And keep our eyes and ears open, yeah?"

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