Sundance by David Fuller Page B

recklessly, went along. Armed lawmen burst into the bank through the front, met a roomful of excited wagging fingers pointing out the outlaw’s escape route, rushed out the side door into the hallway, past the stairs, to the rear door, where they came face-to-face with more lawmen.
    Now on the roof, Etta led Longbaugh to the ledge, where it was but a small jump to the roof of the next building. As they leapt together, she jubilantly tossed her hat high in the air. It fell in the exact wrong place, dropping between the buildings all the way to the alley below.
    She looked at her hat two stories down in the dirt, and he heard for the first time that special laugh that he would later learn was just for him. She smoothed her hair, gathered in her mirth, took his arm, and soberly led him down the stairs into the general store. They went out the front door while the owner and his customers were glued to the big window, seeking a glimpse of the famous outlaw who had been recognized in the bank next door. She pulled against his arm to go back for her hat, but people were coming out now and he met her eye with an almost imperceptible shake of his head. She immediately understood and went with him the opposite direction, across the street and around the corner to their carriage. No one noticed them ride away.
    Etta was hooked. But so was he. Before they had entered the bank, when he thought she was simply trying to memorize the moment, she was appraising the landscape. She had seen that the roof of the general store was the same height as the bank and the buildings had been built close together. She had formulated an escape plan when he hadn’t imagined they would need one. She was thinking more like the Kid than the Kid. From that moment on, they were together.
    Mina had found the old letters under the student papers in the drawer, and she came back to him with one of the letters in hand. Heunderstood something then. Etta had, rather casually, left those old school papers with her sister years ago. It was Mina who had decided they were precious. They were not precious to Etta, but as a part of her baby sister’s past, Mina cherished them. His heart ached for Mina’s love. He recognized the envelope Mina carried, but was surprised to see it torn open and smudged with fingerprints. He saw the handwriting and recognized that as well.
    Mina looked sadly at the envelope. “This was her last letter. It came two years ago.”
    So Etta had stopped writing Mina as well. It gave him a moment of comfort, until he realized it suggested another possibility.
    â€œYou think Etta’s dead,” said Longbaugh.
    â€œ
No
one thinks she’s dead, and her name is
Ethel
!” Her rage was quick and inappropriate, and he knew it had nothing to do with her sister’s nickname. “Despite the Pinkertons writing her name wrong, which you and she thought was
so funny
!”
    â€œTell me now. What’s wrong, Mina?”
    Mina was ashamed of her outburst, ashamed that there was something else, and ashamed that he had seen through her to know it. She shook her head back and forth.
    â€œMen came. Two years ago. They had this letter.”
    â€œWhat men? Who were they?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWhat were they like?”
    â€œThey were like big monkeys in suits,” she said belligerently.
    â€œWere they local, had you seen them before?”
    â€œNo.” She sagged. “From back East, maybe. They had accents of some sort. They frightened me, Harry. They frightened me and I never heard from Ethel again.”
    Longbaugh looked at the letter in her hands. “Is there anything in there that tells you what it was about?”
    â€œDo you truly imagine I did not read it carefully? It’s one more in her series of newsy letters.”
    â€œDid you write her back, did you ask?”
    â€œAll my letters were returned.”
    â€œAll right. All right.”
    They were quiet