With the relevant personnel assembled, Henry called Luke and Old White, who was in charge of the warehouse, into his office and said, "During my absence, Luke will handle general external affairs, and Old White will be responsible for internal police station matters. If a major external incident occurs, such as a death or a large-scale bloodshed, Old White will be in charge, and Luke, you must cooperate well. Understood?"
Luke immediately responded loudly, "Understood!"
Old White also said in a deep voice, "I will do my best."
"Then that's it. If there's anything you truly can't resolve, try to delay it until I return to handle it."
"Understood."
"Then that's it. I'll go announce this temporary appointment and then we'll depart."
Henry led the two to the police station hall to make the announcement to everyone, then departed on horseback with nine police officers.
Among these nine police officers were Pete, Luke, Hank, and four officers aged 18-24 whom Henry favored. The other two officers were Charles, 33, and Owen, 32.
Both of them had wives and children in Fresco Town, had lived there for over three years, and were very familiar with the roads and conditions from Fresco to Denver.
Henry's principle for selecting people this time was reliability, to avoid the possibility of someone betraying him and stabbing him in the back should he leave the group to pursue bandits.
"Luke, go to Phoenix Bar and drive their two-horse, four-wheeled carriage to Linda's place to help Linda load her luggage."
"Charles, you take the others to Linda's place to help move things. We aim to depart by 7 o'clock."
Everyone acknowledged their orders and left one by one. Henry galloped his horse towards Mayor William's Manor.
Out of the 85 miles from Fresco Town to Denver, 70 miles were mountain roads, making it impossible to travel quickly.
Driving a carriage would take at least 9 continuous hours to cover these 70 miles, but breaks would definitely be needed, so it would take at least 10 hours.
Adding the more than 1 hour after leaving the mountains, the entire journey would require at least 12 hours.
So, if they departed at 7 AM, arriving by 7 PM would be considered very smooth—without encountering any ambushes or accidents.
Upon arriving at William's house, Butler Pierce, hearing the announcement, gave a few instructions to a maid before stepping out and saying, "Good morning, Sheriff Henry. The carriage is ready. Please wait a moment."
"Good morning, Pierce, I appreciate your trouble." Henry smiled and nodded.
Soon, a two-door, hardtop, four-wheeled buggy, driven by a middle-aged coachman, arrived at the Manor gate.
"Wright, you are to follow Sheriff Henry's instructions throughout the journey," Pierce instructed.
"Yes," Wright replied loudly.
"Thank you! Pierce, goodbye." Henry nodded slightly, turned his horse, and departed.
Wright drove the carriage to follow.
Henry first returned home to retrieve his suitcase, placed it in the carriage, and then proceeded to Linda's house together.
Among the farewell crowd, Attorney Benjamin also came and had a brief chat with Henry.
Busy and bustling, around 7 o'clock, the group departed on time.
Ten riders and two carriages totaled 15 people and 14 horses.
Among them, Pete's wife, Mary, also rode a horse; she was a rancher's daughter with excellent horsemanship.
Mary was also of Scottish descent—with a prominent forehead, very fair skin, and bright orange-red hair, exuding a vibrant sense of youth.
Linda, Becky, and Andre sat inside the small carriage.
Because the luxury carriage had an excellent chassis, the ride was not very bumpy, and Becky and Andre seemed to be in a cradle, drowsily falling asleep.
Charles and Owen acted as scouts, one mile and half a mile ahead.
Today, the sky was beautiful, with gentle breezes and bright sunshine.
—
After Henry and his group departed, Old White went to Mayor William's Manor.
After listening to Old White's report, William said gently, "During your patrols these past few days, have people pay special attention to Linda's house and Henry's house."
"I will." Old White finished speaking and prepared to take his leave.
Butler Pierce entered the living room and said, "Master, something major happened at the McKinley Family's mine's smelting plant last night. Larson has rushed over. Would you like to see him?"
William exchanged glances with Old White and said, "Have him go to the garden. I'll go out now."
After Pierce turned and left, William said, "Let's go, White, let's go together and listen."
The two soon met Larson in the garden—a white youth in his mid-twenties, who was an assistant William had placed in the logistics department at the McKinley mine.
"Starting from 8 o'clock last night, there was continuous gunfire at the smelting plant, and later even explosions. "
"Later, when about twenty of us followed Colm, who was in charge of logistics for the McKinley Family, to the smelting plant, we found that everyone inside had disappeared, and a large hole had been blown open in the factory's barbed-wire fence. We heard that a large portion of the silver ingots and military supplies in the warehouse were missing."
"The smelting room was destroyed by the explosion, and many pieces of equipment inside were severely damaged."
"However, there were still many valuable items in the large warehouse. More than a dozen helpers suddenly rose up, killed Colm and several long-term McKinley Family employees, loaded many supplies onto twelve carriages from the logistics department, and fled overnight."
"The mine was shut down today. When I rushed over, some miners and mine guards came down from the mountain and gathered around the smelting plant, waiting for the McKinley Family to come deal with it, but no one from the McKinley Family has appeared."
Upon hearing this, William asked, "What about those cavalrymen? There was a company of over 200 people. You didn't see a single one?"
Larson shook his head and said, "No, on my way back, I saw many bloodstains on the slope connecting the factory to the outside road and on the road for over a hundred meters behind it, as well as some severed legs and arms, but not a single corpse. Beyond that, there were no such traces on the road."
William said, "Pierce, take Larson to rest for a bit."
After the two left, William asked, "White, who do you think did this?"
Old White said, "It shouldn't be the Palermo family; they don't have that much power here. As for others, I can't think of anyone else for now."
William said, "Yesterday, some people also heard gunshots and explosions near Dwyer Manor. They didn't come to town to pick up goods yesterday, and this incident happened to coincide. You should send police officers to Dwyer Manor to see what their situation is."
"Alright, I'll go do that immediately." Old White excused himself and departed.
William waited for Pierce to return, then asked him to notify Raphael to come over.
—
At the McKinley Family Manor in Denver, Brendan frowned and said, "Sean hasn't replied to the telegram since yesterday. Have Aiden take 10 guards to join Richard's guard team. After they've traveled more than halfway, have this team speed up and go to Dwyer Manor to see what's happening, then send me a telegram this afternoon."
Butler Elent acknowledged the order and left.
--+--
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