BILLY HILL Chapter Four

Old Truck at the Lumber Yard
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For the next year and a half Ricardo and Logan kept working the same scam and they had collected a large suitcase full of money.  

Logan starting giving Billy (Ricardo) more walking around money than he had before for he thought he had settled in and wouldn't leave him.  To train a new assistant would take too long and besides it would be difficult to replace Billy.

Things were going very well until they came to a small community of about six thousand population.  Billy didn't want to stop there, but Logan insisted.

They looked around town and decided the only person who looked prosperous enough to bother with, was the owner of the lumber yard, and Logan said we would have to change our approach to him and say we had a deal on a new truck.

They could see his old trucks were worn out so that was the deal Logan offered him, a new truck for a bargain price. The man was interested but wanted to think it over which was a complication Logan didn't like. Whenever a complication arose Logan usually backed off and moved on.

Something else that bothered Billy was Logan going off alone and riding around the countryside.  He said he was just selling some magazines to the locals.  He said that kept his edge up for he needed a variety to stay sharp.

On the fourth day Logan went out again, and a couple hours later drove really fast back into town. He quickly jumped out of the car telling Billy to park it behind the hotel out of sight where they were staying.  

Billy did as he said - - when all of a sudden, Logan ran out the back door with his suitcase in his hand. As he ran by Billy he shouted, “The money in the safe is yours,” and something else which Billy didn't quite get about a farmers daughter.

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There was a freight train going through town, and Logan threw his suitcase into one of the open doors of a box car and jumped in as it left town.

This was the last time he ever saw Logan.

Meanwhile there came a car load of farmers into town each with a shotgun.  They were looking for Logan, and after searching the town and not finding him, they took off down the road out of town.

Billy thought about the situation and decided he should leave also. He gathered up his suitcase which was already packed for Logan always insisted they keep their clothes packed in case they had to leave suddenly. Now Billy knew why he insisted on that.

Gladstone Bag
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Going down to the office he asked for the large oversized Gladstone bag which held their money, and was kept in the hotel's safe. The manager went and got it and handed it to Billy who immediately knew something was wrong.  It was much lighter.

They had accumulated a lot of large bills as well as many gold coins; thus Billy knew the bag had been opened, and money had been taken from it.  He eyed the manager suspiciously but didn't say anything and left.  

Billy drove out of town a short ways and parked on a side road, actually it wasn't much more than a path but he was out of sight.

 

He was trying to think of a way to get his money back, and then he hit on a plan, one which he thought over several times. Each step was etched in his mind and he waited.

To be Continued