Shooting For Justice by G. Tilman (top 100 novels txt) 📗

up a drug ring in the area, and additionally he had assisted Sarah in saving the life of the president. The person who led both of those investigations sat unnamed in his tuxedo twenty feet away.

Pope could see the shock on Morse’s face to learn after eight years and arresting Black Bart, he had “assisted” two Wells Fargo employees. He looked off into the crowd and saw Pope scowling. He scowled on Pope’s behalf as Pope’s two major accomplishments were played down. Morse knew the company’s founders. He would make sure they knew what transpired here tonight. He knew it would not do any good.

This horse was already out of the barn and out of sight, he thought.

After the dinner, a very upset Sarah and Morse left the head table as other people there spoke about what a wonderful speech Tevis made. The only other one still at the table, but extremely disengaged from the conversations was Hume. He knew the truth.

Further, he knew this would signal the end of the most beneficial business and friendship in his career at the company he served so long. He was crestfallen.

Sarah and Harry Morse took one look at Pope and knew he was dangerously angry. His look was fierce, yet he said nothing. He gave a glance at a beloved wife and a dear friend walking toward him but focused on Tevis and even Hume. Hume picked up on it and left the table. He knew he had to do something, but for once was stumped as to what.

As they approached Pope, Morse spoke. Both Popes heard him, but none of the dignitaries Tevis invited did.

“This night marks a sad change in the long relationship between my company and Tevis’s.”

“The move will cost you, Harry. Damnably, it will cost you too much to hire me. I, with John’s agreement, am considering resigning from Wells Fargo Monday morning.”

Hume caught up in time to hear a bit of his closest friend’s comment and all his best remaining detective’s.

“I cannot make up for what Tevis did and didn’t say. Somebody,” and they knew he meant him, “will make sure the Chronicle and every damn paper in the West hears about these slights. I just hope you both are just angry and not serious. We could not operate half as efficiently without the Morse Detective Agency as a partner and Sarah Pope as a detective,” a very shaken Hume said.

“Jim, you’ve known me a long, long time. We have been through bullets and blizzards together. If anybody knows I don’t say serious things through anger, it’s you.

“I need to do some serious thinking,” Morse said.

“Sarah, you have my full support on what you just expressed. With or without you joining our dear and respected friend Harry, we’ll get by,” Pope said.

She turned to a man she respected highly. One who she also liked.

“Mr. Hume, you have provided wonderful opportunities for John and me both. The slant put on our—especially Harry’s and John’s actions in the biggest cases in years worries me. A lot. I’d like to meet with you Monday and talk further.”

Hume nodded at all three and turned. He walked away without saying a word.

“Just in case my friend is more of a gelding than I ever thought, my contacts in the media are even better than his. And I will get to them first. Jim is a politician. He plans to retire from Wells Fargo by dying at his desk there. There is no way in hell he will drop information in any way showing Tevis for the pompous ass we just saw,” Morse said.

The headlines the next morning read “Tevis Slights Famous Detective Morse And Pope, Who Saved the President”. The story had details what the speech should have said and did not. They had already done full coverage on Pope and the drug cartel earlier in the week.

Israel Pope, hearing the story, said, “Don’t fret. People like him create their own hells. It will come back to bite him in the butt without any worry or action by you two or Harry. Good always wins out in the end. And you three are as good as it gets.”

Tevis called Hume into his office on Monday. He wanted to know what the uproar was all about. Hume gracefully corrected items in his speech and reported the Morse Detective Agency was likely to reduce, if not sever, its long relationship with Wells Fargo and he expected Detective Pope to resign. The governor and the president were later interviewed and echoed Morse’s version. They were not as angry as the founders of the company or its board. As a very major shareholder, Tevis was not affected other than by ridicule.

Sarah was sitting outside his office waiting when he returned from the top floor. She gracefully and sadly handed him her badge and letter of resignation.

“I wish you the best. You’ve been a great boss and have John’s and my everlasting gratitude. It breaks my heart it ended this way.” She proffered her hand, and he shook it. Sarah walked out of Wells Fargo, never again to re-enter what she knew to be a wonderful company.

For almost twenty years, Pope listened to and followed his grandfather’s guidance. He did this time, also. Sarah tried, and did a pretty good job. Harry Morse was a more serious enemy with powerful friends.

Harry Morse rented a one-room office in San Rafael. He had the door painted with his agency name and let Sarah select what went inside. She kept it simple and economical. It looked more like a smaller detective bull pen than a business office. Two desks, several locking files, a wardrobe and coat rack and a gun cabinet. She put a picture of the founder, Harry Morse on one wall and a large map of Northern California on another. Pope did the lock work to make sure it was impenetrable.

The Morse Detective Agency North Bay office was open for business. The first customer was a woman who