Irvine tapped the entries in the book with his finger as he looked at Bell. “You can request the Chicago office to put out bulletins to banks around the West to be on the lookout for them. Fifties will be easier to trace than fives, tens, or twenties.”

“And a lot easier than ones,” Curtis added.

“I’ll see to it,” Bell assured Irvine.

“I made a few inquiries on my own and actually came up with two banks in San Francisco where three of the bills showed up.”

“Good work,” said Bell. He then focused on Curtis. “Now, how about you, Arthur?

Any luck on your end?”

“Did you find any passenger trains the killer might have escaped on?” Irvine queried.

“No. But freight trains are a different story.”

“Weren’t they searched by the posses?”

Curtis shook his head. “Not the ones that were loaded and locked.”

“So where did you go from there?” inquired Bell.

Curtis broke out into a smile that spread and beamed. “It took many hours of digging in musty old railroad company records, but I did manage to make an interesting discovery. I found three cars that were on the sidings of towns that were robbed. Boxcar serial number 15758 was present in Virginia City and Bisbee during the robberies. In Virginia City, its cargo manifest was listed as fifty bales of barbed wire to be transported to a ranch in Southern California. Boxcar 15758

was empty when it sat on a siding waiting to be switched to another train in Bisbee.”

“Empty,” Irvine repeated, stirring restlessly in his chair.

“Yes, empty. It had hauled a load of pottery from Las Cruces, New Mexico, to Tucson, before being sent empty back to El Paso.”

“So we can scratch that one,” muttered Bell. “What about the others?”

Curtis referred to his notes. “Number 18122 was present at Elkhorn, Nevada, and Grand Junction, Colorado, when their banks were robbed. It was on the siding at Grand Junction waiting to be switched to a train to take it to Los Angeles. Its cargo was sixty cases of wine. At Elkhorn, it carried a load of mattresses, from a factory in Sacramento, California.”

“So much for 18122,” said Irvine. “It’s not likely the bandit escaped to different locations.”

Curtis fairly beamed. “I saved the best for last.” Rising and walking to a blackboard, he wrote O’BRIAN FURNITURE COMPANY, DENVER on the black surface. Then he turned with a pleased expression on his face. “Now we come to a boxcar that was present at five robberies.”

Both Bell and Irvine sat up suddenly in their chairs as Curtis caught their fixed attention. The agent had taken the bull by the horns and delved into an area no one had thought to go.

Bell, surprised at Curtis’s unexpected revelation, said, “The car was in five towns on the day their banks were robbed?”

“I’ve made a list of towns, times, and its final destination.”