Wallace brushed fussily at the creases in his nipple-high pants. “Clean the wax out of your ears, kid! I’m saying that coin matches the description of the coins stolen in the Dead Man’s Canyon Stagecoach Robbery.”

Maggie’s mouth formed a perfect O. “The robbery that inspired the fake gold coins in all the shops in town?”

“The one and the same,” Wallace said smugly.

“Where did it happen? What were the circumstances? How can you be sure?”

“I’m not sure. But since you asked…” he said.

“Oh, boy, here we go,” Silas whispered.

“What’s in your pockets?”

Between the three of them, they came up with some cash and a tube of ChapStick. “Now, let’s say this lip gunk is the stagecoach. Part of Benjamin Updyke’s stage line, it ran from the Montana gold mines into Boise. Pulled by four of the fastest horses, that particular stage was carrying three passengers as well as four strongboxes. Two of raw gold from the mines, one of gold brick, and one of newly minted coins. All headed for the Basin Bank in Boise.”

Maggie stepped closer and watched the reenactment.

“These two dollars represent the hills on either side of Dead Man’s Canyon,” Wallace said, placing two bills two inches apart. “The coach ran weekly, leaving its overnight stop in Kinship. Dead Man’s Canyon was a four-hour ride south of here. Accounts vary, but most agree that the bandit Black Jack McGuire had intel that the coach would be running with more gold than usual. He paid a spy to hang out in Kinship watching for the coach.”

“So they could ride ahead and report when the coach was likely to leave,” she guessed.

“That’s the general consensus. When that coach entered the canyon here,” he said, moving the ChapStick between the dollar bills, “Black Jack McGuire was here. His cohorts, Bowman Potter and Samuel Espinosa, positioned themselves here and here on the ridges.” He doled out quarters to represent each player.

“Perfect place for an ambush,” Silas observed. He’d grown up playing stagecoach robbery in backyards with friends.

“It did the trick. They fired in the air, made a bunch of noise, and managed to get the whip—or driver—the conductor, and the passengers out without killing a single one. No bloodshed. They left the victims in the canyon with water and then made off with the coach, the gold, and all the passengers’ possessions.”

“Including the Minnie Franklin necklace,” Silas added.

“I was gettin’ to that,” Wallace grumbled.

“What’s the Minnie Franklin necklace?” Maggie asked, willing to play the gold star student.