Twenty sixA month later
Simms stepped out of the church and stopped on the steps, considering the little group of grieving people standing in a tight knot a few paces away. A tall woman, dabbing her face with a white kerchief, nodding, forcing smiles to those close by, a woman Simms assumed was Cartwright's mother. He swallowed hard. Sitting at the back of the church, he'd listened to the eulogy, as well as the gut-wrenching sobs, and tried his best not to dwell on the events of the past weeks. His mission had been to thwart a train robbery, apprehend the culprits. His orders said nothing about watching a young man die in front of his eyes. Lieutenant Cartwright had been headstrong, gruff, inexperienced – naive even, but by God, his bravery stood head and shoulders above anything else any
