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Lucas and Gail were the only two people sitting, and they were sipping the last of the coffee the sheriff had offered everyone.

“I gave the matter of the treasure serious thought,” the sheriff said from behind his desk.

“Some of it will repair the damage the dynamite caused in this town. I can also use some of the money to help out the people in the area who’ve been hurt by Lee and Wilson.

It’ll take time, but I’ll track them down. The rest will go to you six.”

Surprised, Zeke asked, “Why are you giving us some of it?” That had been a considerable bag of gold they’d found behind the schoolhouse, but he didn’t expect to see any of it for himself.

“These were wanted men,” the sheriff told him.

“They had a reward on their heads. All of you came here searching for them. From what you all told me, you each had a hand in this. And had it not been for you two,” he looked at Blaze and Zeke, “they would have evaded capture again. I was tied up with Faye in the ammunition store when they were making their move.”

Lucas spoke up. “I understand you giving the money to Zeke, Blaze, and Faye, but all the rest of us did was hide in a hotel room.”

“You were the reason we had the map to the treasure,” Blaze intervened. “If we hadn’t had that, we never would have known to come here.”

Lucas blinked. “Well, yes, but I don’t know if that’s worth some reward money.”

“You could have taken the map and used it yourself,” Blaze countered.

When it looked as if Lucas was going to protest, Gail put her hand on his arm. “You and I went to the canyon to find your sister, and that’s where we found the map. I think it’s gracious of the sheriff to make the offer.”

“Gail is right, Lucas,” Bernadette added. “You should take the money. Maybe you can put it toward the family business or use it to help our mother.”

Gail nodded. “We will make sure good use comes from it.” With a glance at the sheriff, she continued, “Thank you, Sheriff. That’s a very generous offer, and we will accept it.”

“That’s all fine for the others,” Zeke said. “But I’m a deputy. This is my job. I can’t take the money.”

“I feel like I should give you something,” the sheriff insisted. “You got Wilson before he escaped.”

“He did,” Blaze replied on Zeke’s behalf. “And he prevented me from getting shot so I could get Lee. Most of this was because of you.”

“We helped each other,” Zeke pointed out.

“Which is why you two make a good team,” the sheriff inserted. “You should both have some of that reward money.”

Zeke glanced at Bernadette. “I’d like to send all of my share to my uncle. He’ll know where it’s best suited for Flagstaff.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Bernadette assured him.

The sheriff grinned at him. “You can give the money to him yourself, along with my letter thanking him for your assistance.”

Now a letter like that would be worth having. Zeke suspected his uncle hadn’t been all that happy taking him on, but this would go a long way to his uncle having confidence in him. And if his uncle had confidence in him, the others in Flagstaff would, too. At that, Zeke stood a little taller.

“Alright, let me give you each the amount due to you,” the sheriff said.

While he went to divide up the treasure, Faye turned to them. “I need to find this woman who is going through Flagstaff pretending she’s me.” Her gaze settled on Zeke. “And since you know who she is, I need you to point her out to me.”

“What will you do when you find her?” Gail asked.

“I don’t know,” Faye admitted. “I haven’t thought that far yet. I’ll figure it out along the way.”

“I would be interested in talking to this woman, too,” Blaze spoke up. “It could be that she needs help.”

“Or that she’s taking advantage of people,” Faye argued.

“Either way, I think it’s worth finding out,” he said.

Zeke noted that everyone’s attention went to him.

He had planned to go back to Flagstaff when they were done in Quartzsite anyway.

He was especially excited to introduce his ma to Bernadette.

He was looking forward to giving Bernadette a home and watching her decorate it with a bunch of pretty things, like his ma did for his pa.

And then they would have children. He could pass on all of those fun stories his pa had once told him.

Maybe one of those children would even be a deputy someday.

He stopped himself before he jumped too far into the future. The point was, he was going back to Flagstaff anyway, so it didn’t hurt if the others came along.

“Do you two want to join us?” he asked Lucas and Gail.

“There isn’t a train station here,” Lucas replied. “There is one in Flagstaff, so yes, we’re joining you.”

“Great!” Bernadette beamed with excitement. “I can’t wait to see what our next adventure will be.”

Zeke could tell that the others didn’t think this trek would be an adventure, but there were plenty of interesting things that could happen in the Arizona territory.

Life never got boring out here. The best thing was knowing that Bernadette had chosen him and that they would get to share all of the adventures the future would bring together.