Josh stared at the blood and piece of Jim's tongue on the floor, very aware of Anson's eyes on him. There would be no lying here. "I'm looking for the kids. The ones that are lost," he said.
Anson's eyebrows rose. "Indeed you are...but I knew that. This town gets few strangers crossing over the border. We've got three things here that attract the curious." He held up his hand, demonstrating each one. "Sand, sunshine, and suspicions. You've been here long enough to know the first two well enough. So let's focus on the third. Sit," he commanded.
Josh moved slowly, weary as a man could be in such company, and sat in the low-backed chair in front of Anson's desk. Madam Cree remained where she stood by the door, watching Josh with her different colored eyes.
Anson remained half sitting on his desk, peering down at Josh. "Suspicions. You may ask yourself why that is the third curiosity of this town. I'm more than happy to tell you... eh, your name?"
"Josh."
"Josh, yes," Anson said pointing at him. "We've had many missing persons in this town since before I was a child." His eyes trailed off to look at something unseen. "Since before then... In fact, the first missing person reported was the founder, Sam Dalton's, son. Dalton. A common enough name but I will sincerely tell you he was uncommon as far as settlers go. He came by way of wagon train. There were twenty wagons in fact. Twenty wagons but at least thirty families along with the men who made up Sam Dalton's trusted riders. They found this valley and believed it the perfect place to settle. There was silver in the dirt and deep wells to drink from.
"Dalton surveyed the valley looking for gold mines. He found plenty of potential sites and many of the dried up holes in the ground to this day remain. Lumber came in from the hills and the first homes and storefronts began to make this place seem a heavenly hall. Everything pointed to progress and riches. That is until Sam Dalton disappeared. He rode off one day to scout an area he believed might have the best mining potential yet. But he didn't return and his men went searching."
Anson stood from his desk and walked around to the front, opening a different drawer than before. "Dalton had this obsession with collecting trophies. Anything he killed, he took a trophy. Mostly tooth or antler but he had this one trophy no one knew where it came from. There was nothing like it that anyone had ever seen before and Dalton wore it around his neck for everyone to see." His hand came up and Josh stared at the object. "He said it belonged to something called a snipe." The skull belonged to a reptile of some sort. The mouth did not look right though. It's mouth splayed open like an open flower. Sharp teeth ran along each of the petal-like mandibles. "This is all they found of him. Nothing else. No sign of his horse either. No bones...no blood. Just gone."
Anson looked over the skull in his hand slowly. "Then, the truly stranger things started taking place."
"More than disappearances?" Josh asked.
"Disappearances rallied the town," Anson said. "If there's anything that drives a community closer, it's searching for those they've lost. Do you know what drives a community apart?"
Josh shook his head despite being able to guess a good many things.
"Distrust." Anson placed the skull back into its box. "When neighbors begin to bicker over property lines and missing belongings, the seeds are planted. Rain comes in the forms of backbiting and rumors. Doors begin to lock at night and accusations stick like thorns. These are the beginnings of a community splintering."
Josh sifted his way through Anson's words. "Are you saying these things were out of the norm? Doesn't that happen in any community?"
Anson gave Josh a pitying smile. "Not when unexplained sightings of lights in the skies and shadows with eyes in the night drive folk to near madness."
"What do you mean?"
"Come now. You've drifted into our valley under odd circumstances. Antlered jackrabbits. Smokers and dusters at odds. Storms rolling in to keep anyone from leaving." Anson pointed at Josh. "You've witnessed just the surface oddities of this place, Josh. Do not confuse what you've seen so far with all that lays hidden. You will see more."
Josh swallowed hard. "I'm here for those kids--"
Anson clapped his hands. "You'll not find them." His words were whispered but the certainty drove Josh to squirm in his seat. "They've been given away."
Josh's jaw clenched. "No. I promised I'd find them."
Anson leaned in. "You'll break that promise."
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