In the small cabin next to Davey's, the injured John lay in bed while his wife Abigail tended him.
Abigail had grown up in bars—born to prostitution and petty theft. She'd joined the Van der Linde gang through an introduction from an Uncle in the crew. How the Uncle knew Abigail doesn't need spelling out.
Davey felt a little awkward around Abigail. In his original life's memories he'd shared more than a few good nights with her. He'd even wondered if Little Jack might be his son—Davey was blond, while John and Abigail were dark-haired. It wasn't an idea unique to him; plenty in the gang likely suspected the same, including Arthur and Dutch. Oh, and the Uncle too.
Maybe that helped explain why, in the original game's story, the gang reacted so furiously when Little Jack was taken. Arthur hadn't yet fallen ill with TB, so there was no talk of redemption. For Arthur, finding a woman in a saloon or a hotel was normal—besides his ex, Mary, he'd once fathered a boy named Isaac with a waitress, though tragedy later followed.
John Marston, however, was clearly using the gang's resources for his own purposes.
The Callander brothers weren't popular in the camp—partly because of how they'd behaved earlier. Riding on their reputation as top fighters, they'd bullied people and acted like they owned the place. Across the gang, women had little say in matters. Bill and Javier were much like Arthur: loyal followers of Dutch. Micah was the notorious rat—no need to elaborate.
Then there was Charles, the recently joined mixed Native American and Black man. The Callander brothers had never been friendly with him; they'd discriminated against him before. The main point of contention had been hunting: Charles held a deep reverence for the buffalo, and the brothers had once shot several buffalo deliberately to mock him, creating serious friction. Charles wasn't a match for them, and Dutch had to step in to mediate.
...
While Davey was looking after Mac, the door swung open and Arthur came in.
"Hey, Davey, Mac—Dutch wants you two over. We need to get ready for the train job."
Davey asked, "Arthur, do you really think robbing that tycoon Cornwall's train will make life any better for us?"
Arthur looked surprised; he hadn't expected Davey to voice doubts like that.
"Davey, you've got to trust Dutch. He's got a big plan," Arthur said automatically in defense of Dutch. "But I'm more with Hosea on this. You know I've always backed Dutch—otherwise I wouldn't have gone with him to rob that ferry at Blackwater."
"I regret that job now. If we hadn't done the ferry and had instead joined you and Hosea in scamming those real estate men, we wouldn't be living like this. We wouldn't have drawn Pinkerton's attention."
Arthur sighed. "Yeah. Things would be better. But that's past, isn't it, Davey? All our savings are stuck in Blackwater, and we can't go back. We need money—more money."
"Listen, Davey. Dutch has learned there's a large shipment of bearer bonds on this train. If we can get them, we'll have the cash."
Davey shook his head. "Bearer bonds could fetch a lot, sure, but pissing off Cornwall will put Pinkerton on us in a way we can't handle. Pinkerton has informants everywhere. Under these circumstances, selling those bonds will be nearly impossible. Even if we manage to offload them, we'd only get a small cut; greedy middlemen would bleed us dry."
"Even if those bonds are worth tens of thousands, we'd probably only net a few thousand."
"Arthur, you know a few thousand dollars isn't nearly enough for us."
"And provoking Pinkerton? That's not a problem a few thousand dollars can fix."
Arthur hadn't thought through that angle and didn't know how to answer.
Davey went on, "I back Hosea. We should keep our heads down, not invite more trouble. That train belongs to a tycoon named Cornwall—he's richer than we imagine. If we cross him, he'll hire Pinkerton to come after us. Dutch's idea of pinning it on the O'Driscoll Gang is a bad plan. Pinkerton has so many informants they'd easily figure out the O'Driscolls weren't responsible."
"They'll suspect us. Even without conclusive proof, Pinkerton will splash the blame onto us just to secure Cornwall's contract. Then they'll reach into Ambarino—maybe even New Hanover."
"Then our situation will be far worse. We can't handle Pinkerton. You know what happens if they catch us? We'll be taken and hanged on the gallows."