Extraterrestrial Art Thief

Lawrence Jones walked into his office at the New York Daily Tribune and picked up a note that was positioned on his desk begging for his attention. “I want to see you now.” His boss demanded.

Lawrence dutifully went not really expecting what he was about to hear, from the founder of the Trib, Horace Greeley. “Lawrence… I have an exciting assignment for you.”

Lawrence thought to himself. “I just know he’s gonna send me outside of the city, to cover a story that nobody will read once I write it.”

“Lawrence come over here and sit down.” Greeley demanded, holding a mostly puffed down cigar in his usual not so pleasant manner. “You’re heading to California my boy, mostly by train. I received a letter from a longtime friend of mine who used to be with the paper, he now lives in Barstow, California.”

Lawrence looked somewhat amazed, “You’re asking me to go to California? To cover a story? And most importantly are you going to cover all my expenses?”

Responding quickly Horace explained to Lawrence what this was all about, “The answer is yes to all of your questions. Now let me tell you why I think this story has merit. There seems to be a lot of attention being given to a prospector named Gusty, who works pretty much around the Calico mountains. It happens to be, not too far out of the town of Barstow…