A Good Day To Kill (27 page)

“It's three dollars and seventy cents,” the man behind the bar said.

Chet paid him and thanked him.

“She'll have your food ready shortly.”

“Fine, we can wait.”

“Boys, boys,” the bartender said, “let's toast our new friend and his crew, Marshal Byrnes. May the law straighten out Arizona.”

“Yeah,” went the cheer.

He ordered a beer apiece for his men and then sat back in the captain's chair.

“You don't drink beer?” Phil asked.

“I‘ve lost my taste for it.”

“What next?” Waco asked.

“We go back to Preskitt to deliver the pair of them to the sheriff. Stop at home and start back north again.” He lowered his voice. “There's no one here I could trust to take back all that gold they're supposed to have on them and their horses.”

“I think you're right. No one else should do it.” Waco made a tight-lipped nod.

“I have never arrested anyone,” Phil said. “But they didn't fight you?”

“They're lucky. They didn't neither one look like gunfighters to me, and they would have died standing at the bar.”

“Or coming out the back door.”

Chet chuckled. “Yes, you were out back there.”

“I was ready, but when I heard you order them to give up, I said to myself that they'd better do that, and they did.”

Waco was ready to sip more of his beer. “I was glad, too.”

Chet agreed—it went smoothly.

 

 

After their meal and with the prisoners fed, they borrowed two candle lamps from Reasor and put the prisoners in their irons behind the locked shed door with a blanket apiece.

Earlier, they'd searched the pair and found each wore a gold-dust-filled money belt around their waists.

They were heavy, too. And there were more pouches in their saddlebags. Chet knew there was a lot of gold, but had no idea about the total worth. He felt certain the amount would be several thousand dollars. Not enough to murder a man over—if the man died. Greed ruined many people's lives.

“Looked like they had enough for all,” Phil said.

“Damn shame,” Chet said.

“Who will get all this gold?” Waco asked.

“The heirs, I guess.”

“Can we get in the will?” Phil asked.

The other two laughed at his plan. They took turns guarding the gold and the prisoners. Chet took the last duty and dawn found them loaded. Reasor's wife, Nettie, fed them breakfast and they headed south. They didn't stop until they reached the Verde River Ranch that evening.

Tom met them and arranged guards for the prisoners and gold. Chet was still several hours away from his wife and their house. At his request, they saddled a fresh horse for him. Tom promised to bring the prisoners in a buckboard with their gold and gear the next day.

Chet swung in the saddle and headed for home under the stars. His arrival awoke the house, and his wife met him at the back door.

“What's wrong?”

“We arrested two men for robbing their partner and Tom is bringing them up tomorrow. Let's go to bed. I'm bone tired.”

“Glad you're alright,” Monica said, standing nearby in her robe. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

Arm in arm, they went upstairs as he gave Marge a sketchy report on things that happened.

He undressed, fell in bed, and slept hard. He awoke groggy and smiled at his wife. “Good to be here with you.”

She kissed and hugged him. “Always.”

He had a lot to do to get back to his trip to see Reg and Lucie on the Mogollon Rim Ranch.

The next morning, the men reached the ranch with the buckboard and prisoners. Chet shook both men's hands, thanked them, and sent his two off to get some rest. Tom and his three cowboys could handle whatever was needed to deliver the prisoners. Chet took a new horse in the cool morning air and smiled at Jimenez.

“Sure he won't buck?”

“No, señor. But, sometimes the calm ones buck.”

“I know. Thanks.”

He checked the gelding and he sidestepped, making like he was tiptoeing on eggs. With his head held high by the bit, Chet booted him forward to join the buckboard and riders preparing to leave.

“I sure thought he'd buck,” Tom teased.

Chet shook his head like it was nothing, and they left the ranch.

Once in town, they drove to the courthouse in the square. Chet and Tom went inside and told the deskman they had the two men outside that robbed and shot Talburt Eden.

The man nodded his head. “Eden is still at the doctor's house and he's not sure the man will live.”

“Their names are Don Sheets and Kelly Monroe. There is considerable gold dust, some that they stole from Eden. I have no idea how much. And there's their horses, as well as his.”

“The sheriff's at Crown King this morning, investigating another murder-robbery. We've interviewed Eden and have all that information. I'm shorthanded. Could you board the horses at the livery?”

“Sure, we can do that. Thanks for your cooperation.”

“No problem, Marshal Byrnes.”

They brought in the prisoners, removed the handcuffs and leg irons, and they were marched off to a cell. Chet and his outfit took their horses to Frey's Livery and then went by Jenn's for lunch.

Cole was there. “Hey, I thought you were on the Rim with two
vaqueros
?”

“Oh, we ran into a robbery and shooting and then captured the pair that did it.”

“Hey, I'd sure have rode with you up there.”

“Those two with me did a great job, but I'll accept your offer for the next one. I plan to start out again in the morning.” He nodded to Cole's wife, Valerie, who was approving the change.

“I'll be there.”

“Thanks.”

Bonnie stopped by then and handed him a letter. “It's from JD. He's excited. Your windmill is working.”

Chet stopped and read it. JD said the blades were whirling and water coming out of the pipe, and it was gorgeous to see. The rest of the letter was that of a man in love with his wife.

“Thanks, Bonnie.” He handed it back. “Sounds like something good is happening down there.”

“Tell us about the arrests you made,” Cole said.

He told them the story as the girls brought plates of food out to the crew. He sat down and Jenn patted his shoulder. “We heard about the wounded man they brought back from up there, but there was no mention about you.”

“Those
vaqueros
and I went after the robbers, and I sent him back with some freighters for medical attention. They obviously got him back in time to maybe save his life.”

Everyone agreed.

“Well, I've lost a few days, so Cole and I will head north again in the morning.”

“Be careful.”

 

 

Back home, Chet took a bath, shaved, and put on clean clothes, then he told Raphael how much he appreciated his two hands' help, but Cole would be going back with him. He told his man that if he ever needed men to ride with him again, he'd use them.

In the predawn, Chet and Cole rode north. They were camped near the crossroads under the San Francisco range on the second morning, and the next day they rode all day for the North Rim Ranch, arriving late in the evening. Some barking stock dogs greeted them, and the lights came on in the house. Two sleepy cowboys got up and hollered at them before Reg busted out shouting, “Is that you?”

“Me and Cole.”

“Get their horses, guys. How have the two of you been?” Reg asked.

“A little cold riding over, but I've been trying to get here for a week.”

Lucie handed her husband the baby and bear-hugged Chet. “You rascal. It's so good to see you. I thought you'd never make it up here. You guys come on in. I bet he's got stories to tell us we ain't never heard.”

“This the new boss?” He took the baby wrapped in a small blanket.

“That's Carla.”

“Well, she's a big handful.”

“My sister is helping me. It's been a long time since any of us has been around a baby. She's a tiger.”

Chet nodded at her sister, Fern, who had joined them. “Nice to see you again. You all know Cole. He and I and the rest have been down south chasing bandits. Me and two of the crew had to catch some robbers who shot a man on the road north of the sawmill. Took them back to Preskitt, then I changed guards and Cole came up here with me.”

“Good to have you with us. You ate supper?” Lucie asked.

“We're fine.”

“Hey, sis and I can whip up pancakes. Everyone sit at the table and we'll go to work. Reg, you can hold the baby.”

Chet handed the now squirming bundle to her father. “Well, Reg, how are things up here?”

“Good. We made a lot of hay with our own equipment. I hired some local boys to work in it, and they got lots done. We may have a two-year supply, but we can always use it. We've built some elk-proof stack holders. How is the windmill going down at Rancho Diablo?”

“The letter JD sent to his Bonnie says the first one is pumping away. Our main manufacturer, John, says we can make them at our shop. So we're working on it.”

“Those homesteads that Bo Evans bought for us have wells that'll work with windmills,” said Reg.

“Good, we can't have too much water in this country. Over the winter we'll expand the mill building.”

“Good. Tom, I know, is looking for more bulls. But we have fewer British bulls than the rest of the ranches,” said Reg.

“They aren't easy to find,” Chet said. “We aren't orphaning you. We're looking at some half-bloods to use, until we can get enough bought or raised.”

“Just so you're thinking about us.”

“We are. Maybe we don't look like it, but we really are.”

“I guess Lucie and I are impatient. But we've caught a herd up here.”

“I know, and you two and these two cowboys are doing wonders. But even if we could find them, it's near impossible to get them up here without a railroad close by.”

Reg turned his palms up, then shifted his daughter and patted her on the back. “Treated like stepchildren.”

“Not on purpose.”

“Don't be so hard on him, he's being the law and trying to run a widespread empire, all at the same time,” Lucie said from the stove, flipping flapjacks.

“If I was home, I doubt you'd get much better service.”

“Ah, hell, Lucie, he knows me. I'm antsy as all get out to get this ranch up to Tom's standards.”

“I know, but I bet you'd have to go clear to Kansas or Nebraska to find enough British bulls.”

“Hey, coming from Texas to here by myself was enough trailing for me for a lifetime. I never knew Arizona was so damn far out here.”

“There you go. Are you having any trouble up here?”

Reg nodded. “We get a little. I think most of it is jealousy.”

“They're just jealous that we're growing and getting all this done,” Lucie said from behind her spatula, working at the stove. “Taking care of our business and doing it right. If we ever have a real hard winter up here, and with no more hay than these ranchers have put up, lots of them will lose their entire herd.”

“She knows this country and the weather. She's been here the better part of her life,” Reg said.

Chet agreed, leaning back as the recipient of her first pile of flapjacks. “Thanks, ma'am.”

“We aren't unhappy here, Chet.”

“I know that, and if I can find a dozen British bulls I'll drive them up here by myself.”

They all laughed. Chet poured syrup on the stack. “I'm eating now. Thanks, Lucie.”

“You're welcome. Cole, yours are coming.”

“No hurry. I'm enjoying your fine house.”

“Hey, we're pretty proud of it, too. Sis, here, and my other sister call it a mansion, and considering the closest town is Hackberry, it might be at that.” Lucie laughed, took Cole's pancakes out of the skillet, and put them on a plate. “Anyone else want some?”

The other three shook their heads.

Her sister took over to wash the pan, and Lucie picked up the baby. “Any word on Susie and her baby?”

“Still coming along good when we left. In her last letter to Marge, she sounded like she was doing fine now and had gone back to Windmill.”

“Tell us more about JD and his place,” Reg said.

“It's a huge desert operation. We have around two hundred cows I bought from Buster when we ran him off. With some water development and getting rid of the mustangs, the place could easily run twice the number.”

“You have any trouble, besides the attempted raid on your ranch at Preskitt?”

“Oh, when we were winding up the sale, Buster got his back up and Shawn McElroy was with me. When he took a step toward me, Shawn got in his face. Some of you don't know him, but he's a real hand on the Force. I don't think he's twenty years old, but he backed that windbag down. I about laughed.”

“Sounds like a guy you need,” Reg teased.

“Cole, or Jesus, or any of my help, takes care of me. There was a guy ran off with a man's daughter and Hampt went along with me to ask her to come home. Her father is crippled, by the way. He's going to train some of the boys from the ranch how to make saddles and harness. He's repairing our things at the ranch now.”

“We got that letter about him,” Lucie said, “and the party that we couldn't make.”

“Good. Anyhow, we found her down at Crown King and were talking to her about going home. This jerk she ran off with came blustering up about us messing with her. Hampt got him by the shoulder and I guess put a thumb in him, and he got plumb friendly.”

“Lord,” Reg said, “he'd scare anyone looking a little mad.”

“She came back with us, and now she and her father have a new house and business.” Then he went on and told them about solving the murder and the other Force activities.

The next morning, they rode out to a nearby homestead that Bo had bought. It had ten acres of alfalfa the crew had cut and stacked behind elk-proof board fencing. The low-walled log cabin was tight and would do for a line rider shelter.

While they examined the corrals and sheds, Reg said, “Late-born calves need to be watched and pampered that first winter more than the others. I want to install a well pump and put a hand up here this winter to water and feed them. We're going to have about forty or so, and the hay we have here should get them through in good shape. Oh, some wind shelters might be needed. But we can get them put up before it gets bad.”

“I'd say it's fine. Pipe and a pump, plus a bigger tank should do it. You'll have to wrap it good to keep it from freezing.”

“Yeah, we aren't in Texas anymore.” Reg laughed. “If Hampt would show me how, I could plant more alfalfa up here and expand this operation,” Reg said.

“I'm certain he would show you.”

“Tom says he's the man. Can I put in a rail fence and use around thirty more acres and do that?”

“Go ahead, and we can schedule this place for a windmill in the next year. John is getting lots of barbwire made down there. You might put in for a wagonload of it.”

“I can't wait to tell Lucie. She'll be tickled pink.”

“Good. You aren't having rustling or any other problems up here?”

“No, we're isolated enough it's pretty quiet. I ran off all the squatters on these places, and don't let any others start to move in.”

“Good. Now, if you had twelve bulls, you'd be set.”

“I don't lack much. You hear anything about a railroad coming?” Reg asked.

“That would solve a lot of all our problems, but best I can tell, it's still in Kansas and not coming fast enough. At the current rate, it'll be ten years getting here.”

“My daughter will be riding by then.” Reg laughed.

“It could be that long.”

“Chet, I know you have lots of things on your mind and places to manage. Those bulls would help and I may sound sour, but I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have Lucie, the baby, a new house, and a ranch to expand. It ain't Texas up here, but it ain't crowded, and we're blessed you found all this when you came out here. It's almost like them damn Reynolds did us a favor, driving us out of Texas. You'd never have found a woman you fit better with than you do with Marge.”