Brothers in Blood (27 page)

“Good job. I think we need to contact the sheriff in Nogales for Santa Cruz County. I met him once. I think his name is Garcia.”

Gabbert nodded.

“Roamer, you ride in there and find him or his man and have them bring the coroner out here. I'll make a map of the crime scene and send that with you for him.”

“We'll leave you some signs,” Chet said to Roamer. “We've got some jerky and should find food along the way. You do the same.”

“You going to try to track them?” Roamer asked.

“If they left a track.”

“I'll find you.”

“Fine.” Chet wasn't certain how Gabbert and the sheriff got along. Why did he ride clear to their camp to report a crime that happened in the jurisdiction of a sheriff? That was why he chose Roamer to go see the chief law official.

Roamer left for Nogales. In the late afternoon, Chet, Cole, and Gabbert headed east. He had concerns that the outlaws wouldn't go far, but Gabbert had a notion they were going to a hideout in Nogales.

“There's a ranch over there where lots of them bandits hide out. It's easy for them to slip off into Mexico from there.”

Chet yawned. “Thanks, you can guide us. We'll chance catching them.”

The darkness of night finally made their traveling dangerous. They slept a few hours in their bedrolls, ate some more jerky, and washed it down with canteen water. In the predawn, Chet decided he needed to find out more about their guide. Several things about the man and his part in the raid vexed him.

“Gabbert, why don't you level with me? I think you know who murdered those folks.”

“I never lied to you.”

“No, but I don't have all the story.”

Cole listened close as they stood by their horses under the stars.

“I never killed her.”

“I didn't say you did. Tell me the entire story.”

“Me and that damn sheriff had our outs.”

“Outs? What's that mean?”

“I traded for a horse someone had stole. He came to arrest me for stealing it. I got in a fight and was arrested. I never stole nothing. I was having an affair with her. He knew that. I figured that was why he'd accuse me of the crime.” The man was crying by then.

“Gabbert, tell me about these men that we're headed for.”

“Aw, they raped her about six months ago. I ain't no hand with a gun. She begged me not to go over there and kill them. She wouldn't tell the sheriff, either.”

“They raped her?”

“They were drunk and rode over there and raped her the first time. I just hoped they didn't do it again. I was drunk that night and didn't go see her. Yesterday, I rode out there and found them dead. I figured the sheriff would arrest me for doing it.”

Gabbert was still crying. “I don't know why she put up with me. But she was a good woman.”

“Who are these men we're going after?”

“Joe Guzman. Theo somebody, and Anthony Diaz.”

“What do they do?”

“Small crimes.”

“She have any money?”

“Not much.”

“Guzman the leader?”

“Yeah, he's in his thirties. Them other two are maybe twenty.”

“Women and kids there?”

Gabbert nodded and wiped his nose on a dirty sleeve.

“What now, Chet?” Cole asked.

“How far away are they?” Chet asked the weeping man.

“Two miles.”

“I know you're sad and I believe your story, Gabbert, but we'll need evidence that they were there.”

“I saw they took both her dresses.”

“Huh?” Chet asked, ready to mount up.

“They took both her dresses. She only had two. One was her working dress, the other her good one. She didn't have no dress on when I found her. Both were gone.”

“We'll find them, and we'll have a good case.”

By the time the sun started to rise, they rode up to the place with their guns drawn. Gabbert, of course, didn't want a gun.

“Guzman, come out empty handed. The law's here,” Chet yelled.

A woman screamed and Cole jerked his horse's head around and fired a shot in the ground to stop a half-naked man attempting to run away. “Get the hell back here.”

The younger man stopped and raised his hands. “Don't shoot. Don't shoot.”

Another young one wearing only his pants came around with his hands in the air.

“Watch them.” Chet decided Guzman must have run out the back and he charged his roan horse around the
jacal.
He spotted the near naked man headed for the chaparral riding bareback. He fired a warning shot in the air and the man stopped his horse.

“Get your hands high. Now, dismount, and don't move or you're dead.”

Chet stepped down and took handcuffs from the saddlebags. The man's hands shackled behind his back, he headed him back and led his horse.

Cole had the other two seated on the ground. Gabbert held a Mexican woman in her teens who kicked and thrashed around.

“This is Nellie's dress she has on and the other one is inside.”

“Good. Where is the money?” He punched Guzman in the back.

“She didn't have any money.”

“No, you found some money. That's why you killed her.”

“How do you know that?” Guzman acted insulted.

“Hell, you raped that woman before and didn't kill them. It was over money, wasn't it?”

“It was all his idea,” one of the younger men said.

“Shut up.”

“I want the money,” Chet insisted.

“I don't have any money.”

“I want an answer, and my time is short.”

“How did you find us?”

“Gabbert showed us the way.”

“That old drunk. I should have killed him, too.”

“Now show me the money.”

Chet shoved Guzman ahead of him into the house where the outlaw nodded at a large jar. When Chet looked inside, he saw a sack. He lifted the heavy sack onto the table and opened the drawstring. It was full of coins and bills and a letter inside that he took out and opened.

“What does it say?” Cole asked.

“Gabbert is out of debt. She left all this money to him to raise her boy. Make that woman get out of that dress. It's evidence.”

“We may have to take it off her.” Cole looked at him with a frown.

“We can do that. Let me talk to her.”

Chet turned to Gabbert. “Close up that bag and letter and take good care of it.”

“Yes, sir. This is some mess.”

Chet nodded curtly and went outside. He told the woman in Spanish to take off the dress or they'd take it off.

She acted indignant, but she stomped inside, undressed, and flung the dress at him. “There, you
bastardo
!”

He swept it up, ignored her nakedness, and went outside. Laughing to himself, he gathered that dress and the other one Gabbert found. The man was seated on the ground, crying again.

“Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Did she own that place where she lived?”

“Yeah, she owned it. Why?”

“Well, I bet the judge will give that to you, too. She left a will of sorts for you to take care of her son.”

“He was killed.”

“You still look like her heir. I'll help you settle it. It was something she wanted.”

“Damn those bastards. What are we going to do with them?”

“Take them to jail and see they hang.”

“Good.”

“You need to sober up and stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

“I will try.”

“I don't mean try. I mean do it. She must have seen something in you. Why don't you try to live up to it?”

“All right. I will.”

Cole put a noose around each of the men's necks and made a chain of them. “We're going to Nogales. We have Gabbert's money and the two dresses they stole after they killed her. Let's move, and if they don't trot, drag them.”

Midmorning, they met Roamer and a deputy sheriff coming to find them.

The deputy looked over the prisoners. “You got any proof against them?”

“Yes, Nellie Justice's two dresses, and the money they stole.”

“How can you prove it's hers?”

“It has her will in the same bag as the money.”

“Roamer says you're US Marshals.”

“We are. You can wire Marshal Blevins and find out who we are.”

“I'm sure my boss has. Messing up a murder scene is a crime.”

“I doubt a jury would find it so. To leave bodies out for buzzards is not the right thing.”

“How come did you get notified and we didn't?”

“Lack of faith.” Chet shrugged.

“Huh?”

“The man felt you were prejudiced and he wanted it solved.”

“You don't have any authority in our local law.”

“Hey, I'm not going to stay here and argue with you. Any citizen can arrest any criminal and bring him to justice.”

“You ain't anyone as important as you think you are.”

“Listen, we solved a heinous crime. We have the killers and the evidence. Since you're such a legal expert, I'll talk to the judge and prosecutor.”

The deputy sulled up. They rode on. Roamer was chuckling when they went on—the prisoners grumbling about the pace.

Roamer gave Chet a head toss. “I'm glad he took you on. I've listened to his bitching since I notified them of the crime.”

“I plan to hire a lawyer to represent Gabbert when we get there. This all is crazy. But I agree he'd never of stood a chance if he hadn't called on us.”

Roamer agreed.

“You should have been there. The woman was wearing one of her dresses and wouldn't take it off. I told her to take it off or we would.”

“She took it off?” Roamer chuckled.

“Yep.” Chet nodded. “And she threw it at me.”

“No rocks in it?”

“No, but if she'd had some she'd have thrown them, too.”

“We're going to Nogales then?”

“Yes, we need to set up some help for Gabbert. I'll hire him a lawyer and we'll get a bank to count the money and hold it. Plus have her will straightened out.”

“What next?”

“I don't know. Just part of our project down here, is all I can think of.”

“What about the big ranch?”

“Oh, that will take some time. Then it'll end up in court.”

“You figure they have a claim?”

“I don't think Krueger made any deal that large that would hold up. And my lawyer wonders how Weeks got sixty acres out there in the middle of nowhere. That's all being investigated.”

Roamer shook his head in disbelief. “You do things I'd never even try, but you make money and help lots of folks. Sharing that Navajo cattle deal is really great for our neighbors.”

“You think JD can run this place?” Chet asked, knowing he and JD had been doing things together.

“I think he'd do a good job. He talks a lot like he's anxious to settle down with his wife.”

“I think he's made a turn anyway.”

When they reached King's Road, the prisoners were exhausted. Chet hired a rancher with a large wagon and a big team to haul the prisoners. By evening, the murderers were in the Nogales County jail and Chet met with the prosecuting attorney and sheriff. After a fiery meeting with the sheriff, they agreed the money and the will needed to be put in the bank while her estate was probated by an attorney the prosecutor recommended as honest.

The sheriff was still trying to protest the action of the task force in the case, until the prosecutor finally told him to shut up, and that ended his mouthing off. The official complimented Chet on his efforts. It was late when the three had supper and bedded down in the livery.

Gabbert met them for breakfast in a café and told them the attorney, Jim Elmore, was handling his case. He acted and looked sober. When the meal was over, Chet took him aside.

“I'll pay that lawyer's fee and help you, if you stay sober. You want to drink, you tell me and I'll quit.”

“I'm going to try hard. I appreciate your helping me, and she would too for seeing what she wanted is done.”

“No, no try. Don't drink.”

“Yes.”

They left Nogales and were all day getting back. Jesus came out to greet them.

“Anything wrong?” Chet asked, dismounting.

“No. No telegrams, no letters. I went to town and got some more frijoles, corn meal, and flour for those squatters. I figured they'd about ran out, huh?”

“Good idea. Where's JD?”

“Since we had no problems, he and Ortega went to shoot a desert bighorn ram.”

“That might be fun.”

Jesus agreed, but didn't act interested.

“While you're down there with the squatters, find out where their husbands might be. They need to come and get them. They have no way to raise enough food out there and they face starvation.”

“I will see what I can find out.”

“Someone needs to ride with you over there.”

“I will get Cole, but you must keep Roamer here to look after you.”

“Yes, Mother. You two be careful. I have some bad feelings about Weeks. I don't trust him.”

Jesus smiled. “I am only doing what she told me to do.”