Deadly Is the Night (4 page)

“Did you commit to her anything?”

Chet shook his face. “We said we'd write. I was on the go and no letters followed me I guess. I thought she had gone back to her
hacienda
for good. When I got back to Tubac she'd written two letters to me. Boy I was elated. She had a plan to have guards take her to the border. Could I pick her up there? I said I'd send Jesus to go get her, and Ortega's wife Maria told me I had to go get her myself. If it was her and I'd sent some guy to go get her, she'd have gone back home.”

“Were you married right off?”

“No, she had a large
hacienda
she had left her brother-in-law to run. But she wanted to see if we were really made for each other. So in time we were married in her church.”

“Tell him about her husband,” Jesus said.

“Three years before we met, some bandits came to the
hacienda
and knocked on the door. He went to answer it and they gunned him down. She met two of them on the stairs and gunned them down and shot the third one coming back in the house stepping over her husband's bloody body.”

“That is tough. She really had things hard and was strong enough to win.”

Chet stretched his tight back muscles. “In the first place her husband kidnapped her from a dance and then took off. Married her in a small Catholic chapel and took her back as his wife to his
hacienda
.”

“I'd say she was used to short courtships.”

“She told me later that she worried I'd think badly about her boldness, but she feared she would lose me forever in the short time we would be together that day and night.”

“You are a lucky guy. You pulled up roots in Texas and came here and haven't had a bad day yet.”

“The day I got shot I thought was going to be my last day.”

“I've never been shot. But I never have been in law enforcement, either.”

“It will damn sure make you a lot more cautious.”

“I bet so. I need to talk to JD's wife—her name is Bonnie, right?”

“She will tell you she does not miss the fast life and will even tell Rebecca that, too, if you think it will help.”

“I don't want to lose her, but I fear she may go back. There's lots she's never told me, and I fear about her past.”

“You want some time off?” Chet asked.

“No. I am who I am. I wanted this job and that is how I'll earn my living until you get tired of me. I am not going back to construction or being a cowboy unless I have to. With this job I can afford to support her. It might not be enough for her, but we won't starve.”

“Good luck,” Chet said, grateful that Spencer was staying with them.

They reached Hayden's Ferry, caught a meal, and reloaded on the southbound Tucson coach. They made Papago Wells and later in the night, Tucson. Chet got them all rooms and made plans to meet them for breakfast. Then he fell into bed and was asleep fast.

His coffee the next morning in Tucson tasted good and the
huevos rancheros
with fresh pork sausage filled the gap in his belly. “I want to talk to my attorney, here, Russell Craft, about Buster Weeks and his gang. See what he knows about his activity while we are here. Lawyers hear a lot others don't get to. You two can rest or see the town. We can meet for lunch at Jesus's cousin's café. All right?”

“Sure. Or we can go down to the
barrio
and maybe learn something, too,” Jesus said.

“Good idea. Tomorrow we can go to Tubac and see if the Force is there. The women will be there, and they will have horses for us to ride over the hills to Diablo if the men are not there.”

Chet found Russell at his office, and he greeted Chet with a smile and handshake. “I don't see much of you anymore?”

“I have been building a stage line from Gallup, New Mexico, to the Colorado River.”

“I read you had some problems up there. That parallels the route planned for the railroad.”

“Yes, it does. Too many problems starting up, but we've solved them for now. We are using buckboards now for the mail, but in a short while it will be a stage line.”

“That train may never get there at the rate it's building track.”

“You are right. Things are about at a standstill.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I am having old problems return. My foreman on the Diablo was recently shot by some of Buster Weeks's so-called employees from across the border. What do you know about him and his dealings?”

“Not very much. There are some Arizona warrants out for his arrest, but he pays officials well enough in Mexico to remain at large.”

“They foreclosed on his ranches above Oracle?”

“Yes. And he was not in good shape financially when he lost his hold on that place. Old Man Clanton's hold on the beef markets for the army and the Indians in this area is very strong, and you have the only other large cattle sales Clanton doesn't have in the territory.”

“I never understood why the government does business with him, but he must have connections. He also knows how hard the Navajo Agency is to get to, to deliver cattle to from down here, and besides that they have four delivery points to serve up there, not just one.”

“Oh, I've never heard a bad word about your deal. In fact, it runs so smoothly you actually scare people off who would love to have it.”

“Good. That's the plan. My brother-in-law Sarge Polanski is a real hand at cattle delivery.”

“Must be. As for Weeks and those two ranches, two banks split those ranches of his.

Arizona First has one; the Tucson Territorial Bank has the north one.”

“Any idea what they would have to have for them?”

“Not much. Bankers don't like cactus spines in their boots. You know what I mean?”

“Yes. Price them. I'll be back. Get a guaranteed list of the cattle, horses, any assets owned, and the private land in each. I might be interested if I could make them work.”

“No problem. That might be fun. I'll try to get you low dollar. You will be back when?”

“I hope in a week, but however long it takes, it takes. I'd like to get this Weeks's rustling stopped so ranchers can go on with their business and not get shot at.”

“I understand that nephew of yours is really shaping that place up.”

“He really has taken an interest in it.”

“I met them at a social thing here in town. He has a very lovely wife.”

“Her name is Bonnie.”

“Yes, I remember. Well, he must really work hard. They don't attend many things up here.”

“He takes his job real seriously. Thanks for your time. I was in town and wanted to drop by. And know that I am very serious about considering those two places.”

“Next time you come by I'll know all about them. Good luck with Buster and his deal.”

They shook hands, and Chet left to arrange for a buckboard ride down to Tubac.

After lunch Chet and his men took the hired buckboard, loaded down with their gear, for the Morales Ranch at Tubac. The stock dogs welcomed them when they arrived and two of the men's wives hurried to greet them. No sign of Roamer or the others.

He hugged and kissed both women on their cheeks and thanked them for the warm welcome.

“We always are so glad to see you. We can fix some food in a hurry. I imagine you are tired. How is your lovely Spanish wife Elizabeth,” Bronc's wife, Consuela, asked.

“Doing well when I left her.”

“Oh, she is so pretty.”

He soon learned that his three-man team had gone to check on a smuggling of gold bars operation coming across the border, so that federal agency in charge could get the matter under control. Gold ore could be imported to be smelted with no taxes, but on gold bars there was a U.S. tariff in place.

The Morales women fixed them lunch and Chet said they'd go to see about JD and Bonnie in the morning if the men were not back. Both of the wives were friendly and as usual glad to see them. Jose's wife, Ricky, had a new baby and Chet told them about his loss. They said to tell Liz they would pray for her and understood her sorrow.

Chet could see that even with Maria gone, the place was still running well.

Before, Maria, Ortega's wife, did the cooking and kept the camp, but they had built her a fine
casa
over there at Diablo so she could join her husband. Since then the other two women had taken her place and they knew how. He was pleased that his men had a good haven to come rest there like in the old days.

In the predawn they ate breakfast, saddled horses, and prepared to ride over the desert range of mountains that separated the ranch from Tubac, the old Spanish capital of that region before the United States Government bought the land. The small community sat on the Kings Highway to Mexico City. The border was perhaps forty miles south of there. There was a large Catholic church and mining activity on the mountain east of the village of Tubac, which sat beside the shallow Santa Cruz River going to join the Gila River north of Tucson.

The trail west was single file over the desert mountain range and steep enough in places that the horses were sweaty when they reached the top of the divide. The men rested them in the cooling breezes that the canyon lacked.

“There is a road out of Tucson that goes to the ranch. You have to avoid this range of hills, but it is longer, so this is a shortcut,” Chet said to Spencer, who was making his first trip to the Diablo Ranch.

Jesus spoke up, “This man they talk about, Weeks's foreman, Masters, tried to ambush us on this trail coming up here one time.”

“You guys have had lots of fun, haven't you?”

Chet nodded. “And tough times. But a stagecoach guard shot Masters a few months after we took over the ranch, when he tried to hold up a stage east of Tucson.”

“No one missed him, I bet?”

“Not the Diablo Ranch people,” Jesus said. “He raped and got many of their wives pregnant. They hated him. They were glad when Weeks and Masters were gone.”

“Sounds like one nice guy,” Spencer said as they mounted up again.

“He sure wasn't. And he was a liar,” Chet said as he led the way downhill on his horse. “That place had set empty for years. They slipped a deed into the county courthouse files that included the headquarters where we are headed for today. No one had any idea how it got in there, and I hired my lawyer to object since the man who owned it was in California and had a legal deed for all that land. We won the case and bought Weeks's cattle after a certified count was made. It of course was way short of the bank's inventory.”

“Nice guy. What about the other ranches he had?”

“We may go look at them when things settle down here.”

“You have never seen them?”

“No, but we have crossed them and they look like great desert grassland to me.”

“He lost them, too?” Spencer asked.

“The banks foreclosed on him for nonpayment I understand. Then they split them apart so each bank has one of them.”

“What do they want for them?”

“My lawyer Russell is looking into it for me. We may examine them when we go back to Tucson and before we head home.”

Spencer shook his head. “More ranches. How many are you going to buy?”

“Only the ones that touch mine,” Chet said. He and Jesus laughed.

Spencer smiled. “Sounds like more work to me.”

“He will find it,” Jesus said.

They reached the Diablo Ranch about noontime. Blond-headed Bonnie saw them coming and shouted, “JD, your uncle is here.”

A cheer went up. Someone rang a schoolhouse bell and Chet grinned. They were at last at Diablo, and the fun times would begin.

Off his horse, he swung the slightly pregnant Bonnie in a slow circle and kissed her. “You look lovely, darling.”

“No. I am, as you can tell, with another baby—but very happy and so glad you came. We will have a
fiesta
tonight with all my
companeros
.”

“Yes, of course.” He threw his hat in the air and the lined-up workers and wives plus children shouted hurrah. JD was hugging and patting his back so glad to see him.

“How is—” Then he saw Ortega with Maria at his side on one crutch crossing the yard to join him.

“
Compadre
, so good to see you are up. How is your leg?”

“Getting better. Now we both have been shot, huh?”

They laughed and he kissed Maria on the cheek. “You look beautiful.”

She blushed.

“Come to the house,” JD said after meeting Spencer and sharing handshakes with Jesus.

Boys took their horses and they went toward Bonnie's large house to talk things over. She was already busy making plans for the night's event with those who he considered the leading workers' wives. She soon finished and joined them, hugging Chet's arm and leading him, with the others following, to the dining room table where she left them and went off to order lunch.

JD told them the rustler story and the fact he had learned they were Weeks's men who had died in the gunfight, the one that the boys hung as well. Before the story was over someone had fetched the two boys who were with Ortega and brought them to Chet. Chet stood up and shook each of their hands.

“We are very proud of the job you two did in Mexico. You have broken the rustlers' desire, I hope, to come and steal our cattle. Thanks so much for taking care of my old
compadre
here and getting him safely home. You are men now, and I am so glad you work for all of us here at the ranch.”

They thanked him and excused themselves, beaming as they left.

The day continued. Chet took a
siesta
and woke up with music coming from the pavilion JD had built to hold such events. When he got up and went into the kitchen, he found Bonnie busy frosting cakes with two girls helping her. She stopped and asked him how he felt.

“Oh, I'll be fine. Long stagecoach rides make me stiff for a while. I don't sleep well being gone from my wife, either.”

“Did the doctor say why she lost the baby?”

“I think he told her he did not know but that it happens often and was not her fault. She's taken it hard.”

“I am surprised you left her.”

“I couldn't do any more for her, and she told me to go because she knew I wanted to know all about the rustling. She also said she wanted me to make sure Ortega was really okay.”

“We appreciate your concern and are always glad to see you.”

“I think, in time, she will be fine. Depressed yes, for now, especially since she'd never carried a near full-term baby before and to then lose it.”

“I'd be sad, too. The rest of us have been lucky. Robert's wife had a girl?”

“Caroline.”

“We never hear much about them. She's Mormon?”

“They get along fine. She told me none of her girlfriends have anything like her big company house and none of their husbands have his income. Betty is happy and makes coffee for him and for me when I go there.”

“Big tall blond girl. I recall her from the dances I attended down at Camp Verde. She was quite pretty.”

“Yes, she is a darling. Her family and friends were opposed to her marrying him because he was not a Mormon. But they have a great life together.”

“That sounds great. Lucy and Shawn?”

“We have not heard about her baby. It should be here.”

“Your sister?”

“Susie is fine. Her boy is growing, too.”

“I hate being isolated from everyone, but I love this ranch and all the things happening here. The good things anyhow. You know we will have our own oranges and lemons next year and even some grapes they say.”

“The place looks so well planned and well kept. I am proud of all he gets done.”

“Those two men together have made some real strides in the cattle sales since you told them they needed to do that.”

“I noticed in the ranch books that you did that, too.”

“They have butchers in town that want our cattle, and the Globe deal is taking more since they saw our quality. We don't deliver them any skinny stolen Mexican cattle.”

“That's what they needed to do. I knew they would when they realized the cost of ranching and how many we had to sell.”

She looked around to be sure they were alone. “JD takes more time for me now, too. He is relaxing more about the ranch operation, letting others do the work. He is managing people now and is handling the job well. I think you should know that. And more important, he plays with his son a lot and is a much better husband to me. You know what I mean?”