Cloud's Rider

Cloud's Rider Page 28

by C. J. Cherryh

  She was aware of movement and a whiteness on the stairs a second before calamity—Brionne slipped, squealed in alarm and skidded a few steps.

  Earnest leaped up and all but knocked her down getting from the office to the stairs to pick up Brionne who, both feet out from under her, was clinging to the rail. He was a big man with long hair and a grizzled, bushy beard, and Brionne was so, so slight in his huge arms, her white nightgown against his blue plaid shirt.

  “You poor, pretty thing,” Ernest said over and over, and hugged Brionne against his shaggy self. “Damn. Damn. —Are you all right, honey?”

  “Let me see,” Darcy said, anxious, and not alone for the almost fall. “Set her down. Set her down!”

  “Poor little girl.” The miner, Ernest, set Brionne down on the couch and Brionne sat and looked up at him with wide, dazed eyes.

  And Earnest—

  Earnest was clearly entranced. Nothing would do but that Earnest help Brionne up the stairs once Darcy had ascertained there were no injuries.

  “She’s perfectly fine,” Darcy said, taking charge to prevent Earnest carrying the girl into the bedroom. “Downstairs. I’ll be right down to take care of you.”

  “Now, don’t you slight that poor little girl. This scrape’s nothin’. You take care of that poor little lady first, and I’ll wait downstairs. It don’t hurt. I promise you, it don’t hurt me none at all.”

  It didn’t ease her mind. Earnest clearly had an interest in That Pretty Little Girl, as Earnest called her.

  Himself being a big rough miner and of course not in any pain from a knife slice. Damn him.

  Meanwhile, Brionne was just weak, was all she could detect. Brionne had gotten hungry and come downstairs, and that was easy enough to deal with.

  Earnest, she feared, was another matter. Earnest had turned worshipful, and when she came downstairs to deal with Earnest, the deity in Earnest’s universe was clearly upstairs, where Earnest directed soulful looks.

  She was ever so relieved to get him out the door.

  She was more than annoyed when Earnest came back an hour after she’d put him out the door, knocking at the streetside entry and presenting a box of cookies from the bakery, and a bouquet of paper flowers.

  Ernest wanted to carry the cookies up to The Little Girl’s room, but she wouldn’t have that—no. She wouldn’t let him in. But she took the bouquet and several cookies and a cup of tea upstairs and didn’t tell Brionne exactly where they’d come from. Brionne was pleased with the flowers and ate two of the cookies.

  But she’d no more than carried the tray downstairs again and begun to wash dishes than came a knock at the streetside door and—

  Earnest.

  “Now, look, Mr. Riggs,” she began in exasperation, gripping the edge of the door and bracing a foot behind it.

  “No, no, ma’am,” Earnest said, and took off his hat, scarf and all, despite the bitter wind starting to veil the street in snow. “I know— I know I’ve bothered you three times today. But I been thinking.”

  She wasn’t about to let him in. She was thinking about the marshal. “Well, I’m working, Mr. Riggs, I’m very busy, and if you don’t mind—”

  “Ma’am, I don’t ask to come in. Just a minute of your time. I just was noticing how the porch rail is losin’ paint—”

  “You don’t paint in the winter, Mr. Riggs.”

  “—and missin’ some pieces. So’s various things. You don’t have anybody regular hired to fix those things—”

  “The house will stand through the winter, Mr. Riggs. Then it may be time to think about it.”

  “By then ever’body’ll be down to Tarmin, ma’am. And what I hear, what I hear, ma’am, that pretty little girl is from there. And she’s due a lot of property if there was those lookin’ out to protect her—”

  “Not your business, Mr. Riggs.”

  “Well, them Mackeys have got her brothers, and those brothers is sellin’ her out, ma’am. I don’t know they know what they got into, but there’s lawyers comin’ and goin’ out of Mackeys place—”

  She had by no means meant to let Mr. Riggs in. He was just too persistent, and wanted something. He was a fearsome looking sort, with his wild hair and unkept beard, and dealing with miners was dangerous. Some would steal when your back was turned. Some would get ideas of different sort, and his infatuation with her or with, God help them, Brionne, in this place where miners very, very rarely found prospects among the local girls and even less rarely found women willing to go out into the privation of the camps, could easily get out of control.

  But he had information she didn’t have, that she suspected John Quarles didn’t have, and if Simms or Hodges were taking money or promises regarding Tarmin property, forewarned was forearmed.

  She opened the door. “Come in, Mr. Riggs.” And stepped back, cautiously, all the while thinking of the gun in Mark’s office.

  But Ernest was probably harmless. He was very careful to wipe his feet and to dust the snow off.

  “So what about the lawyers? Simms? Is it Simms?”

  “A woman.”

  “That’s Simms.” Simms was the lawyer who wasn’t related to Judge Hodges. The one she wasn’t mad at for shenanigans with Mark’s father’s property and that damn brother of Mark’s.

  “Well, actually the other one was there, too,” Earnest said. He was a careful man with his hat. He didn’t roll it or crush it. His fingers kept dancing around the careful curves of it, smoothing the bushdevil tail that was its ornament. “I didn’t get his name, either. But I heard say that’s who it was. I kind of hang out at The Evergreen, ma’am, and that’s right next door to the Mackeys. So’s the barracks, for that matter. So, you know, winter settin’ in and strangers come around, what they do, people watch. And gossip about.”

  “So what is the gossip?”

  “How them brothers is dealing with the Mackeys for a stake to go down there come spring, and how they been hanging around with that rider lad that brought ’em in, and how there’s just somethin’ sharp goin’ on, if you take my drift.”

  “Not entirely, Mr. Riggs. —Would you like a cup of tea?”

  “I wouldn’t want to put you out, ma’am.”

  “Oh, the water’s generally hot. Come into the kitchen.”

  Sound from talk in the parlor could carry upstairs. And she wanted everything Earnest Riggs knew or suspected, but she wouldn’t leave him alone near the office and the drugs, either.

  So she led him into the kitchen, set him at the breakfast table, made two cups of strong tea and put out a piece of the cake John had brought over.

  Earnest’s eyes lit at that.

  “So what sharp dealing is going on?” she asked Earnest when he had his mouth full of cake.

  A sip of tea followed. “Well, ma’am, what they’re sayin’ is how the Mackeys is going to provide the backing for them boys, and how either they’re going to trade ’em the shop and house up here, which ain’t worth near what the one down in Tarmin is, for the shop and at least two big houses down there. Otherwise there’s talk as how they got to employ Rick and pay ’em back near a hundred percent interest on anything they lent ’em. I ain’t supposing there’s been too much damage to the shop by the critters, but water comin‘ by snows and rains might not be too good, and a lot of doors was left standin’ open, if you take my meaning.”

  “Entirely. In other words, it’s going to take supplies of food, possibly of cash for metal—”

  “Well, it’s going to be worse than that, ma’am, I am greatly afraid.”

  “How?”

  “Well, that the Mackeys nor them boys is going to hold out against the looters. That town’s going to be a bloody mess. Law ain’t goin’ down there. Bunch of lawyers’ papers—they ain’t worth— Well, they ain’t goin’ to be worth a thing, ma’am. Miners, many of ’em, is fine folk. And some ain’t. There’s them that’d shoot you in the back for a nugget, let alone a house. And there ain’t going to be any law down there. The marshal can’t leave here. His deputies ain’t fools. So—them as wants to hold the property that they got title to had better have guns and better be ready to use ’em. And I don’t think
the Mackeys have got the guts, if you want my opinion, ma’am. They’re early in the game, but they’re likely to end piss-poor or dead.”

  Darcy drew a long, slow breath. Sense told her she was hearing the truth from this man, a truth that didn’t bode well for anybody holding rights down in Tarmin.

  “So what’s your proposition, Mr. Riggs? I take it you have a proposition.”

  “Well, yes, ma’am, I do. This little girl, her havin’ rights and all, her brothers is dealing with the wrong folk in the Mackeys, and they’re going to get sharped out of ever’thing they got due ’em. Which is fairly well goin’ to take this little girl’s property down with ’em, if you’re relyin’ on them two boys to protect her rights. Mackeys is going to get killed if they go down there. And so’s them boys. But that little girl—she’s such a pretty thing—”

  “You said there’s a rider backing the boys.”

  “Oh, yeah. And that’s a powerful hand. Don’t nothin’ move crosscountry without ’em. But once we get there, once there’s walls, ma’am, us miner types, we know how to dig in, we know how to get by. First villager boy tries it, he’s down something’s gullet fast. But there ain’t but your two riders, and they got a little girl to watch out for, besides they can’t leave the village without riders. That’s down to one rider, this Fisher boy, and some friends of his, supposedly, but that’s still three riders and a lot of supplies to haul down—and how many places can this Fisher be at once? You got supplies to haul. You got Tarmin to sit guard on. Any convoy that moves ain’t really safe without at least a rider to front and one to back. There’s just a hell of a lot they ain’t addin’ up, ma’am. You got to have somebody to sit down there and defend a bunch of pukin’ village boys who’d lose all their sense and rush right out into a lorrie-lie’s arms, first night they heard the Wild talkin’ to ’em, and you got to have somebody to ride with the truck convoys—granted they’ll come with their own riders—but somebody’s got to fix the damn phone lines, too. And that’s another rider. Fisher can’t be all those places. The convoy riders, they’re another breed, and they got their hire. Before they can do anything like move supplies they got to get riders from the other villages, and then the word’s out, and not a lot of people in those villages—specially the miners—is going to be damn happy there’s a bunch from Evergreen who’s gone down to Tarmin and squatted on the good property. Miner’s laws goin‘ to rule this ’un when the dust flies, ma’am, and if somebody ain’t looking out for that little girl’s interests—she ain’t going to get a penny.”

  “Then I can provide for her, Mr. Riggs. Sounds as if I’m going to have a lot of business.”

  Earnest leaned forward across the table. “Yes, ma’am. But that ain’t the only danger. You got this little girl, same as them boys, walking around with nobody to watch ’em, and could happen— could happen, there’d be some snatch this pretty little thing on account of her being not only just damn pretty but also rich and having rights. And when the law does come down there in a couple of years, if you’re alive and you got rights—the law’s going to be for you and again’ others in whatever dispute might be. You don’t want to sign away what’s due that pretty little girl.”

  “Yeah. I might, rather than see her involved in what you’re talking about.”

  “No, now, ma’am, you can look out for that little lady’s interest, you know, if you’d have somebody as can defend her claim down there.”

  Now it came to money. “Mr. Riggs, clearly you’re expecting I’ll give you a stake. And I don’t have money for groceries. I’ve not been working the last year.”

  “You got this nice house. You got credit at the bank.”

  “Mr. Riggs, —if I gave you money and you went down there and got killed, I’d have a debt, the girl would be broke, and there’d be no recourse.”

  “Ma’am, we’ve thought of that. There’s a number of us, five or six, that’s willin’ to go down there together to look out for ourselves, and the little girl’s interest, well, you know men. It’s a hell of a lot easier to keep guys headed the same direction, if they got a thing to do together. So while we’re looking out for ourselves, we could look out for the little girl’s property.”

  “Her brothers’ property.”

  “Well, we could strike a deal with them for her third. Damn sure the Mackeys ain’t going to pay anything to keep the property safe, and the boys are poorer than we are. We could hire them, howsoever.”

  “Let me have it clear. You’re proposing to have me pay you money to shoot anybody who tries to claim the Goss property.”

  “No, ma’am. I’m proposing you buy us shells and flour and oil and such and we’ll sit on the property and defend ourselves if someone’s such a fool as to take on five of us. It’s that little girl’s legal title to the property that’d give us special status before the law, ma’am. And the property around it’s what we’d claim for ourselves. Wouldn’t lay no claim on the girl’s property.”

  “That’d be a fair piece of the village you’d be sitting on.”

  “Yes, ma’am, it would.”

  “How much would you want?”

  “Thousand. In advance. For supplies, ma’am. Not a penny more.”

  It wasn’t so much as she’d feared. But it was a huge amount of cash.

  “And what about the brothers?”

  “Fairly well depends on them. How they like us for neighbors. Or we’d protect them, too, if they come up with an offer.”

  There were very sharp edges to this affair. And she couldn’t trust that Riggs wouldn’t strong-arm the Goss brothers once they were down in Tarmin with Riggs’ crew all around them.

  She was halfway surprised she didn’t hear an offer to make sure The Little Girl inherited all the Goss property. But if she borrowed that trouble she lost all power to control the purse strings and thereby to control Riggs.

  And there was a chance the Gross boys might—might try to prevent her gaining custody of Brionne. She wasn’t a fool. She didn’t give up her cards until she knew what they were worth.

  And she didn’t need to put a thousand in cash into Riggs’ hands so he could drink it up by spring and ask for another.

  “This spring,” she said, “I’ll have the cash for you.”

  “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but spring’ll be a rush on supplies, prices are bound to go up. We’ll need more if we wait till spring.”

  “Then I’ll put it on account at the store and they’ll reserve you supplies, but they won’t deliver until I say so.”

  “Ma’am, you’re one sharp woman.”

  “Yes, I am. You turn in your list to me. Can you write?”

  “No, ma’am. But one of my guys can. We’ll get a list.”

  “The other matter, Mr. Riggs, is—don’t talk outside your group about my supporting you. If this becomes gossip around town, I’ll know I can’t trust you, and you won’t get a sack of flour or a foot of rope.”

  “I do understand. And you don’t have no doubts: I’m the one can get that little girl her rights. I can lay claim down there for her, fix up the place—what needs fixin’. I mean, if them houses was swarmed, it’s going to be pretty messy inside. But I can do that. Pretty little girl.”

  “She’s thirteen,” Darcy said coldly, seeing exactly where that was going.

  It set him back. Maybe. For about two seconds. “Well, that’d be about right, a few years on. Pretty little thing. Awful pretty. You got to watch out, them rough guys, you know.”

  “I’ll tell you plain, Mr. Riggs, she’ll never be any miner’s wife. She might hire somebody. As I might. He might do all right for himself. If he was honest—he could be very well-set. Possibly go into business.”

  She had a big house, and all the equipment, and everything. But if Tarmin proved more viable, if Brionne’s welfare somehow demanded better than the cold winters and isolation of Evergreen— there was, the thought came to her like a revelation—there was the Tarmin’s doctor’s establishment, better equipment, bigger population, once the village got going again. No drunken miners to treat. Those all came to Evergreen and Mornay.

  Ernest might in fact be very useful to two women trying to get their share of what every
one else was scrambling to get.

  And it was going to happen this spring. The treasure-seekers and the looters and ordinary citizens trying to stake claims to businesses and shops were going to be down that road like a nest of willy-wisps stirred with a stick.

  “You know, Mr. Riggs, there was a doctor in Tarmin. Probably all the instruments are still there.”

  “Sure won’t be, ma’am, if them loggers get there first.”

  “Yeah, well, how many properties do you think you can preserve unlooted? Would another thousand make sure that office was mine?” It was unreal to her to be asking a question of a practice she and Mark had never been able to dream of.

  But it could be hers. Completely logical. No one else could use that office, that equipment. There was a doctor at Mornay. But he was old. She could see to it there were both options—and if it proved necessary to move to Tarmin, if it was necessary to do that to assure a good life, without the girl being subjected to winters up there, she would have a foot in either village. And assets which would be worth a great deal. She could become wealthy.

  Wealth would protect herself and her baby girl, her daughter, against a world that was not and would never be the way John Quarles saw it. Wealth to buy the likes of Earnest Riggs, a small debt now to own a major part of Tarmin and a future for herself and her daughter.

  “I’d think,” Earnest Riggs said, “that’s a lot to protect. I got to hire more men.”

  “Three thousand,” she said, and got to her feet to give Earnest Riggs the cue she was through, on that point, and he could leave very soon upon her making it. “Free doctoring. My respectable reputation behind your claim on whatever property you fancy down there. You can all be well-to-do by next fall. That’s all you’ll see from me. You don’t talk about it, don’t let your hirees gossip drunk or sober.”

 

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