The Valerons--Retribution!

by Terrell L Bowers

  Jared holstered his weapon, moved the remaining distance to July and shook his hand. ‘You can forget calling me sir. I’m Jared to you from now on,’ he said. ‘Don’t know how you got here, but you sure enough saved our hides.’

  ‘We forgot to ask where you were staying,’ July clarified his presence. ‘Miss Valeron asked me to catch up with you so we would know . . . in case there was trouble.’ He tipped his head toward the two dead men. ‘That’s when I spotted these two sidewinders following you. When they took off running down an alleyway, it occurred to me they were going to get ahead of you. Didn’t seem any logic to that unless they intended to bushwhack you. I stayed out of sight until they started to herd you out of town.’

  ‘They wanted us far enough away so the sound of the shots wouldn’t bring the police.’

  Shane grunted a warning. ‘Speaking of the local law enforcement, I see a couple of them headed this way.’

  ‘Saves us the trouble of rounding them up,’ Jared said. ‘We’ll clear this up tonight and get a good night’s sleep.’ Then speaking to July, ‘Don’t tell these guys you work at our ranch. Just say you saw two men stalking us from your hotel window and came to warn us.’

  ‘I catch your drift,’ July said. ‘I was just being a good citizen.’

  Jared raised his hands to show the lawmen he didn’t have a ready weapon. Shane did likewise, while July stepped away from them, backing up a few steps.

  As the pair of officers arrived, the older one took charge. He was medium height, but had girth from his years, probably close to forty. He displayed a grave expression, accentuated by a thick mustache that appeared to be the pride of his face. He looked over the two bodies, but it took no medical skills to see the pair had departed this world. Finally, he scrutinized Jared and Shane.

  ‘I’m Officer Fielding,’ he informed the group. ‘And I’ve had a run-in a time or two with these pokes around town. They sometimes work out at the Big M ranch for Pierce Mantee.’

  ‘Wouldn’t know about that,’ Jared informed him. ‘They used to work at the Barrett ranch some months back. After my family helped to get the place back for Miss Barrett, they were fired for being in cahoots with the woman and her outlaw kid – the ones who poisoned Mr Barrett and tried to steal the place from Trina Barrett.’

  ‘You’re one of them Valerons who brought in those three killers!’ the other policeman exclaimed. ‘Sure! I remember.’ He laughed. ‘Never seen the like – three men with ropes around their necks, like some kind of ghoulish carnival entering town.’

  Jared grinned. ‘As Cousin Wyatt was with me, I’m afraid that was a little bit like showing off. But it was necessary when I had been handling them by myself.’

  ‘And what’s the deal about these two? Were they getting even with you for being fired?’

  ‘Something like that. They were herding us out of town, so no one would hear the gunshots, when this feller shouted at them to stop.’

  Fielding turned to look at July. ‘What’s your story, mister?’

  ‘I seen two sneaky-looking characters trailing along behind these two,’ he explained. ‘I didn’t know what it was about, but I felt it was my civic duty to check and see.’

  ‘And who are you?’

  ‘July Colby,’ he answered. ‘I’m working for the governor at the moment, doing some research around town.’ He took a moment to remove the introductory paper from his shirt pocket and handed it to Fielding. As the officer looked over the document, he finished his story. ‘Anyhow, when I seen these two get the drop on these two fellows, I shouted at them to stop. They both swung around to shoot at me, so I made like a mole and burrowed into the ground.’ He made a helpless gesture. ‘I’m not much good with a gun.’

  Fielding handed back the paper and looked at Jared. ‘And you did the rest?’

  ‘I drilled them both, before they could get off more than one shot at him or turn their guns on us,’ Jared replied. ‘If you check all of the weapons, you’ll discover Dekay got off one round, and my Colt has four empties. I put two bullets in each man.’

  Fielding bobbed his head. ‘We heard the shooting – sounded like a string of firecrackers going off.’

  Jared lifted his shoulders in a shrug. ‘I didn’t want to take a chance with them. One quick desperation shot might have killed one of us.’

  ‘You’ll have to appear before a judge tomorrow,’ Fielding said professionally. ‘It’s customary for us to hold a suspect in jail until they are cleared of any wrongdoing.’ He let the notion hang in the air for a moment. Then he relaxed. ‘But seeing as how we know you personally, Mr Valeron, I’ll take your word. Be at the courthouse at ten in the morning, so we can get this settled and done with.’

  ‘We appreciate the courtesy, Officer Fielding,’ Jared replied to the order. ‘Shane and I will be there.’ He jerked a thumb at July. ‘You want this alert stranger here to tell his story too?’

  ‘He’s working for the governor,’ Fielding dismissed the idea. ‘Me and Sam got his statement. That should be good enough. I’ll report to my superiors, but I think McEnroe and the captain will be satisfied.’

  ‘Thank you,’ July said. ‘I only did what any citizen should do.’ Then, flashing his easy smile. ‘I’m just glad Mr Valeron here is a good shot. I was lying there, exposed like a wounded deer, hunkered down trying to make myself as small a target as possible.’

  ‘You saved the lives of these two men. Thanks for lending a hand.’ Fielding told July. Then, directing his words at the Valeron boys, ‘Let’s get these two bodies off of the street. We can put them inside the livery until I round up the undertaker.’

  Wendy was at the hotel entrance as July came walking back up the street. She had heard the shooting and raced down from her room to see what had happened.

  ‘July!’ she cried out. ‘Is everything all right?’

  He hurried his step, jogging the last little way, not saying a word until he reached her. Then he pulled her off to the side, back in the darker shadows and away from any other curious spectators that had gathered along the street.

  ‘It’s OK, Miss Valeron,’ he assured her. Then he explained about seeing the two men following after Jared and Shane. He related how the gunfight had come about and ended by telling her about the two lawmen.

  Wendy stared at him as if he had grown a second head. ‘July!’ she declared. ‘You could have been killed!’

  He grinned. ‘I admit to being a little worried when I called out at those two bushwhackers, but your brother sure lived up to your bragging. Never seen a man so quick to react. Them two only got off one shot betwixt them, before Jared downed them both . . . deader’n a couple rocks.’

  ‘But what if Jared had been a little slow?’

  He frowned. ‘I hit the ground like a dropped watermelon, Miss Valeron. Once I seen Jared and Shane still had their guns, I only drew the attention of them two outlaws. I figured your brother would take care of them and he sure enough did.’

  Casting aside propriety, Wendy threw her arms around July and hugged him. ‘You saved their lives!’ she exclaimed, her lips next to his ear. ‘You risked your own life to save theirs.’

  July was caught flat-footed by her emotional hug, but he took advantage of her reaction. His arms went around her and he held her tight. Wendy remained in his grasp for a few seconds, trying to regain her aplomb. When she had recovered, she removed her hands from his back and he quickly took a step back.

  To hide her embarrassment over such a gushing display, she smiled up at him. ‘Goes to show, a person doesn’t have to be good with a gun to save a man’s life.’

  July laughed. ‘Yeah, so long as that man is Jared . . . and he still has his gun. I reckon we’d all three be dead had Jared not been armed.’

  ‘Daddy didn’t hire you to be a gunhand.’

  ‘Actually, I kind of figured your daddy only hired me because of you. You’re the one who got me and T L on the Barrett payroll.’

  ‘Best thing I ever did,’ Wendy
told him. ‘And, about now, I’m sure Jerry is glad he went along with the idea.’

  ‘Winning your brother over is sure worth risking my life.’

  ‘Yes, but dying in the process would make it all quite pointless!’ she scolded him. ‘Don’t you ever do something so all fired crazy again.’

  ‘No, Miss Valeron,’ he promised, ‘I won’t.’

  ‘And the name is Wendy. You earned that liberty by your actions.’ She smiled at him. ‘And Jerry will for sure back me up about that!’

  ‘You bet, Miss Val- uh,’ he quickly made the correction, ‘. . . Miss Wendy. I’ll treasure the honor.’

  Wendy heaved a final sigh, ending their jocularity. ‘Now that we’ve got everything settled for the night, would you please escort me to my room? We need to try and get a few hours rest before we start our interviews tomorrow.’

  ‘Proud to escort you, Miss Wendy,’ July said, displaying an unusual boldness. ‘Proud as one of them there peacocks!’

  Mantee had put Jones and Squint to work on the corral. He chose to sweep out the house and make it more presentable, in case anyone showed up to check out the ranch. The powdery particulates rose up until he could hardly see or breathe as he pushed the pile of debris out the front door. He was swatting at the irksome heap, knocking it off the porch, when Rocco came thundering into the yard.

  The man pulled his mount to a jerky stop, causing a renewed cloud of dust. His poor horse was lathered and heaving from a hard run.

  ‘Damn, Rocco!’ Mantee growled. ‘What’s the idea? You trying to kill that animal!’

  ‘They’re both dead!’ Rocco snarled his mixture of anger and fear. ‘The Valerons killed Rex and Dekay last night!’

  ‘What?’ Mantee howled in alarm. ‘How the devil did that happen?’

  Squint and Jones had ceased their chores and hurried over to see what Rocco’s rush was all about. They shared Mantee’s alarm at the news.

  ‘They’s both dead?’ Squint repeated inanely. ‘Them two was only supposed to keep an eye on what was happening.’

  ‘Spill it!’ Mantee bid Rocco continue.

  ‘It seems the two dummies tried to get rid of the Valerons before they come looking for us,’ Rocco outlined what he had learned. ‘Near as I could tell talking to the newspaper hound – he’d just come from speaking to one of the police – Rex and Dekay were herding the Valerons out of town to shoot them. Some passerby gent shouted at them . . .’ Rocco lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. ‘That’s all it took. Valeron drew down on them and kilt them both deader than your boot leather. There’s gonna be a hearing about the shooting at ten this morning.’

  ‘Of all the stupid . . .’ Mantee didn’t finish, swearing vehemently instead. ‘This ain’t good.’

  ‘You think them Valerons will come out here?’ Squint asked. ‘Once they know those two were working for us, it’s what I would do.’

  ‘We do have a bit of wiggle room,’ Rocco suggested. The other three men waited for him to explain. ‘What I’m saying, those two were fired from the Barrett spread. They blamed the Valerons for ruining the easy life they had – being they were working with Rob and his mother. This don’t have to look like anything more than simple revenge on their part.’

  ‘Unless they opened their big mouths about our operation,’ Mantee replied.

  Rocco shook his head. ‘With them two dead, they have no evidence against us. Pegg and Hank Grubber covered our tracks – no cattle and no hides. We are in the clear.’

  ‘What about the killing of those two men on the Double B spread?’ Jones asked the question. ‘The Valerons are not gonna let this go until they get their pound of flesh.’

  ‘It was Rex and Dekay – they stole the beef,’ Rocco maintained. ‘They did the killing. We only used them on occasion, when we needed help rounding up or driving cattle.’

  Mantee rubbed his hands together. ‘I like your thinking, Rocco. No matter what them two were guilty of, we can claim we didn’t know nothing about it.’

  ‘’Cause they was only sometime help!’ Squint also joined in on the alibi. ‘Sure! We got nothing to fear. We keep working the ranch like we’re serious until them boys consider their vendetta over and done with.’

  ‘No proof, no evidence, no need for them to stick around,’ Jones also confirmed the idea.

  Mantee gave the notion a little thought. The others waited for their leader to make his decision. Finally, he tipped his head in an affirmative bob.

  ‘Here’s what we do, men. I’ve got the perfect cover and it gets all of us off the hook.’ He explained what he had in mind, then looked at Rocco.

  ‘Get yourself a fresh horse. Ride over to Pegg’s and pass the word to him and Hank. I’ll head for town and be at the hearing. With our story in place, ain’t no one going to point a finger at any of us.’

  Rocco left the room and Mantee looked at Jones. ‘Didn’t you say you knew one of the men that Valeron brought in to be hanged – was it Kidd?’

  ‘Yeah, I did some small-time rustling with the Kidd brothers back a few years, before I joined up with you.’

  ‘Tim died at the end of a rope – but you knew his brother?’

  ‘Meaner than a rabid dog – Dixon Kidd, Tim’s older brother. He got stuck in the hoosegow for carving up a deputy in Pueblo. He was serving his time when Valeron brought in Kidd and those others to be hanged.’

  ‘But he’s out now?’

  ‘A couple months back,’ Jones gave a nod. ‘I believe he took up with a couple no-accounts what used to run with Crazy Calhoun’s gang. You remember Calhoun was killed during a bank holdup last year.’

  ‘Do you think you could get hold of him?’

  ‘Dixon Kidd?’

  ‘Yes,’ Mantee said. ‘He might like the idea of a little payback for Valeron getting his brother hanged.’

  Jones skewed a thoughtful expression. ‘Dix used to work out of a backwater saloon over at Eagle Point. It’s not more than a full day’s ride. I’ll send a wire and see if he’s close by.’ With a narrow look, ‘What’s your thinking?’

  ‘Let’s call it a secondary plan, just in case the Valerons stick around. We don’t need them looking over our shoulder or snooping into our operation.’

  ‘I get it,’ Jones said. ‘If your first plan don’t work, it’d be a sight better if someone besides us did away with Valeron.’

  ‘My thinking exactly. Ride into town and send the message.’

  Chapter Eight

  Wendy gave July a subtle wink for confidence as they entered Stanley’s Meat Market. The shop was quite small, but had a glass-front counter, allowing the customer to see his display of meats. Stanley was a middle-aged man, with short hair and a bald spot on the top of his head. He carried some extra weight around his middle, but displayed an instant smile that looked more genuine than professional.

  ‘Good morning, folks!’ he greeted them warmly. ‘Don’t recall seeing you in my humble store before. Welcome.’

  ‘It’s very nice for a butcher shop,’ Wendy told him, making a short survey of the room. ‘Much cleaner than most.’

  He chuckled. ‘That’s because most of my customers are women, young lady. They do most of the family shopping – the meat of my business, you might say.’ He laughed. ‘That’s one of them there puns.’

  ‘Very witty,’ Wendy smiled at his efforts.

  ‘What can I do for you?’ He asked. ‘I’ve got these fresh fryers here’ – he pointed to three plucked chickens – ‘or a nice pork roast. Always have bacon or salt pork available in the back room too.’

  ‘Chickens look fresh,’ July spoke up for the first time, looking through the glass case. ‘But I don’t see much beef.’

  ‘Oh, I carry a full array of steaks, roasts, or stew meat,’ Stanley informed him. ‘But I only put out a sample or two. Most people order it in advance. Beef is quite expensive directly from the local shops.’

  ‘That so?’ July continued on the line. ‘Why is that?’

  ‘Well,
we have a sizable slaughterhouse outside of town that deals mostly in beef. They sell to everyone in the city, also to the mines, the restaurants, and about every other buyer for miles around. They also sell to us local store owners, but we can’t compete with them when it comes to selling more than an occasional cut of meat. I rarely have more than a quarter-beef hanging in the back room. Even then, I often take a loss to get rid of some of it.’

  ‘But the individual buyer . . .’ July began.

  Stanley held up a hand to stop the question. ‘I get a commission for handling the slaughterhouse sales. I take orders for the meat from my regular customers and pass it on to Singeon Pegg – he owns the meat-packing company. Anyway, I get their order the next day and the shopper gets a better price than I could give them. Don’t know how he does it, but my cost is about what those people get their meat for. Can’t compete with that.’

  ‘Sounds like he would put a small place out of business,’ July said.

  ‘You’ve hit the spike squarely on the head, friend. It’s the reason I sell mostly pork, mutton and chicken.’

  July remarked, ‘You must have some idea about how he keeps his price low enough to undercut you and any other store owners.’

  Stanley threw a suspicious look at both July and Wendy. ‘I’ve got to ask, what is the purpose of your visit? I mean, you two don’t strike me as a couple aiming to buy a pound of ground beef.’

  ‘Actually,’ July fielded the question, ‘we have been commissioned to study the different commercial enterprises in Denver.’ At the man’s surprised look, he explained. ‘You see, the governor wants to draw in more businesses, without bringing in competition for people like you, the current local business owners.’