Valley of Bones

by Dusty Richards

  “I understand.”

  His banker Tennant said the same about his wife. And asked if he needed anything else.

  Chet told him no. The poor man still acted pleased with his wife. He hoped Kathrin wouldn’t cut his heart out, like she did JD’s. But who knew anything about people’s lives? It was not his problem. Thank the Good Lord.

  Things needed to settle more inside of himself, then he would set out to find Mac Arnold.

  * * *

  In the next weeks, he and Cole talked about clearing the first forty or so acres of sage and a few junipers and then leveling it so it could be irrigated. He bought a used surveyor scope and tripod. They trained a young man on the crew how to use it.

  Hampt joined them one day and he told them about his land leveling. “I only had a string and a level to do mine. I have the large plane I use to float it out but it takes six teams to pull it. It only works when you get the sage plowed up and the stumps of the junipers dug up.”

  Cole shook his head. “I never thought about that. You really used a level and a string?”

  “I couldn’t have asked Chet for more money back then. He didn’t have it.”

  All three laughed.

  Cole already had three artesian wells drilled and capped. Everyone was excited. The final decision was to level it for six hundred feet, then have another system to flood it three feet lower than the first field that length. The drop in the land was too great to make it a quarter of a mile long.

  “Let’s do this first part and see how we like it,” Chet said.

  Cole agreed.

  In the meantime Chet sent out letters to other marshals about finding Arnold. Fred, Spencer, and Jesus went to solve a rustler problem Shawn was having at his ranch. Ric rode with Chet.

  A letter in flowery handwriting came to him.

  Dear Chet,

  I am so sorry to hear about your loss and wanted to tell you that while you might not recall me, I had known your lovely late wife Elizabeth for years. I also am a great admirer of all your hard work as a U.S. Marshal. I lost my husband Clarence Mullins a year ago, and if you ever plan to come to Tucson, please drop me a line. I have a large house and plenty of room for you and your associates, and would enjoy having your company.

  Sincerely yours,

  Andria Mullins

  “Who was it from?” Lisa asked, wielding a feather duster to the bookcase.

  “A widow I don’t know who knew Liz and wants me to stay with her when I am in Tucson next.” He handed her the letter to read.

  “She may be very rich. You smell the perfume. Very expensive.”

  He wiggled his nose. “I didn’t like it.”

  She stopped and stared at him. “I’d like to find some hay smelling kind. Do they make that?”

  “No it comes only in stacks—you, my lady, are a terrible tease.”

  “At the very least I do have you laughing.”

  “I will write her a thank-you for the offer, but I am occupied for the moment—well, for some time.”

  “Good. I am glad you are not desperate—yet.”

  “I have an appointment with Bo about the Arnold ranch at two p.m. Get ready and you can do some shopping while I talk to him.”

  “What do I need?”

  “How about a new blue dress with ruffles at the bottom to dance in?”

  “We going dancing?”

  “I’d be honored to take you. We both have been pinned down for weeks in this house and it is time to see the world.”

  “Chet, I am flattered and would love to do that. But how would it look for your sake, you dating your housekeeper?”

  “I don’t give a damn what folks think. We have been friends for years. I will buy the dress. Get it made. Would that embarrass you?”

  “Hell, no,” she whispered. “I would love it.”

  “Sometimes you slip very beautifully.”

  She held her finger to her mouth to silence him before calling out, “Josey, would you comb my hair? I have to go to town this afternoon.”

  “Why, lands, yes. Who’s taking you?”

  “Chet.”

  “Oh.”

  He winked at her. “This might be fun. I need some fun for a change.”

  “Oh, I’ll be ready. I am coming, Josey.”

  Ric rode guard in the second seat. Lisa, with her hair in a scarf, sat straight up beside him. Chet drove the buckskin team and they rolled right into Prescott, down the steep hill, stopping at the dress shop. He went around and helped her down.

  “A blue dress with ruffles at the hem?”

  “Get a second one that you like.”

  She frowned. “They won’t be cheap dresses.”

  “Money is no issue today.”

  “I simply wanted to warn you.”

  “Get two dresses.”

  “Then you will take me to a dance?”

  “Don’t you trust me?”

  She chewed on her lip. Then she nodded. “I will get them. You sound very serious about attending a dance.”

  Ric leaned forward as Chet came back around. “If you won’t, I will volunteer to take your place.”

  “I’ll remember that.” He climbed onto the seat laughing. So was Ric.

  * * *

  Bo met him at the door and invited Ric in. He said no, so the two went inside.

  “No baby yet?”

  “Any day now. Your man Arnold is very delinquent on his payments. The Gallup, New Mexico, banker who loaned him a great deal of money said he would settle for fifty cents on the dollar. There are three hundred cows supposed to be under each of his brands. He has a mortgage on all the yearlings and bulls and his horse stock of ninety head. There are four sections up there where he lived north of the tracks to be, and one other section down closer to Toby’s homestead. The banker never saw any of it, but Arnold told him he had wells and irrigation. I don’t know about that.”

  “I doubt it, too. What is the price?”

  “Forty thousand.”

  “No kidding. I bet there are not that many cows, but at that price, we better buy it. Word gets out the train track is coming and a hundred thousand won’t buy it. I want the two brands transferred to me by him before closing on Arnold. That will save lots of labor rebranding. I am sending Spencer and Fred up there to examine things and a half dozen vaqueros to start counting. Tell this banker we will be counting cows and we will let him know what we can pay for it. If the count is close, we will pay him that. If the count is a lot less, we will pay him less.”

  “Seems like you have bought you a ranch. What else are you doing these days?”

  “Sending letters out to try to find the murderer of a deputy U.S. Marshal and who also killed two of my ranch hands and stole a rifle from them.”

  “That is Arnold, huh?”

  “Right. He will show up.”

  “I will wire the banker right away.”

  “Make me a property map for Spencer.”

  “I will have it ready for you. I don’t know your guard. Why is he seated in the back?”

  “I drove, bringing Lisa Costa, my housekeeper, and left her at the dress shop to buy two new dresses.”

  “Oh.”

  “We intend to attend the dance and potluck meal at Camp Verde on Saturday night.”

  “Very nice lady.”

  “We both need to get out of the house. Tell your wife she is in our prayers and the baby, too.”

  “She had no problem last time, so I can hope this goes that well.”

  “I am certain it will.”

  * * *

  He stopped at the dress store. He had tied off the team and gone around to get Lisa, when she came out looking hard-eyed about something.

  What in the hell went wrong in there? He caught her arm. “Did someone insult you?”

  “Never mind.”

  “No. I want to know. Someone made you mad.”

  “It was not a clerk or store help. It was some rich bitch who told me I was only house help and a man li
ke Chet Byrnes would only go out with me to have his way and I needed to get back at the barn where I belonged.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Her name is Caroline Hayes.”

  Chet tried to see the agitator through the glare on the glass door. “I’ll go in there and shake the hell out of her if it would help.”

  Ric scooted up in the seat. “Let me go do it.”

  “No.” Lisa started to smile. “I can fight my own battles. My feelings get hurt too easily. That is something I will work on to change. I have the dresses ordered. The first one you wanted will be ready Friday.”

  “We can come get it and go on to the Verde dance, all right?”

  On the seat beside him she clapped him on the leg. “You are damn right.”

  And they left Prescott.

  Back at the ranch, he told one of the ranch boys to go find Spencer and ask him to come see him, when he had the time. The barefoot boy ran off as fast as he could.

  He helped Lisa down and thanked Ric, who responded with an “anytime.”

  Inside the back porch door, out of any ranch eyes, he hugged her. “I don’t give a damn what anyone says. I asked you to attend that dance. I want you to have the nicest dress there, and it doesn’t matter what that bitch said. It is no one’s business, but they may make it theirs. We will ignore it all. ”

  She hugged him and kissed his cheek. “I am honored. We are supportive friends. I will curb my temper. If we don’t have anything more than a fun evening, I will be pleased. That blue material does look good. What do I need to bring down there to eat Saturday night?”

  “Get Raphael to roast you a half-grown fat pig. He has a big cooker to carry it down there in, and we will need a couple of men to serve it.”

  “Is that showing off a little?”

  “Yes. And let her hear you fed the whole party there.”

  “Thanks, you always save me. Aside from her, this has been a lifesaving day raising me up since the funeral.”

  “It has been for me, too.”

  “We can stay at the big house and come home Sunday?”

  “Yes. That is why we have it. You can see Adam’s sheep.”

  “Oh, good.”

  “Rhea can read English now and she is teaching Adam.”

  “She and Victor have no children, either, do they? Well, Miguel and I never made one, either. I have warned you about that. I am not a good prospect to deliver you children.”

  “Makes no damn difference.”

  “You are so agreeable today. I really must plan to upset your cart.”

  “I hear Spencer coming.”

  “You are excused. Thanks so much for the dresses. Will you have time Friday to take me in to get the one?”

  “I will. I promise.”

  She blew him a kiss and disappeared.

  Spencer put his felt hat on the rack and then his gun and holster, buckled, on the next wooden pin. “How did it go?”

  “The banker is going to foreclose. He wants out so bad he will take forty thousand dollars for it. There are four sections north of the tracks and another section down toward Rustler’s Ranch. Arnold told the banker that one was irrigated. Which, we think, is a lie, but it is near Toby.”

  “Shame we burned the main house. It can be rebuilt for eight thousand. But we needed to clear up things and it was the way to handle it, right?”

  “Exactly. I would have done the same thing. Now would you like to be in charge of sorting it all out? I need a count of the two herds because if that number is too low I will lower the price I pay him.”

  “When can I go?”

  “You and Fred get Raphael to find you four vaqueros, take a pack train and a horse wrangler with a remuda, and run up there to get me a head count on the cows. You get a close number, then you wire me your count. There are supposed to be three hundred cows in each herd. Then check out all the land. Bo will have a map for you.”

  “You doubt the number?”

  “Most borrowers raise the number they have, and bankers seldom go out to count.”

  “How low will you allow?”

  “Two hundred is the very bottom for each herd. But he may not have branded the calves and yearlings.”

  “I savvy that. I think we can get a count in a week. Soon as I’m certain I will wire you what we think is close.”

  “I want you to include Fred to teach him how to organize things, and be careful.”

  “We will. We have been hearing you bought Lisa some dresses today.”

  “She and I are going to the dance down at Camp Verde this Saturday night.”

  “Good. She is a great lady, and you two should have some fun.”

  “Some rich hussy insulted her in town today. She said I wanted her for her body and not anything more serious because she was not good enough. Lisa came out fighting mad. I told her to consider the source. Why would that woman do that to her?”

  “Maybe she was jealous. Maybe she wanted you for herself. Anyway, I am glad you are paying her attention. She has no kinfolk to help her and she does so many things for the ranch and our people. Most folks work people. Your people are family. Lucinda said JD and his wife are that good, too. Her husband was killed at roundup, and JD made her draw his wages until she married me. Who else does that?”

  “I was embarrassed for her. Lisa was my wife’s best personal friend.”

  “We all knew that.

  “Fred and I will do it.”

  They prepared to leave. Three of the team were ranch men and three were ones Raphael sent to help him. Spencer was stopping in town to get the map from Bo.

  * * *

  Chet felt satisfied he would soon have the answers about the Arnold ranch. He told Lisa that they would eat lunch at the Palace Saloon on Friday and then pick up her dress. She agreed demurely, and Ric brought the buckboard around before eleven o’clock. She and Josey had pinned her hair up and then put it under a scarf to save it from the wind. Chet loaded her in the backseat, sat down next to her, and Ric drove them to town.

  They drew some attention when the buckskin team stopped at the Palace front doors and she got off and was escorted on his elbow into the high-ceilinged saloon.

  A waitress showed them to a table and took their food order. Lisa wet her lips three times and he reached over and squeezed her hand. “Understand one thing—every one of these people pull their pants on one leg at a time. Some are cowboys who earn twenty-five dollars a month, some are lawyers paid over a hundred dollars an hour. Folks in here own mines down in the Bradshaws that produce tons, not ounces, of gold. You are just as good as any of them.”

  She smiled. “Thanks. I will stop my heart racing, somehow.”

  “If I have to bring you here every day I’ll do it to make you feel at ease. Tomorrow night you need to let down and be yourself like you are at home. This is your world. Enjoy it.”

  “Chet, I want, so much, for you to proud of me. I don’t care about that rich—bitch—and I won’t ever let anyone like her ever get my back up. But it is hard. Real hard.” Then she narrowed her eyelids. “But I will win in the end.”

  “I agree. Good girl.”

  “Can I ask you one thing?”

  “What is it?”

  “I want to know what you expect out of me?”

  “Me? Want from you?”

  “Yes.”

  The waitress brought them the coffee they ordered.

  Lisa waited until she left. “Do I please you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I am not Elizabeth, but I am not dumb.”

  “I never doubted your intelligence. You were a model wife to Miguel. Liz considered you the sister she never had. She trusted you with her final words for me. I need a partner, not a goddess. You suit me.”

  She nodded and their lunch arrived.

  After the waitress left, she reached out and touched his hand. “I would enjoy being your partner.”

  “I am glad to hear that. I just don’t want to force you. And I don’t want
you to be disappointed. I am a lot older than you are.”

  “No. You are a young thirty-five and I am an old twenty-four.”

  He sipped some coffee. “That was nice.”

  “I will go anywhere you want or need me. I can get accustomed to this treatment.” She cut up the small steak on her plate.

  “Now we are getting somewhere.”

  Pleased, she winked at him. “Yes, and I like it.”

  Later he sat in a chair, in the dress shop, while she tried on the dress. In minutes she emerged wearing it. The dress looked just as good as he thought it would. She even looked taller in it. She made the ruffles whirl and smiled.

  “You like it?”

  “Oh, it is great.”

  “Mr. Byrnes, we told Mrs. Costa we were so embarrassed by that lady’s words to her last time. She should never have said anything.”

  “That is that lady’s loss. My entire ranch idolizes this lady. She teaches Spanish children so they can attend school. She helps make clothes for them and the wives that can’t afford any.”

  “I wanted you to hear and understand our thoughts and concerns.”

  “Not to worry. We will be back for more clothing for her.”

  They applauded him as Lisa went to change into her other clothes, ready to go home.

  They left for home, and she held his arm going back. “Is that too fancy to wear at Camp Verde?”

  “No they won’t notice you when they see your roast pig.”

  She laughed. “All right. Ric is going to help deliver it, and he and some of the men from Tom’s will set it up at the dance hall. Jesus and Anita are going to the dance, too, and will ride with us. They will also stay with us at Rhea’s in her big house afterward.”

  “Fine. You and I are going wading Sunday in the Verde.”

  She squealed. “That would be wonderful. Oh, Chet, I am so excited.”

  “So am I, darling. So am I.”

  She rose and whispered in his ear. “Is there a haystack down there?”

  He looked at the clear blue sky for help. This situation was beginning to be funny.

  Anita and Jesus came for lunch the next day. Josey and the two house helpers made Lisa sit with him and they served the meal at the dining table. She played the game and she hugged them for their treatment afterward.