“That’s my six-gun, Marshall.”
“When Cole goes back and brings Limon in, don’t you say a word.”
“What do you need now?” Cole asked.
“Get Jesus in here.”
“Sure.” The younger man went to the outside door to call Jesus in.
Jesus came in and shut the door.
“Jesus,” Chet said, “what did the JP say about the bullets in Plane’s body?”
“He thought they came from two different guns. Both .45s.”
“Then Ratchet didn’t shoot him,” Cole said.
“This is getting better all the time,” the boy said. “I may not hang after all.”
“You aren’t going to hang for this one, partner, that’s for damn sure.”
The youth collapsed back in the chair, tears in his eyes. “Oh, thank God.”
Jesus took the keys and laughed. “We may be back in the pines sooner than I thought last night.”
When Cole brought Limon in from the cell in the back he looked none the worse for his short stay. “What do you want from me now?” he demanded.
Chet lifted the revolver, held it in his palm. “Identify this pistol.”
“That’s the gun killed Beacher Plane.”
“Where’s the JP death report? You read it?”
“Hell, yes, I read it. Plane had two bullets in him. One coming, one going. Obviously the boy shot him in the shoulder first, then in the heart from the back with the second shot. They came from that gun.”
“And what caliber is this gun?”
“It’s a .45.”
Chet shook his head. “Wrong, Sheriff. This revolver is a .44, and no way did that boy shoot Beacher Plane with. 45 lead carrying this gun.”
“How in the damn hell did you find that out?”
“I asked the JP presiding on the coroner’s report. He said it was a .45 and so did the undertaker who removed them. Go get your prosecuting attorney. Cole, you go with him. I want this man processed out of here in thirty minutes.”
Limon paled, stopped dead in the doorway. “Then who in the hell killed him?”
“That’s your job to prove,” Chet replied. “I’m a U.S. Marshal and my job is to see that the law is done right.”
When Cole returned with the prosecutor, he was red faced. “Your man said that we have the wrong man and wrong gun?”
Limon told the prosecutor to get off his high horse. That they owed them and Ratchet an apology. Chet could tell by then the sheriff wanted it swept under the rug at any expense.
The youth’s release paper was soon filled out and handed to him. The sheriff said he could have a horse he had captured and was unclaimed at the livery, since Ratchet’s father took his horse back to the ranch.
At the livery, Chet rented horses and they rode out to the family ranch together. It was a two-bit outfit, to be sure. Riding up to the house, Ratchet’s mother and sisters came out, saw Ratchet, and started crying that he was home. They never figured he’d see the light of day again.
Able, seeing his son, cried some, too, thanking Chet and his men for everything. Before they could leave, Ratchet asked Chet if he could ride with them, that his family was doing fine now that he was free and they really had no work for him on the ranch.
“What do you two think?” he asked his partners.
“I think we can use him,” Cole said. He winked. “With a shave and haircut.”
“I think so, too,” Jesus said with a laugh.
Chet looked at Ratchet. “We’re catching the morning stage north. Thank you all.”
“God bless you, Chet Byrnes. And your men.” Ratchet’s mother hugged his arm and followed him to his horse. “I know you will take care of my boy. Able said you had a beautiful wife that he met up there. Thank her for me, and for letting you come do this wonderful thing for the whole family.”
They rode back to Phoenix. Chet knew one thing—they’d be back in the cool pines in twenty-four hours.
CHAPTER 5
A reunion was always nice for him and her. Liz ran from the house to meet him when the buckboards returned him, Jesus, and Ratchet from the stage stop. Cole was already with his wife at their house in town.
“Oh, I should have gone in to get you with the buckboards. I’m so sorry.” She hugged him tight like she couldn’t get enough and after they kissed, he held her tight.
“No problem. This, Liz, is Ratchet Thornton.”
“Oh, I am sorry. I am such a bad hostess, all I worry about is this hombre. So you’re free now?”
Hat off for her, his freckled face beaming, he said, “You don’t need to worry none about me, ma’am. I’m so glad to be free and with your man I can’t do or say enough to both of you. My mother said to tell you thanks for letting him come to help me.”
“He’s a great hombre. Now, the three of you come on in the house. Monica has food and fresh coffee made for all of you. Is Cole alright, too?”
“Valerie took him and ran,” Chet said, laughing.
“I don’t blame her. Jesus, you come, too. You have more mail.” She hugged Jesus’s shoulder.
“Jesus’s girlfriend Anita is in Mexico seeing about her sick mother,” Chet said to the youth.
“Yes, sir, he told me about her on the stagecoach.”
“Well, Liz, how’s the wedding coming along?”
“Oh, fine. Rhea will have a beautiful dress. Her relatives are coming from Mexico and Tucson.”
“And all the ranch hands, as well.” Chet hugged her again. “Sounds like we’re going to have fun.”
“Oh, on Saturday we are going to have fun. I’ve planned a party for everyone to come here and welcome you all home.”
“Is Bo invited?”
She nodded her head at the back steps. “I heard him say he had been left out from them. Yes, he is coming.”
“No problems?”
“None they told me about, anyway.”
He hugged Monica in the kitchen and after washing up they all took places at her table.
“This must be the young man you saved?” Monica asked.
“Yes, he is, and he’s going to join us. His name is Ratchet, and you met his father Able.”
“How he ever drove that poor team clear up here, I will never know. But I am sure you were pleased when these men showed up.”
“Miss Monica, I surely was. Please excuse the swear word, but I was damn glad they came.”
“We are proud of him, too. I hope you enjoy working here. We all try hard to make this place work.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“Chet, please say the grace.” His wife waited for his nod.
“Our dear heavenly father, please bless this food and be in all our hearts here at the ranch. Protect the cowboys herding cattle to the Navajos and all the rest of our families on our far spread ranches. In his name we pray amen.”
Monica crossed herself. “I went to Mass while you were gone. I lit a few candles. Thank you for the grace, we have so many blessings and now we have Ratchet to help us.”
Chet noted Ratchet blushed at her words.
“Anita is alright?” Chet asked Jesus.
“Her mother is better. She plans to come back soon.”
“That’s good news. Hot as it was down in Phoenix, I bet she’s ready to get out of Mexico.”
“Mexico is hotter than that.”
They all laughed.
That week, life on the upper ranch went back to normal for Chet. They’d set up two large tents that his nephew Reg had bought from some people passing through on their way to California. Raphael’s men raised them Saturday morning for the party. Jesus and Ratchet lent a hand, and then everyone on the ranch helped move in the tables and benches stored in an outbuilding.
Tom and his wife Millie came early from the Verde Ranch and the two men talked business while their wives ran the show. Things happened quickly when the entire ranch crew got involved. The vaqueros, their wives, and even the children helped. Chet had no doubt i
t would be organized by afternoon and ready under Liz’s expert supervision.
His new employee Ratchet Thornton told him he could not believe how everyone jumped in and did things. Riding with the vaqueros, he learned more about the ranch operation each day, but the way everyone pitched in amazed him.
“This was my first wife’s father’s ranch,” Chet told him. “He gave it to us, but when I first came back from Texas, there was a tragedy. His foreman and his number two man trailed some horse thieves off south toward Bloody Basin. They were ambushed down there and killed. Raphael and I were on their trail, but I had to send him back to take care of the dead men. I caught those outlaws far over at Rye. They aren’t among the living anymore. When I came back, the ranch needed a new foreman. None of my other ranches have all Mexican cowboys, but this system worked here. So I wanted to keep it that way, and the pressure was on me to make Raphael foreman. I’ve never looked back. You’ll meet my other foremen, but Raphael handles things quietly and does a great job. These people have so much more here than they ever could have in Mexico. They really appreciate it and I think they work double hard to keep those jobs.”
Ratchet nodded. “I saw that riding with them this week, but it’s things like this party they are so smooth at.”
“Raphael got the idea a year ago for them to raise frijoles. Raised about twelve acres, and we have beans this year for all the ranches—a big food item that only cost us the price of the seed. He’s even feeding the poor at his church with some.”
“It is part of why you have such a big empire?”
Chet laughed and slapped the younger man on the arm. “You’ll see tonight why I have to have one.”
“I’m anxious to meet all these people,” Ratchet said. “I keep thinking only a week ago I was sitting in jail worried about my hanging. Have you ever figured who murdered him? Planes?”
“I think two people did it.”
“Why that?”
“The JP told me the bullets came from two different guns.”
“How could he know that?”
“He said one bullet was damn near smooth, and the other one came from a new pistol with sharp marks of the rifling.”
“Is that in the evidence?”
Chet shook his head. “No. But the sheriff will figure it out. Someday.”
The kid was silent for a moment. “What if he doesn’t?”
“I went down there because your father came here and asked for my help. I had no official authority as a marshal to investigate that murder. I used what power I have to find out the facts, but any citizen could do that. The sheriff didn’t want my help.”
“Well, I am sure grateful you did it. I wish you could’ve solved it—I mean who murdered him. I never loved Beacher, but I also didn’t want him shot down, either.”
“Better to let the locals deal with it.”
“If they can, huh?”
“If they can. Maybe you should move next to the Verde Ranch. Learn things on that ranch. You need anything? Clothes or anything?”
“Maybe a winter coat. The men I rode with said it would soon be cold up here.”
“Take Jesus to town and buy one. And some long john underwear. He’ll help you.”
“That’s mighty nice. Thanks, sir.”
“Glad to have you. We always need new blood.”
“I’ll try to live up to that.”
The fires cooking the meat were going strong. The weather wasn’t real cool, but shawls covered most of the ranch women’s shoulders as they were busy doing final things for the evening festivities. By mid-day folks began to arrive.
Hampt and May arrived via buckboard. Chet’s two nephews and their sister rode small horses along behind. The baby Miles was having a big time crawling all over his mother when Hampt helped her down. Chet kissed her forehead and welcomed them both. Then he spoke to the boys, “How are the cowboys and sis?”
“Ready for snow.”
“I hope it doesn’t do that tonight.”
Ty looked at the clear sky. “Won’t come till your party’s over.”
Chet laughed and went off with Hampt to talk ranch business. Liz took May and the baby to the house. The two men took a bench on the south side of the big barn in the sunshine.
“Things went alright down there?” Hampt asked about his last situation.
“Yes. That young man is up here working for us. After Verde Valley, he’ll be yours for a few weeks to show him the ropes.”
“We can handle that. I need to tell you May’s family’s in a big turmoil back in Texas. Her parents died and left the estate to both girls. May was shocked. She thought they’d disowned her when she married your brother. Now her sister is suing for all of it, saying May abandoned the family moving to Arizona and remarrying me.”
“That’s a big estate.”
“Yes it is. She doesn’t care, but her children are entitled to their part. Do you remember a good lawyer in that area?”
“They’ll be in San Antonio. I know one can handle it.”
Hampt agreed. “We can talk more later. You know about these things. I’m more a farmer and cowhand than a law clerk.”
“We’ll get her some good help. If they left her half I think she should have it, regardless.”
“You know May,” Hampt said. “She’s too damn nice at times, even to me. You out of problems to run down?”
“Yes, unless one springs up, it looks real quiet right now.”
“You can stand the rest. Hey, May and I are going to have another baby next spring. I can’t believe it, but those things happen.”
They laughed. “You two still having fun?”
“Lordy, yes. Chet Byrnes, a few years ago I was thinking I’d never get another job. Thought I would never have a wife or family, and now I’m starting a tribe.”
“Ranch working?”
“We’ll rebuild that Ralston place you bought. Now we’ve cut back on the number of cattle like we said, and with a few more good seasons, that new place will be back in grass. I can see it coming.”
“Good.”
“That Navajo cattle deal still working?”
“Yep. That’s what saves us. Sarge takes good care of his business with them. That agency hasn’t forgotten the skinny cattle they were supplied before we took it over.”
“We work on supplying good stuff.”
“We all work at it.” Chet nodded.
“I can tell you, the other ranching families appreciate you sharing that market with them.”
“All I can say is until the railroad comes to northern Arizona, our success will depend at the whims of having that market to operate the ranches.”
“I knew it was important. We have probably two years’ supply of hay at my place. I know we may need it, but I’m right proud of our operation.”
“So am I, Hampt,” he said. “So am I. I know Tom and them get lots of praise. You don’t have a second seat to him.”
“I know. You think Victor will do good down there?”
“I do, but he will listen to you. Help him, I think he will be good at it.”
“I promise I will do all I can for him.”
“I better move. Liz may have work for me.” Chet stood up.
Hampt rose to his full six-four frame. “She’s happy here, isn’t she?”
“She’s a very happy person. You saw all that going to look for the lost herd.”
“I worried she’d miss Mexico. She was almost a queen down there, wasn’t she?”
Chet laughed. “She was. She came in a white coach to my camp.”
“I know how happy she is after I rode with you on that trip, but I still marveled about it.”
“I thank God a lot for her.”
They parted, and Chet met Liz sampling cooked meat with Roseanna. She fed him some mesquite smoke-flavored beef from her fingers.
“Very good.”
“I talked to May.” Liz told him. “She has a problem.”
“I talked to Hampt about t
heir deal. I can wire an attorney in San Antonio and get it handled. I’ll do it tomorrow. Who has Adam?”
“He and two of the ranch boys his age are playing in the living room with Rita—you know, Rodney’s wife?”
“Good. How’s the bride-to-be?”
“She’s helping the other women and getting a chance to socialize. Her dress is very pretty. And she is excited with only two weeks until the big event. Can we leave the tents up?”
“I don’t see why not. I’ll tell Raphael to do that.”
She hugged his arm as they walked around the activity. “Chet Byrnes, I am still so glad I found you. My life tingles with neat things happening, and better yet that I am a part of it and I have you.”
“No one else in those years as a widow ever tempted you?”
“They were all like paper dolls cut out of a newspaper and holding each other’s hands.”
“I can’t believe one guy didn’t come by and turn your head a little.”
“He did. He was standing there at a camp below Tubac on the river.”
He laughed and hugged her.
“What is funny, señor?” Raphael asked.
“Oh, there was this very pretty lady stopped at the Morales Ranch in a fancy coach and asked to buy some of my yellow horses.”
A big smile crossed his face and he shook his head. “Jesus said you both were struck by lightning in that instant.”
Liz laughed and hugged her husband tighter. “He told you the truth.”
“Ah, sí, I agreed when I saw you two together the first time. You were meant to be together.”
“I had such a short time, too, to convince him.”
Chet shook his head. “Those hours we spent on the river that day and night were years long.”
She drew a deep breath. “They were.”
“The wedding is only two weeks away,” he told Raphael. “We can leave the tents up, can’t we?”
“Oh, sí. That would save some work. We will keep the ropes tight. That will save my men lots of work. Vaqueros aren’t like those carnival men who came to set up your wedding tent. They have to think a lot about doing it.”
Everyone agreed and Chet took Liz to the house. Things were going fine.
They found the small children playing on the floor with the young woman in charge sitting with them. She stood up, a little embarrassed.
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