“Everyone is on the cattle drive and Morton and Bradford had gone out to check the new mother cows, which is why I didn’t think Bradford would even know I was at the river.”
“Never mind, after I get rid of Bradford, I will come and knock on the door, like I just arrived. When Bradford does not come back or his horse shows up without him, they will probably ask me to see if I can track him down, which I will. Once I find him, we will send Morton for the sheriff, and that will be the end of it. I will tell everyone that your father sent me out here to check on you, since he hadn’t heard from you for a while.”
“At least, Bradford can’t tell Jason about us now,” Vanessa mumbled.
“And you can live happily ever after, while I spend the rest of my life trying to forget you,” Broken Feather grumbled back.
“I am so sorry, Broken Feather. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. My father should have never made me marry Jason.”
“No use crying over spilt milk. I will probably have to remain here to help out until Jason returns, though. It is what it is, and once I leave here, I’m never coming back, Vanessa. You can’t just send for me every time you feel like it. It is time you take responsibility for your actions now, and I have to do the same. At the end of the year, I’m going back to Mexico. I know you won’t come with me, but if something happens between then and now, I will be at the fort, where you will be able to find me.”
“You know, once I have the baby, I will have to remain here,” she mumbled.
“I knew that would be your choice in the end. Even if Jason wasn’t in the picture, you will never accept me for who I am. I don’t know why I ever believed you would.”
“You are right. It is one thing for a white master to give his slave a baby, or have a black mistress on the side, but when it comes to marriage, no one is going to accept a white woman with a black man, or the other way around. You are not only part black, but you are an Indian. Our love was doomed from the beginning.”
“Not in Mexico,” he reminded her.
“I am not going to Mexico!” she stated emphatically.
Vanessa busied herself getting dressed, as Broken Feather slung Bradford over his horse. She wouldn’t let herself even look in that direction, not wanting to see Bradford’s dead face, or it would haunt her for the rest of her life. She couldn’t believe she had actually killed him.
Vanessa hurried back to the ranch house, not bothering to look back. When she got there, she did as Broken Feather suggested and sat down and started playing the piano with a passion.
“There you are,” Mags said as she came into the great room. “I wondered where you got off to. I thought I heard you in the main part of the house a little while ago, but when I went to look, you were nowhere to be found. My husband wants to know if you are ready to have lunch. Morton just came in, and we are waiting for Bradford to show up, but he’s not here yet.”
“Yes, I think I will have something,” Vanessa mumbled.
“Then come in the kitchen and join us, since it will just be the five of us.
Just at that moment they heard a knock on the door and Mags looked up in surprise. “Who could that be? We aren’t expecting any visitors, are we?”
Vanessa shrugged, but said nothing, and Mags went to the door. “Broken Feather,” Vanessa could hear her exclaiming, “what brings you here?”
“Captain Renton was worried about Vanessa, so he sent me out to check up on her. She has neglected to write to her father. I hope there is nothing wrong with her.”
“To tell you the truth, she is doing right fine for a woman preparing to start a family. Jason and everyone except for Bradford and Morton have all gone on the drive. We are about to have lunch. Would you like to join us? We are just waiting for Bradford to show up.”
“I would love that,” Broken Feather smiled. “I have had a long ride, and appreciate your hospitality.”
“Then come in the kitchen with us. Vanessa, Broken Feather has shown up. Why haven’t you been writing your father?” she called, and then smiled when Vanessa joined them in the entry. “I would think you would want to write and tell him about him becoming a grandfather.”
“I have written, only I guess the letter hasn’t gotten to him yet,’ Vanessa said. “Hello, Broken Feather. How are you?”
“Tired, to tell you the truth. I hope you are doing well. You shouldn’t ignore your father so much. He has no way of knowing what is happening to you if you don’t inform him of your situation.”
“I will make a point of writing him more often in the future. In fact, if you wish, I will write you as well to put your mind at ease.”
“I doubt that will be necessary. Your father can pass on the news. When is Jason due home?”
“It will be at least three weeks or more before we expect him back,” Mags answered for her, as she led them into the kitchen. “How long do you plan on staying? The boys could probably use your help if you are not in a hurry to get back.”
“Captain Renton told me to remain as long as it took to assure his daughter was safe and well. I am sure he wouldn’t mind if I stayed for a few days, considering most of the men are away.”
“When Bradford returns, you can ask him about staying. He has been put in charge while Jason is away.”
As they came into the kitchen, they found Morton already sitting at the kitchen table, and MacGregor was getting ready to dish up the plates.
“We have an extra guest,” Mags said, nodding at Broken Feather.
“Well, where did you come from? I thought you had gone back to the army,” MacGregor commented.
“Just here for a short visit,” Broken Feather told him.
“Where in the hell is Bradford,” Morton complained. “He took off while we were out checking the cows, saying he had to take care of something, and then never returned. He didn’t come back here did he?”
“Not that I am aware of,” Vanessa told him.
“He usually takes care of ranch business and doesn’t mess around, and he certainly knows when it is lunch time. He should be here by now.”
“I am sure he will come dragging in soon,” MacGregor smiled. “I noticed a bottle of Jason’s favorite wine was missing when I was checking the supplies. He is probably enjoying it somewhere, and may be sleeping it off, if he drank too much. I’ll keep something warm for him. No use waiting since the majority of us are here, wanting to eat.”
“That is not like Bradford. I have never known him to get into Jason’s wine before. Did you take it, Vanessa?” he asked, turning to her.
“No, I didn’t. I don’t know why you would think that I did. Since I have been in a mothering way, I have refrained from drinking wine. It makes me nauseous. If Bradford took the wine, I will report it to Jason when he gets back. You know how Jason feels about his wine supply, especially his favorite vintage. Bradford needs a good talking to.”
“I doubt Jason will be very hard on him,” Mags smiled. “They have been friends for a long time. He sometimes lets Bradford get away with a lot more than he allows the other boys to do.”
“Yes, Jason said he trusts Bradford more than anyone else, so maybe he won’t even care.” She thought how Jason apparently didn’t know Bradford as well as he thought he did. He had been so sure Bradford wouldn’t try to touch her, and then Bradford ends taking the best wine, and tried to rape her. He would have succeeded if that rock hadn’t been handy. Maybe he needed the wine to give him enough courage to do it, she thought. He could have tried early on during the week, but hadn’t approached her.
When the meal was finished, Morton started getting nervous. “You know how to track people, don’t you?” he asked Broken Feather. “I can’t imagine what would be keeping Bradford this long. I wonder if a Comanche got him. Maybe we should go look for him.”
“If you take me to where you last saw him, I could follow his tracks from there,” Broken Feather suggested. He glanced at Vanessa, who had a worried look on her face.
“I�
��ll take you there,” Morton said, getting up from the table. “This just isn’t like Bradford. I wonder what it was he said he had to take care of. I didn’t know of anything extra that needed doing besides checking on the new calves and cows that were about to drop a calf.”
“I guess we will discover it, when we find him,” Broken Feather stated. “Something must be detaining him that he hadn’t counted on, so I guess we had better get to it.”
Vanessa went out on the front porch, along with Mags to watch the two riding off together. She was literally shaking, knowing what they would end up finding.
“Don’t worry,” Mags said, soothingly, when she saw Vanessa shaking. “Bradford can pretty much take care of himself. There is probably a very simple explanation, and we will all laugh when we discover what it is that made us worry so.”
“I just have a bad feeling, is all,” Vanessa murmured.
Broken Feather followed Morton to the place where he claimed they had last been together, checking on the cows. He got down from his horse and studied the tracks, and then got back up on it and started following the tracks, which led straight to the river. Bradford must have known Vanessa would be at the river, he thought, unless he had just planned to go there to down the wine.
“Did you notice if Bradford had the wine with him?” Broken Feather asked.
“Not as far as I could tell. That is why I think it is strange to accuse him of taking it.”
“Maybe what he had to take care of was going back to get the wine, only his tracks do not lead back to the house. Maybe he had gotten the wine earlier, and stashed it somewhere between here and the river.” They were just approaching the river as he spoke.
“Bradford knew we had business to take care of. Why would he take off to the river to drink? He could have waited until after we were through working to get drunk, don’t you think?”
Not if he was looking for Vanessa and knew she was at the river, he thought. “It was a hot day,” was all he said, though.
He must have been watching Vanessa, because she claimed she didn’t think he knew she was at the river. Whatever the case, he went to the river, had the wine, and tried to take advantage of his friend’s wife. Maybe he deserved to die, Broken Feather thought angrily to himself.
“What’s that on the bank,” Morton asked, pointing to something white, which looked like maybe a dead duck or something. Broken Feather swung down from his horse, and checked. It was what he expected it to be. It was Vanessa’s pantaloons. There was no way he could hide them, so he fished them out and wrung them out.
“Looks like women’s pantaloons,” he mumbled.
“They must belong to Vanessa, but why would she leave her pantaloons out here?”
“Maybe she went swimming, and when she went to get dressed the wind had blown them into the water and she couldn’t find them,” he suggested. “I’ll take them back and ask her about them.”
Broken Feather turned to look and saw Morton getting down from his horse.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “The tracks lead away from here, but I do see he got off of his horse, so maybe he was drinking the wine here.”
“His hat is on that branch of the tree, which means he has been here, only I noticed something strange,” Morton stated. “There is blood on this rock, and a puddle of blood in the grass. Also, the grass is all pressed down as well.”
Broken Feather came to inspect what Morton was looking at, kicking himself for not thinking to throw the rock in the river, and get rid of the blood. He hadn’t even noticed Bradford’s hat in the tree when he was there. Everything else took center stage at the time.”
“That is strange,” Broken Feather stated. According to the tracks, it looks like he must have tripped and hit his head on that rock. The fact that the grass is pressed down indicates he was lying here for a time. Maybe he was out for a bit and his head bled, then he got up and rode away. Could be, if he was drunk, hitting his head may have disoriented him and that is why he left his hat and has not come back. Maybe he is wondering around drunk and unable to focus on what direction he is going, or has passed out somewhere.”
“It just isn’t like Bradford to do that. Besides, his horse would have brought him back,” Morton insisted.
“Not if he fell off his horse. I guess the only way to find out is to follow the tracks and see if we can hunt him down.”
Once again Broken Feather started following tracks that he had made himself, when he took Bradford to the canyon. On the way back, he had covered his own tracks, leaving only Bradford’s tracks to follow. He was anxious to get this over with. Morton may question things, now that he noticed the blood, and Vanessa’s pantaloons. He was just hoping that Morton wasn’t smart enough to try and piece things together. It was plausible that Bradford had tripped and hit his head, and then woke up and rode away in a drunken stupor. Luckily, by the time the Sheriff inspected everything, most of the evidence would be trampled over by him and Morton.
“There’s Bradford’s horse. It looks like he’s ground-tied so no wonder he didn’t come back to the ranch. Bradford must be around here somewhere and that is why his horse is waiting for him. I just don’t know why he would come out all this way. This isn’t even near the pasture where the cows are.”
“If he was drunk, he may not have known where he was going,” Broken Feather reasoned. “Guess we better take a look,” he suggested as he swung down from his horse.
“Bradford!” Morton called out, “you out here?”
There was no reply. Broken Feather hadn’t expected one. He decided he would hold back and let Morton find the body, so it didn’t look like he knew anything about what they were about to discover. It didn’t take long before Morton was excitedly calling to him, telling him he could see Bradford down in the canyon.
“It doesn’t look good,” Morton called. “He’s mighty still!”
“Go down and check. I’ll throw you a rope so we can pull him back up,” Broken Feather instructed.
“I think he’s a goner,” Morton called up, when he had reached Bradford’s body. “He’s already getting stiff. Throw the rope down and I’ll tie it around him, to pull him up.”
The two managed to bring Bradford’s body up the side of the canyon wall, which hadn’t been very steep. Broken Feather could see added scrapes and scratches on Bradford’s face, beyond the place where his head had been hit with the rock.
“I found the bottle of wine. It was broken. He must have had it with him when he fell,” Morton stated. “Only, what was strange is that when I went to tie the rope around him, his shirt was up and I could see scratches on his back, which didn’t look like they got there from his fall. They look like fingernail scratches, to me… four of them all in a row.”
“Had Bradford been out with any of the local ladies of the night, lately?” Broken Feather asked.
“Nope, he has been here the whole time, and these scratches look fresh.”
“You know Bradford better than I do. What do you suppose happened causing him to get those scratches?”
Morton pulled Bradford’s shirt back to show Broken Feather the scratches. “They are pretty deep, which means it wasn’t love making that caused them, and I can’t imagine Bradford ever having a tussle with a woman, in such a way that she would scratch him like that. Besides, his shirt would have had to be off at the time. I don’t see any rips in his shirt, unless whoever scratched him pushed their hand under his shirt if it hadn’t been tucked in. Bradford usually tucked his shirt in.”
“You don’t suppose he got in a fight with a man recently, do you?”
“Men usually don’t have long fingernails,” Morton pointed out.
“Apparently something happened, and the only woman near this ranch is Vanessa. You don’t suppose Bradford would have put her in a position for her to scratch him, do you?”
“Never! Jason would have his head if that had happened!”
“Even if he was drunk?” Broken Feather looked closely at
Morton.
“Now that, I can’t say, because I haven’t seen Bradford drunk very many times, and not when he was around a woman. I just don’t think he would betray Jason that way, even if he was drunk. He was supposed to be keeping an eye out for Vanessa.”
“People sometimes do strange things when they get drunk,” Broken Feather pointed out.
“So do you think something happened between them?” Morton asked.
“Only Vanessa would know, and I don’t think she is going to tell anyone. Whatever happened, Bradford took off on his horse, and ended up at the bottom of the canyon.”
“You think maybe he threw himself off to the bottom of the canyon, out of self-loathing, after trying something with Vanessa?”
“If he was drunk, no telling what he would do, but I would keep this between you and me. We don’t want to upset Vanessa any more than she is going to be when she discovers Bradford is dead. There is nothing we can do about it now anyway. We might as well let Vanessa keep her dignity, so don’t mention anything to the sheriff. Just let him ask all the questions and only answer what you know.”
“I guess you are right. I just can’t imagine Bradford ever…” He shook his head in disbelief, not even finishing the sentence.
“I guess I had better stay at the ranch until Jason gets back. You are going to need the help and Vanessa will need moral support. I am the only friend she has, other than the ranch hands. When we were together on the way out here, we became close friends, after almost getting washed away in a storm together. She says I remind her of a young slave that was her friend when she was growing up.”
“I suppose I should go get the sheriff when we get back to the ranch. Why don’t you take Bradford back to the ranch and lay him out in his room, and I’ll ride out to and get the sheriff.”
“Yeah, the sooner this is over, the better.”
Morton kicked his horse and galloped away, as Broken Feather led Bradford’s horse with him slung over the saddle. Since he was already starting to get stiff, Broken Feather didn’t want him to be too stiff so he couldn’t lay him out, once he got him back.
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