by Jake Logan
Consuelo made another trip to Santa Fe and learned that Paco was now an apprentice to Don Squires, no doubt asking the man far too many questions about what to do next.
No news of the sisters. They were behind walls of some convent, locked away from life. When her son was taken away, Katrina never said a word, but the separation must have knifed through her deeply.
One night Consuelo woke Slocum up then crawled into bed with him. “God can send me to hell for leaving my husband”—she made the sign of the cross—“but I don’t care. I decided he was not going to ever beat me again in his drunken fits. When I left him, I had no choice but to become a whore. God will send me to hell for that as well.”
“When was this?”
“Two years ago. But I was a poor excuse for a whore, too. Too skinny, too dumb, no breasts. They threw me out of the house where I worked. They owed me money, but said I was such a bad puta that I didn’t deserve any money for doing it. I was simply afraid the whole time that he would find me there and beat me some more. Are you strong enough to love me?”
“I can try.”
“Good. If it hurts, you must stop, and we can try again tomorrow.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” he said, laughing.
He pulled her to him, and he kissed her with as much as pressure as he could stand. She put her finger on his lips to stop him. Then she sat up and struggled to get the thin dress off over her head, exposing her copper body, with its small breasts and dark nest of pubic hair.
“Now you can have me.” She snuggled down beside him and he ran his palms over her breasts and flat belly. His attention pleased her and she showed it. He rose up with some pain and tasted her nipples with his still-numb lips. Under his mouth, she shuddered and tried to scoot closer.
Her breathing increased, and he used his finger to be certain she was slick enough for him. When he rose up higher, the pain was tough, but she slipped underneath him and he straddled her. Unable to resist, she used her small hand to insert him inside her gates. Her entry was full with his erection, but she spread her legs farther apart and raised her knees to help him go deeper. Her look was one of shock, but once he was deep inside her, she smiled at him in pleasure.
His efforts were not without discomfort, but the pleasure ended his long stretch of being without a woman and then being severely wounded. At his temples, the pounding increased as he sought her tight depths. Their excitement fueled his explosion, and they rocketed upward as they both came at once, then gradually fell back to earth, satisfied, beside each other.
“Did I hurt you?” she asked with concern in her tone.
“No, never. You were just perfect.”
Tears flooded her face, and she could not speak for a moment. “You are not like my husband,” she said finally.
“I sure hope not.”
Then she asked, “Are you hungry?”
“No. But I may sleep some.”
“Fine.”
“Consuelo. When you go for supplies—if there is still some money left . . .”
“Yes?”
“Buy yourself a new dress. You’ve earned it.”
She about bit through her lower lip at his words, then agreed with a nod.
* * *
The days dragged on. His recovery was too damn slow, but he knew he couldn’t rush it. When he was well, he’d go to Santa Fe and call out Proctor to even the score. He walked farther out in the junipers every day to build his body strength. Soon he was jogging on the trails he used in the desert country south of Santa Fe, satisfied he would, in a short while, be tough enough to begin his quest for justice for the two Proctor sisters. His sexual relationship with Consuelo was growing steamier and more of pleasure than pain. Her own self-esteem was improving—she was no longer that withdrawn woman who considered herself less than a full female because of her worthless husband’s complaints about her and her body. She’d developed a whole new self-image, which showed all over her.
One day, when she returned from getting supplies, she was even laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Slocum asked from the doorway, hearing her laughter.
“You know the boy that clerks at the general store? The blond one?”
“Yes.” Of course, he’d never met him but had heard her stories about him.
“He propositioned me today.”
“What did he ask you for?”
“Did I date anyone now that my husband was gone?”
“Did he know that you’d left your husband?”
“No. But he noticed that a man no longer brought me there and ordered me around like I was his private slave.”
He hugged her to his chest. “You going out with him?”
“I guess I could. He is a nice young man. You are doing lots of exercise. Are you planning to leave me?”
“Not now. I want to learn something about the men who beat me up. I want them to pay for what they did.”
She nodded. “I can go places you can’t. I will help you find them.”
“No. Too dangerous.”
“I am not some dumb Mexican housewife.”
“Whoa, I only meant that I don’t want you to be in any unsafe places for my sake.”
“I am not afraid.”
“We’ll see what I find out first.”
“All right.” She took his shirt material in her hands and pulled him toward her. “Help me bring in the things I bought, then you and I can play, okay?”
“Oh, yes.”
“I’m glad you aren’t tired of my body.”
He laughed and went for her things in the buckboard. They spent the afternoon playing in bed and after supper they rode horses into the city. He stabled them at a friend’s barn behind his house. They slipped into the street in the darkness and walked several blocks to the square. With care, they came in the back door of a cantina and slipped into a booth where the light was dim.
A barmaid came and she took their order of wine for her and beer for him. He also asked her to speak to Deveroe.
When she agreed and left, Consuelo asked him who Deveroe was.
“A man who knows everything that happens in Santa Fe.”
There were some loud whores in the cantina messing around with some men, who made even more noise. In a short while, a man who was about five-foot-six came and slipped into the seat across from them. He nodded at Consuelo and then stuck his hand out to Slocum.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked as the two men shook hands.
“This is Consuelo. She saved my life. I brought the two Proctor girls home after a friend of mine ransomed them from the Indians. Their son-of-a-bitch father was so mad and cheap, he had me beat up then he locked the girls up in a convent. Without Consuelo, I would have died.”
Deveroe made a sour face. “Harvey Proctor’s a real bastard.”
“Do you know which convent the girls were sent to?”
“I can find out.”
“Thanks. Those girls have been through hell. The one girl does not even speak, she was in such shock, and she had a half-breed baby, but her father took him away. Who does he think he is anyway?”
“A powerful businessman, who does whatever he wants to do. He sent the girls’ mother to an insane asylum, so he can frolic with young women.”
“Is she insane?”
“The only crazy thing she ever did was marry her bastard husband. Otherwise, she’s as sane as you and me.”
“I want the names of his henchmen. And a description of each.”
“I can have a list by nightfall. It will be in an envelope marked ‘John Smith’ for you at the bar. His head man is José Rivera, who’s a back-stabbing prick. He lives in a jacal in Pine Canyon at the head of the road.”
“Appreciate it,” S
locum said. He could find the place and have a surprise for that bastard. “Does he have guards?”
“Some dogs is all.”
“Good. I’ll be back for the list. How much will I owe you?”
“Twenty pesos.”
“I don’t have any money now, but I’ll pay you when I get the ransom money from Proctor.”
“I trust you,” Deveroe said and left.
“He’s a tough hombre, isn’t he?” Consuelo remarked, watching him walk out the door as if still appraising him.
“Yes, and he’s a good man to have on our side.”
“What can we do about Proctor’s honcho?”
“Give him the scare of his life.”
“Oh, how do you do that?”
“I’ll show you. First we need some medicine that will put his dogs to sleep.”
She frowned. “Where do you get that?”
“From a bruja I know.” He started to get up out of the booth. Some noisy men came in the front door, but he was satisfied it was dark enough in the back of the room that they would not recognize him. He hurried Consuelo out into the alleyway. They paused in the shadows to see it anyone was following them. No one came, so they crossed down the alleys and back ways until they reached a small casa.
He woke up an old lady, who shuffled slowly to the door. Seeing who it was, she made him bend over so she could hug him and pat his back. He told her his needs and she nodded. She came back with a small jar and put it in his hand. “You can pay me later. I know you have no money tonight. A few drops on the red meat and they will sleep for a long time.”
On their way again, Consuelo asked him, “How did she know you were broke?”
“She’s a real bruja.”
“I guess so.”
A cook in a restaurant, who was on a break and smoking in the alley, sold him some small chunks of raw beef for the ten centavos that Slocum found in his pocket. No doubt the cook did not put the coin in the boss’s till.
At the head of the canyon, by starlight, he laced the meat with the liquid the witch had sold him. He made Consuelo stay and went on ahead. Three dogs came charging at him, and he hoped there was enough medicine to knock them out. They stopped, growling at him. He tossed each one a chunk and they snapped them from the air. Then another piece for each of them. He began to wonder how long before the medicine took effect. One dog lay down and started grunting on his side. Then the other two did the same. Soon they were all quiet and sleeping.
Slocum went back and got Consuelo, leading her past the oblivious dogs. Noiselessly, they crept up to the house. Someone was really snoring inside, and he suspected it was the man he wanted. They tiptoed inside the open door, and he motioned for her to stay in the doorway. His six-gun in his hand, he crossed the room and could see by the starlight a big, hairy naked man. A woman was beside him—naked, too. A slender young girl. He waved for Consuelo to come into the room and pointed to the girl. She nodded that she understood.
He took a large pottery vase and smashed it over the man’s head, then stuck his gun in the man’s face.
“What the hell—” the man screamed.
“Shut up or die.”
Consuelo had grabbed the young woman and was holding her arms. The girl was too terrified to resist.
“Get on your belly, and if you yell at me again, I’ll do to you what I did to the dogs.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone you beat up and left for dead. Remember?”
The man peered into Slocum’s face, then said, “Shit.”
Slocum bound his hands and feet, then rolled him over. With the gun aimed at his temple, Slocum made Rivera open his mouth. He let a few drops of the medicine spill onto his tongue. “When you wake up, leave town. Get on a fast horse and never come back. If you don’t, I’ll find you and kill you.”
Rivera’s eyes closed and his face went blank before he could answer.
To the girl, he said, “Get dressed and get out of here. This is no life for you.”
The girl scrambled to obey him.
They left for town as the dawn began to pink up the sky. They went back to sleep all day in a livery stable near the square and got up for supper in the evening. Slocum needed to be certain that Rivera had taken his advice. After sundown, he went back to talk to Deveroe.
“Any news about Rivera today?” Slocum asked him.
Deveroe smiled and shook his head as if amused. “He didn’t waste much time getting out. I heard he was going to El Paso and maybe on to Mexico. He said he was attacked by the ghost of a madman in the night who was coming back to kill him.”
“Who did Proctor choose to replace him?”
“Rivera’s second in command. A dumb man named Sanchez.”
“Where is he?”
“I think he is camped over by the Rio Grande and won’t travel without many soldiers at his side.”
“Gracias, amigo.”
“I never thought anyone could scare Rivera that bad.” The man chuckled. “He was hysterical when he left. He said the ghost swept in, tied him up, and poisoned him.”
“Consuelo and I did it.”
“Well, it worked, but the new man is better fortified.”
“Okay, but he won’t dare venture out much after his tough leader was run off.”
Deveroe left, and Consuelo squeezed Slocum’s arm. “What next?”
“I want to talk to Proctor’s wife. She’s a victim of his bullying, too.”
“How will you do that?”
“I need a young lawyer.”
“Where will you find him?”
“In his law office, I guess. We’ll need a rebel. Someone who’s willing to take chances.”
“They’re all closed now.”
“Our man may not be.”
“Why is that?”
“A brand-new lawyer might have to sleep in his office until he makes enough money to afford a house.”
They left the cantina.
They saw a light in a small office off the square. Seeing a young man working at a desk, Slocum knocked. The man rose and came to the door. “How may I help you?”
“There’s a woman being wrongly held in an institution by her husband.”
“What would you like me to do?”
“Get her released.”
“Who is she?”
“The wife of Harvey Proctor.”
“He’s a big businessman.”
“I know but she shouldn’t be held in the insane ward. She’s not crazy and deserves part of his fortune.”
“Who are you?”
“Friends of hers and her daughters. My name is Slocum.”
“Where are her daughters?”
“Being held in a convent against their will.”
“What?”
“You heard me. The man is an animal.”
“Come inside. Tell me all about this situation.”
The man opened the door and motioned for Slocum and Consuelo to enter. There was only one’s visitor’s chair, which the lawyer offered to her. Slocum remained standing as he explained what happened.
“Elania and Katrina Proctor were kidnapped by Indians, who ransomed them to a friend of mine. I brought them here with Katrina’s newborn son from West Texas. I asked Proctor to repay the ransom money, but he refused and had his men beat me up. Then he took the girls and sent them to a convent against their will and shipped his newborn grandson to an orphanage. Since then I learned that he’d packed his wife off to an insane asylum. She isn’t crazy. He’s the one who’s mad.”
“I can talk to the judge and ask for a hearing.”
“How can I help you?” Slocum asked.
“Give me a few names of people I can call on to testify.”
“I’ll get them and be back in the morning.” They left the young man, and Slocum took Consuelo back to talk some more to Deveroe.
“What do you need now?” the man asked, slipping into the booth and looking shifty-eyed at the smoky bar room for anyone peering at them.
“Five tough men to meet me at the stables down the street before dawn. Pays twenty a day, tell them to bring their guns, knives, and horses. Where does this man who works for Proctor live at?”
“A man named Frisco will bring the men. He knows Proctor’s setup down there. They’ll earn their money.”
“Good, I won’t bother you much more. I hired a lawyer named . . .” He turned to Consuelo, but she lifted her hands up and shrugged.
“His office is half a block down the street and he has reddish hair.”
“Fred Golden. New man, he should be eager. Needs the money.”
“He agreed to talk to the judge about freeing Proctor’s wife. What’s her name, by the way?”
“Camilla. Lovely woman. And he’s such a sorry rich bastard.”
“What about the new guy in charge?”
“Sanchez? A dumb dickhead.”
Slocum chuckled. “You must like him. Tomorrow I need to tell Golden the names of a few people who can help him get Proctor’s wife out of the nuthouse.”
“I can get a bunch of them.”
“You handle it, and find out where Proctor sent those two girls. I promised the elder daughter, Elania, I’d get them out of there if he did that.”
“No problem. Can I go play cards for a while?”
“Hell, yeah. Thanks.”
Deveroe paused and put his hand on Slocum’s shoulder. “Frisco’s a tough man. You’ll like each other.”
When he’d left, Slocum and Consuelo went out the back way into the alley and hid in the shadows. A few minutes later, some guy busted out the back door, looking both ways like he was on their trail. Slocum stuck a gun muzzle in his back. “Lose us?”