"It's worth a lot, isn't it?" Becky asked eagerly. "You can use what I told you to make her drop out of the election. You can be mayor of Wind River, Mr. Parker, and nobody will ever bother you again." She paused, then added, "Besides, you can blackmail Mrs. McKay yourself now. All I want is my fair share."
"And for me to protect you, so that Simone doesn't know who told me all about it."
Becky inclined her head in acknowledgment of that point.
"Yeah, pretty smart." Parker stuck his hand in his pocket again, and this time when he brought it out he was holding several bills. He extended them across the desk.
Becky came to her feet and snatched the money out of his fingers. Her desperation was pretty pathetic, Parker thought. But he had to admire her cunning, and although he could have doublecrossed her, he decided to play along for a while. "That's not a payoff," he said. "Take that money and buy yourself something decent to wear and a few good meals. You're working here at the Pronghorn now, and I like my girls to look nice."
She gazed at him with wide eyes. "You mean it, Mr. Parker?"
"Sure. I got a feeling you and I are going to get along just fine, Becky." He came around the desk and held out his hand toward her again, empty this time. "Simone McKay doesn't know it yet, but this just turned into the worst day of her life."
Becky hesitated, then took his hand. His fingers closed on hers and pulled her toward him. He figured they needed to do something to seal their bargain. His mouth came down hard on hers.
Chapter 7
Cole was surprised when Simone showed up at the marshal's office the next morning. Not so much that she was there, he thought; the two of them were friends, if nothing else, and it wasn't unusual for her to drop by. What surprised him was how good she looked, rested and radiant with seemingly a new outlook on life.
"Well, I'm glad to see you smiling again," Cole said as he stood up to greet her with a smile of his own.
"I decided there was still plenty to smile about," she said. "After all, in less than a week I'm going to be the first mayor of Wind River."
"I hope so," said Cole.
"I know I will be. I'm not going to allow myself to think anything else."
"Now you're talking." Cole grinned. "Have a seat, and we'll talk about what it'll be like when you're the mayor of this town."
Simone surprised him again by shaking her head. "There'll be plenty of time for that later. Right now I have something else I need to do, and I want you to go with me."
"I reckon I can do that. Where are we headed?"
"I'm going over to the Territorial House," Simone said. "I want to see Brenda Durand and her grandmother."
Cole couldn't stop himself from frowning. If Simone was in this good a mood, he wondered, what had she decided to do about the problem of Brenda Durand?
"I want to have a witness when I talk to them," Simone went on.
"Well, that's encouraging, I guess," Cole said. "At least you're not planning to shoot both of them, or you wouldn't invite the marshal along."
"Shoot them?" Simone repeated. She laughed. "Of course not. I've come to the conclusion that I can't fight them."
"You're going to give Miss Durand what she wants?" Cole was surprised again. He hadn't figured Simone would give up without a fight, even if it was one she had little chance of winning.
"I'm not going to stand in the way of anyone claiming what's legally theirs. Besides, I have more important things on my mind, like the election next week."
Cole nodded slowly, pleased to hear that Simone was going to be reasonable where Brenda Durand was concerned. That situation could have gotten real ugly real fast, he reflected, and he might have wound up in the unenviable position of having to take sides. He was glad that evidently it wasn't going to come to that.
"I'll be happy to go with you while you talk to them," he said. "We can go over to the hotel right now."
"That's fine with me."
They were just leaving the marshal's office when Billy Casebolt came whistling down the boardwalk. The deputy lifted a finger to the brim of his hat and said, "Mornin, ma'am. Mighty nice day, ain't it?"
"Indeed it is, Deputy," Simone agreed with a smile. "And it's going to be even better."
"If you say so, ma'am." Casebolt started to move past them toward the door of the office.
Cole stopped the older man with a hand on his arm. An idea had occurred to him. "Why don't you come with Mrs. McKay and me, Billy?"
"Sure," Casebolt replied with an indifferent shrug. "Where're we goin'?"
"Over to the hotel to see Miss Durand and Mrs. Palmer."
Casebolt's eyes widened. Cole had told him the whole story of Brenda Durand's visit to Simone's office the day before. Obviously he expected that more fireworks were imminent between the two women. He asked, "Are you sure that's such a good idea, Marshal? I mean, hadn't somebody ought to stay here at the office in case folks come lookin' for us?"
"We're just going over to the hotel," Cole said. "If there's a big commotion, we'll hear it. Come on, Billy. Simone needs some witnesses, and I reckon both of the town's lawmen will do just fine."
Simone nodded. "Cole's right, Deputy Casebolt. I don't want any question later about what goes on in this meeting. I think you should be there as well."
"Don't look like I've got a whole lot of choice," Casebolt said uneasily. "There ain't goin' to be no hair-pullin' or caterwaulin', is there?"
Simone laughed. "I promise I'll behave myself, Deputy. You'll be safe enough."
"It ain't me that I'm worried about," mumbled Casebolt, but he fell in behind Cole and Simone as they crossed the street and then moved down the boardwalk toward the hotel.
They found Brenda and her grandmother in the hotel dining room. Both women were dressed more simply this morning, but their clothes were still expensively elegant. They looked up in surprise from their breakfast as Simone, Cole, and Casebolt approached.
"Good morning," Simone said before either of the other women had a chance to speak. "I was wondering if I might talk to you ladies for a moment."
"What do you want?" Brenda asked bluntly.
Margaret Palmer was more diplomatic. "Of course, Mrs. McKay," she said. "Please, join us."
"I've already eaten breakfast," Simone said, "but I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee."
"You and your deputy are welcome as well, Marshal," added Margaret.
There were two vacant chairs at the table. Cole held one of them for Simone, then took the other while Billy Casebolt snagged a chair from an empty table, reversed it, and straddled it. Cole might have said something to him about his lack of manners, but neither of the newcomers to Wind River seemed to mind. In fact, there was a smile on Margaret Palmer's face as she looked at the lanky deputy.
A waitress hurried up, and Margaret told her, "We'd like coffee for our friends."
"Yes, ma'am. Good morning, Miz McKay."
Simone smiled at the young woman. "Good morning, Erica."
"I'll be right back with that coffee."
Brenda watched the waitress's retreating back and commented, "She's certainly anxious to please. She wasn't that happy to see us." She shot a glance at Simone. "But then, I'm not her boss . . . yet."
"And you won't be," Simone said. Brenda frowned and started to speak, but Simone went on first. "I have something here I want to show you." She opened her bag and took out a bundle of papers.
Brenda was still anxious to say something, but her grandmother stopped her this time. "Let's allow Mrs. McKay an opportunity to show us what she wants to," Margaret said.
"All right, but nothing's going to change my mind," Brenda replied crossly. "Half of this town is still going to be mine."
"Not quite half," Simone said. She spread out the documents between the plates so that both Brenda and Margaret could see them. "This is the partnership agreement between my late husband and your late father, Miss Durand."
"So you're not disputing the fact that William Durand was my father?"
"I'm not disputing anything," Simone told her. "I'm prepared to honor your claim."
"Well! That's a surprise. I guess you must have realized you couldn't win."
Margaret said softly, "It's not ladylike to gloat, dear."
"However, I want everything delineated very clearly," Simone went on. "The newspaper, this hotel, and several other pieces of property were owned outright by my husband, as you'll see here in the agreement." She used a slender finger to point out the pertinent clauses. "Therefore, you're not entitled to any share in those assets."
Brenda sniffed. "All right. I don't like it, but I suppose you're right about that part of it. Everything else, though—"
"Everything that was originally held jointly by Andrew McKay and William Durand will now be held jointly by the two of us as their heirs," Simone declared. "That's as fair as I can possibly be about it."
"Fairness is all we want, Mrs. McKay," Margaret said.
"Of course, I will continue to be in charge of the day-today operations of the Wind River Land Development Company, as well as managing the other joint holdings."
"Now wait just a minute—" Brenda began. Once again her grandmother silenced her with a gracefully lifted hand.
"You're much more familiar with the details of the estate than either of us," Margaret said to Simone. "Such an arrangement as you propose seems agreeable . . . at least for the time being."
Simone nodded. "I hoped that you'd be reasonable about this, Mrs. Palmer. Now, every six months I'll go through the books and calculate Brenda's share of the profits, which I will then send to you in Baltimore. I assume a bank draft will be satisfactory?"
"No, indeed," said Margaret.
Cole saw a glitter of anger in Simone's eyes. He grimaced. This had all been going so well, better than he had expected. Now the deal looked like it might fall apart over some trivial point. . ..
"How do you want the money?" Simone asked bluntly.
"We intend to open an account in Brenda's name at the bank right here in Wind River."
"Here? What good will it do you to have the money in the bank here when the two of you are in Baltimore?"
"We're not going to be in Baltimore," Margaret said.
"That's right," Brenda put in. "We're going to stay here in Wind River."
Billy Casebolt let out a low whistle of surprise. Cole felt like doing pretty much the same thing himself, but he reined in the impulse. As for Simone, she stared across the table at Brenda and Margaret in disbelief. For a long moment, no one said anything.
Except for the young waitress, who came up to the table with a tray on which rested a coffeepot and three cups. She said brightly, "Here you go, folks." Oblivious to the tension pervading the atmosphere, she poured coffee for Simone, Cole, and Casebolt, then freshened what was in the two cups already on the table.
Simone waited until the woman was gone, then said slowly, "Why in heaven's name do you want to stay in Wind River?"
"There's nothing wrong with the town, is there?" Brenda asked. "The way you seem to think it's your town, you ought to want people to settle here."
"Brenda wants to be here so that she can see what's being done with her inheritance, Mrs. McKay," Margaret said. "I think that's a perfectly logical desire. There's no real reason we have to go back to Baltimore. We can make a life for ourselves here just as easily." She lifted her cup to her lips, sipped from it, and smiled. "Besides, we've already made arrangements to have all of our things shipped out here. I'm certain we can find a suitable house."
Simone regarded the older woman intently for a moment, then said, "You're awfully sure of yourself, aren't you?"
"My granddaughter and I knew that we were in the right, that's all. And you've already agreed with that conclusion, Mrs. McKay."
Simone sighed. "So I have."
Margaret continued. "Besides, I find your frontier citizens to be so . . . colorful. So interesting." Once again she looked at Billy Casebolt and smiled.
Cole had to look down at the floor to keep from showing off the grin that had suddenly appeared on his face. The reasons that Margaret and Brenda had given for wanting to remain in Wind River made sense, all right.
Margaret had indicated that she was fairly well-off, but Cole doubted if she was rich. Brenda, on the other hand, was— at least now that Simone had agreed to share the assets of the original partnership with her. If he had been in the same position, he would have wanted to stay where he could keep an eye on his holdings, too.
But he could still sympathize with Simone . . . and with Billy Casebolt. Unless he missed his guess, Cole had seen the beginnings of a romantic interest on Margaret Palmer's face when she looked at the deputy. Why a lady like Mrs. Palmer would take a shine to a scruffy character like Casebolt was beyond Cole, but he recalled that old saying about how love was blind. He figured that sometimes it was hard of hearing and didn't have much of a sense of smell, either.
"Well," Cole said, looking up and managing to keep his expression fairly solemn, "now that things are all settled, I think it'd be nice if somebody showed Mrs. Palmer and Miss Durand around town. Billy, why don't you do that?"
"Wait just a doggoned minute—" Casebolt began.
"I think that's an excellent idea," Margaret said. "Have you lived in Wind River for very long, Deputy . . . Casebolt, is it?"
"That's right, ma'am, Billy Casebolt. And I been here in Wind River ever since the town got started. I was the constable, back before Marshal Tyler took on the law job."
Margaret smiled at him. "Then I'm sure you'll be the perfect person to point out all the community's salient features."
Casebolt glanced at Cole, who said, "Mrs. Palmer means show 'em the sights."
"Oh," Casebolt said with an uneasy nod. "Yeah, I reckon I could do that."
Brenda asked, "Do you know a man named Jeremiah Newton?"
"Brother Jeremiah? Sure, we know him. He runs the blacksmith shop right down the street."
"We have some business to conduct with him. He made an offer on that land purchased by the B & D Investment Corporation," explained Margaret.
Simone looked interested. "You're going to sell him the land he wants for his church?"
"That's right," Brenda said. "Does that give you a little bit better opinion of us, Mrs. McKay?"
Cole saw Simone's lips thin slightly in response to Brenda's comment, but she was nothing if not polite as she said, "Just because we had a business disagreement doesn't mean I have a low opinion of you or your grandmother, Miss Durand. If you were in my position, you might have reacted the same way."
Brenda shrugged. "Maybe."
"And I am glad you're going to sell the land to Jeremiah. I'd much rather see him have it for his church than for Hank Parker to get his hands on it."
"Hank Parker," repeated Margaret. "He's the saloonkeeper who's running against you for the position of mayor, isn't he?"
"You have kept up with what's going on around here, haven't you?"
"This is going to be our home. Naturally we learned as much about it as we could before we came here, and since arriving yesterday we've also looked around closely. You have an excellent newspaper here, by the way. It's full of information about the town."
"I'll be sure and tell Michael Hatfield you said that. He'll be glad to hear it. He's the editor."
"Yes, I know," Margaret said. "I read his editorial about the upcoming election in the latest issue. It's no surprise that he endorses you."
"I don't tell Michael what to write," Simone said crisply.
"No, of course not. But a progressive newspaper editor is hardly going to support a man like Parker, is he?"
Billy Casebolt stood up and put his chair back where he had gotten it. "If you folks are goin' to talk politics, I reckon it's time I left. I’ll come back by in, say, half an hour and take you ladies on that tour of the town."
"That will be fine, Deputy," Margaret told him. "Or should I call you Billy?"
Casebolt swallowed h
ard. "You call me whatever you want, ma'am, just don't call me late to supper."
Margaret smiled. "Oh, I would never do a thing like that. . . Billy."
Cole looked down at the floor again and grinned. Simone might be a bit put out by the upheaval caused by the arrival of Brenda Durand and Margaret Palmer, and Billy Casebolt was clearly uncomfortable about the interest Margaret was showing in him, but as far as Cole was concerned, he didn't mind them being here.
As long as they were around, things were going to be a mite more interesting in Wind River.
Chapter 8
Jeremiah was at work in his shop later that morning when he looked up to see Billy Casebolt coming into the low-ceilinged stone building. Two women were with him, strangers Jeremiah hadn't seen before. Both of them were well dressed. One was young and very attractive, the other considerably older but still an undeniably handsome woman.
Casebolt lifted a hand in greeting and said, "Howdy, Jeremiah. Got some ladies here who want to talk to you."
"Hello, Brother Casebolt," Jeremiah said as he turned away from his forge. He nodded to the two women. "Ladies. What can I do for you?"
"It's we who can do something for you, Mr. Newton," the younger one said. "I'm Brenda Durand, and this is my grandmother, Mrs. Margaret Palmer. We're here in connection with some land you want to purchase from the B & D Investment Corporation."
Jeremiah's eyes widened in surprise. "I don't understand, ma'am . . ."
"I am the B & D Investment Corporation, Mr. Newton," Brenda Durand went on. "And I'm going to sell you that land you want. I understand that you're going to build a church on it?"
Jeremiah's heart was pounding heavily. He had just about given up on hearing anything from the Eastern company that owned the knoll. Now, without any warning, the young woman who was evidently the owner of that company had shown up here in his shop, telling him that he was going to get what he wanted.
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