Before, Maria, Ortega’s wife, did the cooking and kept the camp, but they had built her a fine casa over there at Diablo so she could join her husband. Since then the other two women had taken her place and they knew how. He was pleased that his men had a good haven to come rest there like in the old days.
In the predawn they ate breakfast, saddled horses, and prepared to ride over the desert range of mountains that separated the ranch from Tubac, the old Spanish capital of that region before the United States Government bought the land. The small community sat on the Kings Highway to Mexico City. The border was perhaps forty miles south of there. There was a large Catholic church and mining activity on the mountain east of the village of Tubac, which sat beside the shallow Santa Cruz River going to join the Gila River north of Tucson.
The trail west was single file over the desert mountain range and steep enough in places that the horses were sweaty when they reached the top of the divide. The men rested them in the cooling breezes that the canyon lacked.
“There is a road out of Tucson that goes to the ranch. You have to avoid this range of hills, but it is longer, so this is a shortcut,” Chet said to Spencer, who was making his first trip to the Diablo Ranch.
Jesus spoke up, “This man they talk about, Weeks’s foreman, Masters, tried to ambush us on this trail coming up here one time.”
“You guys have had lots of fun, haven’t you?”
Chet nodded. “And tough times. But a stagecoach guard shot Masters a few months after we took over the ranch, when he tried to hold up a stage east of Tucson.”
“No one missed him, I bet?”
“Not the Diablo Ranch people,” Jesus said. “He raped and got many of their wives pregnant. They hated him. They were glad when Weeks and Masters were gone.”
“Sounds like one nice guy,” Spencer said as they mounted up again.
“He sure wasn’t. And he was a liar,” Chet said as he led the way downhill on his horse. “That place had set empty for years. They slipped a deed into the county courthouse files that included the headquarters where we are headed for today. No one had any idea how it got in there, and I hired my lawyer to object since the man who owned it was in California and had a legal deed for all that land. We won the case and bought Weeks’s cattle after a certified count was made. It of course was way short of the bank’s inventory.”
“Nice guy. What about the other ranches he had?”
“We may go look at them when things settle down here.”
“You have never seen them?”
“No, but we have crossed them and they look like great desert grassland to me.”
“He lost them, too?” Spencer asked.
“The banks foreclosed on him for nonpayment I understand. Then they split them apart so each bank has one of them.”
“What do they want for them?”
“My lawyer Russell is looking into it for me. We may examine them when we go back to Tucson and before we head home.”
Spencer shook his head. “More ranches. How many are you going to buy?”
“Only the ones that touch mine,” Chet said. He and Jesus laughed.
Spencer smiled. “Sounds like more work to me.”
“He will find it,” Jesus said.
They reached the Diablo Ranch about noontime. Blond-headed Bonnie saw them coming and shouted, “JD, your uncle is here.”
A cheer went up. Someone rang a schoolhouse bell and Chet grinned. They were at last at Diablo, and the fun times would begin.
Off his horse, he swung the slightly pregnant Bonnie in a slow circle and kissed her. “You look lovely, darling.”
“No. I am, as you can tell, with another baby—but very happy and so glad you came. We will have a fiesta tonight with all my companeros.”
“Yes, of course.” He threw his hat in the air and the lined-up workers and wives plus children shouted hurrah. JD was hugging and patting his back so glad to see him.
“How is—” Then he saw Ortega with Maria at his side on one crutch crossing the yard to join him.
“Compadre, so good to see you are up. How is your leg?”
“Getting better. Now we both have been shot, huh?”
They laughed and he kissed Maria on the cheek. “You look beautiful.”
She blushed.
“Come to the house,” JD said after meeting Spencer and sharing handshakes with Jesus.
Boys took their horses and they went toward Bonnie’s large house to talk things over. She was already busy making plans for the night’s event with those who he considered the leading workers’ wives. She soon finished and joined them, hugging Chet’s arm and leading him, with the others following, to the dining room table where she left them and went off to order lunch.
JD told them the rustler story and the fact he had learned they were Weeks’s men who had died in the gunfight, the one that the boys hung as well. Before the story was over someone had fetched the two boys who were with Ortega and brought them to Chet. Chet stood up and shook each of their hands.
“We are very proud of the job you two did in Mexico. You have broken the rustlers’ desire, I hope, to come and steal our cattle. Thanks so much for taking care of my old compadre here and getting him safely home. You are men now, and I am so glad you work for all of us here at the ranch.”
They thanked him and excused themselves, beaming as they left.
The day continued. Chet took a siesta and woke up with music coming from the pavilion JD had built to hold such events. When he got up and went into the kitchen, he found Bonnie busy frosting cakes with two girls helping her. She stopped and asked him how he felt.
“Oh, I’ll be fine. Long stagecoach rides make me stiff for a while. I don’t sleep well being gone from my wife, either.”
“Did the doctor say why she lost the baby?”
“I think he told her he did not know but that it happens often and was not her fault. She’s taken it hard.”
“I am surprised you left her.”
“I couldn’t do any more for her, and she told me to go because she knew I wanted to know all about the rustling. She also said she wanted me to make sure Ortega was really okay.”
“We appreciate your concern and are always glad to see you.”
“I think, in time, she will be fine. Depressed yes, for now, especially since she’d never carried a near full-term baby before and to then lose it.”
“I’d be sad, too. The rest of us have been lucky. Robert’s wife had a girl?”
“Caroline.”
“We never hear much about them. She’s Mormon?”
“They get along fine. She told me none of her girlfriends have anything like her big company house and none of their husbands have his income. Betty is happy and makes coffee for him and for me when I go there.”
“Big tall blond girl. I recall her from the dances I attended down at Camp Verde. She was quite pretty.”
“Yes, she is a darling. Her family and friends were opposed to her marrying him because he was not a Mormon. But they have a great life together.”
“That sounds great. Lucy and Shawn?”
“We have not heard about her baby. It should be here.”
“Your sister?”
“Susie is fine. Her boy is growing, too.”
“I hate being isolated from everyone, but I love this ranch and all the things happening here. The good things anyhow. You know we will have our own oranges and lemons next year and even some grapes they say.”
“The place looks so well planned and well kept. I am proud of all he gets done.”
“Those two men together have made some real strides in the cattle sales since you told them they needed to do that.”
“I noticed in the ranch books that you did that, too.”
“They have butchers in town that want our cattle, and the Globe deal is taking more since they saw our quality. We don’t deliver them any skinny stolen Mexican cattle.”
“That’s what they needed to do. I
knew they would when they realized the cost of ranching and how many we had to sell.”
She looked around to be sure they were alone. “JD takes more time for me now, too. He is relaxing more about the ranch operation, letting others do the work. He is managing people now and is handling the job well. I think you should know that. And more important, he plays with his son a lot and is a much better husband to me. You know what I mean?”
“Still praying together?”
“Yes. Every night and God bless him he lives that life now, too.”
At the celebration, Chet danced with some of the wives, spoke with some of the hands he knew, met others, and the music went on and on. Jesus joined him.
“I think some women have Spencer in their web tonight,” Jesus said.
“I noticed there were some women around him.”
“We’ve all found someone at one of these and never saw her again, huh?” Jesus asked.
Chet nodded. “I met one in New Mexico coming west with the family one night at the Bernalillo Ferry across the Rio Grande. They were having a celebration and invited me. Lovely widow woman—never saw her again. Her name has even evaporated.”
“Did you and that tall Navajo lady ever have an affair?” Jesus asked him.
“No, but we thought about it. She had deep concerns over her people and she didn’t want to give that up. I saw what she was doing, and linked to a white man would only have diminished her power among her people. I understood that.”
“She is six foot tall, too.”
“Every bit of that. Liz even asked me if we had an affair in the past when she met her for the first time up at Center Point. I told her no and why.”
“What comes next?”
“A good plan to watch the south end of the ranch with more help stationed down there. Mexico is lots stricter on anyone crossing their border, and any raid we’d make down there might bring us more trouble. We will reinforce the southern border of our ranch and stop any more invasions into our side.”
Jesus nodded he understood. They’d figure a way to stop the stealing of cattle.
CHAPTER 3
The next day he and JD set up a three-camp idea on the border, each manned by three men to keep an eye on the goings and comings of any rustlers until any threat was over. That was the best solution they could figure out for the time being.
This plan was going to work, JD agreed. Chet and his men planned to ride into Tucson and, using the Force’s horses if they needed, look at any of the ranches Russell found for them. Later when they returned to Preskitt Chet could hire boys to have them taken back to Tubac. That all set they went on visiting. Much later that morning Spencer came out of hiding—hungover and no words were exchanged about his absence. He agreed to the border guard plan and after supper they turned in early for a quick start to their ride into Tucson.
The next morning Bonnie and two of the wives had made them a fancy casserole breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, onions, sweet and hot peppers with cheese, and Arbuckle coffee plus sweet rolls. They left stuffed full for the ride to Tucson.
They arrived late that evening, put the horses up, ate at Jesus’s cousin’s diner, and slept in hotel beds. After breakfast the following morning, Chet met with his lawyer Russell in his office.
“Well they have that ranch north of Mount Lemons sold to an eastern buyer. That has the house that Weeks built for his wife. You know her?”
Chet shook his head. He did but didn’t even want to talk about her destruction of Reg.
“I’ll think of her name in a minute. She’s a big man around town’s daughter. A very attractive woman. They have a ranch up near Hackberry, too.”
Chet finally admitted, “I know about her. She was the one who really messed up my nephew Reg. I guess she messed up Buster, too.”
“Well after she left him, he and all his deals went to hell. I knew he was over-financed but I figured he’d climb out of it. After she left him, I think he fell off the wagon and went to staying drunk, not minding his business and so it all failed.”
“I will think of her name. As I said, she did the same thing to my nephew. She’s a black widow. He was running our place up there near Hackberry and when she spurned him he ended up committing suicide.”
“I didn’t know about that, but I do know that when Weeks lost her he lost his way. That house place had a great view of all the country north of Lemon. I think it’s what sold that place so quickly and that the bank might come out with very little loss. On the other hand Rob Nye at the Tucson Territorial Bank has the number two ranch. I don’t think much besides the ranch land is up there. I heard the ranch houses are old adobe jackals and nothing as nice as on number one.”
“The banker want to sell it?”
“He is no cowboy. Acted like he’d sell it cheap and cut his losses. But you can talk to him. He’ll be in his office. Nye’s an on-the-up-and-up guy to me.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing. Come by more often to talk and tell your lovely wife I said hello.”
“I can do that.”
A young man met him in the Tucson Territorial Bank lobby and asked if he could help him.
“I’d like to see Mr. Nye. Is he available?”
“I think so. Let me check. Who may I say is calling?”
“Chet Byrnes of Preskitt.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.”
In a short while he was ushered into Nye’s office. A large portly man rose up and shook his hand firmly. “Nice to meet you, sir. What can I do for you?”
Chet took the seat indicated before the desk as Nye sat back in the chair. “My lawyer told me you had Weeks’s ranch number two for sale north of Oracle.”
“Number two is right. They got the gold and I’ve got the shaft. He tell you they have a buyer ready to pay full price for number one because they’ve got that damn fancy house that he fixed up for the rich bitch he married and who shortly after that divorced him?”
“He did. Weeks is not the only one she screwed up. My nephew had the same fate and he never even married her.”
“I would not have kicked her out of bed. But she’s something else. Originally, in the second ranch deal, Weeks messed me up on it by bringing his cattle from the first place onto that land, joining with the cattle already there, making the herd look big. My men are bankers. They’re not cowboys and never noticed different brands while they were counting the cattle. I thought they’d got a good count, but it was two herds.”
“So what do you have left?”
“A count short of a hundred cows. Probably all culls. I have a good man running the ranch. He made a list of the cows and he reported many were old ones. You may go look but there is no hacienda-like setting for the headquarters, only some jackals. Seriously, there is a solid title to all the lots of land with it, but it is all cactus country. The deed calls for thirty sections.”
“Is it a good deed? That’s over twenty thousand acres.”
“I know that part is good. We double checked the deed and it is all legal.”
“I am interested.”
“What would you do with it?”
“That is a big ranch. Let me go look at it and I’ll be back. What was the first ranch’s size?”
“As I recall like four sections.”
“And they never offered this buyer your place to join it?”
“Not to my knowledge. I have the most land but I don’t have the headquarters.”
“As I said, let me go up there and look. We, maybe, could partner on that place or something.”
“I have been to that house Weeks built on Mount Lemon. He spent a fortune on it. It has running water, a boiler to heat water for bathing, and lots of glass, which cost a fortune to get freighted out here. Mexican floor tile and lots more. He made a castle out there for her.”
“Did she live in it?”
“For about a year I think and then she divorced him. She left after that and went up to their n
orth place. You know anything more about her?”
“I have no idea, just rumors from the cowboys that work for me.”
“Go look at my ranch. I have heard all about your ability to make ranches work.” Nye showed him the land map of the place, and Chet wondered how it became deeded land. A U.S. Government land swap that had, no doubt, been made years ago.
“That big maybe you could find a way to make it work?”
“So far I’ve made all my others work.” He rose, shook Nye’s hand, and went to find his men.
He found them at the café.
“Well, boss, what now?” Jesus asked.
“I am posting a letter to my wife, telling her we are taking a few more days. Then we are riding up north of Oracle to look at a ranch.”
“How big?” Spencer asked.
“Thirty sections.”
“Wow, that is lots of land.”
“All desert the banker says. They have some jackals for headquarters. He said Weeks spent a fortune on the house up on Mount Lemon’s back side for a woman he married and who divorced him in a year. That is why the rich eastern man is buying the place. There are only four sections in it.”
“How did they get so much land in the other ranch?”
“The federal government has made some land swaps. The ranch Lucy and Shawn run was one that Bo bought for me. Obviously the government wanted some piece of land somewhere else and the owner of that got the land out here for it. Nye is satisfied the deed is good. How Weeks found it I don’t know. But he obviously got it for a song and then mortgaged it to Nye along with livestock they counted twice. The other bank got the smaller place with the great homestead.”
“Counted twice?”
“Yeah, they did that to Nye and I bet Weeks did it to the other banker, too.”
“How?”
“Nye told me his bankers didn’t read the brands. They counted legs and divided by four.”
Everyone laughed and shook their heads as full plates of Mexican food were brought over by the girls.
“You need more let us know,” the lead waitress said. “The boss says you are such good customers, to feed you more.”
“Gracias,” Chet said.
She and the other girls left them to eat their lunch.
Deadly Is the Night Page 4