Sharpshooter

by Dusty Richards

  Chet checked his horse. “I plan to buy the ranch this week. Tell the men to sit tight. I’ll be back here and I have a good man hired for that job.”

  “That is damn good news, mister.”

  “Chet, Chet Byrnes.”

  “I’ve heard of you. Boy, that will be good news to this outfit.”

  “See you Friday.”

  “You damn sure will.”

  They turned their horses and headed back to tell Thurman Meadows his job was about to begin. Riding back to town they passed several sets of cattle—in Chet’s opinion lots of calves needed to be weaned. But he had a man coming who could handle all that.

  Maggie made a fresh pot of coffee for them and they gathered at her kitchen table.

  “So, you bought the Bar Ten?” Thurman laughed. “I knew he wanted to sell it badly. Might I ask the final price?”

  “Sure. Two hundred thousand cash on the barrel-head.”

  “You bought a real bargain. I have no idea about conditions over there, but Sam Barkley quit three weeks ago. He must have had a big fuss with her. Several folks tried to get him down but he wanted a million bucks for it.”

  “Until, I guess, she told him she was leaving after this week if he didn’t have it sold,” Chet said.

  “Oh heavens, yes. I bet that spurred him into selling it to you for any price.”

  Chet chuckled. “We never met her. A ranch hand said she fired the last foreman a few weeks ago.”

  “That woman came here from hell,” Maggie said in a low voice. “He married her two years ago. His first wife died a few years before that. Arnold always was such a nice guy. Helped his neighbors. Did things that were needed in our community. But she stopped all that. She’s about thirty and bossy. She may be fifteen years younger than him. But, boy, he found a loser.”

  “Now, Maggie—”

  “Thurman Meadows, I have not said one word was not the truth.”

  They all laughed.

  “Devil or not. I want you two to live in the big house when she’s gone. I will even buy some furniture. I want you to hire some house help. Now, wait, Maggie,” Chet told her. “My friends and businesspeople will come by and spend time there. I don’t expect you to have to wait on them, but you will need some household help.”

  “Why, that house is as big as a hotel.”

  “I just said, hire some help. You are going to think you are a hotel owner before this is over.”

  She laughed as she refilled the coffee cups. “I won’t ever embarrass you, I swear on a Bible.”

  “That’s great. You and my wife, Lisa, will get along fine.”

  “I am anxious to meet her, too.”

  “Many times, she rides with us. You will meet her shortly. Thurman, Wells Fargo is shipping the money over here. All is going like directed and we close on Friday unless Bo finds a problem with the title.”

  “I’ll get my foremen ready to meet the crew at the ranch that day. I guess he still has a cook for the ranch crew?”

  “I bet she fired him, too,” Maggie said.

  “I can loan you Tad until you get one. It’s important having a good cook. We made a quick appraisal. He has hay. We have a hay specialist and he has more if you need it but don’t wait till the last minute because it is west of here a good way.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. It doesn’t usually snow here like at Flagstaff.”

  “I know that. See you Friday at the ranch.”

  * * *

  They rode back to the Wagon Wheel Ranch.

  Lucinda greeted them with a “Did you find it?”

  Hanging his gun belt, coat, and hat on top in the front hall, Chet smiled. “We bought it.”

  “Wow. Is it a big place?”

  “Twenty sections. We will see when Bo gets through.”

  “He didn’t come back with you?”

  “No. He’s staying in town to examine the title.”

  “Does it have a big house?”

  “Yes. We did not get invited to look inside.”

  “You should have taken me along. I would have gotten you inside to see it.”

  “I wasn’t too worried about it.”

  She went off, shaking her head like she couldn’t believe he didn’t want to see the inside of the house before he bought it. “Supper will be ready shortly.”

  “What was wrong?” Billy Bob quietly asked him.

  “She wondered what the house looked like inside and couldn’t believe I bought it sight unseen.”

  “Cheap as you bought that place it could have been a tent.”

  Chet agreed and went to find Jesus.

  “Everything go all right?” Jesus asked him.

  “Yes. But Arnold is a strange man. He asked his price of half a million. My offer was two hundred thousand, cash. Something about the cash offer stopped him and he agreed to accept it. I didn’t expect him to do that, but he did and it was, I think, her threat to leave him.”

  “Did you meet her?”

  “No. She never came outside. It wasn’t that cold. It is a nice-enough-looking ranch. Thurman had no idea, either, why he accepted that little. He and those other two are ready to take it over by the weekend. It is a grassy outfit. Not a place like my home ranch but a working one.”

  “Did Bo doubt anything about it?”

  “No. He is being careful and tomorrow making certain there are no liens or lawsuits against it.”

  “I guess we may miss meeting Arnold’s wife.” Jesus shook his head. Then he dropped his voice. “Spencer’s wife is a little too bossy for me.”

  Chet nodded he understood.

  They were called to supper and more questions were asked during the evening meal about the Bar Ten. Chet told them the sale would soon be completed and then they could see it for themselves.

  * * *

  Wells Fargo delivered the money on time. The bank president in Holbrook was Jeremy Priene, and he tried to be helpful. Arnold’s wife did not attend the exchange. Bo was satisfied with the paperwork.

  Chet tried to talk to Arnold but the man had little to say.

  The ranch sale completed, they rode out to the ranch, met up with Thurman Meadows, and were introduced to Riley Day, the man left in charge for the time being, and he agreed to show Chet’s crew everything about the ranch they might need to know. He told them there were six ranch hands, two yard workers, and four domestics. They all told him they would like to continue working there.

  Thurman asked him for their salaries, and he produced a paper. Ranch hands were paid from twenty to twenty-five a month, room and board. The rest were paid eighteen dollars a month.

  Arnold and Day promised to move their things out in the next few days. Chet and his bunch left and met the other two young men, Jamie and Hines, at a local café for lunch.

  “Boy, we never expected him to sell out that cheap,” Jamie said.

  His partner agreed.

  Chet sat back with a coffee cup in his hand. “Neither did I, but who knows? When you are satisfied with the hay situation needs, count the cattle. I think we have plenty of hay but distance may hurt, so if local sources can’t supplement your needs economically we will ship it over to you.

  “Also, we need a report on the ranch’s haying equipment condition and needs. No matter how small the problem, we want this operation to work so let us know any problem you three have.”

  “Are you going back on the strip?”

  “Yes, after roundup next spring.”

  “Okay.”

  Back to the ranch. Chet and his crew joined Thurman and his men in lining things up—checking the remuda, the farm equipment, range condition, hay on hand, where they mowed it, and cattle count—until he was satisfied they had things in pretty good shape.

  Before they went back west, Chet saw he had purchased a great ranch with low needs to boost it. It could use some windmills for better range distribution, needed some perimeter fencing, but like he told Jesus, it all would come together in time.

  They wo
uld have over half his investment back by the following fall in cattle sales and perhaps even more than that.

  Jesus and Tad stayed to run the Wagon Wheel for a month, so Fred could go back and see his wife and newborn child. The decision was an easy one to make. Fred promised the pair he’d bring her and his son back short of that time.

  Sis, that first night out en route back home, asked them lots of questions about his latest acquisition. She shook her head at his reply: “Just another working ranch we needed.”

  They made a hard push and reached the Verde Ranch house long after sundown, waking Reba, Victor, and Adam. Tom came down for breakfast and Millie joined him.

  Chet and the others explained about new ranch and then they left and rode on for the top place, reaching it after lunch. Lisa and the house girls fed them. Fred, his wife, and son had a big reunion.

  Chet and Lisa drove over to Jesus’s ranch and explained to Anita that her husband would be back in a month or less. He was watching Fred’s place until they got back. She thanked them and said she and the men working for them had everything under control. It was after dark when Chet and Lisa and the man riding guard got back. Chet felt very tired after all their running around but the big house welcomed both of them and he and Lisa sat up talking to each other about the events that had happened.

  “You know your railroad man wants Spencer to build a four-line telegraph system across the Territory and run a good one down here?”

  Squatted down on his boot heels to put another log on the fire in the fireplace, he nodded. “I don’t blame Spencer for taking on the job.”

  “I am stingy, I guess. He took both Cole and Salty, who I adore. And now Spencer?”

  “They have great opportunities to advance their lives.”

  “But who will fix all our places?”

  “Fred and Billy Bob are making real good leaders. Tad is no slouch.”

  “You know, I have worked a lot helping him cook, and in the past half year I think he’s really taken a hold. Was it the money from the cave?”

  “Probably. But he is doing some powerful thinking for the ranch’s benefits, too.”

  “Good to have you back home. Let’s go to bed.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  “Chet Byrnes, I have almost been crying for your return.”

  He kissed her and laughed. “So have I, girl. So have I.”

  * * *

  Things settled down into winter. They had a big Christmas party for the ranch workers and one for everyone else who could come. Valerie and Rocky came down for the event from Flagstaff. Cole bowed out of attending, as he was busy solving problems with his stage lines and the telegraph operation.

  Chet spoke to Valerie about Cole’s involvement in his job.

  “Of course, they want him to fail, Chet. And he is fighting almost one-handed against the people stacked in those jobs by the past bosses, people who want the old, easygoing system to replace his on-time orders. He knows who they are, but it is hard to throw them out without any more infractions than what they’ve tried to pull on him. In time, he will win but they fight him underhandedly.

  “He’s even caught them sawing axles to cause wrecks.”

  “You reckon I could help him?”

  “You know, outside of Salty there is no one else.”

  “I’ll get involved.”

  “Don’t tell him we talked. He wants to beat them by himself.”

  “So do I, Val. So do I.”

  Chet and Lisa discussed the problem that night after the party. He planned to move up there, stay in one of his own cabins, and start seeing what was going wrong with Cole’s employees.

  * * *

  Joel Hart had been one of the first drivers that Cole hired earlier. The past administration, after Cole left, had fired Hart for complaining the harnesses needed repairs. He was back to driving for them because Cole sent for him.

  “There is a lady here knows more than I do about the undercover crap they are pulling on Cole,” Hart told him. “She can really tell you all about them bastards.”

  “What’s her name?” Chet poured some more whiskey into Joel’s cup. He’d just come in off his run from New Mexico and had two days off.

  “Amanda Dodge. She’s a shady lady but some of the ones that got hurt in their so-called accidents were her best customers. She and some of the others made a list of the underhanded men, but there are no sheriff deputies up here to turn it over to. They didn’t trust anyone—figured they’d get their own throats cut for doing it.”

  “How do I get secretly in touch with her?”

  “Leave your door unlocked at night.”

  ‘What will she charge me?”

  “Oh yeah. Well, I never bought any evidence from her.”

  Chet laughed. “I’ll ask her, then.”

  Two nights later, she arrived. Chet was sitting up in a chair as she carefully slipped inside the dark room and closed the door. She gave a start when he whispered, “Hello.”

  “I’m not here to hurt you, Amanda. My name is—”

  “You’re Chet Byrnes. I know who you are.”

  “Take a chair. I am prepared to pay you for your help.”

  “Anyone ever knows it was me, they may kill me.”

  “No one will ever know. I guarantee you that.”

  “I want these bastards to rot in jail. They killed some of my best friends.”

  “All I need is a list.”

  “Here. You can’t read it in the dark, but I can tell you the names on my list.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Carl Stokes, Norman Hadley, Hop Franklin, and Butch Horns.”

  “What do I owe you?”

  “He said you won’t want my services.” He could see by her silhouette that she tossed her shoulder-length hair back like she would do, propositioning a man in the daylight.

  “I have a wife.”

  “Don’t stop many men. Oh, how does twenty dollars sound?”

  “How does forty sound?”

  “Robbery.”

  With her loud perfume in his nose, he grasped her hand and pressed two twenty-dollar gold coins in her palm and closed her fingers on them. “Learn more and come tell me.”

  “Hell, mister, I’d fly to the moon to tell you for this much money.”

  “You be careful.”

  She slipped away in the night with the slick swish of her silk dress and high heels on the porch.

  Chet latched the door and lit the lamp to read the names on the list. She had a very flowery penmanship. He didn’t know one man on her list, however, starting tomorrow he’d start getting acquainted with them.

  * * *

  In the smoky confines of the Texas Darling Saloon, playing two-bit poker the next afternoon, he met Hop Franklin. Dried tobacco juice crusted his lower lip and his flannel shirt sleeve cuffs were worn to shreds. He cussed all the time about everything wrong in his life and bet wild as all get-out. His height was about five-eight and he weighed more than two hundred pounds. Needed a haircut, a shave, and a bath. He stunk.

  Chet won all his money, and Franklin left, grumbling about the cowboy bastard who got it all. Drunk two nights later, two men he didn’t know beat the fire out of Hop with batlike sticks and told him Flagstaff was not the place for him to live and if he wanted to continue to breathe to leave the village at once. Hop must have accepted their words of encouragement and was never seen again in the Flagstaff city limits.

  Norman Hadley’s cinch broke riding down to the Indian village where he kept a squaw. Before losing his saddle, he may have been warned that his company was no longer wanted around there.

  Carl Stokes found a live rattlesnake in his oven. He left his cabin screaming that they were after him. Butch Horns woke up drunk in the alley behind Lord’s Livery to find the crack of his ass had been highlighted. He left town, yelling and trying to stop the pain by fanning his bare posterior with his hat.

  Amanda Dodge received a crisp twenty-dollar bill in an
envelope at her general delivery box at the Flagstaff post office a week later. And Joel Hart looked good underneath his new Boss of the Plains Stetson hat, driving the afternoon stage off toward Gallup.

  There being no more business for Chet Byrnes to do in Flagstaff, he rode that cold day for home. It snowed lightly the second day coming up the mountain but on his arrival his wife rushed to him in their house and assured him she’d given the house girls the day off.

  He really loved that woman.

  CHAPTER 31

  The following week, midday on a Tuesday, a small rancher named Rolla Kincaid came by and asked for his help. Someone had broken into his ranch house while he and his wife were gone and stole all his wife’s jewelry, and while it was not worth a large sum, her grandmother had owned it.

  Rolla stood there with his hands jammed down in his jeans pockets and looked to be on his last legs. “Gawd damn, Chet, that was all she had worth ten cents in her life besides our five kids. Anyone could find it, I figured maybe you could.”

  “Better come inside and I’ll make me a list.”

  At the kitchen table with pencil and paper, Chet listed the gold chain necklace, two brooches, and two gold bracelets. He wrote Irma Kincaid’s Jewelry on the top of the page.

  He told Rolla he’d see what he could do. If Fred had still been living around there Chet bet he could’ve given him the list and recovered the jewelry that afternoon. But he didn’t know anyone living on the fringe like that who might know where to find the robbers. “Tell her I hope we can find them.”

  “I told her you were the guy to ask. Thanks again.” He left.

  Lisa asked what he wanted. He told her.

  She shook her head. “People think you have a telegraph wire to God.”

  “Maybe because I use to own such a company.”

  She hugged him, laughing. “You simply can’t say no.”

  “Well, that’s probably the truth. Weather’s holding off. I may ride up toward Deer Valley and see if I can find out anything.”

  “Take two guys with you,” she said, going down the hall.

  Vance sent Vic and a younger hand named Alfred along with him. Dressed warm enough for the temperature they rode across country to save some time and, by going up into the timber on a steep trail, they were forced to ride single file through the tall pine growth.