by Alan Black
All three of Halberd’s children died needlessly. Maine killed Dillon in self-defense during a drunken brawl. Maine drank himself to death. Eve’s own abusive father murdered her.
Veronica would not have pushed the Halberds if they had not pushed her first. She could be neighborly and friendly, at least, she thought she could. She felt responsible for Dillon, Maine, and Eve’s deaths, though the Halberds had brought it upon themselves. They did it to themselves.
The Halberd place was a rough build and poorly kept. Veronica wondered how anyone could make such a new place look so bad in such a short timeframe. They had not bothered to level the barn; it looked like they dropped a prefabricated building in place and called it done. There was no attempt to landscape around the house or clean up any junk in the yard. There were broken bottles and refuse scattered all around.
Veronica shut off the engine and released the back safety shield that held Eve’s body in place. She slid out of the truck, signaling Auggie and Mags to stay put.
Auggie and Mags did not heed her signal. Auggie reached the back of the truck first. Mags stood near the front of the truck where she could watch the house and yard. Without a word, Auggie gently picked up Eve’s body and began carrying her to the Halberd front door.
Veronica followed him. She was sure she heard him mumbling a prayer in a language she did not recognize.
He set Eve down, straightened the blanket, and patted her tenderly on the head.
Veronica nodded a final goodbye to Eve and turned to go.
They were halfway to the truck when the Halberd front door flew open.
Buckner Halberd stood in the doorway clothed in a pair of raggedy old denim jeans. He wore no shirt, no shoes, and no hat, just his gun belt strapped to his waist.
Veronica saw his face turn from surprise to hatred when he recognized who was standing in his front yard.
Buckner pointed a shaky finger at Veronica. “You? How?” He recovered his surprise quickly. “What’re you doing trespassing on my land, bitch?”
Veronica pointed to the bundle near his feet. “You torched the wrong bedroom last night. I brought Eve home so you could bury her.”
Buckner looked down at Eve’s body for the first time. “What? No…I didn’t…it…” His voice faded away. He looked up at Veronica.
“This was your doing, Buckner Halberd. I’ll kill you if I ever even hear that you set foot on my property again.”
Buckner took a few steps towards her, dropping his hand close to his gun.
Auggie reached behind him as if reaching for a handgun while shifting into a gunfighter’s crouch. He shook his head at Halberd. It was a bold bluff. Auggie had no gun.
Buckner’s hand froze a hair’s breadth above the butt of his gun. “Someday I’ll catch you without your hired gun at your back!” He spun toward Dee Halberd’s gut-wrenching scream coming from behind.
Dee held a short double-barrel greener-style shotgun in one hand. Her other hand held the blanket away from Eve’s face. She stared at her daughter in open-mouthed silence for a moment, and then her head snapped upright.
Veronica felt the woman’s dark glaring eyes bore through her.
Dee yanked the gun up to waist level, cocking one hammer at the same time. She aimed the muzzle at Veronica’s chest.
Mags had circled the house earlier and was now standing slightly off to the side. She remained unnoticed by the Halberds. In one smooth movement, she snatched a rock from the ground, and threw it at Dee.
Dee pulled the trigger as the rock struck the shotgun pushing the muzzle away from Veronica. The blast caught Buckner. It lifted him off his feet. His body slammed into the ground with a thud. The heavy shotgun shell ripped his chest apart.
Dee screamed in anguish.
Veronica reached the woman a half a step ahead of Auggie.
The grief-stricken woman had already cocked the second hammer and placed the gun’s muzzle under her chin.
Veronica ripped the shotgun out of Dee Halberd’s hands before she could pull the second trigger. Keeping the muzzle pointed at the sky, she slapped Dee across the face as hard as she could. “I should let you kill yourself, and I would, but you’re not worth the paperwork I’d have to do. I want you to live. I want you to remember what you did to your own family!”
Dee slumped to the ground as if bones and muscle had given up trying to keep her upright. Her eyes flicked from Buckner to Eve and back again. Her open mouth screamed silently in horror, anger, and incomprehensible grief.
Instead of slapping the woman again, Veronica leaned close to the grief stricken woman. “Where are Dillon and Maine buried?”
Dee didn’t answer.
Veronica gently placed her hand under Dee’s chin and pulled her face away from the bodies of her husband and daughter. “Where are Dillon and Maine?”
Dee remained silent, but her eyes flicked to the barn, while her fingers fumbled across the unburned side of Eve’s face.
Auggie said, “I’ll go check.”
He returned several moments later shaking his head in amazement. “Buckner didn’t bury them. He just wrapped his sons in old tarps and left them laying in a corner.”
Veronica thought hearing the news Buckner Halberd was too lazy to bury his own children, should not come as a surprise, but she was more than surprised—she was shocked. She stared at Dee in disbelief. “What is the matter with you people?”
Mags took her by the arm and led her back to the truck. “You sit in here for awhile, Veronica. Auggie and I will see if we can find a couple shovels.” She pried her boss’s hands away from the shotgun stock and placed the gun aside in the truck cab.
Veronica sat in the driver’s seat, watching through the truck’s windows.
Auggie carried Buckner to the truck where he unceremoniously threw the man’s body onto the back of the truck.
Dee Buckner followed her husband’s body to the truck, where she stood quietly.
Mags carried Eve to the truck and gently placed her body next to her father.
Auggie removed Buckner’s sidearm and strapped the holster around his waist before sitting down next to the bodies.
Dee stood behind the truck, not bothering to climb on board.
Veronica wondered why she had not thought of retrieving Buckner’s handgun earlier, if for no other reason than to keep Dee from hurting herself. The sudden violence, and now the competent efforts of her ranch hands, seemed to blot her thoughts with numbness. Weeks had passed since Maine killed Dillon and then drank himself to death. She thought, How could parents not bury their own children?
Mags pushed Veronica aside so she could take the truck’s steering yoke in hand. She was not careful about flaring the truck’s skirts so sand and gravel sprayed Dee, but the woman did not attempt to protect herself. Taking it easy, Mags guided the truck to the barn.
Dee shuffled after the truck in silence.
Arriving at the barn, Auggie jumped to the ground waving at Mags and Veronica to stay put. It took him a few minutes to load Dillon and Maine’s bodies and a pair of new shovels onto the truck.
Veronica watched as Auggie signaled Mags before jumping onto the back.
Mags nodded and drove the truck behind the house. A hundred yards behind the Halberd home, the land jutted upward forming a deep canyon. Spinning the truck around, Mags backed into the canyon, easily maneuvering around huge boulders.
Veronica watched through the front windshield as Dee trudged after the truck. The grief-stricken woman already looked like a ghost of her former self.
The end of the canyon loomed above the truck where a high rock cliff overhung the sandy floor.
Mags stopped the truck and patted Veronica’s knee. “You stay put. This isn’t the first body Auggie and I have buried in the desert.”
Veronica voice sounded shaky from exhaustion. “Don’t take too long. We still have a lot of work to do to make this unnamed planet a proper home for our children.”
Mags nodded. “Unless you wa
nt Mrs. Halberd in here with her family, you need to keep an eye on her.”
Veronica kept one eye on Dee and one eye on her ranch hands. Dee stood to the side in silence while Auggie and Mags dug a common grave in the sand. Veronica heard the shovels clang against rock only a few feet into the sand and knew it would remain a shallow grave.
When they could dig no deeper, they quickly carried the four bodies to the grave. Mags covered them with sand while Auggie stood by and watched. Once Mags was finished, she walked back to the truck.
Auggie pulled small bits of a gray putty-like substance from his pockets. He tamped it into various cracks on the canyon’s rock wall and walked back to the truck. He ignored the explosions behind him that brought twenty feet of the rock face crashing down on the grave.
Chapter Fifty-Six
When Veronica pulled into Peaceful Junction, she was alone in the front of the truck, whereas the back was crowded with ranch hands and farm laborers. The small parade of vehicles following her into town carried an odd assortment of schoolteachers and construction workers, all with their families clustered around them.
Saturday was traditionally the day everyone went to town. Veronica saw no reason to buck that tradition. This day was a little different from the previous dozen Saturdays. They usually went to Twisted City for their town outing, not Peaceful Junction.
Today was different from all previous Saturdays because Veronica now controlled more than half of their small town. It took the Vandersleuu’s a short time to run Jackson’s store out of business. Given an opportunity, the industrious couple knocked down walls and spread their floor space across both store spaces.
Veronica bought out the saloon. Although she kept the liquor flowing, she expanded the location into a family-friendly community center. Game rooms and meeting rooms spread into defunct businesses sharing the saloon’s walls. It quickly became a gathering point for families coming into town. The stable next door got into the act and began offering pony rides in their corral to children. Many original businesses were gone, replaced by new vendors. The new folks came mostly from Landing City for the comfort and potential of a small growing town.
Peaceful Junction’s death and rebirth was a bittersweet victory. Veronica wanted the town dead, not reborn, but having a hand in guiding the town toward new prosperity was satisfying. It gave her a small thrill compared to the excitement she felt watching School Station become a reality. It was beginning to grow into a planned community designed around a future education center whose goal was to guide the planet’s children to a promising future.
Veronica stopped her truck in front Your Neighbor’s Garage and Leasing Center. She was surprised to see the Vandersleuu’s had added a fresh coat of paint to the building, blending their new building with Jackson’s old one. Now no one could tell one from the other.
Vandersleuu met her on the boardwalk in front of the store. The man wore a deep frown on his face. Veronica had seen him smile, but never at her or in her presence. He had never forgiven her for running him off his land.
“Mr. Vandersleuu, I have something for you.”
She stepped quickly to the side as the storekeeper’s children bolted out the door, racing to play with the children pouring out of the vehicles behind her. She smiled at the children and shouted, “Kat, you keep an eye on the youngsters.”
Polat’s wife, Kat, had taken a firm hand with a dozen orphaned children now living in School Station’s newly built dormitories. Everyone on her staff depended on Kat to keep a watchful eye on their children as well.
Vandersleuu’s frown did not turn around at the sight of his children. “I don’t need anything else from you, Mrs. Smith.” The man practically snarled. In response to his comment, his wife gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs.
Mrs. Vandersleuu said, “You pay him no mind, Mrs. Smith. He’s too stubborn to admit that you did us more of a favor than you know.”
Vandersleuu tried to speak, but his wife interrupted him. “Favor is what I said and what I meant. I haven’t had to worry about my children’s next meal since we moved to town.”
“Well, maybe you should call me Veronica, then.”
Mr. Vandersleuu said, “No, Mrs. Smith. Not as long as you own sixty percent of my business.”
Veronica’s share of the store’s net profits would not come close to repaying her expenses for buying out Vandersleuu’s land claim. The land itself would have to recoup those costs, but she had received enough profits from the store to repay her costs for setting up them up in business. She did not care about the money. Jackson was gone and that fulfilled her goal. The ex-storekeeper had been complicit in Cal’s death, colluding with the Halberds and Manning Tatum. Ruining and running him out of town had been number three on her to-do list right behind getting rid of the Halberds and Tatum.
She held up her data-patch for public viewing. Calling up a report, she approved it by pressing her thumbprint on the bioscanner portion of the screen.
Vandersleuu stared goggle-eyed at the digital display. “That’s…” His voice faded away.
Veronica nodded. “Like I promised. Jackson is gone so this store is now one hundred percent yours.” She stepped to the side as a group of shoppers rushed past, eager to spend their pay. Many were her employees, but farmers and rancher families from along the river downstream toward Landing City and upstream toward Twisted City made up the shopping majority.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Smith.” A voice called for her attention.
Veronica turned to face three men. They looked familiar, but she could not match names to their faces. Auggie and Mags, her regular bodyguards were off on a camping trip deep in the mountains, however, these men did not look like they planned to start a ruckus.
“Gentlemen?” Then she remembered the men. Conner was the name of the older man who addressed her. She first met him and his wife in front of Manning Tatum’s business a long while back. He was the farmer who became incensed when he learned that Tatum was shortchanging the growers in the area. He was also in the crowd the day she rescued Eve Halberd from Tiffany’s brothel. Jim Owens and Gilbert Arcoa, the two men who stood with him today, had also been with him in the crowd at Tiffany’s.
Veronica smiled. She did not know if Conner was the man’s first or last name, or a nickname his wife called him in the comfort and privacy of their bedroom.
“Conner.” She acknowledged him with a nod.
“Arcoa. Owens.” She called each by name and looked each of them in the eye. Neither looked away or evidenced any untoward hostility to her. “How may I be of assistance?”
Conner smiled, “Well, Mrs. Smith—”
“Veronica, if you please.”
Conner nodded, “Yes, ma’am, Veronica then. We rejected a couple of new produce buyers coming out of Landing City wanting to take over Tatum’s business.”
Arcoa chuckled. “We sent ‘em packing right quick like.”
Conner said, “True, not that your friend Chuck Reynolds over in Twisted City has ever done us wrong, but we got us a better plan. We three, plus a dozen other farmers and ranchers around here, decided to combine our efforts and form a co-operative.”
Veronica nodded. “That sounds like a good idea, as long as you can split up the work without putting someone in charge.”
Conner said, “Owens used to go through a co-op back in Colorado. He helped us get set up with enough checks and balances to keep everyone on the up and up.”
“And…?” Veronica let the question hang.
Conner said, “We know you’re friends with the folks in Twisted City. Now, none of us blames you because you take your business out of town. I’d of done that same thing if I was treated the way we treated you. But now we’re kind of wondering if you’d start sending some your crops through our co-operative.”
Veronica smiled and nodded. “I can do that, although I’ll still be sending much of my business through Chuck Reynolds. Where are you set up?”
Conner said, “We already took
over Tatum’s’ building, it seemed only fair, especially since it was sitting empty and all.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Smiling wide, Mags looked at her data-patch. Then she glanced up at Auggie. “I think that’s it, lover boy.”
Auggie grinned. “I told you this was the place.” He stared down at the huge nugget in his wife’s hand. “I think we need to find a real geologist to verify our find, but it looks exactly like the book Veronica loaned us, says it should. The metal detector indicates there’s a lot more where this came from.”
Mags did a little happy dance. “Whee! Think Veronica will float us a loan for the equipment we need to get all this gold out of the ground?”
“If we cut her in on the profits, I can’t see why not? We can give her a big chunk of the profits. After all, there isn’t that much on this planet worth spending money on yet.”
“With everyone on the edge of starvation, you think we can get much for our gold?”
Auggie said, “Sure. People may not be interested in gold rings and chains, but gold is an excellent conductor. There are electronics recyclers all over Landing City melting down broken scrap to find parts good enough to repair and keep stuff running. They’ll be interested in the gold.”
“Should we file for the land with the Compact?”
Auggie nodded. “Absolutely, but, let’s list it as a vacation cabin and keep the gold a secret for now.”
Mags said, “We’re going to need a lot more explosives if we’re going to build this vacation cabin right.” She did another little happy dance as if blowing things up was more fun than finding a gold mine.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Veronica stood in the middle of Peaceful Junction’s main street. There was still a large pothole in the dirt where Cal’s body fell into the mud. The dry season sun had baked the hole into a semi-permanent fixture that would remain until the next wet season.
She no longer missed her large field robot. He had been good company. He never gave her back talk or any kind of challenging argument and he worked harder than her human ranch hands, but he was dumb as a post. Steve, Polat, and Maslow were working wonders now, each fitting into various roles on her growing place. She barely lifted a finger or gave them more than a little strategic guidance. They shared common goals for the Flying V.