6
Valdez came in about twilight and reported to the house. He met Toby out in the hallway to talk in soft tones about a cattle deal.
“They have our man in jail below the border.”
“Sanchez?”
Valdez nodded. “It will cost a hundred pesos to get him out. I am afraid, Señor, if we don’t get him out, he may talk. Then we could all be in trouble.”
“Texas has never enforced Mexican law for them.”
“But now we have a carpetbagger government. They hate Texans. What better way to show their power than turn some Texas ranchers over to the Mexican government for rustling in Mexico.”
“You know how short on money I am today. I traded that damn Knowles three good ranch brood mares for some whiskey to pay Kelso today.” Toby lowered his voice. “Kelso says that my wife is alive and with some sumbitch named Slocum.”
“Where are they?”
“He’s going to show me where he was when this Slocum took her away from him. Kelso had got her off some Comanche bucks.”
“Caramba!” Valdez slapped his forehead. “That is worse news.”
“Think how we can raise the hundred dollars, and I want two tough men to ride with me. You go to Mexico and get our man out of jail. I’ll finish this other deal once and for all.”
“Take Polo and Guerra with you. They are the best pistoleros.”
“Can you think of any way to raise the hundred dollars? Money is tighter than a bull ass in fly time in Texas.”
“Gardner Phillips will loan it to you.”
Toby gave a hard frown at his man. “At a hundred percent interest?”
Valdez turned up his palms at him.
“Ride over there tonight and get the money,” said Toby. “I will write a note for you to give to Phillips. Tell Polo and Guerra they must ride to Knowles to get the whiskey and take an extra boy to bring those spare packhorses back. I’ll be meeting them and Kelso at the Waverly Schoolhouse at dawn. He’ll have mules to transfer it to.”
His foreman began listing things he’d need. “You will need bedrolls, cooking gear, food—for how long?”
“Two weeks, I hope.”
“You will need four packhorses for that stuff.”
“We have them. I guess you’re right, but I’d really wanted to travel lighter and told Maria so.”
“But there is nothing out there.”
Toby looked at the ceiling for help. “You’re right. Nothing but her. Gawdamn her.”
“Have you talked to Maria about all this?”
“Not that much.”
“Then I will tell her about the supplies you’ll need. I will send the men after the whiskey. And then ride to Phillips myself. What about Knowles and the mares?”
“He can come choose them anytime. Send him word when you get back. He can come over if I’ve not returned by then.”
“I can handle that.” Valdez laid a hand on Toby’s shoulder. “You, mi amigo, must be very careful. You have a dangerous job ahead of you. Dealing with Kelso Jennings is one thing, but anyone that he fears is a tough hombre.”
Toby would probably leave that whiskey trader for the buzzards to chew on when all this was over. Kelso knew too much—way too much to be walking around. If Toby’s plan was that obvious, others knew about it, too. But proving it, as long as Juliana wasn’t there to testify, would be impossible.
He sent word with the maid for Maria to wake him up at three o’clock, and then took his wife-to-be up to bed. When she climbed in bed, he wet his fingers with spit, lubricated his tool, raised up, moved between her bird legs, lifted her nightgown, and pushed it into her. When that job was over, he fell fast asleep.
His wake up call at three in the morning caused her to stir. But she never fully woke up.
“When will you be back?” she muttered.
“When I get through with my business. Go to sleep.”
“I’ll miss you, my darling.”
Miss what? He’d not miss her. The other women in the world he’d slept with he would miss—yes. She was either the coldest or the dumbest woman that he’d ever had relations with in his life. One time he’d climbed in bed with a grandmother who was way over fifty years old, and she was much hotter in bed than Beth Ann ever was.
Dressed, he bent over and kissed her. “I will hurry back, but don’t fret. It may require several days, or weeks even.”
In the kitchen, he gobbled down the food Maria had ready for him to eat, and when finished, he struck out for the corrals. With his own best horse and four packhorses, he left in the cool air. It had lightly snowed a few days before, way too late for that time of year, but he wore a heavy wool coat just in case it happened again.
Kelso was waiting for him. Cloaked in a wool blanket, he was pacing back and forth. The mules were loaded and the boy was ready to ride for the 345 with the extra packhorses. Polo and Guerra were close-mouthed, and nodded when he rode over. The short young men were in their early twenties. Valdez said they would be good under gunfire. Toby hoped so. But no man walked the earth that he trusted more than his foreman. Valdez knew men and had never been wrong in his appraisal of employees.
Toby stepped down and spoke softly. “Either of you know a man named Slocum?”
They shook their heads.
“He’s who we’re going after. They say he is a very tough hombre, but there’s three of us—we’ll get him.”
Both nodded as if to show that would not be a problem. He finished tightening his girth and slapped down the stirrup. Those damn braying mules would make him want to kill every one of them before this ordeal was over.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said, and they rode away.
It took two days for them to reach the site of the ambush. The tracks were faint, diluted by the snowfall that had since disappeared. Polo found enough track to lead them north the next day. On the second day, they found buzzards feasting on three dead Comanche.
Polo, Guerra, Kelso, and Toby sat on their haunches in a half circle to discuss their discovery and make plans.
“Boys,” Toby began, “them bucks were shot at close range. Maybe to finish them off. You recall that piebald lying over there, Kelso?” He looked over at the trader for his answer.
“Yeah, damn right. These were the ones I bought her off of. The leader rode that horse. But there was four of ’em back then.”
“If there were four, who got away here?” Toby asked.
“I think the youngest. One Who Whistles. We may find his body on this road. Which way did he head out of here?”
“We think he rode north.” Polo waved his hand in that direction.
“No telling,” Kelso said, shaking his head as if stumped by their discovery. “He killed them all in a small area around here. I told you that bastard Slocum was mean.”
Bullshit. Toby had a bullet for him, too. “You think they rode north after this?” he asked his two men, who seemed to know this tracking business.
“They went north,” Guerra said.
Polo agreed.
“Let’s ride. I like sleeping in my own bed. Sooner we get them, the sooner we can go home.”
Both men vaulted on their horses. It was another day before they saw Woodberry’s flag at the fort waving.
“What in hell’s that?” Toby asked Kelso.
“Woodberry’s national flag.”
“What the hell does he call his nation?” Toby checked his horse.
“Cally. It was after some whore that he used to have.”
“Maybe he knows where the hell Slocum went.”
Kelso was slow answering. “He’s a tough old fucker and he’ll only tell you what he wants you to know. Watch him.”
Toby nodded and booted his horse toward the fort. That old sumbitch wouldn’t be so tough when Toby got through with him.