Cody Hawk just stared at Joe Rowland. He was not sure he had heard the stableman correctly. ‘You say that Ned Pierce lost four thousand dollars?’
‘Lost in the sense that he was robbed, or so he tells it. It was like this,’ Joe told Cody, looking as serious as Cody had seen him. ‘Do you know that army outpost up along the Saginaw?’
‘Never seen it, but I’ve heard there’s one there.’
‘Well, the army contracted for beef and Frazier sent Ned Pierce up that way with a trail herd of five hundred steers. We didn’t figure they would all make it, that mountain country being as rough as it is. Frazier thought they’d be lucky to get through without major losses.’
‘He sent the ranch manager along with the herd, not Donovan the foreman?’
‘Donovan hadn’t even come on the scene yet, Cody. Being ranch manager was mostly just a fancy title; Ernest Frazier was his own ranch manager. Ned, no matter his faults, knows stock. He was the man to head the trail drive.’
‘Something happened?’
‘You bet something happened. Oh, the herd got through all right with only eighty beeves lost along the trail. Some of the crew demanded to be paid off at the trail head. I guess Ned was a little rough on them. Winter was settling in, anyway, and the boys were restless. A few of them even went to work for Domino. The rest scattered or laid up in McCormack for the winter. Whatever Ned had done along the way, he had made himself unpopular.’
‘I remember a few Triangle boys riding onto Domino at that time, but there was heavy weather settling in and Domino doesn’t take on new men that time of year. I think a few did manage to stay around.’
‘In the end,’ Joe went on, ‘there was only Ned and the wrangler, Billy Post, to ride back to Triangle with the proceeds from the sale. Along the way they were set upon by robbers – Ned suspected that they were the Stantons. Billy Post was shot and Ned was left to travel on, the army gold gone.
‘It snowed early and heavy that year in the mountains, and Ned was a month making his way back – without the crew, without the money. Ernest Frazier listened to Ned’s tale. He didn’t get mad. He knows these things can happen, but he had needed that money. His cash reserves were getting low and he had a ranch to run.
‘He never said anything to Ned, but one day Walt Donovan showed up – Frazier had known him from their ranching days in Texas – and he was immediately named foreman, replacing Ned Pierce.’
‘A hard pill for Pierce to swallow,’ Cody said, not with any real sympathy because it seemed that Ned Pierce was a liar. Cody thought he knew where that money had gotten to. Oddly enough it had now finally found its way back to Triangle.
‘Yes,’ Joe agreed. He stretched his arms and rose, indicating that the dinner hour was over. ‘What’s eating at him most, I think, is that after that happened, Jewel wouldn’t give Ned the time of day. And when Walt showed up, she shifted her attentions to him.’
‘I see,’ Cody said. ‘Does Pierce still blame the Stantons for all of it – robbing him and causing him to lose his position and Jewel?’
‘Does he not!’ Joe said, laughing. ‘None of his hatred for them has anything to do with the pilfering of a few cows. Ned had lived on a satin pillow on Triangle. A good job, his prospects high for marrying Frazier’s daughter and heir.’
So Ned had stuck to his fictional account long enough for him to believe it himself. Cody was convinced that Ned, a known gambler, had stopped along the trail during a storm and decided to play some cards with a lonely trapper, losing the army payment. Knowing what he had done, what he was going to lose if he came back to Triangle empty-handed, he had thought things over and turned around on the trail to take care of things the only way he could – killing the trapper. What had happened to his trail partner, the wrangler Billy Post, he could not guess. But the Stantons had had nothing to do with it.
For one thing they didn’t even own any horses. What did they do, walk up into the mountains in winter and wait for a man they had no way of knowing was about to pass carrying all that money? The idea was absurd. The whole story obviously a fabrication so that Ned would not have to return to Triangle and tell the truth – he had gambled away Frazier’s money – and that he had killed a man but could not recover the money. The poverty-stricken, unlikable Stantons were ready scapegoats.
‘What are you thinking, Cody?’ Joe Rowland asked as he watched Cody return to his work with rake and shovel along the horse stalls. ‘It seems your thoughts are far away.’
‘I was just thinking that Ned Pierce spreads around more of this stuff than anyone.’
Joe smiled, whether he understood Cody’s meaning or not, and got back to his own job, fixing a new horseshoe to Ned Pierce’s sorrel.
An hour or so on, a small dark man Cody had not seen before entered the barn, looked around hesitantly and then made his way to where Joe was just putting his farrier’s gear away. Joe greeted the man with a smile, nodded a few times and then pointed out Cody Hawk. The little man slipped away, wagging his head, and Joe came over to where Cody stood.
‘You’re wanted over at the big house,’ Joe said.
‘Me? Whatever for?’
‘I wouldn’t know, Cody. But you’d better put your tools up and get on over there. They want you to come to the back door.’
‘Maybe I’ll be washing some dishes or peeling potatoes,’ Cody said. Maybe Ned Pierce has already gotten me fired, was what he was thinking.
There was nothing for it. With a smile that was less than relaxed, Cody put his tools aside, rolled down his sleeves and started out into the cool, bright day to make his way across the yard toward the back of the house. One of the yellow yard dogs sat watching him from the shade of an oak, its head cocked to one side curiously.
Removing his hat, Cody knocked cautiously at the half-screened back door. He could smell spicy food being prepared inside. It took a second series of knocks to bring the small dark man to the door, and he swung it open for Cody. He had a wooden spoon in his hand and he pointed with this toward an interior door across the spotless kitchen.
The little man returned to his work and Cody continued, warily. What was it that they wanted of him? His constant thought was that they had reconsidered and that he was now gong to be told that he was fired off the job.
He opened the inner door and found himself on the far side of the great room with the fireplace. She was seated on the end of the black-and-white cowhide sofa, her feet drawn up beneath her.
Jewel Frazier glanced up from what she was doing – toying with a small nickel-plated revolver – and motioned Cody to approach her. He did so, hat still in his hands, still moving with a limp. The girl with the blue eyes looked up, measured him, and offered him a seat. Cody’s stiff leg prompted him to remain standing. He explained this to Jewel, who no longer wore her dress and little blue boots, but standard riding gear. Sturdy jodhpur boots, black jeans and a plain white blouse. Her hair was worn loose on this day, and it flowed in dark cascades around her shoulders and breast.
‘Your father wanted to see me,’ Cody began, trying to keep his eyes off Jewel. It was difficult – she was simply beautiful.
‘No. I’m the one who sent for you,’ Jewel said. She snapped shut the cylinder of the little .32 pistol she had been toying with. ‘Father’s up taking one of the several naps he takes every day before bedtime.’
‘He’s not well?’ Cody offered.
‘He’s old,’ Jewel shrugged. ‘Wore himself out building Triangle.’
‘It can be a struggle.’ Cody knew.
Jewel answered him sharply. ‘I don’t intend to let that happen to me,’ she announced. Cody had no answer to make. She rose to her feet, pistol in hand. ‘Sit down, will you? You’re making me nervous.’
Cody complied, lowering himself uncomfortably onto a maroon leather chair. Jewel Frazier was starting to make him nervous, the way she waved that pistol around as she spoke. Her eyes were bright with some unfathomable emotion. Cody waited for her to get to her point, whatever that might be.
‘Father thinks he has provided me with everything I need,’ she said, stopping directly in front of Cody, legs slightly spread, pistol still dangling from her hand. Cody seemed expected to reply. He looked around the beautiful house and said:
‘You have a fine home, a cook, any horse you wish, steady income.…’
‘And that might be enough for any man, Cody Hawk,’ she said, bending forward at the waist toward him, ‘but I am not a man!’
Cody, who had noticed that, could only think to nod agreement.
‘I’ll tell you a story, Cody Hawk. It won’t seem important to you because you are a man. When I was twelve I decided that I wanted to make my next birthday party on Triangle a big one. I would invite everyone for miles around to attend. Dancing, Japanese lanterns strung in the trees out front. Father took me all the way to Baxter, where I ordered a certain party dress from their mail-order catalogue. It was to come all the way from Chicago. You know how slow mail and freight move out here.’ Cody nodded vaguely. Was he supposed to say something? Jewel continued, waving the gun around wildly as she spoke.
‘After months and months of waiting, the dress finally arrived a week before the planned party. I was so thrilled – until I tried it on. In the months previous, Cody Hawk, I had filled out so much here and there that the dress was impossibly tight. My thirteenth birthday party was ruined!’
Again Cody could think of nothing to say. He murmured a barely audible, ‘Too bad,’ which Jewel seemed not to hear. Her mouth had grown as petulant as a thirteen-year-old’s.
‘That’s the way everything is out here,’ she said, recovering herself. ‘This is no place for a woman to live. I want to be able to buy a new hat when I see it, get a dress from a shop window that fits, go to dances with men who don’t wear cowboy boots, to speak to people who know about something beside horses and cattle. Now! Before I grow older.’
‘I can understand that,’ said Cody, who thought that he could. He still didn’t know what this had to do with him or why Jewel had chosen to talk to him about childhood disappointments. He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Again she drew herself up in front of him and announced:
‘I have been speaking with Ned Pierce.’
So that was it. Cody felt his stomach constrict a little. The woman with the gun in her delicate little hand went on:
‘Three years ago when Ned was still foreman of Triangle, he and I decided to get out of here – Ned wants what I want – a piece of civilization where everything doesn’t stink of manure.’
And where he could gamble and drink at will with a beautiful woman waiting for him at home. A woman who also happened to be an heiress. No fool, Ned Pierce.
‘We had planned everything out carefully. After the cattle herd was delivered to the army post up along the Saginaw, we were going to chuck it in and head off together for Baxter. I was already packing before the herd left Triangle. Then,’ she said with a long, elaborate sigh, ‘the fool got himself robbed along the trail.’
‘He couldn’t help that,’ Cody said.
Jewel came nearer still and leaned over Cody. ‘He told us that it was the Stantons who did it.’
Cody felt like answering that you could tell that by the palatial way the Stantons lived, but thought it better to keep his mouth shut. As if reading his mind, Jewel said, ‘Of course they never spent a penny of it; that would have been giving themselves away. So the money, four thousand dollars, is all still together.’
‘Is it?’
‘Yes.’ Jewel’s eyes blazed, her nostrils flared with excitement. ‘And Ned told me who has it now.’
‘Who?’ Cody asked weakly. Jewel’s little nickel-plated revolver continued in evidence.
‘Who?’ she asked almost coyly. ‘A man who has just arrived from the Stanton place, leading their burro carrying heavy saddle-bags.’
Cody tried laughing. ‘Me? How could I have gotten the money? Where would I be going with it?’
‘Ned thinks that either you killed them and took the money or you’re with them, maybe transferring it to a bank in Baxter.’
‘Why would I stop here!’ Cody protested. It was hard to deny something that was so close to the truth, and his voice seemed to betray him.
‘You were wounded, you had no choice,’ Jewel said simply. She spun her back toward Cody and walked away a few steps, her boot heels clicking against the wooden floor. ‘Cody, I would let any man who had that much money escort me to Baxter. It’s mine, you know.’
‘It’s Triangle’s,’ Cody said realizing only after he had spoken that this was dangerously close to being an admission of sorts. He was not clever at parlor games, and he felt he was losing this one.
‘Do you think my father needs more money? He doesn’t even remember that it is gone, nor would he have an idea what to do with it. To me it is of crucial importance. I have to get off this ranch or lose my mind!’
Cody wondered if she had not already done mat. The pistol continued to wave around the room; Jewel’s eyes continued to carry fire. ‘You and I could travel to Baxter, Cody,’ she said softly, again approaching him.
‘I think you’re mistaken about things, Jewel,’ he said. ‘What about your father, the ranch, everything you’d be leaving behind?’
‘Father has no needs but his bed and meals, and we have Remo to take care of him.’ She nodded toward the kitchen, where the dark man worked. ‘As for losing anything, I shan’t. I am the only heir to Triangle. Baxter isn’t that far away. I can always be notified if something happens. Walt Donovan is here to take care of day-to-day matters, and Walt is a good man.’
Cody could only stare at the woman. He supposed that in her own mind she was thinking of doing nothing wrong, and maybe she wasn’t. The ranch would soon be hers, the money was Triangle’s. Her father seemed to need little these days. Still.…
Cody rose abruptly, or as abruptly as he could on his stiff leg. He said, ‘I’m sorry, Miss Frazier, I can’t really see how I can help you. Everyone seems to be assuming I know a lot more than I do.’
Jewel’s eyes said liar, but she only nodded as if with sadness and finally put the pistol away. ‘You think it over, Cody Hawk. I mean you no harm and I can be an entertaining companion for the right man.’ She moved toward him but he backed up a few steps defensively.
Cody had had enough. In another few minutes, she’d have him convinced that the money was rightfully hers and that she needed Cody as her hero and protector. Cody had never thought of himself as a clever man, but he did not like the way this was trending. He did not need to drink the poison to the dregs to realize that it was leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Jewel’s blue eyes watched Cody as he made his way toward the front door of the house. It was with relief that he opened it and stepped outside.
From within he heard Ernest Frazier calling. ‘Who was that? Did someone just leave?’
‘It was Cody Hawk,’ he heard Jewel answer in a narrow voice.
‘Who? Have I met him?’ Frazier wanted to know.
Cody closed the door softly and continued on his way.
Walking back toward the barn, the wind from the north urging him along his way, Cody turned matters over in his mind. He came to a solitary conclusion: Charlie had been right. They should have avoided Triangle all together. There was trouble brewing here from all directions.
Joe Rowland was inside the barn. He seemed to have just snatched up a rake to mimic working as if he feared being caught idle. There was a welcoming smile on his face.
‘How did things go with the boss?’ Joe asked.
‘Fine,’ Cody lied. ‘I’m still working here.’
‘Good. I knew it couldn’t be much. Say, Cody, the place looks pretty clean now; I have another job for you.’
‘I know, you want me to repair the bunkhouse roof.’
Joe laughed at what seemed to be a standard joke around Triangle. ‘No, what happened is this – do you know Brent Preston?’
‘Not by name.’
‘He said he brought you into the ranch yesterday on his hay wagon.’
‘Oh, him, yes. We never got around to exchanging names.’
‘When Ned came back to pick up his sorrel, he spotted Brent and told him he needed another man with him on western patrol. He thinks he might run into the Stantons out there since our beeves haven’t all been rounded up and driven in yet. Anyway, upshot is that Brent went off with Ned Pierce, leaving no one to fork winter feed to the cattle.
‘Ned said to send Charlie Tuttle out to do it,’ Joe finished. He was not smiling now.
‘A man with only one good arm!’ Cody said, flaring up.
‘I know. It’s a bum deal for Charlie, and I said as much to Ned. Ned said just to do as he said. It wasn’t his fault if Triangle seemed to be making a habit of hiring on cripples.’
‘Nice guy,’ Cody mumbled.
Joe’s face had brightened again. He told Cody, ‘Like I said, the barn looks pretty well swamped out now. It’s probably best for all concerned if you ride on out and help Charlie Tuttle pitch hay … if you’re up to the job yourself.’
‘All right,’ Cody agreed. ‘Where will I find him?’
‘Right near where Brent picked you up yesterday – just look around. A hay wagon isn’t hard to spot.’
‘Mind if I take the gray horse?’ Cody asked, nodding toward Wayne Tucker’s horse, which seemed well rested now, eager to travel.
‘It’s not a Triangle pony,’ Joe answered. ‘It makes no difference to me.’
Cody had ridden Wayne’s horse before, but still it shied when he approached it with its bridle and bit. Cody took a few moments to pause and remember the sharp-featured, sometimes abrasive Wayne Tucker who had been his second ‘father’, then he prepared the horse for riding, and with the sun still high in the wide sky, trailed out to find Charlie Tuttle.
He found his friend within fifteen minutes. Standing in the back of the hay wagon, awkwardly trying to fork hay to the gathered steers using only his good right arm, he was red-faced. His lips moved with a series of silent curses.
‘Who did you get mad?’ Cody asked Charlie cheerfully as he reined up behind the wagon.
‘Who else?’ Charlie answered, ‘but I don’t know how.’ He straightened to remove his hat and wipe the sweat from his brow. The cattle around the wagon lowed as with impatience. Charlie nearly shouted: ‘I’m forking as fast as I can!’
He looked down at Cody, who was tying the gray horse to the back of the wagon. ‘I’m working my fool head off while some of us go trotting around on their friend’s horse. There’s no justice.’
‘I’m a favored child of the gods,’ Cody said, clambering up onto the bed of the wagon. ‘Really, I was sent out to help you.’
‘None too soon,’ Charlie complained. ‘I don’t know how I’m supposed to get my arm healed up working like this.’
Cody took the pitchfork from Charlie’s hand. After distributing some hay to the waiting cattle, he told Charlie, ‘You know, I’ve been doing some dunking.’ Cody tipped his hat back and leaned on the fork for a moment. ‘You may have been right, Charlie. It may be that it isn’t the best idea for me to plan on staying around Triangle.’
‘You’re serious?’ Charlie Tuttle asked.
‘Yes, I am. We don’t need to – you’re right about that. And something happened to me today that is almost unbelievable. Over at the big house,’ he went on as Charlie’s eyes shifted and squinted into the western light. ‘You see.…’
‘Whatever it was,’ Charlie said, ‘I’ll bet you it wasn’t as unbelievable as what’s about to happen.’
Cody had no idea what Charlie was talking about. Walking forward in the wagon, he stood beside the stake rails and watched the small figure approaching them in the distance.
It was difficult to be certain from so far away, but it seemed that the shaggy white horse heading their way was being ridden by Lonnie Stanton.