SPRAWLED OUTSIDE THE door of the tiny cabin, Spud stretched his legs until his heels pressed deep into the dirt of the path to the nearby ranch house. A respite. The two thugs had been captured, yes, but they were still not delivered to Taos. They were in fact inside the tiny cabin behind him.
He could hear grunts coming through the locked door from the men trussed up inside like calves at the rodeo, hands cuffed behind and ropes looped around their ankles. They could grunt all they liked. They weren’t going anywhere. And even if there was more trouble to come, John Dunn and Agent Dan could take care of it. Spud leaned back against the solid door, happy.
Adam was celebrating the capture of the two men by dancing. Wearing dirt-stained trousers and a silly grin, Adam looked very much like Charlie Chaplin doing the Charleston but without music. Spud laughed. Adam ended by throwing himself on the ground next to Spud. They both laughed.
“Be careful of your shoulder.” Spud couldn’t help himself. He felt responsible for Adam.
“Who cares?” Adam giggled. “I don’t. Not a care in the world right now.”
It was good to laugh. The anxieties of the drive from Taos had simply fallen away. Spud felt washed clean and sparkling. The tight, claustrophobic darkness that had filled his mind and constricted his muscles during their suspenseful wait had turned to light and ease, his fear released to air. It’s amazing what dread can do. He spread his fingers just to feel that he could. They no longer knotted involuntarily in tight, unaccustomed fists. No fists needed. He laughed again.
“Oh, lord, it feels good to be here again. Here without fear!” Adam crowed and sat up.
“Here with hope,” Spud whispered. “Yes, I feel it, too. But let’s also hope the sheriff arrives soon to take these buffoons off our hands.”
Once Agent Dan had secured their prisoners, he and John Dunn told Spud to stand guard while they went after the touring car. Tony and the three women joined Spud and Adam in scouring the grounds and buildings. It was clear that several people had been there since Adam and Maria had gone, had probably even spent the night.
Half-eaten plates of food littered the table in the main house, a woman’s bracelet had rolled under the narrow bed in the cabin, and a few articles of clothing — a brightly colored woman’s shawl, a torn white blouse, and a stained skirt — had been tossed aside and left in the barn. Eight distinct footprints, at least five of which belonged to women, appeared on the paths, tire tracks left grooves behind the house, and three horses stood munching hay in the corral, their bridles and saddles still stowed in the barn. The general disarray suggested that several scuffles had taken place and that all but the two men had left in great haste.
Mabel immediately took charge of the search for evidence and once they locked the two men in the cabin, she decided that Tony would drive her with Willa and Edith back to Taos. Once he dropped the women off at home, he would notify the sheriff to collect these new prisoners. He would then follow the sheriff to bring Spud and Adam back to Taos.
All of that was fine with Spud. John Dunn and Agent Dan were not likely to return any time soon. The start of their pursuit may have been delayed, but how fast could that touring car go on these narrow dirt roads? And where? There was nothing in San Cristobal, the closest village, and nothing of interest to tourists except in Taos and maybe Red River.
Spud caught himself in mid-thought. Mountain passes would make it difficult, but it was still quite possible to reach Raton from Red River. And cross-continental trains stopped in Raton just as often as they did in Albuquerque. From Taos, it was also possible to cross the Rio Grande and catch the narrow-gauge railroad from Taos Junction or Tres Piedras south to Santa Fe or north as far as Denver. John Dunn collected mail and passengers from those places several times a week. So the passengers in that touring car could go just about anywhere.
Spud wriggled his boots deeper in dirt. The sunlight filtering through the pines had dimmed and his stomach told him they were missing dinner. With the sun going down, Spud still had too many unanswered questions. In fact, Spud poked at a small rock with his toe, he seemed to be the only one who hadn’t seen a touring car like that outside of Santa Fe. And the passengers. Agent Dan said they probably weren’t tourists, but what else could they be?
Edith was delighted that Amelia and Maria had dinner waiting when Tony delivered them from the ranch. Everyone else had already eaten, so Amelia wrapped Tony’s meal in a tortilla to take with him to the sheriff’s office and sat Mabel, Willa, and Edith at the large table in the kitchen.
With only women around the table, Mabel invited Amelia and Maria to join them for dessert. Maria was hesitant at first, but Amelia assured her these women could be trusted.
Edith ran her thumb back and forth over the silver bracelet she had found in a crevice under the bed in the tiny cabin. Too small to fit her wrist but large enough to belong to an adult woman, a woman with Maria’s build. Its textured center rose above a black background bordered by smooth silver. The center band felt pleasantly rough under her thumb.
A rustic bracelet, easy to dislodge but pleasing to touch. Edith guessed its owner had no more intention of leaving it behind than had the woman with the silver cross. Edith could only wonder as she set the bracelet on the table next to her plate, what must be happening to its owner now. Things hadn’t turned out so well for the woman with the cross.
“More coffee?”
“Oh no, thank you. It’s much too late for me even to think of drinking more coffee. I shouldn’t have had the first cup.” Edith smiled up at Amelia, who stood between Willa and Maria. She offered coffee next to Maria.
“No, no. De nada. Gracias.” Maria smiled and shook her head at Amelia.
“Would you ask Maria whether she remembers seeing this bracelet at the cabin?”
“Pulsera de mi amiga,” Maria answered Edith before Amelia could ask.
“It belonged to her friend?” Edith gasped. “One of the women with her there?”
“Sí.” Maria dropped her eyes. “Y mi amiga es muerta.”
“Oh, how sad.” Edith handed the bracelet to Maria. “You should have this.”
So began a long and sympathetic conversation. Willa and Mabel asked most of the questions, Amelia translated, and Edith jotted down a few notes.
Maria told them everything she knew about what she and the other women had experienced, how they had been kidnapped from their homes and families — Maria was snatched while hanging laundry — how they had been drugged and blindfolded and thrown together into the back of a truck and hidden under heavy tarpaulins for passage into the United States, how they had then been transferred to a long car and driven blindfolded for long hours through flat country until the car climbed into the mountains and finally arrived at the ranch house where Adam eventually appeared.
“No, no, no,” Mabel interrupted. “None of this makes sense. Why? Why would anyone do all this? Did they beat you? Did they want sex from you? Why kidnap you and bring you here?”
Maria shrugged. She didn’t know. Mostly they left her alone. They beat some of the women. Maria heard their screams. And she saw a man drag a woman into the ranch house by her hair. Maria did not know what happened to that woman. She never saw her again. Several women she saw only briefly.
They kept Maria locked in the little cabin with two other women. One of them wore the cross she used to mark days on the wall behind the door. The other owned the bracelet Edith found. When those two women tried to escape, the men caught them and took them away. The next day, the men returned with their severed heads.
Edith found it impossible to print severed. Her pen scratched the page but would not form the word. She dipped the tip of her pen in the ink well, but still nothing appeared on the page. Finally she set her pen down and simply stared at Maria, who continued to recount her story with a steady voice, though Edith thought her eyes looked blank.
“What happened then?” Willa whispered.
“Were you frightened?” Mabel asked.
“Estaba aterrorizada,” Maria flinched and looked down.
“Of course you were!” Willa patted Maria’s arm.
Maria told them the rest of the women had been locked in a fence-like structure attached to the barn. She didn’t know how many there were, how long they were there, or exactly what was happening to them. She continued to be locked in the little cabin alone. She thought she heard the car return several times. They may have brought in more women or taken some away. She lost track of time and had no idea how long it had been since she was kidnapped from her home in Mexico.
What surprised Edith the most was that Maria had never seen any of the women before. She got to know only the two they kept in the little cabin with her. Those two had come from different places in Mexico and, like Maria, had been grabbed from behind while they were doing things outside. None of them actually saw their kidnappers, and none of them knew where their captors had taken them. New Mexico? Maria had never heard of New Mexico. Or lived in the mountains. Now here she was.
Adam could hardly believe his luck. The sheriff carted off the two thugs he and Spud guarded at the ranch. And Tony drove them back to Taos in record time. Better yet, when Adam and Spud joined the ladies in the kitchen for a quick, celebratory dinner of chicken enchiladas, Mabel invited Maria to stay on at Los Gallos and help Amelia in the kitchen. Mabel explained that Maria would certainly have to remain available to testify against Blade and the others, and Maria assured Mabel that she had nowhere else to go. She had no family looking for her in Mexico.
In the meantime, Amelia had already taken Maria under her wing and José had come by at least three times while they were gone to see how Maria was doing. It was clear to Adam that Maria was doing just fine and no longer needed him to feel safe. He might miss her at the ranch, but with José taking time from his work to visit three times in one afternoon, Adam thought perhaps Maria’s transition to Los Gallos would become permanent. Spud had suggested as much, telling Adam he hadn’t seen José so happy since his wife died. Adam could see for himself how pleased Maria was whenever José was around. Of course, José spoke Spanish, as did Amelia. That alone could explain Maria’s delight in his presence, but Adam thought he detected something more, however subtle and sudden.
Spud and Adam joined the ladies and Tony in Mabel’s Rainbow Room. Tony made himself comfortable in his favorite chair to pass the time drumming. Mabel invited everyone to share after-dinner digestifs and Lucky Strikes. Adam felt silly refusing such pleasures. He felt his cheeks turn pink.
“You’ve been through so much this week, Adam, I’m glad to see you’re still young and not jaded like the rest of us.” Spud laughed and patted Adam on the back.
“Speak for yourself, young man. What are you, not quite thirty?” Willa looked at Spud from his feet to his forehead and down again. “We may be older, but we’re not jaded. This is just very good liqueur and we have much to celebrate.” She raised her glass of cognac high enough so lamplight shone through. “This is superb, Mabel. How do you manage to get such liqueur during Prohibition?”
“We have our ways,” Mabel laughed and raised her own glass in salute. “As you may have observed, nobody pays much attention to the law around here. Unless you kill someone and then it takes a year or two before the sheriff takes note. But we got our quarry and we put them in jail.” She saluted the others with her glass. “Agent Dan can take care of the rest.”
“We have noticed your sheriff’s diligence, yes.” Willa took her own celebratory sip, then placed her glass on the table next to her chair before turning to Adam, “So, young man, you are a real hero now. What will you do next?”
Adam’s eyes widened, but Spud answered before Adam could say anything.
“With Maria newly situated, I thought Adam might use my spare room until we can be sure the ranch is safe. Then he can return to caretaking and painting. No more heroics necessary.”
“Tell us about your painting, Adam. Watercolors? Oils? You could hardly be in a better place to paint.” Willa lit a Lucky Strike and settled deeper into her chair. “Waiting for our lawman to return doesn’t mean we can’t talk about things other than murders and kidnapped women. I, for one, enjoy hearing about what young artists are up to.”
“Don’t we all.” Spud’s grin widened. “Adam, the floor is yours. Tell us what you’re up to, my friend.”
Adam felt the pink on his cheeks turn to flame, but he gripped the arms of his chair and found talking about his painting to be only a little more difficult than riding Smokey down the mountain bareback.
It was past ten when the sputter of John Dunn’s car caught their attention. For Adam the news was bittersweet. John Dunn and Agent Dan had not caught up with the touring car and were not even sure which direction it went.
Spud shrugged, but Adam cried, “Will this adventure never end? Enough with suspense.” All he wanted was to get back to the ranch and his easel.
Morning comes too early. Edith smiled at the absurdity of her own thought and watched the early morning sunlight slip around the edges of their window shade. Willa was snoring gently next to her. Let her sleep. Edith yawned. It had been quite warm when they finally got to bed, but mountain air always turned cool at night, making sleep especially delicious. Edith wished she could just roll over and go back to her dreams. But the rumble of cars arriving at the big house, along with a confusion of men’s voices, brought her to her feet. Edith dressed quickly and hurried over to see what was happening.
Strangers milled about the courtyard with Agent Dan. So many people made Agent Dan too busy to interrupt, but Amelia would know what was going on. Maria met Edith at the door. “¡Mira!” Maria pointed at the men crowding closer to Agent Dan, who stood tall among them and seemed to be giving directions. Edith was not surprised. Agent Dan had told them the night before to expect his fellow federal agents, who were to go with him to Red River to raid The Watering Hole.
“The women may already be gone,” she heard Agent Dan shout above the din. “They seem to be moving them about in old touring cars.”
“Old touring cars? Odd,” One man’s voice carried over the others. “Not with Harvey, then?”
Edith moved away from the courtyard and farther into the kitchen. Maria remained by the door, clearly excited by all the activity.
“Do we know what’s happening?”
“Not really,” Amelia poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Edith.
“They’re getting ready to go to Red River? There must be at least three cars’ worth. Maybe more?” Edith blew on the hot liquid.
“Yes. Probably three,” Amelia nodded. “They hope to rescue the women at The Watering Hole.”
“I wish them luck.” Edith took a sip. The coffee was as good as it smelled. “Anyone else up yet?”
“Just Spud and Maria. Spud came in about half an hour ago. He’s already in his office.” Amelia tipped her head in the direction of Spud’s office. “Oh, and José. He came to see if he could help Agent Dan in any way.” Amelia’s smile turned sly.
“But Agent Dan needs no help from José, am I right?” Edith pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow.
Amelia laughed and dropped a pat of butter in the frying pan. “How would you like your eggs this morning?”
“Morning, everyone!” Spud let the kitchen door slap behind him. He handed Amelia his empty cup and said, “Over easy, please.”
Amelia laughed again and glanced at Edith.
“Straight up, I guess.” Edith laughed, too.