Bannerman the Enforcer 41

by Kirk Hamilton

  Cato clapped a hand to his forehead. “How the hell you think we’re gonna look after a week on foot in this country? How long you been a Ranger?”

  “Just out of trainin’,” the man admitted.

  Cato shook his head in disbelief, glancing at Yancey.

  “What now?”

  “Get on back to Houston.” He turned to the wounded man. “Dysart pay that ransom?”

  “Got an extension. Few days to go, I reckon.”

  “Then we better get goin’, Yance,” Cato said. “We might still get a lead.”

  “Might,” Yancey said, thoughtfully. “Been thinking about what Asa Purdy said, about us being a long, long ways off. He said it twice. Like he was almost giving us a hint.”

  “Could’ve meant anythin’,” Cato allowed.

  Yancey nodded, but he looked thoughtful, just the same. And then he saw riders coming, a bunch of them, but relaxed when he recognized Jim Reid, Sergeant of Troop, Texas Rangers, Houston.

  “Hell almighty, Yance!” Reid said as he reined down and saw his men sprawled about the ground. “What happened here?”

  “Mistaken identity, Jim. One man dead, I’m afraid. Seems no one told ’em to announce themselves as Rangers.”

  Reid swore. “Well, I guess it can be figured out later, though I sure as hell hate to lose men this way.” He sighed. “Yancey, glad we found you and Johnny alive and well. We were startin’ to look for graves.” He turned to two of his men and ordered them to dismount. “You better take these broncs,” he told Cato and Yancey. “Kate Dukes is waitin’ back in Houston. And a hombre who claims to be a friend of yours, but I figure he’s more likely to be on your kill-list.”

  Yancey looked at him puzzledly.

  Reid looked at him steadily. “Yeah. Howie Pepper.”

  Six – Debt Recalled

  Kate ran down the steps of the hotel, ignoring the stares of townsfolk as she threw her arms around the disheveled Yancey and hugged him tightly. He looked a mite embarrassed as he slid an arm around her waist but crushed her against him.

  They didn’t speak and Kate flashed the weary Cato a smile as they all three started up onto the hotel porch again. In the lobby, the clerk stared disapprovingly but handed over the keys to previously booked rooms when Kate held out her hand.

  “The hot water and tubs have been set up as I asked?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the clerk told her. “Just as you asked. Even the clothing.” He ran his eyes up and down Yancey and Cato and allowed some surprise to show on his pinched face. “I must say you made a remarkable guess as to the sizes.”

  Kate smiled and led the way upstairs.

  An hour later, bathed and refreshed and dressed in clean clothes, Yancey and Cato wolfed down roast chicken and baked potatoes in the hotel kitchen and drank two full pots of coffee between them. The cook ‘found’ she had an extra peach pie and the ravenous Enforcers devoured it swiftly. After that, both were forced to ease out their belts a notch and Kate looked at them with pleasure.

  “It’s so good to have you both back,” she said, clasping each of their hands across the table. “We had best go to my room to talk.”

  She was sobering some now and Yancey nodded as he got to his feet. “Jim said Howie Pepper’s in town.”

  “Yes,” Kate replied, frowning, as she led the way upstairs to the floor above. “He claims to be looking for you. He won’t tell anyone why, but the Rangers are holding him. He has a recently healed bullet wound and they thought maybe he’d got it in a shootout with you and was now looking for revenge.”

  “No. Johnny and I brought him back from Mexico with us. I dunno why he wants to see me, though. But you look worried, Kate.”

  Inside the room, the girl closed and locked the door behind them, sat down and motioned for them to do the same. Cato elected to stand by the window. Yancey sat on the edge of the bed, knowing Kate well enough to see something was bothering her deeply. He waited patiently for her to begin and shook his head as Cato offered him the makings of tobacco and papers.

  Kate twisted her hands in her lap. “I found out that Borden Dysart does have a sort of—hold—over pa, Yancey. It was a long time ago. When Dysart was expanding his holdings around San Antonio. It was election time. Dysart wanted land and offered to make a substantial contribution to pa’s political party. He paid it all together and somehow pa wasn’t as alert as he might’ve been, and the wording on the papers tended to make it appear that Dysart had been grossly overcharged for the land; because the figure mentioned was the combined purchase price, plus the contribution. To anyone who didn’t know, it would seem that pa was desperate for funds at the time and had deliberately overcharged a man who could well afford it. You can imagine what the governor’s critics and political enemies would do with such information. They would discredit him easily and with another election only months away ...” Kate let her voice trail off.

  “Son of a ...!” Cato bit back the curse as he fired up his cigarette. “Dysart’s been tellin’ everyone the governor’s an old friend, just returnin’ a favor. Some favor!”

  “Can see now why the governor’s been so worried,” Yancey allowed. “Wouldn’t help his heart condition any.”

  Kate looked up, face angry now. “No. That’s what makes me mad. But what can we do? Dysart has the papers. He’s kept quiet about them all this time until he needed to use them.”

  “But why? Governor Dukes would’ve agreed to help him find his wife right off, wouldn’t he?” Yancey asked.

  Kate smiled bitterly. “Pa thought Dysart should just pay the ransom and make sure he got Dolores back safely. Then he was prepared to begin looking for her abductors. But Dysart doesn’t want to part with the money. It’s as simple as that. He may well care for his wife, but not more than he does for his fortune. And there’s something else: he sees it as a blow to his ego, that someone has had the effrontery to steal something that belongs to him and then expect him to pay for its return.”

  “Nice!” Cato said bitterly. “He sure is a regular—” He broke off, deferring to Kate’s presence and swallowing the epithet.

  “Dysart’s bringing more and more pressure to bear on pa now, as time’s running out. He wants action.”

  “How’s the governor bearing up?”

  “Not—well. He’s afraid that Dysart isn’t going to just use those papers for getting his wife back or running down the people responsible. He sees a lot of danger in the situation. Dysart has already admitted to having political ambitions. Those papers could get him a foot in the door, so to speak, especially now that he’s seen how they work for him.”

  “Governor couldn’t have been thinkin’ straight to let ’em faze him in the first place,” Cato said.

  “Likely he wouldn’t have, John,” Kate said softly, “if he hadn’t been having heart trouble. Dysart caught him at a very vulnerable time.”

  Yancey stood abruptly. “Way I see it, we got to take the pressure off the governor quick as we can. That means finding Dolores Dysart—or her body—and clearing up this deal pronto. After that—well, I figure Johnny and I can handle Borden Dysart.”

  The relief was immediate on Kate’s face and there was a moistness in her eyes as she came to Yancey and clung to him, head against his chest. Cato winked and headed for the door but Yancey signed to him to wait, gently pushed Kate off and looked down into her worried face.

  “Leave things to us, Kate. We’ll handle ’em. Now you get on back to Austin to the governor and tell him that. Tell him, too, not to worry about Dysart using those papers to bring any more pressure to bear on him. Just to forget all about that and get well again.”

  “What—what are you going to do now?” the girl asked.

  “Well, we’ve got Asa Purdy to contend with as well as the fake Buckskinners, but I’ve got me an idea now we’re gonna get on the trail of the real kidnappers before long.”

  The girl looked puzzled as did Cato but Yancey kissed Kate lightly and then headed for the door, signing for
the smaller Enforcer to follow.

  “Give the governor my best regards, Kate,” Cato said and hurried after Yancey who was already starting down the stairs.

  He caught up with the big, long-striding man in the lobby.

  “What you got in mind? How we gonna get a lead? I figured we was fresh out after that foul-up in the Anvils.”

  But Yancey only smiled and led the way down the street to the law office where Jim Reid had taken over temporarily, as the deputy marshal had decided to turn in his badge rather than move up a step. ‘Woman trouble,’ was his only explanation and Yancey guessed the man’s wife had pressured him into resigning.

  “Jim, have you still got Howie Pepper here?” Yancey asked.

  “Sure. Just holdin’ him till you see him. Got no real reason to keep him locked up and he’s screamin’ like a stuck hog about it.” The Ranger brought out a ring of keys and tossed them to the big Enforcer. “Third one from the big’un. You can turn him loose if you figure he ain’t up to anythin’ agin the law.”

  Yancey picked up the keys as he started towards the cell block. “I don’t think he is, Jim. I think I know why he wants to see me.”

  “More’n I do,” muttered Cato following Yancey into the dim passage that led to the cells.

  Yancey had stopped outside of a barred door three down and Cato could see the small, curled-up form of Howie Pepper dozing on the bunk, back to the door. Yancey dragged the bunch of keys across the bars and Pepper jerked upright, startled, turning a wide-eyed face towards the door. He blinked as recognition cleaved through the fog of half-sleep. Then he swung his legs down and lunged across the cell towards the door.

  “Yancey! Thank God you’ve showed, man! They think I want to kill you! Lemme out, huh?” Pepper grabbed the bars and looked pleadingly at Yancey.

  The big Enforcer regarded him soberly. “They’re just playin’ it safe, Howie. With your record, they don’t like you sayin’ you were after me.”

  Howie Pepper swore, his knife-scarred lip curling back and revealing one yellowed tooth. “Hell! You know I ain’t holdin’ no grudges, Yance! I’m obliged to you for savin’ my hide. Told you at the Rio I wouldn’t forget and I ain’t. I come to see you ’cause I want to help you.”

  Cato snorted but both Yancey and Pepper ignored him. “How’s that, Howie?”

  “This Dysart kidnappin’!”

  Yancey’s eyes narrowed and Cato frowned as he stepped closer. “How’d you know about that?”

  Howie shrugged. “I got my ways of learnin’ these things.”

  Cato moved swiftly. His hand shot between the bars, twisted up the front of Howie’s shirt and dragged the man hard up against the steel. Pepper’s face was distorted as it was crushed in to the bars.

  “I asked you a question, amigo.”

  Pepper rolled his eyes appealingly at Yancey but the big Enforcer did nothing, looking at him expectantly. Still crushed against the door, Pepper tried to nod. His words were distorted when he spoke, his mouth hard against the bars.

  “Okay, okay! I keep my ears open. You know that. It’s the way I live.”

  “If that’s what you want to call it!” Cato said and then shook the man roughly, impatiently. “Get on with it!”

  “Well, after my wound got better, I was lookin’ for somethin’ to—to help me get a stake. I moved around Laredo and nearby border towns. I wasn’t game enough to slip across the Rio but I had a friend who didn’t mind. He brought back a few things, nothin’ I could use. That’s what I thought then.”

  “And now?” prompted Yancey.

  “Now I reckon I can help you, Yance. Listen, can’t he let me go?”

  “Ask him,” Yancey replied.

  Pepper rolled his eyes at Cato. “Huh?”

  Cato merely shook his head, tightened his grip.

  Pepper sighed resignedly. “Well, one thing I kept in mind was that a cattle schooner from Galveston had put into Matamaros and my friend said a woman had been seen on deck several times, over the week while they was unloading cows. Always at the same time, around noon, and always with two gunnies walking just behind her. She didn’t seem to be tied up but the impression was she wasn’t free, either.”

  The Enforcers exchanged glances but said nothing to interrupt Pepper.

  “I didn’t think there was much in it, but then I began to hear whispers about Dolores Dysart havin’ been snatched by The Buckskinners. I didn’t connect it at first, until I heard the woman on the ship was Mexican. But I figured it couldn’t be Dolores, ’cause everyone knew the Buckskinners operated in the Anvils and sure were no sailors. But I sent my amigo back to Matamoros. The schooner had sailed by then but he heard that maybe the gal had been taken off before it weighed anchor.”

  “Maybe?” queried Yancey.

  Pepper shrugged as well as he could. “They weren’t sure. A wicker basket was carried off after dark and someone figured they heard a woman cryin’ in it. Others said it was only a dog. But it could’ve been the gal. Only, it wouldn’t have been The Buckskinners, would it?”

  “We know they weren’t involved, Howie,” Yancey said, gesturing to Cato to release the man now.

  Cato did so, reluctantly, and Pepper straightened his clothes, stepping back out of reach of the small Enforcer.

  “Kip Grant,” Cato said, looking at Yancey.

  “Could be,” the Enforcer said. “He was chewed-out by Dysart in Momma’s and seems Dysart made a habit of doin’ that sort of thing. Not just to Grant, but could be he resented it, rigged the raid by the fake Buckskinners and they whisked the gal to the ship. Maybe she went aboard at Galveston, maybe she was picked up down the coast. Either way, they got her to Matamoros and, could be that’s what Asa Purdy knew when he told us we were way off in our search.”

  “Asa Purdy?” asked Pepper. “I heard he was seen along the border but didn’t believe it. The Buckskinners don’t move far from the Anvils as a rule.”

  “Asa has this time, I reckon,” Yancey allowed, looking at Howie Pepper. “Why’d you come looking for me?”

  “Well, I heard the Enforcers were involved, lookin’ for Dolores Dysart. I—owed you somethin’ and—anyway, I’m flat broke, Yance. Figured the info might be worth a few bucks.”

  “You slimy snake,” Cato said bitterly, his face reflecting his disgust. “How do you sleep nights?”

  Pepper flushed but said nothing, rubbing his bruised face where it had been pressed against the bars.

  “All right, Howie,” Yancey said. “I’ll authorize the Rangers to give you fifty bucks.”

  Cato shook his head in disgust and Yancey smiled faintly. “But you get on back to the border and see what else you can find out,” Yancey continued, unlocking the cell door. Pepper sidled out, watching Cato warily, sticking close to Yancey. “Anything you learn, you take to the Laredo Rangers’ Station, savvy?”

  “Hell, Yance, I can’t be seen hangin’ round that place!” Pepper protested.

  Yancey shrugged. “How you get the information there is up to you. Just do it. This is mighty important to me, Howie. Square this away and you owe me nothing.”

  Pepper nodded, looking worried. He flicked his eyes to the hard-faced Cato and then to Yancey. “Uh—can I get that dinero now?”

  Cato curled his lip but Yancey nodded and shoved Pepper down the passage towards the front office. He figured fifty dollars was a cheap enough price to pay for what Pepper had told them.

  Matamoros, Mexico, was the logical place to start now. Yancey and Cato caught a train to Galveston where they boarded a fast, clipper-bowed cutter that sped them across the Gulf of Mexico to the cattle port, not far over the border from Brownsville, Texas. The boat had been a faster means of transport than travelling overland by several different trains and stage coaches.

  It also had another advantage: the captain and crew were well up on the ‘scuttlebutt’ or rumors that flew around any waterfront. The Enforcers learned that the schooner which had taken Dysart’s cattle herd down to Matamoros had c
ontinued on down the coast towards Central and South America, planning on picking up a cargo of lumber to haul south as far as Rio de Janiero. After that, no one knew where the ship was headed.

  Yancey would bet it wouldn’t be to another American port for quite some time, not if the captain had been involved in the abduction of Dolores Dysart, and he would have had to have been by all accounts.

  The captain of Yancey’s cutter knew nothing about a woman being on board, of course, though he said it wasn’t uncommon for the fo’c’sle crew to sometimes smuggle a whore on board and keep her hidden for the duration of a Gulf voyage. But the cutter captain did tell the Enforcers that word had come back that the schooner was over-crewed.

  “At a time when most captains were sendin’ out press-gangs to shanghai a passel of landlubbers to make up their crew numbers,” the man concluded, shaking his head slowly. “Beats me. Unless he had himself a bunch of hombres who had to get out of Texas in a hurry.”

  Yancey figured that was exactly what had happened. The fake ‘Buckskinners’ who had pulled the Houston raid had apparently sailed on the schooner, too, and this would explain why there was absolutely no trace of them: they had been whisked away to Mexico.

  At Matamoros, the Enforcers paid-off the cutter captain and made their way through the narrow, cobbled streets to the area of town set aside for holding cattle in transit and which came in by ship. There were other holding pens for cattle that had been driven down from Texas.

  It didn’t take long to find the agent who handled Dysart’s cattle. His name was Guanida and he was a small, thin man of enormous energy, his eyes burning brightly, hands and arms moving agitatedly as he spoke, restlessly changing his weight from one foot to the other.

  When the Enforcers first saw him, he was down at the pens arranging shipment of some of the cattle in the pens, handing out assignments to waiting Mexicans, stirring a branding iron in a fire and carrying on a shouting conversation with a fat Mexican woman on the far side of the pen, her skirts cluttered with several young children. Somehow he seemed to make sense out of all the chaos and hurried out of the pen, reading a fistful of papers as he made his way towards the adobe and clapboard shack that he used as an office.