Death Comes

by Sue Hallgarth

  Once they turned her over, they could see how her shoulder and arm were twisted and contorted. José wiped blood from the edge of her mouth. She continued to moan but did not cry out when they raised her to a sitting position and she shed no tears. Strong woman. Spud shook his head in admiration.

  “Maria,” she whispered when José asked her name, and “me caí de la mula” When he asked her what happened.

  “She was riding the mule!” José’s face registered shock. “Nobody has ever ridden that mule.”

  Edith slid over as far as she could to make room for the young man. From where she sat it did not look like he had a gun, and unlike the man with the scar, he seemed to have been injured. She could see even from this distance that he had a nasty black eye and once he started to walk toward the car between Willa and Agent Dan, she saw that he also had a pronounced limp.

  “What’s happening there?” Mabel bent down so she could see the young man through the open car door.

  “I can’t tell exactly,” Edith said, “but this fellow seems as reluctant as the last one to accept a ride to town.”

  “Well,” Mabel shaded her eyes, “at least this one seems unarmed and sane.”

  “Also injured,” Edith nodded. “I think we really should take this one with us.”

  By the time they reached the car, the young man was leaning on Agent Dan, but Edith could hear him insist that he needed to walk to town on his own.

  “I have to find Maria. I have to make sure she is all right,” he pleaded.

  “We’re going to help you look, that’s all,” Willa patted his arm. “I’m sure she is fine. Now, please, get in the back seat. You can sit between Edith and me.”

  Edith smiled to let him know they meant him no harm and patted the seat next to her. Once he was in the car, and Willa and Agent Dan were getting settled, Mabel introduced herself and asked the young man where he was going.

  “Mrs. Luhan!” he exclaimed. “Why, as soon as I found Maria I was heading for your house.”

  “Maria?” Four voices asked in unison.

  “My house?” Mabel added.

  “Yes,” the young man’s words tumbled out. “I’m Adam Newman. Spud Johnson sent me to San Cristobal to take care of the ranch. Blade was holding Maria prisoner there. We came down the mountain to find help, but I fell off my horse and the mule ran away with Maria.”

  Once again, everyone spoke at once and their voices rolled over each other’s. “Spud?” “Ranch?” “Prisoner?” “Maria?” “Mule?”

  Finally Mabel’s voice rose above the rest. “What mule? And who is Maria?” She paused to look at him more closely. “I do remember Spud saying something about sending someone to the ranch. A painter, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Adam brushed at his pant legs. He was covered with dirt and sprinkles of sage. “But ma’am, I really do need to find Maria.” This time his words came out like a plea.

  “Of course. We’ll help you.” Mabel put the car in gear and they lurched forward.

  “Here,” Edith began to help Adam brush some of the dirt off his shirt. “You can relax now. We will be home soon and that man in the front seat is BOI Special Agent Samuel Dan. He’ll help you, too.”

  “BOI? I don’t think I know … what’s BOI?” Adam blurted.

  Agent Dan glanced back at Adam. “Bureau of Investigation, son. We’re a fairly new federal law enforcement agency. Really new in the west.” Agent Dan turned his eyes to the road again. “Now, tell us more about what happened. And this Blade. Is he the blond man with the scarred face we saw a little farther back on the road?”

  “Probably,” Adam nodded.

  “Was he chasing you?” Willa demanded.

  “He never got the chance,” Adam gritted his teeth and grinned. “His horse ran away with mine and the mule. But he did shoot at Maria. And at his horse,” Adam actually laughed at his mental image of Blade throwing his gun on the ground.

  “He seemed a bit crazy,” Edith suggested.

  “Crazy mad.” Agent Dan nodded. “But who is this Maria we need to help you find and why was Blade keeping her prisoner?”

  Spud and José clasped their hands around each other’s wrists and picked Maria up as if she were sitting in a chair. Light as she was, Spud grunted and braced himself. He wasn’t accustomed to physical exertion and they would have to carry her for at least half a mile to the house. He took a deep breath and told himself the house was closer than Doc Martin’s and they would call Doc from there. Amelia could help but Doc Martin would know exactly what to do.

  The moment they lifted her, Maria went limp, and her head fell against Spud’s shoulder. She had fainted, probably from pain, Spud guessed. He gripped José’s wrists as tightly as he could. Maria moaned.

  Who on earth is this woman, Spud wondered again, and what is she doing in men’s clothes riding a mule that no one had ever ridden? And, he pushed his thoughts a little farther, where is Adam? How did she come by this horse and mule? The last Spud had seen of Adam, he was wearing a blue shirt and jeans and trotting off on Smokey with the mule in tow. The same mule that dumped Maria. Was this woman a rustler? Had she stolen the mule and Smokey and an unknown horse? That seemed unlikely, but he could think of no other explanation. But why would anyone ride a stolen mule that had never been ridden and not Smokey or the saddled horse?

  “Your friend who took Smokey and the mule to San Cristobal, where is he?” José’s brow was furrowed. He stared at Spud.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Where did she get these animals?”

  “No idea,” Spud repeated. His lungs began to feel odd, as if they were tired of hauling in air and wanted a rest. The muscles in his shoulders and arms told him they, too, wanted to go on strike. But Spud couldn’t stop. They couldn’t just put Maria down. Her moans had become louder and her body, pressed against his, felt even more limp. Spud wondered how that was possible and then began to fear that she might slip from their makeshift chair. He felt a bit chagrinned. José didn’t seem to be having the same difficulty. Not calling him old José anymore, Spud made a silent vow. Up close, José didn’t look all that old and he certainly didn’t seem old now. “Need to catch my breath,” Spud finally whispered.

  “Sí,” José paused and nodded toward the big house. “Not far now. We find a bedroom?”

  “The one next to Agent Dan’s,” Spud nodded. “I think it’s not being used. I’ll show you.”

  When they reached the bedroom, the third one down the long portal off the living room, Spud placed Maria on the bed while José went to fetch Amelia and call Doc Martin. As soon as Amelia began to clean Maria’s wounds, Maria’s eyes fluttered open, but she seemed to see nothing before she lost consciousness again. Spud realized it would be some time before she could tell them what had happened.

  “So what did you do then?”

  Adam cleared his throat. Edith thought about intervening. Agent Dan didn’t really need to push him so hard. Adam seemed about to pass out as it was. She could feel him wilting against her shoulder. As soon as they reached Mabel’s, she would see to it that he was put in bed and his wounds treated.

  When Adam didn’t answer, Agent Dan turned back to staring out the window. Mabel was driving much faster now, and all of them watched for two loose horses and a mule with a rider in blue.

  “This young man needs to rest, not talk just now.” Willa spoke with authority and patted Adam’s hand.

  “I suppose,” Agent Dan nodded.

  “Won’t be long now,” Mabel interjected. “We’ll put him right to bed and call Doc Martin.”

  “No,” Adam struggled to sit up. “Maria.”

  “Of course,” Willa patted Adam’s hand again. “We’ll find her.”

  Adam slumped and this time Edith found herself pressed against her car door until they turned a corner and Adam’s limp body shifted toward Willa. Once around the corner, Mabel pressed the accelerator and the car leapt forward. Los Gallos loomed ahead. Once they passed the barn and
the pink adobe, they would climb the sharp rise toward the house and pull into the courtyard where they could help Adam into one of the available bedrooms. But just as they leapt forward, Mabel hit the brakes and they stopped.

  “Smokey and the mule!” Mabel exclaimed. “They’re right there,” she pointed to the corral.

  “Thank heavens.” Adam’s body jerked upright. “And Blade’s horse, too!” he pointed to the chestnut munching hay by the hitching post. Edith could feel Adam’s excitement even when he went limp again. “But I don’t see Maria,” he sighed.

  “Let’s find José,” Mabel shouted José’s name out the window. When no one appeared, she started the car again. “Let’s get to the house. Someone there must know what’s happening.”

  They saw Doc Martin’s car already in the courtyard and Tony and Nicolai Fechin standing by the door to one of the bedrooms, the one Mabel had suggested they use for Adam.

  “A woman named Maria,” Was all Tony had a chance to say before the car doors flew open and everyone spilled out, except Adam, whose limp body slipped sideways on the seat.

  “Huh, fainted,” Agent Dan frowned.

  “There’s an extra bed, just carry him in there,” Mabel directed. “Doc Martin’s already there. It’ll be our infirmary.”

  Tony and Nicolai Fechin each took one side and half-lifted, half-carried Adam through the door.

  “This is Doc Martin’s lucky day,” Agent Dan chuckled. “Two at once.”

  “And what a day this has been,” Willa nodded. “For all of us.”

  Edith took hold of Willa’s hand and squeezed it.

  XVII

  USING THE TELEPHONE in his office, Spud called the sheriff for Agent Dan. The operator, who knew Spud well, understood immediately that his call required emergency attention. She rang the sheriff’s home number, and Agent Dan told the sheriff to drive out to arrest Blade and hold him overnight.

  Blade, Spud guessed, must be the man who caused the mule to run off with Maria, but Spud’s jaw dropped when he heard Agent Dan say that Blade had actually been shooting at her. Poor woman.

  But Spud could tell the sheriff wasn’t listening to Agent Dan anyway. Even from the doorway Spud could hear the sheriff hemming and hawing — he was at home having dinner, he had no deputy available, the suspect probably had disappeared. Agent Dan finally got him to agree to pick up Blade and told him he would stop by the jail to question Blade after breakfast. As Agent Dan hung up, Spud could hear the sheriff still sputtering.

  José had returned to the barn and Amelia to the kitchen when Spud and Agent Dan joined the others, who continued to mill about on the portal outside the bedroom now shared by Adam and Maria. Doc Martin was doing what he could to make his patients comfortable so they could sleep through the night. No questions until morning, the doctor ordered. When Agent Dan tried to barge in, Doc Martin stepped outside and closed the door.

  “You hang around,” Doc Martin told Agent Dan. “You look pale. I’ll take another look at you as soon as I’m done here. But no questions tonight.” He told everyone else to leave including Spud, who volunteered to return after dinner to sit with the patients through the night, just as he had with Agent Dan.

  No one could quite comprehend what had happened, not even those who had been involved. Mabel did her best to describe how they found Adam and how Maria was connected to him, but Tony’s brow furrowed halfway through, Spud resorted to squinting, and Nicolai Fechin finally said out loud that he did not understand.

  Edith started to help with the explanation until Willa touched her arm, “It’s complicated,” she turned to the others. “It’s late. Let’s talk more over dinner. This will take some time.”

  “So, what do you think really happened at the Lawrence ranch?” Willa held her hairbrush in her hand and stared at Edith.

  “I haven’t a clue.” In the mirror, Edith’s reflection matched Willa’s. We’re beginning to look alike, Edith realized with a start. Something about the laugh lines around our lips and eyes. I guess that’s what happens when you live together as long as we have. Almost twenty years. She let the thought linger. Twenty-three if you count from when we first met. We looked nothing alike then. I was prim and shy, properly dressed in high-necked white shirtwaists. Willa was self-confident and bold even then, professionally dressed in starched shirts and ties. Partly the difference between growing up in Lincoln instead of Red Cloud, between Smith College and the fashionable McClungs, between … Edith caught herself. Willa was, after all, nine years older and fairly worldly when they met. Edith was just starting out. She had found a job and an apartment in New York City before Willa moved there, but she hadn’t yet landed a job in journalism. Willa took care of that, bringing Edith onto the staff as her assistant at McClure’s.

  “Clues.” Willa returned to brushing her hair. “We need more clues.”

  “We really have very few,” Edith agreed, leaning forward to examine the lines around her eyes and mouth. Smile lines, she decided, somewhat exaggerated by the dry climate of New Mexico. Willa’s face had similar lines. She studied their reflected faces. And Willa has a few gray hairs. Not me, not yet. Edith rubbed Woodberry face cream into the lines around her eyes and lips, then used Jergens lotion on her neck and arms for The Skin You Love to Touch effect. It was, after all, one of J. Walter Thompson’s better advertising slogans. She was proud of it.

  “Well, maybe we know more than we think,” Willa paused her brush again, then used it like a conductor’s baton to emphasize each point as she made it. “We discovered the first body. We’ve seen where the other bodies were dumped. We found the hunting camp. We know there are at least three criminals. We’ve been to Red River and talked with some of the women. And we’ve been to Lawrence’s ranch. We know what all those things look like and we know that they are somehow connected. So the question is how. And why? And who? How hard can the answers be?”

  “Pretty hard so far, but tomorrow we should have a chance to talk with young Adam and Maria. And Agent Dan will question that silly Blade. I’ll bet we have things pretty well figured out by this time tomorrow night.”

  “By bedtime tomorrow we should have it all figured out,” Willa nodded.

  The day began with clouds hovering over the mountain and darkening the sky. Spud thought it was early but without the sun he couldn’t be certain, and the air felt oddly chilly for this time of year. There were no lights showing in the pink adobe across the field and none in any of the other little houses Tony had built for Mabel. Spud yawned and stretched his arms above his head as far as he could reach. Anything to ease the stiffness in his back and legs. Carrying Maria had tightened his muscles more than he realized, and spending the night in a chair, while Adam snored and Maria moaned, finished the job. Spud’s body felt like one long, taut rubber band.

  “How are the patients?” José surprised Spud with a cup of coffee.

  “Still asleep. I don’t know what Doc Martin gave them, but it had to be powerful and they must have been exhausted. That was a long ride they took yesterday, even without all the excitement.”

  “We need to wake them,” José nodded. “Amelia is coming with breakfast.”

  “What time is it?” Spud sipped his coffee. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Everything all right in the barn?”

  “Yes, yes. It’s very early and I don’t usually come to the big house, but I wanted to see about Maria and the young man. She was in such bad pain yesterday.”

  “She was. So was he.” Spud knocked softly on the door and then led the way into the bedroom. Adam was still stretched out on his back in his narrow bed, snoring, but Maria was apparently in the bathroom. They could hear water running.

  “That should help her feel better.” Spud knew the ranch had no indoor plumbing, no bathroom and no hot water from a faucet. He wondered whether she had ever had such luxury. He guessed not. Mabel had put bathrooms in everywhere, and since she insisted on as much light and air as possible, her own bathroom had windows covering two wall
s, windows that Lawrence decorated with abstract paintings. To preserve her privacy, he said at the time, but Spud thought Lawrence’s paintings were as much to hide the sight of Mabel’s body from Lawrence’s own rather prudish eyes. The irony, Spud smiled, the man whose art and fiction were internationally banned as pornography was a bit of a prig.

  José arranged a chair next to the little desk in the room so Maria would have a place to sit and eat her breakfast. Then he waited while Spud roused Adam to tell him breakfast was on the way. Finally, Amelia and a young helper arrived with two trays heaped with scrambled eggs and bacon and bread and coffee. José had already eaten so Spud contented himself with fixing three plates while Amelia went to help Maria. Spud was sure Maria needed help since she could use only one arm, but Amelia would know what to do. When Maria sat down at the desk, her hair glistened from Amelia’s brisk brushing and her injured arm was in a fresh white sling.

  “All of you eat a good breakfast now,” Amelia patted Adam, propped against the pillows on his bed, and glanced at Spud, who had returned to the chair where he spent the night. “You know Spud and José?” she asked Maria in Spanish. “They carried you in from where you fell?”

  Maria looked at each of them for a long minute. “Gracias,” she whispered and smiled. José smiled back.

  “No matter.” Spud bit into a piece of bacon. “Glad you’re both okay. Happy to help.”

  “Poor Amelia,” Willa exclaimed. “Will she ever be able to stop cooking breakfast this morning? Nine-thirty already and people keep showing up. Hungry for information,” she gestured toward Andrew Dasburg and John Collier, “and for these wonderful eggs,” she grinned at the Fechins. “I don’t usually like my eggs scrambled,” she added, “but green chile makes them special.”

  Edith laughed and passed the raspberry jam to Andrew Dasburg, who was sitting next to Tony. Mabel had chosen as usual to have breakfast in bed.