by D C Young
Funny. Neither Earnie, Greg nor Fred mentioned another ranch being in the area and so close to both Silver Creek and Blue Corn.
I made my way up to the main gates, staying off the road and safely under the cover of the darkness. About a mile from the main buildings there was a gate. Over it was a large metal arbor decorated with the skull of a bighorn steer and a big hanging sign. The words on the sign read… Caldera Ranch.
I knew I was on the verge of cracking the case wide open but there were still too many questions unanswered for me. What force was in play that could make experienced cowhands like Randal and the others lose hours of time as someone cut through the fence and made off clean with hundreds of head of cattle without them even realizing?
What in hell was that energy I encountered out on the range and who in hell was wielding that kind of power?
I perched on the hillside over the ranch and watched the main cluster of buildings for a little while. It wasn’t long before the figure of a man emerges from the main house and made his way across the yard. He was carrying a flashlight in one hand, and as he waved it around in an effort to scan all the corners of the yard around him, the beam wandered in my direction… not very pleasant to my night vision eyes.
I followed the man’s silhouette across the yard as he headed towards a huge shed set up behind the stables. From the looks of the structure, it was recently built and covered at least a two acre span; quite an ambitious structure for a seemingly humble ranch spread.
He stopped in front of the shed door and fumbled with some keys. As he did so, he dropped the flashlight and sent it rolling off towards the edge of the shed. He gave chase after it. Instantly, I saw my opportunity and leapt off the hillside, changing quickly and taking flight. On silent wings, I flew closer and settled into the darkness of a nearby tree.
When the man finally got the shed door opened and turned on the lights, I was at first shocked by the brightness of his glossy red hair but then beyond him I caught a glimpse inside. It was a feed room stacked high with feed bags.
Peculiar.
He left the outside door ajar and I watched as he opened the second door, stepped through and then closed it behind him before I could see what was on the other side. I cursed softly then focused my mind. In an instant, I sent out a psychic tendril reaching out to find the man’s mind inside the shed. It didn’t take long… he was drunk and irritated and cold. I snuck into his mind without any effort and when I opened my eyes, I saw exactly what he did.
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at and my vampire heart must have skipped a beat. My shock and excitement must have alerted the man to my presence because he instantly closed his mind and my presence was ejected. I sat there on the branch of the oak tree shaking my head for a moment as I processed what I had seen.
Inside the newly built building at Caldera Ranch sat an entire herd of cows lying comfortably in hay lined stalls chewing the cud and lowing softly as content as could be. On several of their hind quarters I noticed a small brand; the image of which I committed to memory as I launched from my perch and soared back towards Blue Corn Ranch.
Chapter Twelve
Juanita gazed across Quartz Creek Valley toward Duck Basin. She’d ridden there with her father and grandfather many times. Regardless of fences, lines, grazing permits and the law, in her mind, Quartz Creek and Duck Basin belonged to Caldera Ranch. It wasn’t much longer before she’d have it back. She only had a few more strings to pull, one of which belonged to Senator Antonio de Armas. She’d pulled something besides his string in a hotel room after the symphony in Stockton where he’d made a “surprise” appearance, which was obviously arranged. These hicks are so blasé. It wasn’t the first time she’d had that thought since she’d returned to the place she’d grown up after having spent most of her adult life in Madrid and Barcelona.
She’d come back for a few visits over the twenty years prior to her return; one of them for her grandfather’s funeral. It wasn’t until her father had died and she’d come back to the broken down ranch that she’d inherited, that she learned the place had been gradually fading away for fifteen years. At first, she’d been bitter about the fact that the members of the Silver Blue Hermosa Coop had pushed her father off of his grazing lands, but she’d stumbled onto a stroke of luck in the Midway Bar three years before. When Bill Kellerman had opened his drunken mouth, he’d filled her head with all sorts of new ideas.
When Juanita learned that Bill had been fired from Blue Corn for blabbing, she’d seen an opportunity, but before she’d brought him into her plan, she’d done a little bit of digging into his past. It had taken some effort, but she had uncovered Bill’s involvement in some things across the state line in Nevada that had been the perfect motivation for keeping Bill in line, as if he’d really needed much. He’d had stars in his eyes the first time he’d seen her and a nearly permanent hard on for her since then.
Juanita laughed as she recalled the day she’d knocked on the door of the Lamp Lighter Hotel room door and seen the expression on Bill’s face change when he’d answered the door.
“Jesus, Juanita, excuse me,” he’d said, as he glanced back into the pig sty that his room had become. He’d reached for a t-shirt, quickly slipped it on and then stepped outside, not wanting her to see inside. He didn’t realize until later that the door had locked behind him and he didn’t have the key. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you got fired from Blue Corn,” she had replied.
“Yeah. Well, I guess I had a little too much to drink and maybe said some things I wasn’t supposed to.”
“Seems you haven’t learned anything from half of that lesson,” she’d replied. She’d wrinkled up her nose at the smell of booze that radiated from his entire body.
Bill had looked at her with an expression of confusion.
“If you’ll quit the booze and learn to hold your tongue, I’ll give you the second chance you so desperately need right now,” she’d announced.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I’ll hire you as my ranch manager if you promise to quit drinking and learn to keep your mouth shut.”
“Well, I don’t know, ma’am, I…”
“If you can’t manage to get control of yourself, who in their right mind do you think is going to let you manage their herd?” Bill looked down in shame. “The way I see it, you have two choices. Either you get it together and come work for me or I can start letting a few people in the area know about Fallon Station.”
Juanita had watched Bill Kellerman’s face turn so pale that it was nearly transparent. He swallowed the lump in his throat and whispered through gritted teeth. “That’s black mail.”
Juanita shrugged. “I need a clean and sober, experienced ranch manager who can keep his mouth shut. You need to get back on your feet again. What did they pay you at Blue Corn?”
“Two thousand, five hundred dollars and found, but I’m not going to let you…”
“I’ll pay five thousand and found,” she’d responded. “I assume that found means housing and food.”
“Five thousand and found?”
“Get your stuff together, get in your pick up and I’ll see you out at the Caldera.” Juanita had turned around and walked away from him. “And your hotel bill is paid already,” she called over her shoulder without looking back. She was pretty sure that the sight of her tight jeans was as much motivation as all of her other offers.
She smiled at the memory as she turned her mare, Ivory, away from the fence where she’d been gazing out across range land that was beyond her reach. She started back toward Caldera Ranch, continuing to replay the ingenious moves she’d made on the giant chess board, from which she intended to sweep all of the pieces.
Bill had quit the booze, still lusted after her, enjoyed his new found fortune and had fallen right in with her with unquestioned loyalty. The stakes had grown a lot bigger since she’d put together her last scheme of snatching one hundred and
eighty head of pregnant cows from the precious Silver Blue Hermosa project right out from under the noses of the Silver Creek riders. That had been another stroke of luck, or perhaps a bit of karma turning back on Earnest, Greg and Fred.
Oscar Valencia, who had been a long time friend of her father, was the one who had alerted her to it, quite by accident. Oscar had been helping her skim cattle from the herds of the surrounding ranches for a couple of years after she’d taken over the ranch. They would snatch a half dozen head, load them into a stock trailer and Oscar would take them to his place near Aurora Crater, just across the Nevada border. After a week or so, those cattle were shipped back to Caldera as new purchases from several different auction houses along the border, which didn’t have a problem with looking the other way whenever Oscar asked for a made up bills of sale or a fake shipping order.
Oscar had related a story he’d heard from a cousin or friend who’d been to or lived in Laredo, Texas. The story he told had been about a strange little girl whose certain, high pitched song and psychic powers had her family convinced that the little girl was possessed by a demon. The little girl had suffered so much abuse that she’d been crippled not long after she’d learned to walk. She scooted along the ground on a piece of cardboard to get from one place to another, but was continually beaten and abused.
After hearing the story, Juanita had made up her mind that she was going to go snatch the little girl away from her abusers and bring her back to Caldera Ranch. It had been surprisingly easy and the little girl had come along willingly, believing that her parents had sent her Tia Juanita to come and take her away to a place where she could learn how to walk again. It had started out as a mission of mercy, but once Juanita had learned that the little girl had the power to put unwitting persons into a trance, from which they had no memory when they came out of it, she’d conceived a new plan.
She’d taken Analisa riding with her on several occasions and tested her plan; snatching small bunches of cattle from cowboys who were riding along the fence that separated them from Caldera pastures. It had almost been too easy.
She’d made use of a little bit more information concerning Bill’s involvement in affairs that had taken place at Fallon Station and then unfolded her plan before him. Whether it was willingly or because of several layers of her manipulations, Bill had bought into the plan all the way. He even followed up his willingness to join her scheme when, through clenched teeth he said, “I’ve been looking for a way to get even with that bastard, anyway.”
Juanita’s eyes scanned over the small bunch of cattle as the lowing of one of them brought her out of her reverie and back to the flat where Caldera cattle were grazing beside a water hole. She allowed Ivory to approach the water hole, lower her head and drink while she searched for any signs of sick or injured animals to alert Bill about. Having gone over the bunch of cattle thoroughly and only noting one crippled bull in the bunch, she continued toward the next of the three water holes that lay along her route before returning home.
As Juanita rode along, she considered Antonio de Armas. She’d known Tony before she’d gone away to college in Spain. She’d known Tony very well actually; ever since they’d spent several hours together in the back of his Monte Carlo at the age of 16. They’d kept in touch while she was away in Spain. He’d come to visit her a few times and they’d talked of making more of their relationship, but in the end, their time together had been spent in nothing more than drunken days, wild sex, and lots of clubbing. She’d lost contact with him eventually, and had no idea what had become of Tony until he surfaced as a Senate candidate for the State of California after she had taken over Caldera Ranch.
She’d surprised him with a call and they’d picked up right where they left, meeting two or three times a year for a week long getaway at Lake Tahoe, Palm Springs, Las Vegas or wherever the mood hit them to go. Juanita had played things cool and drew Tony deeper into their affair without ever imposing upon him.
Tony had traveled to Stockton without his family, and lucky for her, had aides who would look the other way or even help him to make arrangements of the extramarital kind. They’d hooked up after the Stockton symphony. She’d blown his mind, just like she always did when they were together, and then, while lying in each other’s arms, casually mentioned the problems Caldera Ranch was having with grazing permits. Initially, Tony had hesitated.
“I don’t know, Nita. That’s not really my area of expertise. I’m afraid that if I start mixing up in those sorts of things that someone is going to get suspicious, start asking questions and, well, you know…”
He’d stopped talking when Juanita had scooped up his cell phone from the nightstand, manipulated it to bring up a call screen with ‘home’ as its label and showed it to him with her finger only a fraction of an inch away from pressing ‘call’.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he whispered.
Juanita smiled and shrugged.
“I’ll look into it,” he said.
Juanita handed the phone back to him, slipped from the bed and got dressed.
Riding through the cattle at the next water hole, she could see how with Senator de Armas on her side, she’d get back what rightfully belong to her and put Silver Blue Hermosa out of business and nobody would be able to stop her. Sure, what she’d done to Tony had been a pretty cold-hearted thing to do to an old friend, but if she could get what she wanted from him and neither of them was hurt by it, she didn’t see how it was such a bad thing. After all, what was the real meaning of friends with benefits?
“I was growing pretty tired of him anyway, Ivory,” she cackled as she spurred the mare into a canter and made her way toward the last water hole.
Chapter Thirteen
I was outside pacing back and forth on the wide back porch at Blue Corn Ranch way before daybreak. In my neighborhood, that usually meant something, but here on the farm 4 a.m. was already an active time and by 5 a.m. it would feel like I was at the center of a midday rush.
The phone rang about four times before I heard a familiar Scottish accent on the other end of the line.
“Elysium House. William Wallace speaking, how may I be of assistance Samantha Moon?”
“How? What?” I paused to gather my thoughts and chase off my surprise at his greeting. “Ummm, never mind. Stupid question, William. By any chance is either Bjorn or Veronica there please?”
William chuckled knowing well he had thrown me off by identifying me by the caller ID on the phone. “As a matter of fact, yes, they both just stepped in.”
“May I speak to one of them?”
“Sure. Just hold on one moment.”
A few minutes later, Veronica picked up the telephone.
***
“Earnie!” I called out across the corral as he made his way towards the stable. He turned and waved as I ran up to where he stood.
“I need to go into Modesto this morning. Is there anyone who can run me over to Silver Creek to pick the car?”
“Ummm, sure thing. Randal’s heading over there with some feed in a little while. I’m sure you can get a ride with him.”
“Perfect. I won’t be long just going to check out of my little room and maybe pick up some supplies. There are also a few people I think I should check out at the public records office and I’ll be stopping in to meet the local sheriff if possible”
“Anything you need, Miss Sam. After all you seen these past couple days I don’t blame you for wanting to get off the farm for a little bit. I’ll see you later on in the day.”
“Sure.”
“Hey,” he said before I could turn back towards the house. “Sounds like you might have picked up a good lead or two.”
“Too early to tell,” I responded cautiously. “I’ve got some homework to do before I can say anything for sure.”
“Gotcha. See you later then.”
I nodded and turned to go find Randal.
***
I didn’t expect Bjorn to think much of my tiny hotel room
in Blanchard but I knew for a fact that Veronica had lived long term in much worse conditions. In any case, for them, it was going to be home until we cracked the case.
I sat in the Jeep and waited outside in front of the little boarding house for my friends to arrive. I had no idea how I was going to explain my suspicions about the case to them so I found myself hoping they didn’t ask too many questions and just did what I asked them to do.
At about half past twelve, I saw two motorcycles pull into the parking lot and wasn’t surprised when I saw Veronica’s face appear from under her helmet. They’d made better time than I’d expected but I was sure that had everything to do with the motorized rockets they’d ridden up there on.
Room 121. Head to your right and around the corner. The door’s propped open. See you in a few.
Veronica heard me loud and clear. She didn’t even make the mistake of looking around to see where I was. She grabbed her helmet and indicated for Bjorn to follow her and went towards the boarding house room.
A few minutes later, I got out of the Jeep and followed suit.
“Hey there!” I said as I stepped through the door and closed it quickly behind me.
“Hey, you!” Veronica said standing to give me a quick hug. Bjorn did the same. “What’s with all the cloak and dagger stuff?”
I sighed and flopped down into the armchair by the door.
“That rough, huh?” Bjorn joked.
I smiled broadly at his attempt to lighten the mood. “The case is coming together slowly. I have reason to believe that someone with powers is in on the theft.”
