by Lilah Rivers
“Jonah —”
“Bella, this isn’t about you and me, it’s about the family, about all of the homesteaders in Barnock. Don’t you realize how high the stakes are?”
“I do, Jonah, you don’t have to keep reminding me. Whatever your wild imaginings may be.” A tense silence lingered, and Bella knew she could not simply leave it at that. “The fact is, I’m not going to marry Turner, and I told him so. He was upset about it. Is that so hard to fathom?”
Jonah seemed to think it out, grinding his jaw. “Why not? He’s a likely enough fellow.”
“Apparently not quite likely enough.”
Jonah repeated, “Why? I thought the matter was settled.”
“You were wrong.”
“Then set me right.”
“I already have. I’m not marrying Turner, and that’s all there is to know.” Bella walked away, but Jonah grabbed Bella’s arm to stop her. She did stop, spinning to give Jonah a hard glare. The two siblings were locked in a contest of wills, neither willing to back down. She finally said only, “Take your hand off me.”
After a tense moment, Jonah let go, and Bella pulled her arm free, stomping across the house. She needed some privacy, she needed some advice.
She needed Josh Callahan.
Chapter 42
Saul Decker looked Otis Remington and Parker Bristol up and down, letting his disgust be clear in the heavy puffs of smoke, the way he swirled that brandy. He was flaunting his wealth and power, and he wanted others to know it.
He puffed out more smoke than necessary to please his palate. But it gave him an air of toxic mystery which intimidated others and presented him as more than just a man, which was just how he saw himself.
“Looks like everything’s happening just the way you predicted,” Parker said to Saul. “It shouldn’t be long now, I wouldn’t think.”
Otis said, “Word I hear is that the homesteaders are arming up, planning an assault strategy on the ranchers.”
“That so?” Saul nodded and puffed on that cigar. “If you’ve heard that, the ranchers must have heard it too.” A long, considered silence went by before Saul went on, “What about Callahan?”
Otis said, “They don’t come to my place much, but my operatives tell me he’s dead set against a fight; old man Archer’s the same.”
“Archer,” Saul repeated with disgust ripe in his voice, a lump rising in his belly. “I knew he’d be trouble from the start. Couldn’t buy him, couldn’t control him, him and those twins …” Saul let the moment hang, waiting for some response from his underlings. He suspected that they’d been approached by Josh, perhaps before he was, and that they might still be sympathetic to the young man’s cause.
Nobody could be trusted.
“When it happens,” Saul said, “I need to make sure it is … thorough.”
Otis and Parker shared a glance before Otis repeated, “Thorough?”
Saul glared at him, knowing that his meaning had come across. “We’re not playing games here, gentlemen. This effort has been long in the making, and I won’t have it undone by rogues.”
Parker repeated, “Rogues, sir?”
“Rogues!” Saul felt certain they knew what he meant, but in case they did not, he wanted not to reveal himself. Saul waited a bit longer than any person would under normal circumstances, searching out their reactions. “Both the homesteaders and those local ranchers,” Saul explained, deliberately vague. “The families Archer and Callahan especially.”
Otis cleared his throat. “They’re no regular clients of mine, but … Callahan’s been working with us on this, sir.”
“Has he?” Saul leaned back in his parlor chair, swirling his brandy in his free palm. “Or has he been a plant for the homesteaders all along? They’re birds of a feather, let’s not forget. Even if Callahan’s merely a bungler, I can’t have that on my team. We have to sever ties with that family as much as with the Archers.”
Saul knew what the words sever ties meant, and how the other men would take them.
Parker said, “Mister Decker, perhaps it would be valuable to have some … some touch point within the community to —”
“What am I paying him for?” Saul pointed out Otis, whose face suddenly went flush. “I want it thorough; I don’t care what it takes. Otis, you know men of a certain bent, men who could make sure certain things get handled. You’ve done it for me before.”
Otis nodded, a fist to chin, blinking slowly in silent disgrace.
“Everybody either dies in the battle,” Saul explained, “or runs for the hills and never comes back.”
Parker repeated, “Everyone?”
“I want that land, Parker, every parcel of it. You put that into place now, and I mean right now. I want every pebble, every shrub, and every blade of grass.” A long, mean silence passed, Saul not diverting his attention from the tree outside the window.
Otis said, “Surely a grizzly conflict will be enough to make our point clear. We can deal with the survivors and —”
“No survivors, none who malinger. I want to make sure the men of both families expire in the conflict,” Saul went on, glancing at the window as he gave the execution orders, a meadowlark fluttering around the branches of a nearby paw paw just outside the window. “Do not let them escape. I don’t only mean our own men, but that upstart and his kid brother, the twins on the other side; all of them. Am I clear?”
After a nervous silence, Parker said, “Sir —”
“Am … I … clear?” The echoing silence in the parlor left no room for contradiction or objection. He was, indeed, quite clear. “Also,” Saul added, “the girl, Bella Archer.”
Saul could see in the reflection of the glass that Otis and Parker were exchanging another worried glance. “What?”
“She’s … a woman, sir, what danger is she to us?”
“You don’t know?” Saul waited, studying their answers. When none came, Saul went on, “She’s too clever by half for a woman her age. She knows more than she let’s on; too much, as far as I’m concerned.” After a dangerous pause, Saul said, “Get it done … or I will.” Saul knew they understood his meaning. If Saul had to have it taken care of, he’d have other errands taken care of as well. If Otis and Parker relinquished what little control they had, they risked losing their grip on life itself.
They had no choice but to see to Saul’s demands; he knew that, and he liked it.
Chapter 43
Sybil sat silently, seeming to understand. Though she knew nothing of Josh, and it had been a miracle that Bella had managed that. But Bella was flush with the terrible feeling that it was all about to come crashing down on her, and that all would know the truth soon enough.
Elroy asked her, “Is this really the time to make such a decision? I mean, with the range war and the poor boy’s father’s death?”
“I … I felt it was a kindness not to keep him going on living a delusion.”
“But you might have felt differently after all this was over! Daughter, there are other things playing upon your emotions right now.”
Bella wanted to tell him that she knew she’d never be in love with Turner, because she was in love with another, and that man would be the last one they’d choose for him. Dean looked at her from across the living room. He seemed torn between sympathy for her and a certain amount of recrimination. But Dean would face recrimination too, and Bella hoped in this case she’d favor sympathy.
“May I say,” Bella said, “that these same things may be playing on your mind too, Father. You did suggest a marriage to quell the conflict that’s now upon us. Surely it’s too late for that now.”
“Surely it is,” Elroy repeated, “but it needn’t have been.”
“I won’t marry for any reason of the sort,” Bella said. “Not when there are … I simply won’t.”
Elroy, Sybil, and Jonah all looked at Bella with new interest, Dean shaking his head and looking away. “Not when there are … what?”
Bella was alre
ady scrambling for something to say. “Alternatives,” Bella finally managed, “alternatives to resolving the conflict.”
Dean said, “Bella —”
But Bella went on even louder and faster, “Perhaps a union between the homesteaders and the local ranchers, against the big-timers, Decker —”
“Bella —”
Jonah said, “Dean, what?”
Dean said, “Bella?”
“Okay,” Bella said, “okay, I’ll … I’ll explain. First of all, it’s not Dean’s fault, not at all.”
Elroy asked, “What’s not Dean’s fault?”
“It’s … it’s pretty complicated,” Bella said. So Bella set about unwinding the complications, going through their meeting, the ruse they tried to play against Saul Decker, the unknown fate of her possible romance with Josh and, of course, the end of her could-have-been courtship with Josh.
Elroy was stunned, standing as if he’d just been shot in the chest, which was just how Bella felt. Sybil also seemed shocked, sitting in that chair, the blood drained from her face. Jonah kept glaring at Dean.
“How could you let this go on, Dean?”
“I was looking after our sister, Jonah. She’s not always wrong.”
“She sure was in this case!”
“You can’t say that for sure,” Dean said. “She did what she could to save this family! She put herself out there a lot farther than I would have done, still a lot more than I did, and a darn sight higher than you, Jonah.”
“That’s enough,” Elroy said.
But his son Dean was quick to say, “No, Pop, it’s not enough. We need to do even more! We have to follow Bella’s good example and do more, think with more clarity and originality —”
“Those weren’t my ideas at all,” Bella said. “Josh Callahan is the genius behind this resistance.”
“The point is that we shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves, cannot be! Bella’s close to sorting this thing out, I would think; closer than any of us, with our guns and rifles at the ready. She’s using her wits to get us all out of this. She deserves our thanks, not our scorn; certainly our support.”
Elroy said, “Her judgment has fallen short too many times; I won’t be disappointed again.” He turned to Bella. “And the betrayal of it all! How many times do you deliberately go against my clear orders?”
“Only as many times as I felt I had to, Father.”
“Father,” he repeated, “how have you treated me like a father? Where’s the respect, where’s the obedience?”
Sybil said, “Husband, please —”
But Elroy went on, “You’ve put our family in gravest jeopardy!”
Dean offered, “We were in such jeopardy anyway, Pop.”
Jonah said to Dean, “You’ve got your nerve, disrespecting our father. I cannot believe what I’m hearing, Dean. You didn’t come to me with this?”
“I had a responsibility to our sister, Jonah, and no particular oath to share every fact of my life with you. We’re twins, but we’re not joined at the hip.”
“Still, we have a … an unspoken agreement.”
“It was better for the family, Jonah.”
“I’ll be the one who makes that decision,” Elroy said, his voice filling the room. “To that end, Bella, you’re to stay out of family business from now on.” Bella didn’t dare object, but she knew she had reason to, and he seemed to know the same thing. “I thought you were perhaps growing up, but I can see now that there are simply limits to which some people can reach.”
The words were like knives in Bella’s heart, but she knew she was in no place to object.
Her father went on, “Furthermore, I’m sending you and your mother into Barnock, to wait out the rest of this conflict.”
Sybil was quick to say, “Husband, no!”
Ignoring his wife, Elroy went on to say, “You’ll go where you’re told and do what you’re told! It’s for your own good; it’s only ever been for your good. The boys will see you to the hotel, and then come back and join me in the fight. When it’s over … we’ll come for you.”
“But you won’t,” Sybil said, her voice cracking with tears. “You’ll die, all of you! Oh, Elroy, I can’t stand it —”
“Be strong, Sybil,” Elroy said, his hands on her arms. “Be strong … and pray.”
Chapter 44
Parker Bristol closed his office and walked the few blocks to the small home he’d purchased with extra funds he’d managed to collect, mostly from the generous but grimy hands of Saul Decker.
Well, he told himself, if I didn’t play ball, he’d only kill me and buy out the next guy to get the job. Might as well bank some coin on the deal, as long as I have no choice in the matter.
He walked down the street, further from the main thoroughfare. The sun was just going down over Barnock, the lamplighter doing his business a full block behind him.
I do good things with the money, Parker silently rationalized, support local businesses. And the homesteaders will be fine, I’m sure. All this talk of a range war! It won’t come to more than a minor skirmish, a mere scrape among the locals; happens all the time in a place like this, this part of the nation. I mean, it’s not a civilized place like New York or Boston or Philadelphia!
Parker got closer to his home, just another few blocks away. The streets were quiet, nobody around.
And that Callahan boy? He’ll be fine, I’m sure. He’s brave enough, but he’s sticking his neck out there. If his head gets chopped off, that’s not my fault. We didn’t play his game that was positive enough. I wonder if he ever made it to Decker with that bluff?
A loud thunk nearby distracted Parker’s attention. He turned, not seeing anybody behind him. He turned to walk on.
Maybe it’s time to get out of Barnock, Parker thought, get an assignment somewhere else, start fresh, leave all this to someone else.
Another, louder sound got Parker’s attention, and he turned again, this time seeing two men approaching him, one on each side of the street. He hoped for a minute that they just happened to be walking down the same street he was, at the same time, just a few paces behind him.
But he knew it wasn’t so. They were looking right at him, and when Parker turned to resume heading to his house, just half-a-block away, he stopped to see two more coming at him from the front. They also had each side of the street covered as they closed in on Parker.
There was nowhere to run, and Parker had no chance of fighting them off.
“What’s this about?” The men said nothing, all of them big, strapping, none of them familiar to him. Not one of the homesteaders or local ranchers, he told himself, though it could be a hand for either one. They came closer, fists clenched. “Look, I’m a public official. You’re getting into a lot more trouble than you think.”
They didn’t even blink, steadily walking closer, distance evaporating between Parker and the four men. He spun to look at one and then the other, but he was trapped, and he knew it; they seemed to know it too.
“I … I’m … if this is about this range war, I really have no say in it either way. I … I do as I’m told!” They came closer, one man pulling a hunting knife out, catching the moonlight. Parker’s blood ran cold, a lump rising in his throat as his mind began to race, solving his own murder just seconds before it would happen.
