“I appreciate your stopping by,” Estelle said.
“Well,” Torrance said with a resigned smile, “you said you wanted to see me, so here I am. We got a mess, don’t we? Pretty quiet neighborhood I live in most of the time.”
“Sir, tell me about Eddie Johns.”
Torrance’s leathery face remained impassive, and he pointed at Bill Gastner with his chin. “Hell, you know that son-of-a-bitch as well as me.” He looked back at Estelle. “Waddell tells me that you found Johns up on the mesa.”
“We think so, sir.”
“Been there a while? That’s what Miles said.”
“It appears so.”
“Well, that don’t surprise me. I was gonna call you, but then figured what the hell…if you wanted my two cents, you’d call.”
“Why doesn’t it surprise you, sir?”
Torrance laughed. “I never could see why Miles encouraged that guy. I mean, what’s to come of it?” He shrugged. “Never cared for him much. You know, one time he tried to buy a piece of property from me. Wasn’t interested. Johns didn’t seem ready to understand that. He got real pugnacious. That don’t work so good with me.”
“I really have two things to ask you, sir,” Estelle said. “First of all, were you in the Broken Spur last week-it would be Thursday, we think. Freddy Romero rode through the saloon parking lot on his four-wheeler. Do you recall that?”
“Sure.” He shook his head slowly, ice blue eyes never leaving Estelle’s face. “Sure sorry that had to happen. That trail’s a dangerous place.”
“You saw him that day?”
“Nope. Miles said he did. Now, I sure as hell heard him. That’s the noisiest God damn thing, that little buggy.”
“Gus Prescott was at the Spur as well?”
“Well, yeah. He was.”
“Did you leave the Spur shortly after that, sir?”
Torrance frowned. “You’re askin’ me to remember something longer ago than breakfast, young lady. But sure enough. I had things to do. I only stopped by to see if Gus was going to have his road grader fixed by this time next week. He ain’t, so there we are. But hell,” and he smiled, “it’s only been two years.”
“You and Gus talked about that?”
Torrance laughed hoarsely. “About fifteen seconds. From what I can gather, his grader’s gone south for want of parts that he can’t afford to buy. But you’ll talk to him about that.”
“And then you left the saloon?”
“I did, and then just about the time I was pullin’ out of the parkin’ lot, Gus left the saloon, too. Don’t know about Miles.”
“You drove home?”
“Guess I did.”
“And Gus?”
“And Gus what?”
“Did you happen to notice which way he went? Toward Regál, or back north to Moore?”
“Neither one, I don’t guess. He went up through the canyon.”
“The back trail?”
“That’s what him and me were talkin’ about. There’s a section in there that just tears my truck all to hell. I’ve been tryin’ to get him to grade that-there ain’t no one else with a machine, except for the county, and they won’t do it. Got about a hundred yards that’s more like a quarry than a two-track.”
“Ah,” Estelle nodded.
“If he’d turned east at Bender’s, he’d likely have seen the kid on the four-wheeler, but I guess he woulda turned west on the canyon road. Just too bad, the whole thing.”
“Sir, do you know what kind of vehicle Eddie Johns drove?”
“Well…” Torrance looked up at the blank sky, eyes narrowed to slits. “Been a while. Big old pickup, as I recall.”
“An older model?”
“Well, no, I don’t guess so. He’s in real estate now, you know. Got to look good.”
“Real estate, then, ” Gastner corrected.
“Yup. Guess so. Pretty damn strange.”
“Sir, if you were to see Eddie Johns’ truck, would you be able to recognize it?”
Herb Torrance looked at Estelle skeptically. “Last time I saw him was what, four or five years ago? Something like that? Always wondered what happened to him, but didn’t care enough to ask. Last time I saw him, he was drivin’ a fancy rig. Seems to be it was dark blue or black, maybe. Think it was a Ford. That’s about as close as I can come.”
Estelle beckoned, and he followed her to the Quonset. She held the door for the rancher and for Gastner, and shut it securely behind them.
Standing with his hands on his hips, Torrance regarded the mess on the floor. He shifted a step or two to the side, looked some more, and then said, “Shows some use, don’t it.” He looked up at the others in the room, as if seeing them for the first time. “Bobby, you fellas workin’ to restore this? Your budget that tight, is it?”
“Just needs a little touch-up,” Torrez replied.
He pivoted at the waist and regarded Estelle. “You’re askin’ about Eddie Johns? Does this have something to do with that?”
“Yes, sir. It does.”
“This what’s left of his truck? Is that what you’re gettin’ at?”
“Can you tell us anything about it, sir?”
Torrance’s eyes narrowed a little, and he walked the length of the carcass, the expression on his face that of a rancher judging livestock. Estelle let him look without interrupting his train of thought.
“Couldn’t really say,” he said finally. “I guess this was black once upon a time, and I’d guess it was a Ford crew cab.” He held up both hands in surrender. “That’s my best shot, but then I guess you folks already know all that.”
“Sir, can you tell us why Gus Prescott would have this wrecked vehicle at his ranch?”
Herb Torrance looked genuinely surprised. “Now wait,” he said. “He did have a truck that belonged to Johns. Big old three-quarter ton. Gus told me about that. The story goes that Johns had it parked over at Giarelli Sand and Gravel in Deming when a kid driving an ore truck screwed up royally and drove right over it. Gus said he bought the wreck for salvage…wanted the engine, I guess. Well, now. This is the one?”
“It might be, sir. Did the truck catch fire in the accident?”
Herb chuckled. “Don’t think so.” He chuckled again. “Ah…” He shook his head in amusement. “I tell you, if Gus Prescott didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have no luck at all.” He shook his head again. “Let me tell you about that. I was drivin’ to town one day and saw this plume of black smoke shootin’ up. Right over at Gus’ place. So I drove in, and by the time I get there, he’s standin’ there lookin’ at a smokin’ wreck. See, he was tryin’ to cut something off the truck-one of the bumper supports, I think. Anyway, before he knows it, the damn thing catches fire. He had this garden hose stretched all the way over from the house. That and a little fire extinguisher. He coulda set the whole ranch on fire. Damn good thing it wasn’t windy.”
“And that’s when he told you the truck originally belonged to Johns?”
“Yep.”
“When was this, Mr. Torrance?”
“Oh, hell, it’s been a couple years. Three or four, maybe. He just pushed the wreck over there in line with all the other junk he’s got. I guess,” and Torrance paused to scratch his scalp. “I guess he got out the engine and tranny. I know that he wanted to put the diesel in his own truck. Wouldn’t be surprised. He’s actually a fair hand as a mechanic.”
Estelle looked across at where Bill Gastner rested against a work bench. His arms were crossed over his belly, and he lifted both shoulders in a helpless shrug, a tinge of relief on his broad face.
“What’d he pay Eddie for this piece of junk?” Gastner asked. “Did he say?”
“He didn’t. Wouldn’t have been much, ‘cause Gus ain’t got much. Maybe they made a deal for some work. Don’t know. Gus didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.”
“I never got the impression that Gus cared much for Eddie Johns,” Gastner continued.
A hint of wariness crossed Herb Torrance’s face. “You’d have to talk to him about that. Johns was all right, long as you didn’t have to be in the same county with him.” His smile was thin. “I’d be curious to know how he come to end up stuffed in that little cave.”