“Hello, Sheriff,” Ike said warmly. “What brings you out here? Get down, come on in.”
“Thanks,” Belmond said, swinging down from his saddle. He tied the horse off, then followed Ike and the others into the parlor of the large house. Billy went inside as well and stood, leaning against the wall next to the window.
“Would you like something to drink, Sheriff? Whiskey? Lemonade?”
Belmond laughed. “Whiskey in the morning is a bit much, even for me. But a glass of lemonade might taste just real good after a long, hot ride.”
“Rosita, bring a glass of lemonade for the sheriff,” Ike called to his maid.
“Sí, señor,” the large Mexican woman replied.
“Hello, Ray, Cletus, Billy,” he said. Then, taking a second look at Cletus, he took in a short breath. “Damn, Cletus, what the hell happened to you?”
Both of Cletus’s eyes were black and his nose was swollen and purple.
“Nothin’,” Cletus muttered.
“It sure don’t look like nothin’.”
“What brings you out here, Sheriff?” Ike asked.
“Deke Mathers and Seth Parker,” Belmond replied.
“What about ’em?” Ike said. “I fired those two no-accounts a couple of days ago. What trouble have they got themselves into now?”
“Wait a minute,” Belmond said. “Are you telling me them two don’t work for you?”
“Not after I fired ’em, they don’t work for me. So, tell me, Sheriff, what have they done?”
Rosita returned with a glass of lemonade. “Your limonada, señor,” she said.
“Gracias,” the sheriff said. He drank the entire glass, then wiped his mouth before he responded to Ike’s question. “They’ve got themselves kilt, is what they’ve done,” Belmond replied.
“I’ll be damn,” Ike said. He stroked his chin, then sighed. “Well, I don’t know as I can say it surprises me all that much. Get into a barroom fight, did they?”
“No, sir. They was killed while they was attacking some freight wagons out of La Junta, headed toward Higbee.”
“That was damn stupid of them, trying to rob some freight wagons,” Ike said. “But neither one of them boys was ever what you would call particular smart.”
“I don’t think they intended to rob them,” Belmond said.
“Well, then, what the hell was they after?”
“The wagons belonged to Thompson Freight, but they was carrying goods bound for General Garrison. Lumber and the like, for building his railroad depot.”
“The hell you say? Well, that might explain it then,” Ike said.
“Explain what?”
“Deke and Seth knew the way I felt about this railroad,” Ike said. “Once Garrison gets it built, he’s plannin’ on holdin’ up all the cattlemen in the county. Being the only railroad, he’ll charge us an arm and a leg to ship anything, and that’ll just make all the other railroad people raise their prices, too. I figure that Deke and Seth were probably thinking that if they could stop those wagons, then they could keep the railroad from being built. The way I see it, them boys was just trying to get back on my good side.”
“So you’re sayin’ you didn’t have nothin’ to do with it?” Belmond asked.
“I never left my ranch,” Ike replied. “After they stopped the wagons, I don’t have no doubt but that they was goin’ to come ask me for their old jobs back.”
Belmond stroked his chin and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I guess I can see that.”
“Were any of Thompson’s men hurt?” Ike asked.
“No. None of them were hurt.”
“Well look here, Sheriff, if nothin’ was done to the wagons, and none of the drivers or guards was hurt, then why are you even involved? The only ones hurt was Deke and Seth, and they got themselves kilt.”
“How did you know there were guards?” Belmond asked.
“Didn’t somebody burn three wagons and kill the drivers the last time Garrison tried to get a shipment delivered?” Ike asked.
“Yes.”
“Then, don’t it stand to reason that they would have guards with them this time?”
“I reckon that’s right. Turns out also that they had Falcon MacCallister riding with them.”
“Falcon MacCallister? Funny you should mention him, Sheriff. I’ve been thinking about swearing out a complaint against him.”
“A complaint? What kind of complaint?”
“Why, an assault-and-battery complaint,” Ike said. “You see the way Cletus looks here. That’s ’cause MacCallister hit him with a club the other night.”
“He would’a never got away with it if I had’a seen him,” Cletus said. “He hit me when I wasn’t lookin’.”
“Why would he have done that?”
“No reason, Sheriff. No reason a’tall. What happened was, me’n Deke Mathers and Lou Reeder was in the Golden Nugget the other night, when Deke started gettin’ a little rowdy, yellin’ at that woman piano player they got. Well, I was tryin’ to calm Deke down when this here fella MacCallister pulled a gun on me. So, me bein’ unarmed, I went out to my horse to get a gun, and when I come back in to the saloon, MacCallister was waitin’ just inside and he hit me with a club. I never seen it comin’.”
“That’s why I’m sayin’ I want you to arrest Falcon MacCallister,” Ike said.
Belmond shook his head. “I’m afraid you’ll have to take that up with Marshal Calhoun,” he said.
“Ha, a fat lot of good that’ll do,” Ike said. “Those town dogs have Calhoun in their hip pocket. He ain’t goin’ to take no cattleman’s word over anyone from town. Anyway, I thought you had jurisdiction over the whole county. You’re the sheriff. You tellin’ me you can’t arrest anyone in Higbee?”
“I can, yes, but as a matter of professional courtesy, I tend to let the city marshals control their own towns.”
“I see. So, what you are saying is, you’re just goin’ to let this MacCallister fella get away with it.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Belmond promised.
“Yeah, you do that,” Ike insisted. “Only, it’s too late for Deke and Seth now, ain’t it? They’re already dead.”
“You didn’t really fire Deke and Seth, did you, Pa?” Billy asked after the sheriff left.
“Doesn’t make any difference whether I fired them or not,” Ike replied. “They’re both dead.”
“They were worthless as tits on a boar hog anyway,” Ray said. “If they had listened to me instead of ridin’ out ahead like that, they would both be alive now, and those wagons would be nothn’ but burnt-out cinders.”
“Wait a minute,” Billy said. “Ray, you and Cletus were with them, weren’t you. You set out purposely to destroy those wagons. Deke and Lou were with you—they weren’t doing it on their own.”
“So what if we were with them?” Ray challenged.
“So that means you got them killed,” Billy said.
“Son, you might say we’re in a war with the railroad right now,” Ike said. “And in times of war, folks get killed. That’s what wars are all about.”
“But I don’t understand,” Billy said. “Pa, can’t you see the advantages of a railroad?”
“Of course I can see the advantage of a railroad if we own it,” Ike said.
“What? What are you talking about?”
Cletus chuckled. “I told you that boy wasn’t none too bright, Pa,” he said.
“Think about it, Billy,” Ike said. “Whoever owns that railroad will control everything hereabout for five hundred miles.”
“You—you want General Garrison to fail so you can take it over,” Billy said.
“Well, now, you were wrong about our little brother, Cletus,” Ray said. “It looks like he does understand.”
“That isn’t right, Pa,” Billy said. “That’s no way right.”