Cowboy Caveat (16 page)

“
Amy, what is going on and
who is this man? You there, what have you done to my
sister!”

Rick Cook was surprised that these folks
knew Amy, for she had said not one word about recognizing the house
in Park Lane when they had pulled up outside it.

The judge hurried in behind the Ranger, and
holding his hands up for calm, he explained who Rick Cook was and
what he was doing with Amy in tow. He explained that Rick had tried
his house first and had been directed to Park Lane by his
housekeeper. Hilda called to Rose who was hovering in the doorway
watching the drama unfold with wide eyes. “Rose, please fetch
another couple of plates for Amy and this, er... gentleman.” Rose
bobbed and scurried off.

Amy twisted in Ed’s arms where she had been
standing, sheltered, with her head buried in his chest. “No, I’ll
not eat at the same table as that sonofabitch, Grandma!”

“
Amelia, dear, that will
do! This man is a Texas Ranger who is after all only doing his job.
Now come here, you
naughty girl
and kiss your grandmother!”

Ed pushed Amy toward the head of the table
where their grandmother sat. Amy kissed Hilda’s cheek. Her
grandmother reached up and cupped Amy’s face, studying her closely,
“You look terrible, darling. A hot meal and then a bath and bed for
you, I think. You have been a very foolish girl, Amelia Campbell,
and I am most displeased with you. Go and sit down and eat now, but
tomorrow morning I wish to have a serious discussion about your
behavior to date.”

“
Yes Grandma, but I’m Mrs.
Walker now,” Amy answered meekly and sat down as she’d been
told.

Rick Cook looked on in amazement at this
termagant that had fought him every step of the way since they had
left the staging post that morning. She was now behaving like a
lamb and obeying the old dame at the head of the table. Rick shook
his head in disbelief.

“
Well, well,
congratulations, my dear. I assume your husband is not with you?
No? Well I expect you to explain
everything
to me when we have eaten
our dinner. Rose?”

Rose arrived with two steaming plates full
of meat pie and gravy, which she set down in front of the
antagonists.

“
There are potatoes and
greens on the table, so please just help yourselves,” Hilda told
them.

For the next quarter of an hour, there was
nothing but the sound of knives and forks clearing plates around
the table. Lucy caught Amy’s eye and mouthed to her “Are you
alright?”

Amy had nodded an affirmative, but Lucy’s
next question could not be answered with a straightforward nod.
“Where are Ethan and Millie?” Amy nodded and shrugged but her
actions only worried Lucy more than they reassured her. Lucy might
moan about her brother Ethan, but she loved him dearly.

They had all finished their main course and
Rick Cook was explaining what had occurred since he had met up with
Ethan and Amy on the stagecoach. There was another interruption
from Rose and not the one expected- the serving of the peach pie
planned for dessert - but rather, Rose, clutching a telegram,
announcing that it was for Edward. Ed read the wire and blanched.
He pushed back his chair, stood up and spoke directly to the
Ranger. “This is from Max, my ranch foreman. Henderson has taken my
little brother Tyler hostage and is demanding that I sell our
father’s homestead and land to him! I have to leave right now!”

It was the judge who answered Ed, “Now see
hear, boy, that is a crime and the Ranger here will gather some men
and ride over to this Henderson’s place to get the boy back. Won’t
you, Ranger Cook.”

Rick nodded assent and stood up himself,
saying, “You don’t have to worry -- we Rangers will take it from
here on in.”

“
I am still riding with
you once we git there, Cook,” Ed said as he glowered
stubbornly.

“
Well then, let’s git
going, shall we? We got a train to catch.” Rick glanced around at
the women, “Ladies,” he said, tipping his hat as he turned to leave
with Ed hot on his heels.

There was a lull in conversation after the
sudden exit of Ed and Rick Cook. Then Hilda took control and
ushered everyone into the parlor, where shortly afterward, Amy
brought them all up to speed with her most recent adventures.

Ethan, accompanied by Elmer and his mule,
had walked the couple of miles back to where the fallen stagecoach
lay undisturbed. Elmer had his mule saddled with a couple of
Mexicans carrying baskets to hold all the belongings that would be
of use to them. They had collected most of the things left behind
after they had walked to the stage outpost. The two men had not
long returned when Luca shouted from outside “Hey there’s a big
coach coming Mister Ethan!”

Ethan ran out to see, followed close behind
by Millie. Sure enough, there was a large, old-fashioned covered
coach arriving. Millie ran forward, shouting a greeting, while
Ethan yelled a sharp warning to her to remain with him, which she
completely ignored. The carriage door opened and Lucy jumped out
and ran to Ethan, hugging her brother with relief. He seemed none
the worse for wear, thank God!

Millie was helping an indomitable old lady
down from the coach and Ethan guessed rightly that this was Amy’s
grandmother, whom he had only met a few times in the past,
generally at Christmas time.

He disentangled his sister and walked over
to greet her, holding out his hand formally. Hilda looked at the
handsome young man standing before her. She had always liked Ethan
Walker, Lucy’s brother, and was thrilled that her granddaughter
Amelia had married him. “Mr. Walker, I am your grandmother-in-law
now, or so I hear, so come and give me a hug, my dear.”

Ethan, quick off the mark, asked her, “So is
Amy safe and well then?” as he obediently hugged Hilda.

“
Yes, under house arrest
at my home with a good friend of mine, Judge James Richardson,
keeping his beady eye on your wilful young wife. You will need to
take her in hand. Ethan my dear, you simply cannot allow her to get
into this sort of mess!”

Ethan gave her a grin, and
his hazel eyes twinkled down at Hilda until she felt quite weak at
the knees! “Now don’t you fret none, ma’am, ’cause I have that side
of things fully under control. There is no way my wife will
ever
be embroiled in
this type of escapade again; I can assure you of that!”

“
Well, I am very relieved
to hear it, for I am not sure how much more drama this old heart of
mine can take!”

Lucy, who had wandered over and heard what
Hilda had just said, rolled her eyes and laughed. “Fibber, you’ve
had more fun in the last twenty four hours than in the whole of
your life, I’ve no doubt!”

Hilda fixed her with a beady eye and raised
her eyebrow. “I do assure you that is not so, Lucy my dear. I
needed to be taken in hand by my dear husband, Mark, on a number of
occasions when I was a young woman and my escapades make Amy’s look
like child’s play!”

Millie looked at her grandmother with new
admiration and said, “Grandma, won’t you tell me all about it on
the way back to your house?”

Hilda looked rather shocked; she had
forgotten that Millie was listening. “Um... I think not, Millie.
Perhaps when you are older, you and I can have a little chat.”

“
Oh, Grandma, sometimes
you are just so,
so
English
!”

Lucy and Ethan glanced at each other and
Ethan winked at his sister, who was actually quite shocked by what
Ed’s grandmother had just told them.

“
Well, darling, that is
probably because
I am
English, but you already knew that! Now then, tell me who
this little gentleman is, hmm?” Hilda was gazing at Luca with a
strange expression on her face.

“
I’m Luca, an’ Millie and
me is gonna be
family
‘cos Mr. Ethan and Amy are gonna adpopit me!” he told her
proudly.

“
A-D-O-P-T...and yup, we
certainly are!” confirmed Ethan, ruffling the small boy’s
hair.

“
He certainly looks as
though he belongs. Why, he is the absolute spitting image of my
Daniel at the same age...how old are you child?”

“
I don’t rightly know,
ma’am, but I think I’m seven, maybe eight or even nine!” Luca ran
ahead of the family as they made their way inside the staging post
for refreshments, kindly provided by Carmella. Lucy helped Millie
pack everything up and goodbyes were said to Elmer and Carmella
with promises of returning within a month to collect two puppies,
one each for Millie and Luca. Finally, they were on their way to
Dallas, and to Amy. Ethan sat back, impatient for this journey to
end so that he could be reunited once again with his
bride.

Hilda and Lucy had agreed not to tell Millie
and Ethan that Tyler had been kidnapped until they were all settled
into the coach and on the move; then the whole thing could be
discussed calmly. Once everyone had made themselves comfortable
within the tight confines of Hilda’s ancient carriage, she broke
the news of Tyler’s kidnap by Henderson. Ethan was livid that he
had no horse to ride back home on then and there.

”
That man is jus’ a
skillet full of rattlesnakes!” Millie said heatedly and promptly
burst into tears. Hilda drew her grand-daughter to her and patted
her consolingly, there was nothing to be said in comfort, Tyler was
in big trouble and that was a very raw fact.

* * * * *

Tyler was actually not at all afraid; in
fact, he was being treated rather well by his enforced host,
Lawrence Henderson. Truth be told, Tyler felt somewhat guilty at
being caught creeping around Henderson’s place and had no idea that
Henderson had sent a wire bargaining the homestead land for Tyler’s
safe return, with all charges against Amy dropped.

“
So, boy, I wonder why you
were spying on me?” Henderson studied the kid in front of him, a
sturdy boy with a look of his father, Daniel Campbell, about him.
Tyler had a hunch that Henderson was holding Amy captive on his
ranch somewhere and he had come to spy to see if he was
right.

Henderson had not disliked Daniel Campbell
and he’d been sorry to have him killed. He hadn’t ordered Suzie’s
death though, it was that damn Mexican raping the woman and killing
her afterwards. Henderson had felt quite sick when he’d heard of
the pretty Mrs. Campbell’s end. He had pistol-whipped the renegade
for that, and he would have shot the man if he hadn’t been so
useful to him.

The Mexican and his companion in crime had
successfully robbed a number of banks and trains, while Henderson
grew rich on the proceeds. Their method was to keep the crimes far
from each other and not to commit robberies too often. Henderson
always formulated the plan, and the Mexican followed his orders to
the letter. He paid them fairly well, too; no point in doing
otherwise, in case they got resentful and cut him out of the deal.
After all, they took most of the risk. The partnership had served
Henderson very well over the years and he made damn sure he always
had an alibi in place for every job they pulled. He was always
miles away when the plan went into action and he was careful there
was no paper trail connecting him to Tex Mex and his cronies.

Henderson watched Tyler thoughtfully. The
only time that he felt any sort of remorse for his crimes was when
he thought of Suzie Campbell’s death and her skillet full of kids
growing up with no mother. He knew nothing of what happened to the
missing baby and could only assume that a cougar or coyote had got
the child.

He gestured for Tyler to sit at the dining
table. He had no intention of mistreating the boy and they would
eat a civilized dinner together. Henderson couldn’t see that he was
committing a crime, especially since the lad had been skulking
around his ranch. Henderson was detaining the boy for his own
safety, at least until Campbell came to collect his brother,
whereupon they would discuss terms for the sale of the homestead.
At last, he had some leverage over Edward Campbell that he could
use to force a sale. He would hand over this rapscallion and offer
to drop all charges against Amy. Once the sale was completed, he
would be free from a life of crime from then on. He would contact
the drilling company, set up business with the oil he extracted and
become a very rich man. Yup, he could afford to be pleasant to this
boy because at last everything was going his way!

* * * * *

Ed and Rick met up with the rest of the
Ranger outfit rendezvousing at the Lazy Z, where they sat drinking
coffee and forming a plan of attack. Ed explained about the oil
that Tyler had inadvertently found on the land they inherited from
their father.

Rick nodded. “It all makes sense now that we
have the pieces of the puzzle. Henderson wanted the land your
father owned but when your father wouldn’t sell, he orders his
Mexican henchmen to kill him and your mother but we don’t yet know
what happened to the baby. Could have been a wild animal took him,
I guess. Sorry, Ed,” he added remembering that the child was Ed’s
baby brother.

“
Over the years, he makes
you numerous offers to buy the land but when you refuse he resorts
to scare tactics, poisoning cattle and that type of thing.
Meanwhile, he does all the planning for the robberies that the
Mexicans carry out, gets slowly rich on the proceeds but makes darn
sure he has a good alibi when his henchmen instigate the
crimes.”

“
Henderson has no idea we
found Tex’s hideout and all his loot tying him to the robberies, so
he figures he’s safe blackmailing me after Amy shot the slimy
bastard,” Ed added.