Stella Bagwell - Should Have Been Her Child

“Nothing from missing persons fits this case,” he said, then seeing the worry on her face, he asked, “Why are you so concerned about this thing, Victoria? Is there something you haven’t told me?”

Frowning, she stepped around him and this time managed to make it to the door before he could stop her. “I’ve already told you my worries,” she said. “Anything else you’ll have to figure out on your own.”

“I plan to.”

The subtle warning in his voice caused her to pause. She glanced back at him and her heart seemed to wince at the distant look on his face. “What does that mean?” she asked.

“Just what I said. I’m still in the process of questioning the wranglers and cowhands on the T Bar K.”

Frowning, she said, “I thought you’d already done that.”

He sauntered toward her and the unbidden thought struck Victoria that the years he’d been away had hardened him even more. Maybe losing his wife had done that to him, she thought sadly. Heaven knows he must have loved her. A man like Jess didn’t have to marry a woman just to have her.

“The T Bar K is a big ranch,” Jess reasoned. “You Ketchums employ a lot of men. Questioning all of them would take several days, even with Redwing’s help.”

Her fingers curled into loosely formed fists. “You’re not going to let this thing go, are you? You’re going to keep digging until you find something to pin on my family or one of our hands.”

His expression turned to a look of disbelief. “That’s not my intention, Victoria. I’m not—”

“Then why don’t you write the whole thing off as an accident? We both know that’s more than likely what happened. Some transient came along and fell to his death.”

Insulted by her suggestion, he stepped closer, his nostrils flaring as his gray eyes slipped over her flushed face. “I’m not like your old man, Victoria. I don’t make up facts beforehand or try to shade the truth once they’re out.”

She wasn’t going to argue with him about her father. It would be pointless. Most everyone knew Jess hated Tucker. For his wealth and his bulldozing ways of acquiring it, not to mention the gossip of his extramarital affairs. But mostly Jess hated Tucker because the old rancher hadn’t wanted Victoria marrying a common man. And back then Jess had seen himself as common. She wondered if he still did.

As for Tucker, Victoria had always admitted he was far from perfect. But he’d been a loving father to her. Even now with the old man in his grave, she couldn’t forget that.

“I’m not asking you to shade the truth!”

Jess shot her a wry smile. “I don’t have the truth—yet, Victoria. That’s why neither Sheriff Perez or I will rule this case in any way…until it’s solved.”

“And you have a Ketchum behind bars?” she asked tightly.

“Now why would I want that?”

His expression was so stone smooth, it was impossible to tell if his question had been spoken with sarcasm or sincerity. She figured the first.

“You are heading up this investigation, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you could influence the outcome.”

One more step brought him close enough to touch her. Victoria forced herself to remain where she was as his fingertips traced a circle on her cheek.

“I won’t play favorites to you Ketchums, Victoria. So don’t ask.”

Anger and pain twisted through her. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you for anything, Jess. I did once, remember? It got me nothing then. It wouldn’t now.”

“Victoria—”

She didn’t give him the chance to say more. Quickly, she jerked the door open and stepped out of the room and out of his sight.

“Yip! Yip! Yo cattle! Get along and quit dragging your tails!”

As Will called to the seven head of heifers and steers, Jess slapped a stiff lariat against the leg of his leather chap. The popping sound helped to drive the small herd into a makeshift catch pen.

Not seeing much of man since back in the deep of winter, the snaky cattle were wild and reluctant to be cornered. But Will and Jess had set up the portable fencing in a dry wash with steep banks on both sides. Once they’d gotten the animals headed into the gulch they had nowhere to go but forward.

Dust spiraled up from the stirring hooves, clinging red and thick to Jess’s face and black hat. His gray horse was wet with sweat, his head hung low from the long exertion of the day. Jess was feeling the weariness, too, and no doubt his grandfather was getting stiff from long hours in the saddle.

The two of them had been working since sunrise and had already worn out four mounts between them. But northern New Mexico was rough land; ranching this area wasn’t suited for a weak-willed person or animal. The harsh winters could sometimes wipe out half a man’s herd while the steep mountains and rocky arroyos on the Hastings ranch had crippled many a good horse from time to time. But it was home. And Jess was glad to be back. Even if it meant he was closer to Victoria Ketchum.

“That looks like the last of ’em, Pa,” Jess said to his grandfather as he wired the fence panel shut against the nervous cattle.

From his seat in the saddle, Will cast a glance at the setting sun. “Yeah. And not any too soon. It’s gonna be dark before we get back to the ranch.”

“That won’t matter,” Jess assured the old man. “Pokie and Star know the way. The horses could find the ranch even if they were blindfolded.”

“Hell,” Will muttered as he lifted his Stetson and wiped a sleeve across his leathery face, “me and you could find the way even if we was blindfolded. I was thinking about your ma. She’s gonna be worried and thinking we’ve fell into an arroyo like that dead fella on the T Bar K.”

Jess swung himself back into the saddle. “I don’t think Ma needs to be worrying that something like that will happen to us.”

With the cattle safely penned and given access to feed and water, the men turned their mounts toward home while the extra horses automatically trailed behind them.

As they rode up and out of the dry wash, Will said, “You don’t think that dead man just stumbled on a rock and fell, do you?”

For the past week and a half the T Bar K case had been going round and round in Jess’s head. So far, without the coroner’s report, there wasn’t much to go on. Except instinct. And something about the whole thing had been giving Jess a very bad feeling. He didn’t exactly know why. Except that the body had been discovered in an extremely remote area without any access roads.

A transient, as Victoria had suggested, likely wouldn’t have wandered so far off the highway. Even the primitive dirt roads petered out long before the spot where the body had been discovered. Why would a man deliberately leave civilized roads and head into rough land on foot? It didn’t make sense to Jess.

“I don’t know, Pa. Not yet.”

“It’s plain you don’t know, son. I’m askin’ you what you think?”

Jess untied a yellow bandanna from around his neck and wiped the scarf over his sweaty face. It came away as red as the ground they were riding over. “Just between me and you, it looks pretty suspicious.” He glanced at Will. “Why? What have you been thinking about the whole thing?”

Will grunted. “I guess I’ve been thinkin’ about the Ketchums. They’ve had their share of troubles over the years. Just goes to show you money don’t fix everything. I’ll bet Ross would pay a mighty big heap right about now to get all this quieted down.”

Jess shot his grandfather a speculative look. “You think Tucker’s son could be involved somehow?”

“Hell, if Tucker was alive, folks around these parts would already be shouting murder,” Will said with a shrug of his shoulders. “But the younger Ketchum— I ain’t gonna say. I don’t believe he’s as unfeelin’ as the old man. I just think he’d rather not have all this bad talk goin’ on about the T Bar K. Can’t be good for cattle or horse business.”