William Johnstone - Snake River Slaughter

Tyrone shook his head. “No, sir, he wasn’t satisfied at all. That’s why he took Mrs. Wellington to court to try and protest it. He called Mrs. Wellington, uh, he called her a, uh—”

“A whore?”

“Yeah, he called her a whore. I didn’t want to come right out an’ say the word, ’cause to tell the truth, I don’t care what she was before she an’ Sir Thomas got married. I know she was a good wife to him, and she’s been a good woman ever since he died. She’s treated ever’ man that works here decent.”

“Kincaid lost the lawsuit,” Matt said.

“Yes, sir, he did.”

“How has he been since that time?”

Tyrone stroked his jaw for a moment, then he cocked his head before he responded. “Well, sir, to tell you the truth, it’s surprisin’ the hell out of me, but he’s been right decent about it. As far as I know, he hasn’t tried nothin’ else.”

“How well do you know Poke Terrell?”

“I don’t know ’im at all. He just come here a couple of months ago. I’ve seen him in the Sand Spur a couple of times, but he’s not very friendly. He never talks to anyone, he just sits at his table and plays solitaire.”

“Well, if Prew can’t be any more definite with his identification than he was with me, the marshal is right, Prew’s testimony wouldn’t hold up in court.”

“I got no reason not to believe Prew,” Tyrone said. “He’s seen Terrell more times that I have, so I figure he probably did recognize him. But it ain’t just the stealin’ horses that makes Poke Terrell a low-down in my book. In my book, anyone who would belong to the Idaho Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse is about as low down as a fella can get. Why, there ain’t no tellin’ how many he kilt when he was ridin’ with the Idaho Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse.”

“Yes, I heard about them. They are a wandering group of deputies?”

“Deputies my ass,” Tyrone said. “They’re a bunch of plundering murderers, if you ask me.”

Some of the other riders started coming back in then and Tyrone excused himself.

“I have to set out the night riders,” he said.

“Go ahead, don’t let me stop you,” Matt said. “Thank you for the visit and the information.”

“How is Prew doing?” Kitty asked when Matt returned to the house.

“He’s doing fine,” Matt said.

“Was he any help?”

“Yes, I found his information useful. After talking to Prew, I’m convinced that Poke Terrell is the one behind the rustling, but you have to ask yourself, why is he taking only a few head at a time?”

“Maybe that’s all he can handle.”

“I don’t think so. This ranch is perfect for stealing a two or three hundred head or more. Even driving livestock, you are less than a day from Utah, Nevada, or Oregon. You could go to any one of those states, or you could divide the herd into three easily managed groups and go off in three different directions.”

“I guess you are right. I hadn’t even thought about that,” Kitty said.

“I’m sure Poke Terrell has thought about it. No, there has to be another reason why he just picking at you, rather than making one grand haul.”

“But I don’t understand. Why would he do that?”

“It could be that he is just trying to cause enough trouble to keep you from being able to meet your loan payment.”

“Why would he do that? He has no interest in the ranch.”

“No, but Marcus Kincaid does.”

“Matt, are you suggesting that Marcus is behind this?”

“Let me ask you this. If you go into default, is there any way Kincaid could take over Coventry?”

“I don’t know, I’m not sure,” Kitty said. “I suppose if the ranch fails and the bank forecloses, he could move in. But if the bank puts the ranch up for auction, there are people who have more money than Marcus, and who would love to have Coventry. I think they would simply outbid him. Besides, Marcus has another plan now.”

“Oh? What plan would that be?”

“When he was out here this morning he began to pay court to me.”

“I hope you set him straight.”

“Why, Matt, could it be that you are jealous?” Kitty said.

Matt coughed, nervously, and Kitty laughed.

“I’m teasing, Matt.”

“Oh. You mean he didn’t come courting this morning.”

“No, I’m not teasing about that. I’m teasing about you being jealous.”

“I don’t know that I would call it jealous,” Matt said. “But I would be concerned.”

Kitty put her hand on Matt’s cheek. “Matt, my old friend, you have nothing to be concerned about.”

Medbury, the next morning

From the patio behind his rather large house, Marcus Kincaid could enjoy a panoramic view of the Soldier Mountains, which rose prominently some twenty miles to the north. However, because of the trick of light and dry air, the mountains, on which individual trees were visible, appeared to be within easy walking distance.

Kincaid was sitting at a small table, on the patio, having his breakfast. He had the same breakfast every morning: a soft boiled egg served in a silver egg cup, half a grapefruit, one slice of toast, two slices of crisp bacon, and coffee.

He was just beginning to eat his grapefruit when he heard his maid, Rosa, say, “Señor Kincaid is outside on the Patio, Señor.”

Looking up, Kincaid saw Poke Terrell coming toward him.

“I thought I told you never to come to my house,” Kinkaid said as he spread butter on his toast. “No one is supposed to know that you are working for me, remember?”

“This man Jensen is going to be trouble,” Poke said.

“How much trouble can one man be?”

“He’s already killed Madison, Jernigan, and Logan. They were three of my best men.”

“If they were your best, you either need to raise your standards, or I’m going to have to lower your expectations.”

“What do you mean, lower my expectations?”

“Right now, you are keeping all the money you get from selling the horses you steal, right?”

“That was the deal. You said you didn’t want anything out of it,” Poke said.

Kincaid held up his finger. “Wrong, I do want something out of it. I want Kitty to default on her loan. I expect you to live up to our agreement. You see to it that Kitty Wellington is unable to make enough money to pay off her mortgage. That’s all you have to do.”

“Suppose she does go broke and can’t pay off the bank. The bank will just put the ranch up for sale and it will go to the highest bidder. What if somebody outbids you?”

“You let me worry about that,” Kincaid said. “You just keep up the pressure.”

“Yeah, well, that’s another thing. With them watchin’ the horses as close as they are now, I’m not sure I can steal any more horses.”

“You don’t have to steal any more horses, all you have to do is keep her from getting any of them to market.”

“That’s not good for me. I’ve been taking my cut from the money I get from selling the horses.”

“I’ve given you seven hundred and fifty dollars. How much have you made from the horses?” Kincaid asked.

“So far I’ve took a hunnert and fifty horses, I lost twenty-two of ’em during the drive down into Utah, and I only got twenty dollars a head for what was left. That mean’s I’ve got just a little over twenty-four hunnert dollars.”

“I’ll give you twenty five hundred dollars in addition to what we’ve already agreed upon,” Kincaid said. “All I need you to do is keep the pressure on.”

“I’m going to have to hire some more men,” Poke said. “So I’ll need a little extra for that.”

“Twenty-five hundred dollars, plus what you have already made, should be more than enough to take care of that. At least for now.”