"It doesn't look right, Mama!" The boy gazed up at the adobe hacienda.
"What do you mean, Juanito?" his mother frowned. "What doesn't look right?"
"The house," Juanito explained.
"The house? Don't be foolish, niño, it's a fine hacienda. What do you think is wrong with it?" His mother's voice was impatient.
"There's nothing wrong with it," said Juanito quickly, sensing his mother's annoyance. "It just – should be different."
"Well, it doesn't matter what you think of the house," his mother responded as she hustled him up the step to stand in front of an imposing carved door. "Señora Velasquez will be paying me a good wage. That's the important thing, Juanito. We'll have money – we'll have plenty to eat and I'll be able to buy you new shoes and anything else you want. So don't insult the Señora by saying her house isn't right," his mother admonished him as she knocked and waited.
A woman in severe black answered and listened close-lipped to Maria Madrid's introduction.
"The Señora is expecting you," she acknowledged curtly.
Juanito and his mother followed the housekeeper through the door.
LLLLLLLLLLL
Bushrod Smith eyed his companion with amusement as they approached the adobe hacienda. He saw the half-frown on the younger man's face and knew what he was thinking but managing not to say.
"I suppose this one doesn't look right, either?" he asked.
"No, it doesn't, quite," Johnny laughed a little shamefacedly. "How'd you know?"
"What is it with you and these Spanish houses, Madrid? Every time you see one, you think it doesn't look right," Bushrod queried. "Blamed if I can see anything wrong with them, myself."
Johnny shook his head with another wry laugh at himself. "I don't know, Bushrod. It's not anything wrong, exactly, just that I always feel they should be laid out different or have something else to them … I don't know," he said again.
"Well, laid out right or laid out wrong, it doesn't matter," declared Bushrod. "We're going to get paid well here, that's the important thing. And for the best kind of work, too. This job of Don Esteban's, sounds like we'll only need to show our guns, not fire 'em."
As they dismounted, the front door of the hacienda opened and a man came out. He'd evidently been watching for them.
"Don Esteban," Bushrod greeted him. The man nodded briefly and gestured them inside.
Johnny and Bushrod followed Don Esteban through the door.
LLLLLLLLLLL
Johnny jumped down from the rear of the buckboard and stood in front of the adobe hacienda. It looked right. Yes, this one was right and he gave a wry grin as he realized why the others never were. So it was this house, of all places, that had been lurking at the back of his mind.
Not that it mattered. He was only going to be here for an hour. And he was making good money, that was the important thing. A thousand dollars was good pay even for Johnny Madrid – not that he'd let that on to Lancer. Let the man think that was what Madrid's time was worth.
He and the fancy dude followed the girl Teresa through the door.
