Chapter 2

Jake Mueller chewed on his grey moustache as he looked out the window, his thoughts turning to the problem in Argenta. He had been quite effective in gaining control of Argenta's pitiful law enforcement and most of the town council with the exception of one holdout, Tim McIntyre. There was a time and place for precisely meted out violence and that time would soon be here. He recognized strength in his enemies and McIntyre had it in spades.

Jake wasn't a man overly prone to violence but he did believe that it had its purpose. Looking back, he hadn't always been so jaded about life but over the years it had crept in and curled up inside him like some damn ivy on a fence. He preferred to get what he wanted the old fashioned way, through overselling and underbidding. That's why he hired only the best for the more 'active' portions of his work. The best, in this case, happed to be Red Mangus and from what his son had related, the gunfighter had finally made it to town.

He was therefore surprised when Jimmy arrived at the ranch with not one but two men. The first one had hair the same wheat color as his son's and rode ramrod straight in the saddle. The second man was as dark as the other was fair and while he fit the description of the expected gunfighter, he looked far too young to be the man. He went out to the porch just as his son was climbing the stairs and whispered viciously, "Are you an idiot, Jimmy? That isn't Mangus."

Jim looked back at the two mounted men, his face flushed in embarrassment. "I figured that out, Pa. They say they're here to see you anyway. Their last name is Lancer."

Mueller stilled in his tracks. He'd sent a telegram to Murdoch Lancer several weeks ago in hopes of getting him to send some men. Sending the wire on a whim, he was surprised that Murdoch had actually sent anybody; after all, he hadn't seen or talked to the man in years. He'd been particularly elusive about what he needed the help for, just saying that his ranch was being endangered.

He would bet money that Lancer didn't send these men out of the goodness of his heart. No, Murdoch felt an obligation, a repayment of a debt that had been incurred so very long ago in that mountain pass. If there was ever a man of principles, Murdoch was that man and it was just what Jake had counted on. What he hadn't figured on was Murdoch sending these particular men.

He swept down off the porch. "Welcome to the Mueller ranch, gentlemen. Can I assume that Murdoch sent you?"

Scott nodded and looked over at Johnny. His brother looked casually disinterested, but he'd seen Johnny's mouth thin out to a bloodless line at the mention of Red Mangus back at the saloon. Whoever the man was, it didn't bode well for his brother. The fact that Mangus was somehow tied in with Mueller was still a puzzle to be figured out. "I'm Scott Lancer and this is my brother Johnny."

Smiling widely, Mueller said, "Come on in to the house, you're just in time for dinner. Jimmy, take care of our guests' horses."

As the men dismounted, Jim stalked down to the animals and grabbed the reins. "Fine, but then I've got things to do and we still need to talk about Mangus."

"Leave it be," Mueller ordered his son, then his voice softened, "at least for now; after all, we have guests in our home."

The evening meal was served by Anna, the housekeeper, and was a casual affair punctuated with small talk centering on the hardships of current ranching methods and the weather. Scott realized that throughout dinner Mueller was fencing with them, asking questions but never really coming out with any personal information. He also couldn't help but notice that Mueller's son never rejoined them in the large dining room.

Shown to a well-appointed study after supper, Scott and Johnny were waved to overstuffed chairs. Large volumes of leather-bound books lined two bookcases against the far wall. Mueller's overly large desk and chair complemented the feeling of frank masculinity in the room. Scott had a vision of deals being brokered here. Looking about the room from his chair, he spied two small frames on the fireplace mantle. Each one held a daguerreotype, the first of a woman and the second of a young girl. Side by side, they looked remarkably alike in the pictures.

Mueller spoke up in a clipped tone. "I see you've noticed the pictures of my wife and daughter. They've gone back east for a while. My daughter will be attending finishing school in your neck of the woods, Scott. She's gone to Boston."

The rancher handed out drinks and held his own in a mock salute. "So you're the sons of the illustrious Murdoch Lancer." He looked fixedly at Scott for a few moments. "You have to be Catherine's boy. You do favor her."

Scott's eyes narrowed briefly. "You knew my mother well?"

"That I did, Scott, and she was a fine woman." His gaze swung over to take in Johnny.

Johnny dipped his head, then met his look. "Well now, I happened to come along a little later."

Mueller nodded and continued, "I knew Catherine and Murdoch from the old days. I found them with a broken axle trying to make it through an impossible mountain pass into California. I had come out west a few years earlier from Indiana, still new but knowledgeable enough to know not to try that particular pass during the rainy season. Your father wasn't that experienced. Oh, I'd never met a greener man than Murdoch Lancer. Or one who was more stubborn."

"I thought that combination of stubborn inexperience was a bad one at the time but he seemed to do all right by it. Your father was driven, too, but by what I never did find out. There was a hardness about him sometimes. Said he'd heard stories about the west and knew it was the thing for him."

He turned to face out the window. "Catherine, on the other hand, wasn't so enthralled back in those very early days. A new husband and a new life didn't always join up real well and coming out west was harder back then, especially for the women. But she managed all right. She was a beautiful woman, your mother. Turned heads wherever she went."

"She talked a lot about Boston and her life back there, including the harbor and great ships, but once she and Murdoch saw the valley they planned on making home, Catherine never looked back as far as I knew. She loved Murdoch; you could just see it in her eyes and together they made one hell of a team. When a woman loves a man like that he can do just about anything."

Mueller turned back to the seated men and smiled broadly, "God, why that slip of a woman would put up with Murdoch's bluster was beyond me. I remember things came to a head one day and your father told his wife in no uncertain terms that he was the one who 'called the tune'".

He glanced slyly over at Scott. "As I recall, he only did that once."

Scott and Johnny looked at each other and smiled.

"I take it he's still trying to call the tune?"

Scott inclined his head and spoke up, "He does try, right Johnny?"

"Scott and I do our best to let him every now and then, it makes him feel good."

Mueller barked a short laugh then rose and gazed into the crackling fire. "I was caught up in my own life by the time they started planting down roots in the San Joaquin and had lost track of them. I did hear that Murdoch had been having some troubles at his place and that Catherine had died. I was sorry for it. I've never met another woman quite like her. Ah well, we can never lose what we never had, eh?"

Comprehension slowly dawned on Scott and he wondered if Murdoch had known. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when his brother suddenly stood up.

Johnny slapped his hand against his thigh in an impatient gesture. "Thanks for the dinner and the history lesson, Mr. Mueller, but we need to be getting back to town for the night."

Unsettled, Scott rose from his chair. "Yes, it's getting late."

"Nonsense, why we have rooms right here and they're all made up. I'd never hear the end of it if I was to turn Murdoch's sons away and besides, I know the boarding house in Argenta. The fleas outnumber the guests ten to one. I insist that you stay. Anna can take you up; I have some business to talk over with my son. Tomorrow, I'll show you both around the ranch and possibly some areas where you might be able to help us out."

#~#~#~#~#

Scott was surprised when he opened the door to his room and stepped inside. The housekeeper had told him and Johnny that the rooms belonged to Mueller's daughter and wife. His room was almost stark in appearance with no vestige of a female's touch. It made him wonder exactly how long Mueller's family had been gone. Throwing his saddlebags down on the bed, he went to find Johnny.

Not bothering to knock, he strode into his brother's room and found it much the same as his. Johnny was standing by the window holding back one edge of the lace curtains, looking out at the grounds.

Johnny turned from the window and let the corner of the curtain fall back against the wall. "What are we doing here, Scott?"

"We're doing what was asked of us, checking on a friend of Murdoch's."

"Yeah, well I'd say the man has all the help he needs. Take a look." He motioned to the window.

Scott peeled back the curtain and looked out. There were five mounted men in the yard and Mueller's son was outside talking to them. Several of them nodded at what was being said.

Johnny sat down on the bed. "Doesn't this seem a little odd, especially bringing up all that past?"

"Oh, I don't know. I enjoyed hearing about my mother; at least someone talks about her freely. You know I never knew her and Murdoch isn't forthcoming with any great details. It seems strange but I realized when Mueller was talking that I'm older now then she ever was. I also got the impression that Mueller was quite taken with her. Perhaps too taken; I think he was in love with her."

"And Murdoch let us walk right into it."

"I don't think Murdoch knew about it, else why would he send us? He'd have come himself or not sent anybody." Scott mused, mostly to himself, "I wonder what Mueller's game is, though."

"What was that?"

"I was thinking that Grandfather had a saying for Mueller's type; he always said to 'follow the money'. In this case, I think that's about right. Something's going on here, much bigger than what Murdoch was led to believe."

Johnny edged up to a topic that had been bothering him. "Scott, if this turns into something different, are you gonna feel an obligation to help Mueller, I mean since he knew your mother and all?"

Scott turned his attention back to the window and looked outside while considering his answer. As hard as he had tried to find any tenuous thread that connected him to his mother; he had never been fully successful. Yet the face that looked back at him in the shaving mirror was the same face in the picture frame beside it. He had finally come to realize that the connection he was looking for had already been found at Lancer. Murdoch was the thread who tied them together, his mother and him. It had been uncomfortable and distasteful to have Mueller talk about her that way back in the study, but it was for Murdoch that he would take action. After a few long moments, he dropped the curtain and said, "We'll do what we need to do, no more."

Scott folded his arms and hitched a shoulder against the wall, leaning into it. "Now it's your turn. Who is Red Mangus?"

Johnny busily unpacked his few belongings and didn't bother to meet his brother's eyes. "Just a man I knew once."

"A dangerous one?"

Johnny shrugged and finally turned to Scott. "Dangerous enough. I knew Red a long time ago, in another lifetime."

"And that's it."

"That's about it. Look, Scott, I thought the man was dead and buried a long time ago so until he really shows up here, I won't know for certain."

"Could he be a danger? To you?"

Johnny smiled. "Red and me, well, we didn't exactly leave on good terms."

"What are you going to do when he does show up?"

The smile didn't quite reach Johnny's eyes anymore. "I haven't figured that out yet."

tbc