The Road Not Taken--3
Joe watched as the two cars pulled into the yard and came to a stop near the corral. Two police officers exited the first car while an older man with snow white hair exited the battered station wagon with county coroner written across the front door. The trio hurried toward the group of men standing near the ruined building.
"Thanks for coming out here so fast, John," Cal Longladd greeted the sheriff and shook hands with both him and the coroner who moved to check on the dead man.
"What happened, Cal?" John Tremain asked.
"Well, I was in my office when I heard someone shout Fire. By the time we…"
"We?" Tremain asked.
"Joe Mannix…my new hand, we were going over his background when the alarm was raised. We managed to get the fire out before it spread to the other buildings," Longladd explained.
"Who found the body?" the sheriff asked.
"I did," Mannix answered.
"John Tremain, this is Joe Mannix…he started working for me today," Longladd explained.
"Did you move the body?" the coroner asked.
"I had to pull him out to see if he was alive," Mannix answered.
"Derrick Summers this is Joe Mannix…he's new around here," Longladd told the elderly man.
"Was he alive when you moved him?" Summers asked.
"No, Sir, he was dead by the time I pulled him out," Mannix answered.
"Well, it doesn't look like the flames got to him, but he's taken one hell of a blow to the right temple and that's probably what killed him. I won't know for sure until I do an autopsy," Summers said. "Do you have any idea how the fire started, Cal?"
"Not a clue. I heard someone shout fire and came running, but by the time I got here the place was engulfed in flames. We're lucky it didn't spread to the other buildings," Longladd told him.
Summers continued to examine the body and the surrounding area, grateful when someone shone a spotlight on the area and made it easier to move around. He'd seen a lot of gruesome scenes, and knew this one could have been a hell of a lot worse had it not been for the quick action of everyone involved.
"Who sounded the alarm?" Tremain asked.
"That was me, Sheriff," Taylor Boyd answered.
"What were you doing when you saw the fire?" Tremain asked.
"I was just having a cigarette…Walt doesn't like us smoking inside the bunkhouse. I was out by the gate and came walking back this way when I smelled the smoke and that's when I saw the shed was on fire. I shouted the alarm and started throwing water on the flames," Boyd answered.
"So the shed was already burning when you sounded the alarm?" Tremain asked.
"Yes, Sir," Boyd answered. "Most of the front was already lit up and flames were eating away at the roof. By the time everyone came out and started helping it was a lost cause, but we figured we needed to keep it from spreading."
"Smells like someone used gasoline as an accelerant," Summers observed.
"I thought I smelled gasoline when I first caught sight of the fire," Boyd told him.
Joe watched Tremain and Summers scouring the area around the body, slightly surprised that the two men were as thorough as the officers he'd worked with in LA. Tremain questioned everyone present and took down the names of anyone he hadn't spoken with, while Summers turned his attention to the body. It took another two hours for the duo to complete their investigation and load Paul Tucker's body into the wagon for transport into Dubois.
Joe glanced at his watch, not surprised to find nearly five hours had passed since they fought to put out the fire. He rotated his shoulders and tried to work out the kinks as he moved to stand beside Cal Longladd. The rest of the men had gone into the bunkhouse as soon a Tremain and Summers drove away from the ranch.
"Cal…"
"God, Joe, a man's dead. It's getting worse and we don't have any idea who's behind this," Longladd said.
"We'll find them, Cal…they'll make a mistake and when they do we'll be waiting for them," Mannix assured him.
"We need to stop this before something else happens…before someone else dies. What if it happened when one of the children were in there. Lily and Bryan play hide and seek in there every damn day and it's just luck that they weren't in there tonight."
"They weren't, Cal, and that's something you need to hang on to…"
"Cal, are you coming in?"
"I'll be right there, Julie," Longladd said when his wife joined them. "Joe, don't let these bastards hurt my family."
"I won't, Cal," Mannix vowed and watched the couple walk toward the house, frowning when Julie glanced over her shoulder. The spotlight caught something Joe had seen only once before, the day he'd said good-bye and left The Lazy L. Julie had been angry with him and had slapped him across the face before calling him a child. She'd wanted him to stay around even after she had agreed to be with Cal, something Joe had never quite understood.
Mannix leaned back against the corral fence and put his left foot on the lowest log as he watched the couple. Something about Julie suddenly unnerved him and he wondered if she was as happy as she tried to make him believe. There was something strange about her actions when she'd met him at the gate and asked him not to tell Cal that she'd been there. What was even more unsettling was the fact that the first thing she did upon coming back from her ride was to tell Cal she'd seen him. It didn't sit right with him that she'd asked him not to say anything and he'd told her he wouldn't unless Cal asked, yet the first thing she'd done was asked if he'd told Cal about seeing her at the gate.
"Joe, you'd best get some rest, because we are gonna head out right after breakfast," Walt Scott warned.
"What about Tremain?"
"He said he got everything he needed, but if there's more he'll send one of his men out," the foreman answered.
Joe nodded and stood up, again working the stiff overtaxed muscles before walking toward the bunkhouse. He entered to find most of the men already in their bunks, but they weren't sleeping, they were talking about the fire. His gaze wandered to the empty bed that had belonged to Paul Tucker and was again saddened that the likable young man was dead. He said a silent prayer before sitting on the edge of his bunk and removing his shoes. He lay back on the pillows and closed his eyes, hoping that he could catch a few hours of sleep before the morning wake up call.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
Cal Longladd stood watching as Walt Scott picked the men who'd be riding into the high country with him. He knew the foreman would be taking six men and one of those men would be Joe Mannix. A small part of him wanted to join the group but right now he was needed at home in case Tremain had more questions about the fire and Paul Tucker's death. Julie had left right after breakfast and he wasn't expecting her back until lunchtime. He loved his wife, but there were times when he was grateful that she took off on long rides to be on her own.
"Daddy, can we go for a ride today?"
"Good morning, Lily," Longladd said, smiling as he picked the child up in his arms.
"Dad, I told her she's too little…"
"Am not…"
"Are too!"
"I can ride just as good as you, Bryan! Tell him Daddy…tell him I'm gonna have my own pony!"
"Easy there, my little fireball," Longladd told the precocious child in his arms, before turning to his son. "Bryan, Lily is going to have her own pony just like you, but she's also going to have lessons and learn the proper way to handle and care for an animal…"
"See…I told you!" Lily said, smiling as she hugged her father, before freeing herself and running over to the corral to watch the men saddle the horses.
"Dad, why is someone trying to hurt us?" Bryan asked softly.
Cal Longladd knew his eight year old son understood more about what was going on than he let on. Bryan was smart for his age, always had been and trying to keep things from him was a mistake. "I don't know, Bryan, but we're going to find out who's behind it and they'll go to jail."
"Paul was real nice to me and Lily…I'll miss him."
"I know he was, Son, and I think we'll all miss him," Longladd said and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. He knew he'd been hard on Tucker, but he wanted his employees to pull their weight so that everyone done their share of the workload.
"He liked working here."
"Did he?"
"Yes, he told me you were a good boss and that you were fair. I don't really know what that means, but I figure he's right because everyone seems to like working here," the child observed.
"I'm glad…would you like to attend his funeral service when the time comes?"
"I think so…it's scary, but I liked Paul and I think I'm old enough to be there, but I don't think Lily and Joseph should go, Dad. They're too young and Lily don't like seeing anything dead."
"When did you get to be so smart, Son?" Longladd asked. He knew Bryan was talking about the day they'd discovered the dead cows near the back of the property. Lily had screamed and for the next week she'd cried herself to sleep in his arms, that was something he never wanted to see again.
"I hope Mr. Mannix finds out who's doing this," Bryan said softly.
"If anyone can…it's Joe Mannix."
"Were you really good friends?"
"The best," Longladd told him.
"Then why didn't he come visit us before?"
"Because I never invited him," Longladd answered honestly.
"How come?"
"Well, Joe and I have known each other since we were fourteen. He lived with his father who grew grapes in a small town called Summergrove, but he used to come visit us during the summer. We learned how to ride and rope at the same time, but I doubt I could ever handle a horse the way Joe does."
"Nobody is as good as you, Dad."
"Thanks, Son, but he is. Joe and I used to race across the old road that runs along the gulley…and if I ever catch you and Lily doing that I'll ground you from riding a horse until you're sixteen…understood?"
"Understood," Bryan agreed with a slight grin.
"Anyway, Joe's the only man I know to jump over Devil's Gorge on horseback, but he didn't do it just to prove he could."
"I thought Devil's gorge was impossible to jump."
"It is, Son, but Joe did it because he didn't have a choice. It was a Sunday afternoon and hot…103 degrees in the shade. There wasn't a cloud in the sky that day and we rode out just after lunch and wound up racing along Devil's Gorge. It was one of the hottest summers on record and we were hit with a lot of unexpectedly violent thunderstorms. The wind picked up and clouds moved in pretty fast…rain, thunder, and lightning hit with such force that the horses shied and mine was really skittish. It threw me and I landed hard…knocked myself out."
"So what happened? Why did Joe jump Devil's Gorge?"
"Well, like I said the storm came in fast and my horse took off as soon as he threw me. The rain washed away the trail on our side and left nothing but a sheer cliff face. Joe made sure I was safe and got me under the cover of an overhanging ledge and that's when I woke up. He told me what had happened and that he was going for help, but that he'd need to get to the other side of the gorge before he could head back to the ranch. I told him he was nuts and that we should wait until the storm was over, but what I didn't know was that Joe had seen blood on my mouth and knew I was hurt more than even I knew. Before I could talk him out of trying to jump the gorge he was on his horse and I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again. It was like watching poetry in motion…Joe leaned forward on the horse and took off…I swear it looked like he was suspended in slow motion, and I held my breath until his horse landed on the other side. He turned, saluted, and smiled before disappearing through the trees."
"Was Grandpa mad?"
"Mad as I've ever seen him, but I think he was so relieved we were both okay he went easy on us."
"What did he do?"
"Joe and I had to muck out the stalls every day and we weren't allowed to ride for a week," Longladd explained and sat on the top step as his son did the same. "You asked why I never asked Joe to come back…it's because I was jealous."
"Of how good he rode a horse?"
"No, Son, of the way your mom felt about him. I thought Joe was in love with your mom and well no one could convince me otherwise."
"How long ago was that?"
"Longer than I care to remember," Longladd answered.
"Are you still jealous?"
"No…no I'm not."
"Then you should tell him that and maybe he'll come visit us again and show me some rope tricks," Bryan said. "You're always telling me and Lily to let bygones be bygones so that's what you and Joe should do if you want him to be your friend again."
"Are you sure you're only eight years old?"
"Nine next month," Bryan advised and heard his father chuckle softly.
"Nine…you're practically an old hand. I just might have to put you to work soon," Longladd said and ruffled the child's hair, watching as his foreman strode toward him.
"Cal, we're ready to ride out," Scott advised.
"Are you planning to be back tonight?" Longladd asked.
"Not sure…we may spend the night and get an early start on things come morning. We'll be back late tomorrow afternoon if all goes well," the older man assured him.
"Thanks, Walt, do me a favor…be careful," Longladd ordered.
"You know me, Cal, careful is my middle name. Watch out for yourself and them kids...don't want nothing to happen while we're gone," Scott warned and headed back to the six men who'd already mounted up and ready to ride out. "All right, Boys, let's get moving."
Joe nodded to his friend before turning his horse and following the other riders along the north trail that would lead them into the foothills and up into the high country. The cattle would be grazing on the new summer grass, and it was their job to make sure the animals were safe from dangerous predators. Joe listened to the man next to him as he started singing softly in a voice that could rival most of the country/western singers he'd heard. Mike Shepherd was still on his list of possible subjects, but for now he was content to listen to him sing the lyrics from an old song he remembered from the matinee movies.
TBC