Chapter Three
Ben, Hoss and Little Joe were already sitting at the table eating breakfast, when Adam walked through the front door. They stopped eating and waited for him to pull out a chair and sit down. After he had done so, Little Joe spoke up. "Where have you been? Pa was thinkin' he'd have to go into town and talk with Mr. Matthews himself."
"Joseph," Ben spoke in his warning voice, as he'd already told Little Joe and Hoss not to bother Adam when got home.
"What? He ups and leaves for the night, and we can't even ask where he went?" Little Joe looked from his father to Adam and back to his father. The fact he was rather annoyed was something he didn't even try to hide.
Ben went to chastise his youngest, only to have Adam speak up first. "I simply slept under the stars, Little Joe. Nothing wrong with that," he didn't see any reason to add that he'd lain on the ground for a couple of hours wondering why Abigail had said Mr. Matthew's could not be trusted. Also, the look he'd seen in her eyes as she'd turned her back to him had reached out and grabbed him in such a manner that, somehow, he knew there was more to her story than he'd been told.
The whole time his sons had been talking, Ben had been looking at Adam. While his skin did not hold the cold look it had the night before, there was still a faint color of blue around his lips. Also, even if he didn't understand it, there was something in his son's eyes, something that he, Ben, did not understand. "Little Joe is right. I do have to go into Virginia City later, and Mr. Matthews is supposed to be there. I would like it if you came along and sat in on the meeting. After all, the land we may very well be selling is adjacent to the land you're supposed to be inheriting from me. You might as well meet the man, he could be your neighbor one day," said Ben, thinking that afterwards he'd do what he could to get Adam to go see the doctor again.
The moment Ben said the man's name, Adam again felt movement across the back of his neck, only this time it wasn't near as cold as before. Still, he could tell the movement came from a woman's hand, and that she was pressing it ever so slightly against his skin. He knew that she was warning him against Mr. Matthew's once more, which meant he gave his father no argument when it came to go into town. Somebody had to keep an eye on him.
~oOo~
When Ben and Adam walked into the International Hotel and looked around. They saw no one fitting Mr. Matthews's description that had been given in his letter. Though, to be honest, once Ben had showed him the portion of the letter with the man's description, Adam hadn't expected too. The description was wrong, he just knew it. It made him wonder why the man would lie to them. He was shocked to hear Abigail whisper in his ear. "He lies. He doesn't really know what truth is, never did. Look," Adam heard the word look and felt Abigail place her hands on each side of his head as she turned his head to his left. He was a bit confused. The man did come close to fitting the description, yet there were some things about him that didn't fit the description given. For a split second he thought maybe, just maybe, the man's brother or a cousin had come instead only to have Abigail…who seemed to read his mind…say "It's not a relative of his, it's him!"
"Pa," Adam touched his father's shoulder and nodded towards the gentleman Abigail had pointed out to him.
Ben turned and looked at the man Adam was indicating and his eyebrows turned downwards. For a moment he, like Adam, wondered if the man was related to Mr. Matthews. "He doesn't fit the description. We…" He never finished his sentence as Adam began walking toward the man. With each step he took, Adam could feel the anger seething from Abigail's presence. The question was why? The man couldn't have been more than eighteen years old when Adam saw him in the hotel back at Brinesville. Matthews had claimed he never really had a chance to do anything but check Abigail and her fiancé into the motel, and that everything he'd told Adam was things he'd learned from others in the hotel. "He lies…" Abigail's words repeated themselves, as he and Ben stopped in front of the man who looked a bit unsettled. Though Adam said nothing as his father spoke up.
"Mr. Matthews?"
Tyler Matthews looked at Adam, who he recognized without a problem. He was surprised beyond measure. He had not been aware that the Adam Cartwright who had freed him and the other occupants that had resided in the Brinesville Hotel had any connection to the Ben Cartwright of the Ponderosa. "Yes, that's me." He forced a smile upon his face as Ben started talking.
"You said in your letter that, if you bought this land, you would be interested in buying a hundred head or so of cattle to start your own herd. You do realize the land is mostly hills and rocks, don't you? Even if you have had a couple years of experience in ranching it would be difficult to run cattle there."
Adam had to force himself to keep his face neutral. If what the man had told him while in the hotel was true, this man had no ranching experience at all.
"Yeah, well, I must apologize if I made it sound as if I've done ranching recently." Mr. Matthews back tracked on some of the lies he'd planned on telling. After all, having met him already, Adam would have picked up on many of the lies in a heartbeat. Only thing was, he forgot he'd already told Adam a few things about himself. This being the case, he still slipped up. "Truth is…I worked on my uncle's ranch for a couple of years before I took a job as a clerk in a hotel. Still, I've always wanted to own one. Is any of the land suitable for cattle?"
Ben nodded as he began talking about the land, while Adam again felt Abigail's hand and heard her say, "He's lying. Remember, he told you how he'd grown up in Brinesville, knew every nook and cranny like the back of his hand. I know for a fact he told my intended he began working at the hotel when he was only fourteen! The man wants something else. You need to find out what it is." With these facts on his mind,Adam swore to do just as Abigail had said, find out what the man really wanted. With that promise made, Adam made mental notes of everything Mr. Matthews claimed with his mouth… and observed every contradiction his body language said afterwards.
