Chapter Seven

Snakes had thought he was prepared and on guard for anything else that might happen, but he was not expecting to be lassoed the moment he stepped inside his house. He yelped in surprised shock and alarm. "What the heck?! Pinto, what are you doing?"

Pinto sneered at him, pulling the lasso taut and painfully binding his arms to his sides. Lucrece stepped out from around Pinto and strolled over to Snakes, much too calm and cool. "We're going to have a little talk," she purred.

"Fine! But can't we have a normal talk?" Snakes retorted, struggling against the lasso.

"I think you'll find it will work better this way," Lucrece replied. She stood in front of Snakes, her hands on her hips. "Who is that man you were worried about tonight?"

"Beau," Snakes replied, wondering if his heart was pounding as loudly as it seemed to be. "He's a friend of mine. Rode into town and got shot at by my men."

"It's not hard to understand why." Lucrece stepped closer, reaching to run her fingers down Snakes' cheek. Knowing of the poison she periodically kept under her fingernails, he went stiff.

"It's not his fault he looks like Vandergelt!" Snakes protested.

"No, but it's more than a little odd that he would come here while Mr. Vandergelt is also here." Lucrece stroked Snakes' cheek. "Could that have been deliberate?"

"It was a coincidence, just a coincidence!" Snakes insisted, his gaze fixed towards that deadly hand. "He didn't even know Vandergelt!"

"Does he know him now?" Lucrece smiled in that disturbingly insincere way, pearly white teeth against red painted lips. Blood red lips, Snakes thought.

"Maybe," Snakes said. "It's only natural to want to meet someone who looks just like you, isn't it?"

"And maybe they concocted a scheme to confuse the issue and make it difficult for Vandergelt to be caught?"

"You'd have to ask them that." Snakes wanted to struggle against the lasso again, but he didn't dare. If Lucrece's hand should slip . . .

"There's no possibility that this Beau told you of the scheme? After all, surely he didn't want to be caught in Vandergelt's place. And surely you wouldn't have wanted to hurt your friend."

Snakes' eyes darted about. He knew his reputation as a very bad liar. He wasn't sure how much he could get away with without them knowing he wasn't telling the truth.

"He came to me and asked what was going on," he admitted. "And naturally he wanted to figure out a way to keep himself and Vandergelt safe. But I didn't have anything to do with that!"

Pinto pulled the lasso even tighter, something Snakes had not thought possible.

"Are you sure, Snakes?" Lucrece asked in an overly mild tone of voice.

"Of course I'm sure!" Snakes cried. "I don't wanna die!"

"Do you really think we'd kill you?" Lucrece sounded clearly patronizing now.

"I've seen what you do!" Snakes knew he wasn't keeping the fear out of his eyes or his voice. "You've killed people for much smaller infractions. I wouldn't have a chance!"

Lucrece studied him for a long moment. Then, finally, she stepped back and nodded to Pinto. "Let him go."

Pinto loosened the lasso. His knees shaking, Snakes nearly crashed to the floor as the pressure was released. He grabbed the edge of the wall to hold himself up. He wouldn't kneel before these two. Never!

Lucrece just looked at him. "I certainly hope it will never come to that. But you understand we have to be careful."

"Yeah. Of course." Snakes drew a deep breath.

Lucrece turned to head upstairs. "We'll be leaving in the morning. I'm sure you'll be hospitable enough to drive us to the stage."

"Sure," Snakes stammered. "Of course I will."

Pinto smirked at Snakes before he followed her.

Only when they had gone into their respective rooms did Snakes slump forward, still shaking. I've got to get out of this mess, he thought to himself. Somehow, someday, I've just got to!

xxxx

Jack was relieved when Bret returned to the hotel with a somewhat dizzy but otherwise alright Beau. "I was just about ready to leave the hotel and come after you," he declared as they stepped into the room.

"A fine thing!" Lydia exclaimed. "You insist on me staying behind, but the rules don't apply to you when you want to go somewhere!"

"The danger is really over now, Lydia," Jack protested. He looked to the Mavericks. "Isn't it, Bret?"

"I think so," Bret said slowly, "but I don't trust that Miss Posey. She could turn around and pull some new trick."

"Unless she's suspicious about the dummy corporations owning the businesses she wanted, I really think she's finished with the Vandergelts," Beau said as he tried to casually sink into the couch and not show how badly he really needed to do so.

"Well, she'll probably check heavily into that story anyway," Vandergelt grumped. "And what will happen if and when she finds out the truth?"

"Part of the plan was to really make it look like that, for all intents and purposes, those dummy corporations do own those businesses, at least for now," Bret reminded him. "And just in case we're right about someone working for you also working for Miss Posey, you need to be careful and try to quietly investigate all your employees."

"It would probably be someone fairly high in position," Jack said in concern.

Vandergelt shook his head, suddenly looking so tired. "This really isn't the end, is it?"

"I'm afraid it may very well just be the beginning," Bret replied. "We've got involved in a real hornets' nest."

"And so has Snakes," Beau said quietly.

Vandergelt frowned. "He made his own choice to get into it. We didn't have a choice! It was forced on us."

"That's true and all, Mr. Vandergelt," Bret said as he stepped forward, "but Snakes always has a few surprises in store." He took a stack of bills out of his pocket. "I told Snakes you should be paid some interest money and this is what he came up with. It's more than I even had in mind."

Vandergelt accepted the money and flipped through it in stunned surprise. "Are you sure this isn't counterfeit?"

"It's real," Bret insisted. "And it's consistent with the way Snakes has acted all the times we've run into him. He's still a good person deep down; he'll just try his darnedest to keep anyone from finding out."

"He wasn't able to hold back today," Jack said. "As soon as he saw Beau was hurt, nothing was important except running out to him and trying to see how bad off he was."

Beau suddenly looked sick. "If Miss Posey saw that, she must have a lot of questions. Snakes said she and Pinto would probably interrogate him." He rubbed at the bandage over the superficial wound on his temple. "If they start to put the pieces together, it will be my fault for kicking it all off."

"Now, you know you couldn't have really just let those horses run wild all through the town without trying to do something to stop them," Bret said as he came to sit beside Beau on the couch. "It's just in your nature. You were the closest one to the stage and you were determined to see to it that you did something about it."

"You're right, of course, Cousin Bret," Beau conceded. "But I don't want to have to think that I brought trouble down on Snakes' head when we've been trying so hard to keep him out of this."

Bret looked down. "It's really too soon to tell," he said. "We should probably be leaving tomorrow, but we could discreetly stop in and check on Snakes first."

"Maybe," Beau said slowly. "I'd like to see him again before we leave, especially since there really isn't any guarantee that we'll see him after this, but I don't want to make things any worse than we may have already done."

"We'll talk about it in the morning," Bret resolutely decided. "If you're feeling up to it, how about we have a late dinner right now?"

Beau winced. "I don't know about dinner, Cousin Bret. Maybe something lighter for me."

"Just as long as you eat something," Bret replied. "I don't want to have to explain to Brother Bart that you got hurt and I didn't look after you properly."

That brought a bit of a smirk. "Oh no, we can't have that," Beau proclaimed.

xxxx

The night seemed to pass in relative peace. In the morning, Bret and Beau prepared to leave Bent Spoon, regardless of whether they saw Snakes again or not. Jack decided to accompany them outside and to the stage.

"You could stay on longer, you know," he said. "Father and I still haven't finished checking up on our businesses in the area. We could be here for several days more, possibly even a week."

"Well, you know, Van, I'd like to stay on. I really would," Bret said. "But as long as there's any presence of the syndicate here, even just Snakes' men, there's a high chance of them finding out the truth about all of us and our little schemes and plots, so I think it'd be better if Beau and I moved on."

Jack sighed. "When you put it that way, you're probably right. But hopefully there's a greater chance of us running into each other again than there seems to be about you and Snakes."

"I think so," Bret said, even as he caught sight of a shadow passing through Beau's eyes. He sighed sadly to himself, but suddenly perked up as they approached the general store. "Then again, maybe we're wrong." He nodded to where Snakes was stepping back from the departing morning stage.

"It looks like we're a little late," Beau said, blinking in surprise. But he smiled, unable to hide his happiness at seeing Snakes again.

Snakes turned to face him. "And that's just as well," he said. "I just put Posey and Pinto on that stage."

Beau cringed. "I hate to think of riding any distance with them."

"Especially since they would have tried every dirty trick possible to make you 'fess up about who you are and how well you know me," Snakes said.

"Well, they wouldn't have broke us down, but that still wouldn't have been a very pleasant experience to go through," Bret said uncomfortably.

"Darn-tootin' it wouldn't have been," Snakes snapped.

Picking up on the pain in Snakes' tone, Beau asked, "Did they try to do that to you, Snakes?"

"Yeah, they tried," Snakes growled. "I had to admit that you're my friend and you came to me to find out what was going on after you got shot at, but I didn't say anything else. I didn't even give your last name."

Beau shuddered. "They could have traced both Bret and me with that information," he knew. "Thank you, Snakes, for your silence."

"Telling would have only dragged me down with you," Snakes said. "Like I said, I don't want to let me lose."

"Of course not," said Beau with a fond smile. "But you still wouldn't have said even if you didn't have anything to lose, would you?"

Snakes looked away. "There wouldn't have been any point getting you in trouble."

"So," Jack spoke up, "I thought you were planning to leave town."

"I am, but not with Posey and Pinto," Snakes retorted. "And I still have to get that money to them when they get settled. I don't trust my men to do it. Maybe after I wire it along, I'll check out of town on the evening stage."

"What a coincidence," Bret mused. "Cousin Beau and I are going to have to ride out that way too."

"Bully for you," Snakes shot back.

"You won't mind riding with us, surely," Beau said.

"You, anyway," Snakes said. "But I'll cope with riding with your cousin too."

"Well, good," Bret said. "Meanwhile, since we'll be here all day, we might as well make the best of it."

"Yeah?" Snakes looked wary. "What did you have in mind? There's not a whole lot to do around here."

"Win some more money," said Beau. "What else?"

Snakes shook his head. "You Mavericks and your money. I should've expected that."

"Money is one of the building blocks of this world," Bret said.

"You could come watch us, Snakes," Beau suggested, not wanting to say Goodbye to him quite yet. "That surely wouldn't look so suspicious when you own the town."

"Yeah, maybe not," Snakes mused. "Okay; I'll watch you for a little bit."

"Wonderful," Beau smiled.

"Although you're going to look pretty funny marching into the saloon like this," Snakes said, making a sweeping gesture towards Beau and Jack.

"After yesterday, I shouldn't think it would be that unusual," Jack said. "By the way, I should thank you for helping my father and me."

Snakes looked embarrassed. "It was just because of Beau's connection in all this."

"Maybe so, but it's appreciated anyway," Jack insisted. "The interest money too."

"Sure," Snakes grunted. "But that was Mr. Maverick's idea."

Bret shrugged. "You didn't have to agree, though."

"Eh," said Snakes, and said nothing more.

Beau walked closer to Bret as they neared the saloon. "What on Earth did you find to talk about last night?" he wondered quietly. "While you were waiting for me to wake up, I mean."

"Oh, things," Bret replied. "You, mostly."

"I should have expected that," Beau mused.

xxxx

The day proceeded peacefully and without incident. This time, no one followed Bret or Beau out of the saloon wanting to re-acquire their money, and Beau had to wonder if Snakes' presence had anything to do with that. Either way, he appreciated the break and the chance to just relax and enjoy his time there for a few hours. There hadn't been nearly enough of such times since his arrival in Bent Spoon. Being able to just share several fun hours with his cousin, his friend, and his cousin's friend made for a very pleasant day.

Jack didn't stay the entire time they were at the saloon, leaving to go back to Lydia and his father after a while. But he was there again when evening fell and the group was heading for the evening stage.

"Well, you look like you've had a good time of it," he commented.

"We have indeed," Bret said. "Both of us came out winners. And if anyone didn't like it, they didn't do anything about it today. But maybe ol' Snakes being around helped that along."

"Most people in town won't make a move if I'm around, unless they know I'm okay with it," Snakes said.

"I have to admit, there are occasional perks to knowing someone who runs a town," Beau said.

"Now, Beau, I'd hate to think what Pappy would say if he heard you say that," Bret drawled.

"Luckily, he's not around to hear it," Beau said. "And this time we're just in time. The evening stage is just pulling in."

"Lydia and Father should be along to bid you Farewell," Jack said, glancing over his shoulder.

When he turned back, a man dressed very similarly to Bret was getting off the stage. He stood staring, unable to believe what he was seeing. "Beau?" he ventured slowly, bewildered.

"Hello, Cousin Bart," said Beau with an awkward smile.

Bart started and turned to the one who had spoken, then looked back to Jack. "Okay, clearly I'm missing something here," he said. "Brother Bret, Cousin Beau, what is this?!"

"It's a long story, I'm afraid," Beau said.

"But this is Jack Vandergelt the Third," Bret added helpfully. "Van, this is my brother Bart. I believe you remember him from the train where we met."

"Oh. Yes," said Jack, "although we didn't get a formal introduction." He held out a hand. "How do you do? It's always a pleasure to meet a Maverick."

Bart slowly shook his hand, still confused. "Hello, I think."

Beau laughed. "It looks like we won't be leaving tonight. Cousin Bart, what are you doing here?"

Bart started again and looked to him. "I was looking for you, actually," he said. "I was in the area and thought I'd stop in at Willow Tree Junction to see you, but you weren't there. They said this was the next closest town, so since my horse was worn-out I hopped on the stage to come see if you were here."

"I'm glad you did," Beau said sincerely. "It's always the most enjoyable when we're all together." He looked to Snakes, who was standing by in the shadows. "Snakes? Are you still leaving?"

"Snakes?!" Bart exclaimed.

"I'm still deciding," Snakes said. "But . . . oh, what the heck. Maybe another few hours won't hurt. I'll go tomorrow." He came over closer to the group, waving the stage on as he did. "I see you've completely mended from that knife wound," he said to Bart. "I heard that you were doing fine."

"Yes, I am," said Bart. "But this is some reunion. What are you doing here?"

Snakes smirked. "This is my town."

"Another of them," Bret added.

Bart shook his head. "I should have figured I'd walk into another one sometime." He looked over the group again. "But this must be some story."

"You could say that," Beau agreed. "Let's go back to the hotel and we'll tell you all about it."

"Okay," Bart agreed. "But what kind of a name is Bent Spoon, anyway?"

"Well, I'll tell you, Cousin Bart," Beau said grandly. "It was named for a man who sat on his spoon and bent it."

Bart shook his head. "I had to ask."

Snakes laughed under his breath. "That's what they all say."

With that the group turned and headed back up the wooden walkway in unity. There would always be more troubles ahead for all of them, but for now, even for just a few hours, all was well.

It was a good feeling.