CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
HOPE FROM CHUBB
"What'd'ya reckon it means, Roy?" Clem asked, dropping the telegram into Roy's waiting hand.
"I don't rightly know, Clem," Roy replied, his anxious voice brimming with emotion. "Somebody's doing their darndest ta git the Cartwrights ta ride to Pioche, 'n' you know as well as I do that town's plumb full o' the worst o' the worst! Men that'd jist as easily shoot their own mother as breathe!"
"That's a fact, Roy," Clem reached for his gun belt, slipping it snuggly against his hips, "but the wire mentions Chubb. Now, Roy, you know Hoss's horse hasn't been seen since that day up at Sidewinder Bluff! Both Joe and Candy've been wonderin' ever since what happened to Chubb."
Roy nodded as he sat on the edge of his paper-littered desk. "Ben 'n' me wondered the same thing, Clem. Why, even Adam mentioned when he got back how peculiar it was that Chubb hadn't found his way back ta the ranch. I reckon we all jist started thinkin' he up 'n' died somewhere between Sidewinder Bluff 'n' Virginia City."
Clem yanked his hat into place and stepped toward the jailhouse door. "Roy, if this telegram is for real, the person who sent it knows Chubb by sight and that means he or she knew Hoss."
"That's right," Roy agreed. "And maybe, jist maybe, he or she knows what happened ta Hoss as well! But Clem," Roy continued as he slid from his desk and walked toward Clem, "you 'n' I both know that no matter who sent this, they're tryin' ta draw the Cartwrights to Pioche. And in a town like that, there isn't one living soul worth trusting."
Clem nodded, reaching for the doorknob. "Roy, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
Roy stayed the door with his left hand.
"A murderer . . ." Clem added, "like Jackson Findley."
"It has to be someone who knew Hoss," Candy snapped, pacing behind the settee. "How else would they know Chubb's name or that the wire should be sent to a Cartwright?" Hands on his hips, Candy glared questioningly at Adam.
"He's right, Adam," Joe agreed. "And if this person has Chubb, he might know what happened to Hoss."
Adam wiped his palm across his face as he turned away from the hearth. 'No law,'" he said. "The wire says 'no law.' Now if somebody found Chubb, recognized him, and wanted to return him, why would they say 'no law'?"
Clem bristled at the tension in the room. "Look," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, "I'm gonna say what we're all thinking. Say someone, someone with no ulterior motives found Chubb. Why, they'd've brought him home or wired that someone should come for him. Plain and simple." Clem crossed the room, stopping between Joe and Adam. "I could even see a lesser person askin' for a reward. But this . . . this is different. Roy and me think there's a chance, just a chance, mind you, that this wire was sent by Jackson Findley. And if that's so, then Findley knows about Hoss's . . . well, his . . ." Clem struggled, embarrassed as he searched for words.
"His relationship with Amanda," Randall said, breaking the uneasy silence. "And if Jackson knows that much, it's likely he also knows that Amanda is here on the Ponderosa."
The pounding in her chest rose quickly into her ears as Amanda listened to Adam's deep, baritone voice reading the telegram for the third time. Standing behind the tall, blue chair, Amanda clung tightly to the velvet-like fabric, her eyes staring blankly at the floor beyond. With each reading, her heart fell at the mention of Hoss's beloved Chubb, and with each anguished feeling, her soul rallied, pressing against her fallen heart, lifting it to face the future that in the past few days, she'd secretly chosen; a future with the Cartwrights on the Ponderosa.
"I'm going," Adam announced, his tone dry and controlled.
Both Joe and Candy straightened, ready to object, expecting Adam to stay with Ben while they accompanied Clem to Pioche.
"I'm going," Adam repeated, his commanding voice staying all opposition.
Candy glanced at Joe, assessing his friend's reaction. "I should be the one to go with Adam and the deputy," Candy said, waving his arm from Adam to Clem. "I'm, uh . . ." Candy stammered, dropping his head as he shied away from curious eyes, "familiar with Pioche and the kind of men who call it home."
Adam's eyes twinkled, delighted by Candy's intriguing confession. "Your knowledge was gained as you passed unknowingly along the perimeter of the lovely town of Pioche, no doubt?"
Candy shook his head, shoved his fists against his hips, and chuckled aloud. "Yeah," he replied, grinning, "somethin' like that."
Adam's grin spread as he nodded at the man who would be his companion for the next two days. "It's settled, then."
Before Adam could finish, he felt the sudden sting of a sharp slap to his arm.
"Hey now, wait just a minute!" Joe complained. "I've got as much right to find the person who's got Chubb as the two of you! And besides, the wire was addressed to me." Joe snatched the telegram roughly from Clem's hand and waved it in front of Adam. "See . . . right there . . . 'to Joe Cartwright.' I'm the one who should go with Candy and Clem!"
Adam rubbed the back of his neck, steeling himself for another in a long list of familiar arguments, his intent being the one that assured that his hot-tempered little brother survived to live another day. "Sorry, Joe," Adam said calmly. "No discussion on this. Pa needs one of us here, and right now," he continued, sudden sadness in his tone, "I seem to be doing more harm than good when it comes to his delirium. He needs you, Joe. And I need to be the one to go to Pioche."
Joe's defensive stature crumbled, the hurt in Adam's voice gripping at Joe's heart. "Alright, Adam, but promise me you'll be careful," Joe said quietly, turning to Candy and Clem as he spoke, "all of you. If it's Findley who's luring you there . . ."
"We'll be careful, Joe," Adam said. "I promise."
"You'll tell him the minute his fever breaks and he's able to understand," Adam said from the doorway to his father's bedroom.
Amanda's lips parted to respond, but as she gazed up at the eldest Cartwright son, his eyes brimming with anguished, unspoken sentiment, she touched her fingertips lightly along his shoulder. "I promise, Adam," she said, curving her fingers around his arm, "Joe and I will make sure your father doesn't find out about the telegram. And we'll make certain he knows that you're coming right back to the ranch."
Adam looked down at Amanda's fair-skinned hand against his black, cotton shirt. He raised his eyes to meet hers, his jaw flexing, his throat suddenly dry. "I don't want him to think I've . . ."
"He won't, Adam," Amanda said softly. "I promise you, he won't."
With a nod of silent thanks, Adam stepped to Ben's bed and laid a gentle hand on his father's forehead. Leaning close to Ben's ear, Adam softly whispered a private thought, stroked his father's arm, and brushed lightly against Amanda as he hurried past her and out into the hallway.
Moments later, Amanda watched from the window through tear-filled eyes as Adam, Candy, and Clem rode from the safety of the front yard of the Ponderosa. She was startled when tender, reassuring hands grasped her shoulders.
"They'll be back. All of them," Joe whispered, fighting the voice in his head as it sent out a glaring warning. "Adam promised."
