Chapter Twenty Seven.
Thanks, Modocgal for the original idea in Bermuda for the Isabella horses. I loved it so much I am using it again!
President Rutherford B Hayes was briefed on the operation by the Secret Service and he signed off on the plan. His chief of staff and the head of the Secret Service brought it to his attention and he thought it a fine idea. America loved her 'feel good' stories after the contentious political season.
Henry Wilson took over as the head of Wilson Investments and merged the shipping clearinghouse, his stock market portfolios, the land and downtown building real estate, and his brother's bank account to his considerable holdings in newspapers and retail businesses.
He cashed out two accounts and paid off two sizable loans, and a considerable amount of gambling debt.
"Hiriam wouldn't pay off them but he's not around anymore so I get the last laugh."
The panic of 1873 and their over-speculation in railroads and lands had decreased the family fortune. A failed banking investment with Jay Cooke's firm in a second transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific Railway, had almost sunk the family if not for their real estate holdings, slums, and rents.
They increased their publishing interests and added the pure profit scandal rags for a cash influx. The brothers' fortune was originally tied up in legal businesses but in the last year, they had allowed some of San Francisco's more nefarious elements to use the clearinghouse to move illegal funds from smuggling and drug traffic into legal business interests. They received a percentage, kept their hands clean, and replenished their coffers. Then they started using the company to skim funds from tariffs and shipping companies. Bribes and payoffs were always part of trading from its earliest days with the Vikings. Shipping companies were easy targets since many were run from different parts of the country and shipping costs differed from state to state.
The Beaufort company was an excellent target, run by a woman and out of state. The Secret Service was beginning to make a national effort to collect tariffs and clean up the inconsistencies.
With the constant issues of "Shanghaiing" crews, opium importation, alcohol smuggling, illegal immigration, Chinese labor smugglers, the dark business of women and children trading, …. the government was always at a disadvantage, manpower wise.
Heath had enlisted Nick's help in an endeavor he was wanting to start with Isabella. Mexican horse traders had several breeding mares available of the famed Isabella horses. They were costly but since Heath never touched his shares of the Barkley trust, he was willing to make his first investment. It was more money than he had ever spent in his life but he was ready. He had watched Nick purchase his breeding stock and spend a similar amount on bulls or stallions. He researched the horses and spoke to several breeders he trusted in the state.
He was only touching a fraction of his Barkley money but to him, it was a fortune. He was anxious to step into his next stage as a Barkley and as a husband. He had also purchased a ring from Jarrod's friend Abraham and an opal brooch for a Christmas gift.
Opals were fascinating to him, the way they reflected light. The way Bella reflected light for him. Victoria had told him Tom always bought her garnet jewelry from his travels. It was a special gift between them. He asked, "Why garnets?" She blushed and said, "because I stirred his blood." Heath was embarrassed and changed the subject... No one wants to think of their Mother that way.
He didn't want to emulate many things about Tom Barkley but this was one idea, he wanted to try. If Bella liked the opal brooch, he would continue to buy the gems for her.
The Isabella horses were brought from Spain. (Isabella (Isabelline) refers to a pale grey-yellow, a pale fawn, a pale cream-brown or a parchment colour. This is primarily referred to in the plumage colour in birds but also refers to what people call Palomino, Cremello or Perlino in horses. Queen Isabella sent one of her beloved Palomino stallions and five mares to her Viceroy in New Spain, now known as Mexico, to breed and spread across the new lands discovered. These descendants were scattered throughout the American West and Mexico now.)
Heath and Nick had the rare opportunity to add several to their stock and begin a California breeding program. 'Bella had taken so well to horses and foaling, Heath thought it a perfect wedding gift and an opportunity for him to create his own piece of the Barkley empire. It was something they could build together, the way Victoria and Tom built the ranch, and now Katarina was an integral part of the blending house. He liked the idea of having something that was just theirs to begin.
Nick was all in and wanted to contribute. Heath had said "No" this was something he needed to do on his own but "he would need Nick's expertise and not his money to get the venture off the ground". Nick was proud of his brother's plan.
Lis made it downstairs to find the study and the house dark. She was a bit dizzy from taking the stairs in the dark so she laid down on the settee. Jarrod must have gone for a ride. I will just rest for a moment and wait until he comes in to apologize. She fell sound asleep and was found by Silas at sunrise. Heath and Bella came through a few moments later for their morning ride.
"Did you come down the stairs alone?" questioned Isabella. Heath and Silas arched their eyebrows at her at the same time.
Elizabeth twisted her mouth and sighed, "Yes I did. I came down to find Jarrod and then laid down to rest until I heard him. I think he went out for a ride. I guess I slept harder than I thought." and she pulled her flimsy peignoir around her tighter realizing how bad this looked.
Heath intervened, "I will be getting you upstairs young lady before my big brother finds out you disobeyed the doctor." and gave her his arm with his sweet crooked smile.
He took her upstairs and they passed Jarrod's door which was ajar. His bed was still completely made. Lis stopped, "Heath, he's not in there. Where could he have gone? He wasn't happy with me but …" she hesitated.
"Elizabeth, I need to get you back to bed but I promise I will find him. I am sure he's just fine.
Bella? " he called downstairs. "Can you come up and get your sister settled?"
Bella knew Heath well enough to know he was worried by his tone and taut expression but didn't want to upset her sister. She took her sister in her room and helped her get into the bed.
"Isabella, Jarrod was upset with me….we didn't quarrel but he wanted to settle on a wedding date. I wouldn't do it because I don't want him saddled with an invalid. He left abruptly and I went to his room to apologize. He wasn't there. I thought he was working late. Then I figured he went for a ride. I am scared. What if he's hurt or worse? What if he went back to San Francisco? Please go check and see if he left a note. I know I am overreacting ...but I am worried."
"First of all, calm down. We don't want a seizure right? Remember how that fancy doctor talked about it? We don't want to prove him right. You are the least hysterical person I have ever met in my life. Get into bed and do not get up until I come back. I will check on the entry table and the desk first. I have seen the brothers leave important messages at both places."
Nick came out of his room when he heard Heath's voice. "What's a matter, Romeo? Lovers spat this morning?"
Heath shook his head and motioned him away from the sisters' door. "Jarrod didn't sleep here last night, Lis hasn't seen him since about 9 pm. I don't have a good feeling."
Nick went in and grabbed the rest of his gear. "Meet you downstairs." Katarina was still deep in her pregnancy sleep. He blew her a kiss as she slept.
Heath checked and Jingo was gone. None of the hands had seen him since last night either.
"Let's head to town" as the brothers rode off towards Stockton.
Halfway there, they met Buck Reilly, Fred's deputy. "I was just heading your way. Sheriff sent me to get one of you. Jarrod's been arrested and one of the men he beat up is set on pressing charges. Sheriff's sorry but he will have to be arraigned and bail set. You might want to go home and get a change of clothes. He will need to look better than he does right now before the magistrate sees him this afternoon. He's not a big fan of your brother already after the Peterson trial when Jarrod made him look foolish and he got a judicial slap on the hand."
"Do you want me to go back and get some clothes? What do I tell the family?" said Heath.
Nick replied, "Hell, if I know. Let's check his office or the private RR car first. He usually has something stashed there."
Nick grumbled the whole rest of the way to town about "what Jarrod has gotten himself into and wasting money on bail'' and 'he needed to start thinking like a married man with a child'. Heath hid his smile several times. Boy howdy, that's the pot calling the kettle black as many scrapes as Jarrod had gotten Nick out of.
Heath recalled Jarrod saying when he came to the family, "Nick never met a bar fight he didn't get an invitation to, a poker game he couldn't bluff through, a bottle of whisky without his name on it, a horse he couldn't break or a steer he couldn't rope or a beautiful woman he couldn't resist. I have bailed my brother out from the north to the south of the state and a few other states in between."
Nick had laughed raucously at the statement, "Guilty on all charges, counselor and I have had a hell of a time keeping you busy."
Until Katarina, his Russian princess….an arranged marriage only to get a land grant … he came home every night looking forward to his wife and now in four months, he would be having his first child.
They stopped at his office first. It was just as Nick guessed. Several sets of clothes all pressed and ready for his dapper brother in the closet.
The next stop was the sheriff's office. "Didn't take you too long?"
"We met Buck on the road. We were looking for Jarrod ourselves. What happened Fred?"
"Buck take those clothes back to our friend. Open it up so he can get to some freshwater to clean up." He waited until the deputy left.
"Nick, Heath… he tore up Big Annie's. From the best I can tell, he was visiting Ruthie. She's been by twice to see him and give her statement that it wasn't his fault. He was provoked. But the man he beat up has the three men that were with him, saying Jarrod attacked him without provocation. The man and his friends are over at Dr. Merar. "
"Ruthie!" Nick was livid. "Elizabeth home worried to death and he's at Big Annie's. What was he thinking? Wait till he gets a piece of my mind or fist."
Heath put his arm on him, "Hold your voice down. Why don't you shout it to the streets while you are at it? And let's give Jarrod a chance to explain."
"What's to explain? You don't go to Big Annie's for tea and cookies!"
Heath scribbled a quick note and had a kid take it over to the livery: Jarrod in town; will be home this evening.
They went back to see Jarrod. Nick was seething and Heath wondered if he could keep him from punching his brother in the face. It wouldn't be the first time.