Chapter 2

Jarrod made a funny, unhappy sound. Nick wasn't really surprised, but he quickly asked, "What's the matter?"

Jarrod looked at the contract Hill proposed and pointed to a particular provision. "He's got an arbitration clause in here. If he doesn't get the highest market price in Grand Junction on the day his cattle arrive, he can take us to arbitration to determine whether we owe him money for our cattle not being the quality as required by the contract. And the arbitrator has to come from Sacramento."

"You don't like that."

"No, I don't. There's no telling what two days in freight cars are going to do to the quality of the cattle we're delivering. You need to insist that quality be judged as of here and today, and Hill bears the risk of whatever the market judges them to be when he gets them to Grand Junction." Jarrod took his pencil and crossed out the clause.

"What if he wants to reduce the price if you strike that clause?"

"It's up to you to decide whether to accept a different price."

Nick chewed his lip. "I really don't want to take these critters back to Stockton."

"Neither do I, Nick, but it's not a good idea to leave the price open-ended like this clause would make it. And here we go with another one."

"What?"

"If he can't sell the cattle at all in Grand Junction for the price he wants, he wants us to reimburse him for half of his losses, whether he ships them back here or takes whatever he can get from whomever he can get to take them in Colorado." Jarrod struck out that clause too.

"Have you ever seen clauses like this before?" Nick asked.

"No," Jarrod said.

"So – is this Hill putting the screws to you for the divorce? He knew you were our brother."

Jarrod leaned back in the chair. "He could be. But this whole deal is something new, so it could be he's just trying to cover any eventuality of loss the best way he can. He might do this to anybody." Jarrod rubbed his eyes.

"How's the rest of the contract?" Nick asked.

"Looks pretty standard," Jarrod said.

"Do you think we ought to throw him any bones on this?"

"That's your decision, Nick, but I'd tell him we're not going for either of these clauses. It's not up to us to make up his losses if this idea of his doesn't work out the way he wants."

Heath came back then, coming in the door and already saying, "Hill is right about the prices in Grand Junction and the markets here. Grand Junction this morning was about fifteen percent higher than the best market price here."

"There are a couple clauses in the contract Jarrod doesn't like," Nick said.

"Have you talked to Hill about them yet?" Heath asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "What do you want to do, Nick? Shall we dig our heels in on this?"

"What do we have to offer him to strike those clauses?" Nick asked.

"Not much," Jarrod said. "We could take a price of twelve percent off the Grand Junction price instead of ten, but I wouldn't go any lower. We'd be just above breaking even on our costs of raising them and getting them here."

"We could offer him some up front cash," Heath suggested.

"Not enough to make him happy," Jarrod said.

"What was your fee on the divorce?" Nick asked.

Jarrod nearly shot up out of his chair. "What?!"

"Give him some of that fee money back and strike those clauses," Nick said. "That would get this all settled today like we want and it would probably make him plum happy."

Jarrod stood up. "Nick, why should I be paying him for our cattle?"

"To close out the deal," Nick said. "It's just a question of what ledger the money comes out of."

"It's not coming out of mine," Jarrod said. "That book was closed and audited three years ago. I paid my taxes on it, and I'm not buying our cattle with it. If you want to give him cash, give him some out of your ledger for this year."

"Let me remind you that it's not 'my' ledger – it's 'our' ledger," Nick said. "We could pay him out of your share of the deal and he'd be happy as a clam."

"I wouldn't be," Jarrod said.

Hill came back in at that point. From the look on his face, he could tell the Barkley men were arguing about Jarrod's money, and he liked that a lot. "Tell you what, boys," he said. "Whatever it is you don't like about the contract, I'll consider striking it if you pay me in cash half of what I paid the counselor here for my divorce."

"How much is that, Jarrod?" Nick asked.

"Too much," Jarrod said, glaring at Hill. "Abel, these clauses are in here just so you can squeeze money out of me, aren't they?"

"Not at all," Hill said. "They're in there to cover my risk. If you want the price for your cattle that's set out there in the contract, then you have to accept the clauses, or give me a little something to make them go away."

Jarrod cursed and turned away. Hill smiled an ugly smile. Even Nick and Heath were beginning to think they would not pay a dime to get rid of those clauses.

"Looks like we're taking our cattle home," Nick said. "Abel, I hope your contract with the railroad lets you out of shipping any cattle without a penalty, because you won't be getting ours."

Nick headed for the door, Heath and Jarrod preparing to follow, but Hill said, "Now, wait just a minute, Nick. Let's not call off a good deal just over a few words. Let's see what we can do to make this problem go away."

"Strike the clauses," Jarrod said.

"Let's see what you can give me to make that happen," Hill said.

"Do you have any suggestions other than cash?" Jarrod asked.

"Well, maybe," Hill said with another ugly smile he directed at Jarrod. "Jarrod, I'm getting married again."

"What, you want to line me up as your divorce lawyer now so she doesn't get me later?" Jarrod asked.

Hill laughed at Jarrod's sarcasm. "That's funny, Counselor. No, what I had in mind was a little pre-emptive agreement. Write me up an agreement with my intended to set forth which of us will get what in the event we do ever divorce. You and I will talk this out, you can draw up the agreement and negotiate it with her attorney if she hires one, and our agreement on the cattle goes through without those clauses in the contract."

Jarrod's first thought was to find out who his intended was and have her hire him to write up such an agreement for her. "And I suppose you plan to pay me for my services?" Jarrod asked.

"Of course," Hill said. "Ten percent off your going rate."

"Not a chance," Jarrod said and headed for the door.

"All right, five percent, with a cap," Hill said. "I won't discount your bill in any amount greater than what I paid you for my divorce from Gwendolen."

"Oh, I knew blood money was behind this, Hill," Jarrod snarled.

"Wait a minute," Nick said. "Jarrod, why don't you and I and Heath step aside and discuss this?"

Jarrod glared at his younger brother.

Hill said, "No, just talk about it here. I'll step out. I need to go see how my dinner is progressing anyway." He practically strutted toward the door. "I'll see you in about five minutes," he said and went out.

Jarrod glared at both his younger brothers now. "One way or another, Hill is gonna want money out of me to get this deal to go through."

"Jarrod, if we don't make this deal today, we're gonna take that herd back home and we're a going to take a big hit," Nick said.

"So I take the hit instead?" Jarrod said. "Just to satisfy this – pompous bully's desire to get back at me for his divorce?"

"You will be making some money on the deal," Nick said. "He'll pay you for drawing up that agreement on his new marriage."

"At a discount from my regular fee," Jarrod said. "No matter how you look at it, it's money coming from me, and who says I want to work for this blowhard anyway?"

"You could change your rates, or pad your bill," Nick suggested.

"And that would get me an ethics complaint," Jarrod said, "which would make Hill even happier."

"Jarrod," Heath offered, "do you want to herd two hundred head back to Stockton?"

Jarrod heaved an aggravated sigh. All he could think about now was the fastest and least painful way to get out of this mess, and he did not like the answer he was coming up with.