12
Adam buckled on his gun belt. He had taken Ultima breakfast and sat beside her on the bed as she sipped her morning coffee and picked at a buttered biscuit. She rarely ate much but Adam had insisted that Mao Li pile on the bacon and eggs. Adam watched his wife closely until Ultima had asked him to please not stare at her; what did he think she was going to do? She was through crying.
"I just want to make certain you eat," Adam had said. "Here, try some of that bacon in a biscuit." He reached for her fork.
"Adam, please." Ultima put her hand out and stayed his. "I am eating but you've given me enough food to feed Hoss and Joe together." Ultima sighed. "Adam, I'm fine this morning. Why don't you go? I'm sure you're needed elsewhere on the ranch." She tried to look unconcerned so that Adam wouldn't feel guilty. Ultima knew that was heavy on his mind; Adam believed that it was something he had done to cause what had happened to her in town.
"All right. You'll stay home today?"
Ultima nodded; she didn't think she'd ever want to venture from the house again.
Adam rose from the bed and kissed Ultima on her smooth hair, running his hand over it. He knew that Roy Coffee would probably come out and see her today but what Adam hadn't told Ultima was that before his father had left, Adam had asked his father to stay the day in order to find out what questions Roy asked and how Ultima answered them. Ben had reluctantly agreed; he sensed that Ultima might feel awkward around him now and he knew that he did since he had seen her practically naked. But he would spend the whole day.
Adam walked out of his house, his mind on facing down Maxwell and Joe and Hoss were lounging on his front porch, their two horses and his own saddled and waiting in the yard.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Adam asked as he put on his hat.
"Now you don't think we're goin' to let you go to Maxwell's alone, do you?" Hoss asked, taking his feet down from the porch railing and standing up.
"Yeah," Joe said, rising from the porch swing. "If anything happens to you, oldest brother, why then Hoss becomes the boss and woe to us all."
Adam grinned. "Thanks," he said, "but are you to help me or hinder me?"
"Whatever the circumstances call for," Joe said grinning and the three brothers mounted their horses and left for Franklin Maxwell's small ranch.
"I'll blow your fuckin' brains out right now unless you tell me who did your bidding," Adam said. Maxwell sat in his office, his hands flat on his desktop and Adam held his gun to the older man's temple. Joe and Hoss faced the door into the room, holding their guns drawn and cocked as Rollo and another ranch hand stood there. They had apparently seen the Cartwright men enter the house and noted that their determined stride bode bad news.
"I swear to you, Adam, I had nothing to do with what happened to your wife." Maxwell began to sweat trying not to show fear but he was afraid. "I admit that I hate you but I wouldn't get to you through your wife. If I was going to do anything to her, I'd fuck her and have her singing in delight and wanting more and I'd make sure you knew—that's what I'd do. That other stuff—that tar and feathering-not my style of revenge."
"Did you send your men to do it?" Adam pushed the barrel of the gun against Maxwell's temple and the man leaned away from it.
"Hell, no. You want to ask Rollo yourself. He's the one who hates you the most but I can swear that he was on the property yesterday. I told him to leave all our business to me after you near beat him to death." Maxwell had seen Rollo outside the door. "Go ahead-ask him yourself."
"He can lie as easily as you," Adam said.
"I swear it…"
Adam stepped back and faced the door. "Keep your hands where I can see them," Adam said to Maxwell, "and don't move or make a sound. You even fart and I'll kill you before you can smell it."
Hoss motioned for Rollo to walk in and stepped aside, keeping his gun on the huge man.
Rollo glared at Adam. "I didn't do anything to your goddamn wife. You…you I'd gladly see fucked up good and dumped in the middle of town. I'd cover you with horse shit 'stead of feathers and though I know it'd get to you real good iffen anything happened to your wife, I didn't do it. I was out checkin' fence lines with Bingham so you can't steal any more of Maxwell's cattle and get away with it." The hate in Rollo's eyes was obvious. It was that open hate that made Adam believe him.
Adam holstered his gun. He turned and faced Maxwell.
"If I find that you had anything to do with what happened to my wife—anything, I'll hamstring you like a hog, slit you open from your balls to your throat and let the buzzards have at you. You remember that."
Adam strode out and Hoss and Joe followed. Maxwell sighed. He was glad to be rid of them; they were a formidable threesome.
Maxwell stood up. "Rollo, you sure as hell best be telling the truth. Tell me now if you had anything to do with it. I don't want to end up as fuckin' buzzard bait."
"Mr. Maxwell, I had nothin' to do with it and I don't know who the hell did. You told me not to even go into Virginia City any more after what that fuckin' Sheriff Coffee said—bannin' me from town on account of them Carwtrights. Hell, I have to ride to Carson City just to get laid."
The other ranch hand laughed. "Cut a pretty, little heifer out of the herd and put a fancy bow on her forelock, Rollo. She'll be prettier than any big-assed whore who'd fuck you no matter how much you paid." And the three men laughed and then Maxwell told them to get back to work. But he wondered who would be so brave as to stir up Adam Cartwright. Or so stupid.
All that Roy had been able to discover was that the incident with Ultima Cartwright had taken place in the north side of town, all the way near the end of the street where the whore houses started—the cheapest at the end so any cowboys arriving would stop there first. In the early evenings, the whores leaned over the balconies in their "courting" clothes as they laughingly referred to them, calling down to the passing men or on the front porches showing off their "wares."
Roy had sent Clem to investigate and in one of the alleys, Clem had found buckets that had once held molasses but now were crawling with ants. The dirt was slick with molasses suffused mud. Feathers were stuck in the muddy mess and empty pillow ticking was tossed about. He interviewed the inhabitants of that area but no one claimed to have seen anything or anyone. Clem hadn't really expected to find answers but he was still chagrined to have to tell Roy that he had nothing but the little physical evidence of the aftermath of the "tar" and feathering.
Roy tried to assure Adam and Ben that he would eventually find out something as they sat in his office Friday afternoon.
"Sorry, Adam. That's all we have. I even went out and talked to the people myself, following up after Clem, but if they know anything, they're not telling us. I just wonder who would do such a thing. I'd suspect that it was a case of mistaken identity except that the women at the church said that the woman came and asked for your wife by name. I can't make heads or tails out of it." Roy sighed. "When I talked to your wife, well, she said she didn't know any of them and then wouldn't say no more. She didn't give me much to go on."
Adam who had been carefully listening, stood up so suddenly that Ben was even surprised.
"I appreciate what you and Clem have done. Thank you." He turned to his father. "I have something to take care of. Don't wait for me." And then Adam put on his hat and walked out.
"Now where you think he's going?" Roy asked. "I hope to hell he's not going to start more trouble."
"I don't even want to guess where he's going," Ben said. He sighed deeply. "I don't know, Roy, I just don't know."
Roy pulled opened a desk drawer and as Ben watched, he pulled out two glasses and a bottle of whiskey and sat them on his desk.
"I keep this for medicinal purposes," Roy said, "and you look like you could use a dose right about now." Roy poured the gold liquid and then handed a glass to Ben.
"Thanks, Roy. I need this badly." And the two men downed their drinks.