A/N: I don't own Bonanza, only my OC. This one was pretty straight forward, though I did tweak the ending. Anyone else love the performance Slim Pickens gave as Sheriff Gant? Just as good as Denver Pyle in the last episode.
Quick question: anyone notice that Candy threw his hat to the floor in the sheriff's office early in the episode and failed to pick it back up before he left? Ben did not pick it up either, yet Candy has it back on in the very next scene.
The next one should be good, too. I plan to start working on it tomorrow and hopefully have it up by the weekend. Tonight: Catch as Catch Can.
Added line breaks 2-19-21
"You planning on staying with us long, Mr. Cartwright?"
"No."
"Tin Bucket's a nice town." The barber splashed some tonic into his hands and patted it on her pa's face. "I said Tin Bucket's a nice town."
"I heard you."
"How did you like River Bend?" Her pa smiled to himself.
"River Bend's a nice town."
"Heard you bought some cattle up there. A hundred head. Just you and the boys?" He flushed. "And your daughter, of course." Annie bit her lip to hide a smirk. Some people just didn't know how to take it when they realized how involved she was in the everyday running of the Cartwright empire. "Long way from the Ponderosa. What are you doing in Tin Bucket?"
"Going back to the Ponderosa," she replied as Joe came out of the back room. "My, you sure do smell better, big brother. I think that might have been the best seventy-five cents you've spent in your life."
"Hush the both of you." Ben sat up. "Here, keep the change." He handed the barber a few coins.
"Oh, thank you. It sure is a pleasure and a privilege doing business with a Cartwright. Heard a lot about you." And said a lot too, unless she missed her guess. Ben hummed agreement. "Just sorry to hear you've fallen on hard times." She froze. Joe stopped brushing his jacket mid-stroke and Ben turned slowly, a quizzical expression on his face.
"Hard times? Where'd you hear that?"
"Oh, here and there, and round and about."
"Well, I can tell you things have never been better, Mr. Tingle." He went over to collect his hat and gun belt. A shout and the rumble of a wagon outside brought a smile to his face. "There's Hoss." he waved them towards the door and they went outside.
"What's he talking about?" Joe whispered.
"I don't know. Hey, Hoss!"
"Oh!" Her middle brother met them on the boardwalk. "There you are." He sniffed. "You sure do smell good."
"Sorry I can't say the same about you," she and Joe replied in unison. Hoss looked down at himself.
"All day on the trail with a wagon load of hide, what do you expect?" Ben shot them a dark look and turned back to Hoss.
"Any trouble pulling them together?"
"Pa, what kid of deal did you make on them hides in a place like this at the last minute?"
"We're selling to a fellow by the name of Amos Parker, he telegraphed us in River Bend, said he'd pay top dollar if we'd deliver them here, so I telegraphed you."
"You done business with him before?"
"Yeah, about nine, ten years ago, sold him a few cattle, nothing important. We're fixing to meet him, come along."
"No, I think I'll get a bath and shave." Ben draped an arm across her shoulders, his other over Joe's, his grip tightening in silent warning.
"Good idea." He pulled them both off the boardwalk and into the street. "We'll see you in the saloon."
"Right." Hoss headed into the barber shop and Ben towed them down the street, his voice low and gravelly.
"Just when I think the two of you are beginning to grow up, you remind me that I am not that lucky. I suppose I should be thankful that all you're doing is teasing your brother, but the day is still young." He steered them into the saloon just as Candy's voice rang out.
"They are not my cards!" He looked up and the tension in his face eased. "Mr. Cartwright, they say I've been cheating." Ben's head tilted and he lowered his arms, leaving them by the doors. He stopped at the table and studied the scattered cards and pile of money, then the hefty fellow wearing a tin star lurking at Candy's right side.
"Have you?"
"No!" Candy sounded hurt that he'd even ask. He picked up a couple of cards off the table and flung them down again with a low growl. "These are not my cards." His hand clenched into a fist. "I don't know where they came from Mr. Cartwright."
"I'm afraid the sheriff found them in his pocket," a man leaning on the bar supplied. He held out his hand. "I'm Amos Parker, Mr. Cartwright. We have some business to discuss."
"Yes, just as soon as I attend to this."
"Mr. Cartwright, I don't know how the cards got in my pocket." The sheriff cocked his head.
"You know him?"
"He's my foreman."
"You've got a card sharp for a foreman?"
"He's not a card sharp,"Annie spit out, unable to keep her mouth shut another second. Ben threw her a warning glare.
"He's a cowhand, and a very good one." The sheriff chuckled and folded his arms across his ample belly.
"It's a cinch he ain't a very good card sharp. If I hadn't have been here, he'd have probably got himself shot." Nothing new there. He had a habit of getting into sticky situations, but cheating? Never. "I'll have to give these men the money that's on the table." Candy's head shot up.
"No!"
"Easy, Candy."
"I've got twenty-five dollars in this game."
"Go on, divide it up fellers. Get your money." Candy shook his head in disgust and collected what was his.
"I'm the biggest loser, fifty-nine dollars," a man across the table proclaimed. He picked up a few bills and shook them. "My money is easy to find. I got it water soaked swimming my horse across the river." The other men pushed back their chairs and drifted away. "Hard earned, too. I'd hate to lose it to a card sharp." Candy threw him a dirty look and Annie tensed. If he so much as blinked wrong that sheriff might … "I appreciate what you've done, Mr. Cartwright. I'd like to thank you. Thank you, too, Sheriff." he turned to go.
"I'd be more careful who I played cards with in the future." The sheriff folded his arms again and studied Candy. "Well, I ought to throw you in jail."
"We'll –" Ben's hand squeezed her arm, hard, and she snapped her mouth shut.
"I'll be responsible for him, Sheriff."
"Get him out of town."
"We'll all be leaving just as soon as I complete my business, if that's all right."
"All right." The man didn't sound happy about it, but at least he left. Ben looked at them and jerked his chin at the door.
"Ride herd on Candy, will you?" They nodded and he turned. "Candy. I'll be up in a minute." Their foreman stalked past them and they closed ranks around him as he stormed through the doors and across the street, throwing himself into a chair sitting on the boardwalk in front of the bank.
"How can he even think I was cheating?" Joe traded glances with her and shook his head, then put his back to a support column for the bank's porch and slid down it, resting his arm on his raised leg and pulling his hat down over his eyes as if to say it's all yours.
"He doesn't." She went and sat down on the boardwalk beside Candy's chair, but he didn't even look at her, or say another word until her pa left the saloon and came over, propping one foot on the boardwalk.
"I don't care about the money. What's killing me is you believed them and not me."
"The sheriff believed them."
"A two bit sheriff in a two bit town!" he exploded.
"Two bit sheriff or not, the bullets in his gun are real and so are the bars on his jail, and he was going to throw you behind them or kill you if you tried to fight him."
"Did you believe me about the cards?" Candy whipped around, staring her pa full in the face. She did, but deep down, he knew that, and it wasn't her belief he needed right now. Annie bit her lip.
"Somebody planted them in your pocket?"
"Yes."
"While you were playing?"
"I'm not that stupid," he said dismissively.
"Well, when?"
"I don't know when. There were a lot of people at the bar, and they were shoving …" He broke off, like he'd thought of something but couldn't place it.
"Did you know any of them?"
"No."
"Doesn't make any sense, does it?" Ben's attention shifted and she followed his gaze, finding the sheriff leaning against his office doorway, watching them. Joe stretched and sat up.
"Why don't we get the money for the hides and get out of this town?"
"Parker says he'll only pay half price for those hides."
"You're not gonna let him get away with it, will you?"
"Of course not. Hoss is gonna take those hides back to the Ponderosa, head off the two wagons at Pine Creek. I want you to go with him."
"Right. Got Cochise over at the blacksmith's shop. I'll get him." Joe hopped up and took off. Ben studied the sheriff a moment longer.
"You two, let's go see the sheriff." Candy shot out of his chair and hurried after her pa, leaving her scrambling to catch up. The man in question shook his head and headed back inside his office. By the time Annie got through the door, he was parked behind his desk, his chair up on two legs.
"There's nothing more to say, Cartwright. It's Sheriff Gant, by the way."
"Sheriff. Candy says he wasn't cheating. Why don't you ask those other men if they saw anyone hanging around him who could have put those cards in his pocket?"
"Look, ain't no one gonna turn this town into a three-ring circus."
"Nobody's intending to do that."
"I'm trying to clear my name, Gant."
"Sheriff Gant!" The man leaned back and his chair creaked. He looked down. "I'm gonna have to do something about that squeak one of these days."
"Every man has a right to clear his name," she hissed.
"He ought to consider himself lucky that all I did was take that poker money away from him. Now he can't stay in town, and he can't come back after he leaves. Why don't you just sell them hides and all of you get out of town?"
"I'm not selling."
"You come all this way and you're not gonna sell? What are you trying to do, hold Parker up on the price?"
"Parker cut the price," Candy said through his teeth.
"I think Parker's trying to drive a hard bargain himself," Ben said evenly.
"Maybe he's offering you all them hides is worth."
"They're top grade hides," she and Candy protested in unison.
"Now, lookee here, Mr. Cartwright, all of us get pressed to the wall some time or other, but, well, why don't you just sell them hides and go on home? I know you've been a rich man a long time, but you've got to face it, you're broke."
"We are not!"
"He's not broke!" The sheriff dropped his chair back to all four feet and stabbed a finger at Candy's face.
"Now lookee here, young fellow. I've taken all the jaw off of you that I'm going to. You can just shut your mouth and get out this door." Candy slung his hat on the floor and stormed out. Annie scooped it up and took off, leaving the sheriff still hollering away. She finally caught up to Candy half a block down the street.
"That one does enough jawing for two men."
"You don't have to try and make me feel better." She held out his hat and he stuffed it back on his head. "Thanks." Footsteps rang on the boardwalk and Ben came up on their right.
"We're going to the telegraph office, I've about had enough of everyone in this town telling me I'm broke when I'm not." He led them into the office and asked for paper and a pencil, which the man behind the desk supplied. Her pa wrote out his message and handed it back with a curt nod, then tossed a coin on the desk. The man read it and his brows rose.
"Virginia City Bank, and you want $5,000 cleared here to our bank?"
"That's right." The man shook his head.
"That's a lot of money to try and borrow by telegraph, Mr. Cartwright." Candy snorted; she rolled her eyes.
"I'm not borrowing it. The money's mine. I just want it transferred to the bank here. Will you please send that?" The telegraph operator sighed and bent over his key, clicking away faster than she could keep up. Why hadn't she paid attention when Adam tried to teach her Morse code?
The man stopped, and a series of answering clicks came over the wire. He started to reply, then stopped when nothing happened. His gaze shot to the free-standing box holding some kind of magnet or something, but it, too, was silent. She and Candy traded glances; Candy shrugged. Ben frowned.
"What's the matter?"
"The line's gone dead."
"Try it again."
"I said it ain't working," the man protested. "Nothing we can do but wait. Maybe something's wrong at the other end." Ben reached out and tried to work the key.
"Do you think it was cut at the other end?" Candy leaned in over her pa's shoulder. Ben looked up, his face going dark.
"The wire can be cut at either end." He pushed off the desk and shot out the door. The telegraph operator stood.
"If the wire's been cut, it's one of you done it!"
"We're all in here," Annie called over her shoulder on her way out. She joined them at the edge of the building, where the wires came in through the wall. Ben shook his head at the dangling wires.
"Cut." She slouched against the wall. What was going on in this town, anyway? The rattle of a racing wagon accompanied by shouts reached them.
"Look out! Get out of the way!" Through a gap in the buildings, she recognized their wagon as it tore down the street out of control, and her heart kicked.
"Hoss!" They took off at a dead run. It wasn't a minute later that they heard the crash. She bit back a scream and kept running. Every wagon wreck she'd ever been witness to or heard about played through her head. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be.
They reached the crowd around the overturned wagon and Ben shoved his way through. "Hey, what are you doing?" He pushed a man away from Hoss, and she recognized the man who'd been playing cards with Candy.
"Just helping him finish his booze."
Joe shoved his way into the middle and bent over their brother. "Come on, Hoss. He hit his head, Pa." He helped Hoss to his feet and the loudmouth spoke again.
"He's drunker than a skunk." Annie shot forward and pushed him back into the wagon.
"He is not." The man staggered and reclaimed his balance with a sneer.
"If you were a man, I'd shoot you for that."
"If I were a man, you'd already be dead." Ben grabbed her arm and pulled her back, practically throwing her at Candy, who caught her hand and tugged her along as he and Joe got Hoss out of the street.
"Take him to the hotel, boys," Ben called after them.
"You do pick the darnedest times to lose that cool head of yours," Candy muttered as they reached the hotel lobby. "Hey, we need a room and a doctor."
"Room five at the top of the stairs," the clerk called and tossed them a key. Annie caught it out of the air. "But Tin Bucket doesn't have a doctor."
Of course they didn't.
The stairs weren't easy with Hoss dead weight, but they managed. She unlocked the door and pushed it open, holding it wide so they could get him inside. They settled her middle brother in bed and Joe straightened.
"And you talk about my timing. What happened to your Yankee sensibility?"
"It rafted down the Mississippi to New Orleans," she shot back as she snatched the cloth off the wash basin and soaked it with water, then turned to the bed and washed Hoss' face. "Hoss, come on, wake up."
"He's out cold," Joe replied. "What's going on around here, anyway?"
"Funny, huh?" Candy took off his hat and wiped his face. "Something ain't right."
"You two stay here. I'll find Pa and see what we're going to do now." Joe left the room. Candy leaned back against the wall.
"I knew you'd get riled enough one day that you wouldn't stop and think."
"I did think." She wrung out the cloth and soaked it again. "He can't do anything to me, no matter how hard I push. Had I been a man, I wouldn't have said a word."
"Hm."
"Granted, I didn't think as much as I could have, but it wouldn't be the first time, especially when it's about family."
"Hm."
Glass shattered outside and Candy whirled to look out the window. He whistled softly and shook his head. "Joe isn't in a thinking frame of mind either right now. He and another fella just went through a store window."
"What?!" Annie shot off the bed and pulled back the curtain. It looked like Joe was in the middle of an argument based on the wild hand gestures. She started to open the window; Candy stopped her. "What now?" He nodded at the other man across from Joe.
"That's the fella that called me a cheat. And he was there when the wagon turned over. Uh-oh." She whipped around in time to see the sheriff pull his gun on Joe and march him towards the jail.
"What is going on in this miserable town?"
"I don't know." He turned away from the window and checked Hoss again. "I wish I knew."
"Same here."
It wasn't more than a few minutes before the door opened and Ben walked inside. "How is he?" He went over to the bed and checked Hoss himself.
"Still out," Candy replied. "What'd Joe get himself into?"
"They're claiming he's a pickpocket."
"What?" Ben nodded.
"I can't figure out what's going on, but something sure is." He rubbed his forehead and went over to the window, leaning against the wall as he stared down at the street. "Not only that, but the blacksmith found a bale of hides on that wagon carrying a Bar E brand underneath ours. The sheriff is convinced one of us is a cattle thief."
"That's absurd!"
"How can he think that?"
"They're all convinced I'm broke and would do anything to remedy the situation."
"But we're not." Annie hopped off the bed, mangling the cloth in her hands. "We haven't even had a real lean year in at least four or five years."
"No one believes that. The banker looked down his nose at me, and it just got worse when Parker came in accusing me of dealing in stolen hides." He pinched the bridge of his nose and went silent, eyes closed. Candy glanced at her and she shrugged. He went back to the bed and picked up Hoss' hand.
"Hoss. Hey, buddy, come on, wake up." There was no answer and he sighed. "I've never seen a man out like this before. You think he's all right?"
"Yeah, he's all right. His pulse is regular and his breathing is normal. I don't know what they doped him with, but whatever it is, it's doing a good job."
"And no doctor in this town," Candy spit and turned away, pacing over to the window himself. He stared down at the street and his shoulders fell. "Can I ask you something?" he said without looking away from the window.
"Sure." He turned to face Ben.
"Do you believe those cards were planted on me in the saloon?" Ben glanced up from his perusal of the floor.
"I'm sure they were."
"What makes you so sure?" Ben looked him straight in the eye.
"You said they were and that's good enough for me." Candy swallowed hard and his eyes lightened.
"Thanks," he said softly, and her pa nodded. "What I keep asking myself is why?"
"You're not the only one," Annie said. "Why plant cards on you? Or money on Joe? Why do this?" She gestured to Hoss. "It doesn't make sense."
"Oh, it does," Ben disagreed. "If it was all part of some plan."
"But what plan? And who's behind it?"
"I'm not sure. Yet." He parked his hands on his hips and stared down at Hoss. Behind him at the window, Candy glanced over his shoulder at her and swallowed hard.
"What are we going to do?"
"I have to talk to Hoss and find out whether those blotched hides came from the Ponderosa."
"You really think they did?" Candy sounded shocked.
"Hoss put some of his own hides on that wagon, we've got the bill of sale for those. No, those hides likely came from stolen cows and they were switched here in town, but I can't go looking for ours until I talk to Hoss." He looked over at her and his jaw firmed. "There's one thing I can do, though. I want you to get Annie out of town, right now." Candy's mouth fell open. Ben headed for the writing desk across the room and Annie scrambled after him.
"I can take care of myself, Pa. Besides, it'll take all of us to figure out what's going on. I could –" He whirled around, catching her by the arms and stopping her in her tracks.
"This is one time I won't take no for an answer, young lady. Use that head of yours and think. They frame Candy as a cheat, Joe a pickpocket, and Hoss a drunken cattle thief. On top of it all, I'm supposed to be a cattle thief, too, and broke to boot. Someone is targeting us and you're the only Cartwright left that stands unaccused of something. Considering how the charges have escalated, I'm not taking any chances.
"Candy, you take her straight back to Virginia City. Do not let her talk you into turning around a few miles out of town and don't try it yourself."
"You have my word, Mr. Cartwright."
"Good." He dug in his pocket and sat down at the desk. "I need you two to do something else, too. I'm going to give you this sight draft for $5,000." He took up the pen and signed his name to the document. "Take this to the bank in Virginia City. And this note asking for a note of credit. You get back with the cash, and that letter, just as soon as you possibly can." Candy looked stricken as he glanced from her to Ben and back, then to Hoss and back to Ben.
"What about Annie?"
"I just want her out of sight of whoever is behind this, and hopefully out of mind as well. By the time you get back, we should have figured this out and it won't matter if she's here or not."
"Pa." She bit her lip. "Are you sure you'll be okay with Hoss like this? And Joe in –"
"I'll manage." He finished writing and handed Candy the papers. "Take these and get back just as fast as you can."
"We will."
"Annie." He wrapped her up in a tight hug. "Be careful and don't give Candy a hard time."
"I won't, Pa. We'll bring that money back and this whole town will see the truth." He let go of her and tucked his wallet back into his vest.
"I won't let you down, Mr. Cartwright, I promise."
"I know you won't."
"We'll be back before you know it." Candy snatched his hat off the table and caught her arm. "Let's get moving, sweetheart." She grabbed her own hat and took off after him. They went down the stairs, through the lobby, and out into the street. "I want to get out of town before whoever it is remembers your name isn't muddied yet." He stuffed his hat on his head and the papers in his vest pocket. "Come on." They reached the livery and collected their horses.
"No sign of that trouble maker," Annie reported as they mounted up.
"Let's keep it that way." They rode out at a trot, keeping pace until Tin Bucket was out of sight. Annie peered over her shoulder, and, seeing no one, urged Reno into a lope. They had a long way to go, and there was no time to waste. As it was, it would be at least two days before they could even hope to make it back to Tin Bucket.
They rode in silence until it was time to give the horses a breather. "We're making good time," she noted. "No sign of pursuit."
"So far, so good." After fifteen minutes, they picked up a lope again, keeping to a pattern of long lopes and easy walks. As darkness fell hours later, Candy eyed the sky. "I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on stopping for the night. You good to keep riding?"
"I've been riding all hours of the day or night since I was ten years old. Let's go." It was slower than she would have liked, but at least they were still moving.
"You have an idea about it?" He asked a few hours later.
"That fellow, what was his name – Rice? He has to be involved. He was there for everything."
"That's about what I figured, but who's he answering to? A cowboy wouldn't do all this by himself. What reason would he have?"
"I guess you'd have to ask him."
"You don't think the sheriff is mixed up in it, do you?"
"Him? No. If that's an act, he's one of the best – if not the best – I've ever seen." She tilted her head in contemplation, letting Reno pick his own way in the darkness. "My money would be on Parker, but what motive could he have? Pa sold him a few cows several years ago, but that's it. It was a good price too, if I'm recalling the right transaction, so he can't be sore about that. He's the only reason we were in Tin Bucket at all, so why not him?"
"But the motive."
"I can't figure that out." She sighed. "I can't figure out another possible person, either. We don't know anyone in Tin Bucket."
"Best thing we can do is bring that money back to your pa."
"Yeah."
They rode on, finally dragging into Virginia City late the next afternoon. Candy swung down and staggered back against Scout's side. Annie got down slower, but she still faltered, her legs protesting the forced ride. They held each other up and eyed the bank.
"He'd better not be taking a late lunch," she growled under her breath.
"If he is, it'll have to get cold." They hobbled inside and Candy presented the draft and the letter. "How long will it take to get the money together? We've got to get back to Tin Bucket as fast as we can." The teller looked over the papers and glanced at them over his spectacles.
"About ten minutes if you can wait that long. I don't imagine you'd want to stuff it in your saddle bags as is. Plus, I'll have to have the president write up that letter of credit."
"That's fine." Annie paced the room slowly. "If you don't mind, we'll just wander around. I sit down now, I'll never get back up."
"Suit yourself, Ms. Cartwright. If you change your mind, you can use the president's chair."
"Thanks," she mumbled.
Footsteps rang on the boardwalk outside and the door flew open. She almost went for her gun, until she recognized Roy. "Missy, what have you folks gone and gotten yourself into this time?"
"Ask Tin Bucket."
"Well, your pa done sent a wire asking me to stop the two of you if I seen you." Her fatigue bled away into fear.
"Why, what's wrong?" Candy reached her side, his hand at her back, and they traded glances.
"Nothing now." Roy pulled a paper out of his pocket. "Ben said to tell you they got Parker, that he thought your pa was seeing his wife?" Roy's voice rose in confusion. "Are we on the same page here? Cause I don't know what he's talking about. Anyway, Hoss is fine, you're all cleared, and this Parker set you all up and was gonna hang your pa until the sheriff stopped him and some other fellow, I think he called him Rice? They're headed home now."
She and Candy looked at each other, mouths opening and closing without saying a word. Hang him? What in the world had they missed last night? Annie could almost imagine the scene and shook her head to dislodge the image. No, she didn't want to know how that had come about, or how close it might have been.
"He doesn't need us to bring the money now?" Candy sounded almost as confused as Roy. Roy shook his head.
"You're telling me he's not spinning some crazy story?" He parked his hands on his hips. "What in tarnation happened in Tin Bucket anyway?" Candy clapped him on the back.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you."
"Hey, Harry," Annie called. "Forget the money. Pa changed his mind." The teller huffed.
"Not a problem, Ms. Cartwright. No trouble at all." He went back to his chair and sat down. Annie patted Roy's arm.
"When Pa gets into town, tell him we're at the hotel, please?" She shifted her weight and smothered a groan. "I think I'm gonna sleep for two days."
"You and me both." Candy retrieved the papers from the teller and headed for the door. "I'll see to the horses while you get us a couple rooms."
"You've got a deal." Some day she'd sit down to hear the whole story, but not now. They were all safe and on their way home and that was all that mattered to her.