Chapter 7
Heath came downstairs and went straight to the library. Victoria, Jarrod and Nick had gathered already. Victoria sat on the settee, Nick was at the French door looking out, a whiskey in his hand. Jarrod was at the refreshment table, pouring scotch for himself. As soon as he was done, he poured a whiskey for Heath and held the glass out to him.
"All right for now but it may not last, huh?" Jarrod asked.
Heath accepted the offered drink, but didn't answer right away. Instead, he walked up to the fireplace and looked up at the portrait of Tom Barkley that hung over it. He hadn't really accepted before that he looked like this man, but now it hit home for him. Now he realized that part of who he was belonged to Tom Barkley.
Heath lifted his glass to the portrait, more as a pointer than a toast. "He made promises to the people in Lonesome Camp, promises that started to crumble when he sold the mine."
"He didn't out and out sell it, Heath," Jarrod said. "He took it public and let anyone who wanted to buy in."
Heath turned. "What's the difference? He gave up control. He gave up responsibility for keeping those promises."
"How have they not been kept?" Victoria asked. "What is going wrong up there?"
Heath lifted his glass to the portrait again, but then came back toward Jarrod. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Nick at the door was scowling at him. "He promised those miners proper working conditions, decent housing, school for the children and a fair price for goods at the company store. Since he gave up ownership and management of the company to a board of directors, the school is closed, the teacher went unpaid and is gone. The company store charges twice what the stores in Sonora charge but the workers don't have time off to go to Sonora, so they have to buy at the company store. They can't even get a decent price on seeds so they can keep their own gardens. The housing is falling apart, and worse yet the mine isn't being kept in shape. Men are getting seriously injured in the mines and can't work anymore. And, as you can imagine, there's a fella in town working to organize a union."
Nick's eyes flashed.
Heath said, "The fella just got there, but guess what? He knew Jim Barkley was involved with the mine. He didn't know exactly how much yet, but he knew Jim was in the picture."
Now everyone else's eyes flashed.
Victoria said, "Jarrod – was there anything about the mine in the papers the sheriff took out of here?"
"No," Jarrod said. "I looked at them closely. There was nothing. Barkley Sierra was probably way down on Jim's list of concerns before we threw him out. When he couldn't get control over our interests by getting your power of attorney, Mother, he probably started considering other ways to do it."
"And get back at us for throwing him out," Nick said.
Jarrod nodded. "I'll go to San Francisco on the overnight tonight and see Pinkerton in the morning. If Davis at Pinkerton doesn't think it's a bad idea, I'll go over to the mining exchange and pay Uncle Sam'l a visit."
Heath looked startled. "Uncle Sam'l? There's another uncle?"
Jarrod smiled a little. "That's Sam Hummel. I play a little game with him. He calls me Brother Barkley, I call him Uncle Sam'l. It's not affectionate." Jarrod realized he was using another big word Heath may not have heard all that often. "We don't like each other much, but we respect each other's power."
"Do you want me to go back up to Lonesome?" Heath asked.
"Not yet," Jarrod said. "Not unless the fellow trying to organize the workers has some success we get word of."
"I know the man," Heath said. "His name is Dion O'Doul. We worked together in the mines in Strawberry."
"How good is he at organizing labor?" Nick asked.
"He raised a bit of trouble at Strawberry but didn't organize there," Heath said. "The mine played out too fast. I haven't seen him since. I don't know what he's been up to."
"I'll mention him to Pinkerton and see what they know about him," Jarrod said. "I'll wire home tomorrow after I've done some talking to people, but to be on the safe side, I'll only refer to Uncle Jim as 'our friend,' and Sam Hummel as 'the boss.' And Barkley Sierra as just Barkley."
"Jarrod," Victoria said, "if Sam Hummel does align with Jim, we're going to be in for a nasty fight, aren't we?"
"Maybe," Jarrod said, "but we still have that threat we left hanging over Jim, that we'd get the law after him for Father's murder if he crossed the family again."
"Jim knows there's no way he could hold us to that deal we made, we could break it anytime and there would be nothing he could do about it," Nick said. "Now that he's had time to think about it, he may have decided that it wouldn't hurt him much if he broke it himself."
"Maybe," Jarrod said.
"Do you plan to talk to him?" Victoria asked.
"Not yet," Jarrod said. "Not until I talk to Pinkerton, and not until I've talked to Sam Hummel. I think it's probable that Jim hasn't mentioned his trouble with us to Uncle Sam'l. Uncle Sam'l may not like getting himself or Barkley Sierra into that trouble. I might be able to do something with that, so I'll plant the seeds before I see Jim."
"Unless he sees you first," Heath said.
Jarrod had to nod. "Unless he sees me first. Excuse me while I go pack some things."
Jarrod opened the door to leave, and two small humans ran away fast. Jarrod stood there, exasperated. "Audra! Eugene! Get back here!"
"Uh-oh, it's Pappy time," Nick said.
Heath looked perplexed, as if another new word was being thrown at him. "Pappy time?"
Victoria sighed a little bit. "Jarrod was always like a second father to those two. Now he's like the first father."
"And the name is sticking," Nick said.
Audra and Eugene came slumping through the door and stood there facing their mother across the room, heads slightly bowed. Jarrod stood beside them, not closing the door. "I take it you two heard some things you don't understand and have a lot of questions," he said.
"I'll take care of it," Victoria said. "You'd better go pack. Nick and Heath will help me."
Victoria added that because Nick looked like he was going to go out the door too. Now he stayed, and Heath stayed to see how this was going to play out.
Jarrod smiled and left.
"Sit down," Victoria said. "We'll talk."
XXXXX
Jarrod got his things together fast and still had time for dinner before he'd have to leave to catch the overnight train to San Francisco. The family – all of it – was still in the library when he came back downstairs. He went in to hear Heath explaining about the harsh conditions of working in the mines. Audra and Eugene were on the settee with Victoria. They looked up at Jarrod when he came in, but then right back at Heath, who was standing by the fireplace. Heath paused for a moment, but went right on with what he was saying when Jarrod just gave a nod and headed for the refreshment table.
"What's a strike?" Eugene asked at that point.
"It's when workers all decide not to work, to force the owners to give them what they want," Heath said.
"Like more money?" Audra asked.
Heath nodded. "Like that, or better maintenance of the mine, or to get the owners to live up to some of the other promises that were made, like a school and better prices at the company store."
Heath went on. Audra and Eugene were fascinated, and Jarrod noted to himself that this was the first time they were really interacting with Heath. Heath was careful, attentive, and answered their questions. A lot more than just passing of information was going on here, Jarrod noticed. Jarrod also saw his mother smiling. She was noticing too.
The talk wound down, and Victoria told Audra and Eugene to go clean up for dinner. Jarrod added, "And you keep whatever you heard here today to yourself, got it?"
Audra and Eugene nodded and went out.
Jarrod had poured himself a drink and sipped at it. Now he downed the rest and headed for the desk. "Nick, Heath, I'm going to give you a list of names, men in Stockton who I know own stock in Barkley Sierra. Tomorrow I want the two of you to go talk to them, fill them in on what Heath found at the mine. And I want you to get them interested in giving me their proxy."
"Proxy?" Heath asked. So many new words.
"A legal form that will allow me to vote their shares the way I want when it comes to company business," Jarrod said. "I won't ask them to sign anything yet. I just want you two to lay the groundwork and Heath, you tell them what you told us here."
"Even about Uncle Jim?" Heath asked.
Jarrod thought for a moment, but said, "Even about Uncle Jim, but swear them to secrecy about all of this. I know these men. They'll do that if you ask them to. While I'm in San Francisco, I'll visit a few more men who own stock. I want to line up a voting majority, just in case we need it."
"Jarrod, I asked Colin Murdoch to wire me here if trouble started looking more likely at the mine," Heath said. "I may need to go back up there."
"If there's trouble and you do, I'm going with you," Nick said. "You're gonna need someone to back you up."
Victoria quickly said, "Nick is right."
Jarrod said, "You just let me know in San Francisco if you have to go back to Lonesome. Mother – I'm afraid your job is going to be to keep Audra and Eugene quiet about what you've told them. Once they go into school, tongues could get loose."
Victoria nodded. "How long do you think you'll be in San Francisco, Jarrod?"
"I don't know," Jarrod said.
"If Jim is around, you best be very careful," Nick said.
"I will," Jarrod said, "and I'll have Pinkerton backing me up, so don't worry about me."
"Do you keep your talking to Pinkerton private, or does everybody in San Francisco know you use them?" Heath asked.
"People know I use them, but they don't know how much, and they don't know about me using them right now," Jarrod said.
"I hope you can keep it that way," Victoria said. "Especially from Jim."