Rodeo ranch, p.12
Rodeo Ranch, page 12
part #4 of Broken Spur Series
“Follow me, please.” The tall blonde girl led the way down a long hallway to the end office. She opened the door for them, smiled and closed it after them.
Art Northcott didn’t look anything like Clay had pictured him when he called. He was a tall man in a blue suit. Short brown hair and glasses. A businessman.
“I’m glad you could make it, Clay. And who is this lovely lady?”
“This is my girlfriend, Deputy Bonnie Sue Dempster. She’s with the sheriff’s office.”
Art smiled. “Nice to meet you, Deputy Dempster.” He pointed at the comfy leather chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
Clay sat silently staring at his hands and didn’t say a word.
“Don’t be nervous, Clay.” Northcott grinned at him. “This is good news, no matter how you look at it.”
“It is?”
“Sure, it is. Two different labels where you left your CD are interested in your music and that’s where I come in. Studios like to deal with an agent because agents are familiar with the way everything works and it saves a lot of time and headaches. I represent you in the best possible way and make sure you don’t get shafted.”
“Okay. I understand that.”
“And you’re probably wondering how much I charge?”
“I was wondering that. Uh huh.”
“Ten percent of your earnings. Whatever jobs I get for you, contracts, record deals, whatever it is. The more money I make for you the better. I work with a standard contract, nothing is hidden in the fine print and you’re welcome to have your lawyer look it over. I want you to do that.”
“Okay. That’s a good idea.”
“You have a lot of talent, Clay. You are definitely going places, and I’d be happy to represent you.”
“Thanks.”
“Okay. That’s step one,” said Art. “Once your lawyer approves the contract and you sign it, that’s when my work begins. I set up meetings with a lot of people I know here in Austin and I’ll probably call a few in Nashville too. When I have good offers lined up for you, I’ll call and we’ll go over them together. We’ll decide on the best way for you to go and together we’ll go negotiate a deal.”
Clay nodded. He tried to remember every word Mr. Northcott said so he could tell Logan.
I hope Bonnie Sue remembers all of this.
Tate Property. Broken Spur.
THE ambulance and Sheriff Tucker arrived at the same time. Buster rolled and howled and bled in the dirt at the bottom of the porch steps with Mrs. Tate screaming and crying over him.
In between crying jags, she shouted obscenities at Jack and called him every terrible name she could lay her tongue to for hurting her precious Buster.
“He tried to kill me, Mrs. Tate. Missed my head by inches.”
“No, he didn’t, Jack. Why are you lying? My Buster wouldn’t do that.”
The paramedics loaded Buster onto the gurney face down and strapped him on. They shoved the stretcher into the ambulance, helped Mrs. Tate in with her son and took off with sirens wailing.
“Did you have to shoot him in the ass, Jacky?”
Jack smiled. “Didn’t plan to. I was aiming at his leg, Sheriff, and he fell on the steps. You know what a shit shot I am.”
“You haven’t had much time at the Range.”
“Buster tried to kill me, Sheriff. Attempted murder of an officer. When I ran him down and got here he was in the stinking goat pen. I figure he hid the gun in there.”
“Let’s go see.” Sheriff Tucker made a face and looked down at his boots as he plowed through goat shit to get to the little shack that the goats called home sweet home.
Jack stood at the gate of the wire pen and waited while the sheriff was inside. The sheriff came out holding a rifle by the tip of the barrel, his lip turned up in disgust.
“Jeeze, Jacky, look at the mess of this gun.”
“Toss it in your trunk, Sheriff, and follow me to my place. I’ll show you where the matching bullet is.”
Spinner Ranch.
SHERIFF Tucker dug the bullet out of the support post with his jackknife and dropped the slug into a plastic baggie. “Show me where you were standing when he fired.”
Jack stood on the top step and his head was only inches from the post.
“Yep, that’s attempted murder of a police officer, all right.”
Jack nodded. “And another weird thing, Sheriff. Did you happen to notice that Buster is driving Bobby Paisley’s pickup?”
“Didn’t notice.”
“Well he is, and he told me he was working for Mrs. Paisley.”
“That’s hard to believe,” said the sheriff, “knowing what a fusspot the old girl is. She wouldn’t let a grubby guy like Buster Tate within ten feet of her.”
“My thoughts too. It don’t add up.”
“Think Buster knows where Paisley is at?”
“I do,” said Jack. “And know what else I’d bet money on?”
Sheriff Tucker smiled. “Are you gonna tell me, Jacky?”
“I bet that Buster told Bobby Paisley I was nosing around and asking him a lot of questions, and Paisley probably offered Buster money to off me.”
Sheriff Tucker’s eyes widened. “You believe that?”
“That’s exactly how it looks to me. Paisley knows I’m never going to let up until I find him. He wants me gone.”
“Shit,” said the sheriff. “That makes sense, because Buster is a dumb ass, a thief and a liar but I didn’t picture him as a murderer.”
“But you’re forgetting one thing, Sheriff.”
“What’s that?”
“Buster Tate would do anything for money—anything at all.”
“Right. There’s that.”
“You better get to the hospital and see what kind of a story he’s telling, Sheriff. I’d be interested in hearing his spin on it. It’s going to be miles from the truth.”
Sheriff Tucker chuckled. “I’m missing you at the shop, Jacky boy. Ain’t the same there without you.”
“I’ll be dropping by soon, Sheriff. As soon as I have a prisoner for you.”
“Looking forward to closing the case,” Jack. Keep up the good work… and keep track of your hours.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I should think about that.”
McKenna Ranch.
THE boys had packed up and left for the day and I was getting myself a cold one out of the fridge when Darla called. “Hey, sweetheart. How was your day at the office?”
“Great, Logan, and very exciting. We got the contract from Clay in Austin and it’s all above board. Mr. Tomlinson told Clay to go ahead and sign with the Northcott Agency. I think he and Bonnie Sue are on their way home by now.”
“Fantastic. Do you want to meet at the Spur for dinner and a little celebration?”
“Sure do. I can meet you there around seven.”
“Seven is great. I need time for a shower and a major cleanup. It was sweating hot in the field today.”
I finished my call to Darla and Jack came in, letting the screen door slam behind him like he always did. “Just talked to Darla and we’re eating at the Spur at seven. Want to call Lauren?”
Jack grinned. “Sure do. I’ve got a good story for y’all that I’ll save for dinner conversation.”
Broken Spur Roadhouse.
MISS Jane sat down with the four of them and drank a glass of wine while Jack told the Buster Tate story.
“I never liked Buster.” Miss Jane scrunched up her face. “But it’s a little hard to believe he would try to kill you, Jacky. Mrs. Tate must be mortified.”
“She doesn’t believe he did it,” said Jack. “She believes everything that comes out of Buster’s mouth and thinks he’s a good boy.”
“How will she rationalize the gun in the goat pen and the bullet in your porch post?” asked Lauren. “That’s hard evidence.”
Jack shrugged. “He’s in the hospital now. I was only going to cuff him and take him to jail, but he made a run for it and I was tired and pissed off. I shot him in the ass.”
Lauren sucked in a quick breath. “We had a dirty looking guy come in by ambulance today and he was ass-shot. Was that you, Jack?”
“Sorry, Lauren. I made another customer for y’all.”
“I’ll look in on him tomorrow and keep an eye on him, now that I know who he is.”
“Don’t get too close to him,” said Jack. “He’s the guy who tried to murder your almost husband.”
Lauren giggled. “Is that a proposal, Jack McKenna?”
“Sure, as hell is. Marry me, Lauren. You won’t be sorry.”
“Wow,” said Miss Jane. “I think I’m going to cry.” She picked up a napkin and dabbed at her eyes. “I am crying. I can’t help it.”
Lauren turned to Jack with a serious face and said, “Yes, Jack. I will marry you. I love you to death.”
“Yahoo,” hollered Jack at the top of his lungs. “I’m getting married.”
“This calls for champagne,” said Miss Jane. She waved Ricki over to the table. “Ricki, bring us champagne and five glasses, dear.”
“Yes, Miss Jane.”
Ricki hurried back with a tray and Jack opened the champagne. He fiddled with the cork and finally got it open with a loud pop. The bottle bubbled over as Jack laughed and filled the glasses.
Logan made a toast. “To my baby brother Jack and his beautiful bride-to-be, Lauren. May they live happily ever after.”
“Amen to that.” Tears rolled down Miss Jane’s face.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Friday, October 9th.
McKenna Ranch.
CLAY was exhausted after his long drive, but he got out of bed in time to help with chores, then sat at the kitchen table and told his brothers all about his trip to Austin.
“I have an agent now, Mr. Northcott, and he’s going to talk to the labels who are interested in my music. I don’t have to do it myself, and that’s a huge relief to me.”
“It would be,” said Jack. “I couldn’t imagine doing that myself.”
“As soon as he has news, he’ll call and I’ll have to go to Austin again. It’s a long drive, but it helped with Bonnie Sue driving half the time.”
“How did things go with the two of you?” asked Logan.
Clay grinned. “Better than I thought. She was fun and we had a great time. The trip was much better with Bonnie Sue than when I went the first time by myself.”
“We’ll count that as a successful trip and big progress made in your music career,” said Logan. He pointed at Jack. “Your brother has hot news to tell you.”
“I couldn’t have missed too much in one day.”
“Oh, yeah, you did.” Jack held up two fingers. “Two things you missed. Number one—Buster Tate came to my ranch and took a shot at me. He tried to off me, Clay.”
“What? Why would Buster do that?”
“I think he’s working for Bobby Paisley” said Jack. “Just a theory for now, but I’m going to prove it.”
“Did you put him in jail?”
“I shot him in the ass,” said Jack. “Yeah, I’m a bad shot. I was aiming for his leg.”
Clay chuckled. “That’s amusing.”
“Tell him the good news,” prodded Logan.
“Tell me, Jacky. I need good news to wake me up.”
“I’m getting married,” said Jack.
Clay stared at his brother and Logan grinned.
Spinner Ranch.
JACK fed his horses and while they were munching on oats, he counted them in the corral. Forty-one. They seemed happy to see him today. Maybe they were getting to know him. He had his favorites, but they were all nice. Jack talked to them for a while, stroked their noses then went to the house to feed the cat.
“What’s your name, kitty?”
The cat purred when Jack filled up its dish with food. He sat on the porch steps, listened to the cat purr and thought about Lauren. “She’s the one, kitty. She’s going to be my wife and we’re going to live on this ranch together and be happy every single day.”
McKenna Ranch.
MY students arrived for the last day of tie-down training and I met them at the corral as they were saddling their horses. Mr. Watt had come with Taylor and I didn’t mind. He’d toned down his attitude a lot and was pretty excited that I’d invited him for the final day.
“We’re going to practice hard in both steer roping and tie-down all morning, and then after lunch we’re going to have ourselves a little rodeo.”
The boys hooted and hollered.
“Clint and Jay are going to give me a hand today and it’s going to be all fun.” I saddled Bowie and we galloped back to the field.
Sheriff’s Office. Preston.
SHERIFF Tucker was in his office drinking his morning coffee when Jack walked in and sat down in the single guest chair. “Morning, Sheriff.”
Tucker smiled. “Nice to see you, Jacky boy. Wish you hadn’t quit. You brightened up my work day.”
“Thanks, Sheriff, and I’m not saying I don’t miss it. I just can’t work full time right now. I’m getting married and I have to get the ranch ready for my wife.”
“Who’s the lucky lady, Jack?”
“Doctor Hiller. She works at the hospital.”
“You’re marrying a doctor?”
“Does that surprise you?”
“A little. Uh huh. A little.”
“I dropped by to give my official statement to you or Bonnie Sue, then I’m going to question Buster at the hospital.”
“I talked to him for a few minutes after he came out of surgery,” said the sheriff, “but he was groggy and not making too much sense.”
“I’ll see how he is this morning. I need answers and I think Buster has them.”
“You think he knows where Paisley is?”
“I do. He’s driving Paisley’s truck and doing Paisley’s dirty work so he must know.”
“Makes sense. Give it a try and let me know if you get anything. I don’t want you trying to bring Paisley in by yourself.”
“Okay. I won’t go by myself.” Jack rubbed his head. “I’m not quite over the last round.”
Preston Hospital.
JACK made several inquiries and found Buster in a private room on the third floor. A guy in a blue hospital security uniform was sitting on a chair outside Buster’s door.
“No admittance,” he said. Jack held up his badge and the guard nodded for him to go in.
Buster was lying on his back, his eyes closed and his left wrist chained to the bedrail. He looked and smelled cleaner than Jack had ever seen him.
Jack stuck his hand into his jacket pocket and turned on the tape recorder. “Hey, Buster. How’s it going this morning?”
“I ain’t talking to you, Jack McKenna. You did this to me and I ain’t forgiving you. Never ever.”
“Don’t want you to forgive me, Buster. You shot at me first and you can’t deny that. Tell me where Bobby Paisley is and it will go better for you in the DA’s office.”
Buster started sniffling and crying. “Mama’s gonna starve without me at home to take care of her.”
“No, she won’t. She’s better off without you, Buster. All you do is cause her grief and use up all her social security money.”
“She needs me, Jacky. You have to let me out of here.”
“I can’t let you go, Buster. It’s out of my hands. You tried to shoot a cop and Sheriff Tucker is pissed about that.”
“It was an accident,” mumbled Buster.
“You and I know it was no accident. You were aiming for my head. How much did Bobby offer you to kill me, Buster? I want to know what I’m worth.”
Buster sniffled and said, “Five thousand, Jack. I couldn’t turn him down. You can see that, can’t you?”
“But you missed, Buster, and now he’s not going to pay you anything, is he? You got yourself in more trouble and got shot in the ass for nothing.”
“He’ll pay me when I finish the job.”
“Is that a threat, Buster?”
“I need the money, Jacky. You made me lose my job at the mill.”
“I’ll give you five thousand right now, today, if you tell me where he is.”
“Wish I could,” said Buster. “I need the money but I don’t know where he is.”
“How did you find out he was going to pay you five thousand to off me?” asked Jack.
“His mama told me. She gives me messages from Bobby.”
“So, she knows where he is and she talks to him?”
“Oh yeah, she talks to him every day.”
“Thanks, Buster. You feel better soon.”
Sheriff’s Office. Preston.
JACK went back to Sheriff Tucker’s office and played the tape for him.
Sheriff Tucker listened to it twice. “Interesting stuff, Jacky. Go bring the old girl in for questioning. She’s aiding and abetting for sure. Custodial questioning and we’ll have another go at searching the house while she’s our guest.”
“I’ll take Bonnie Sue with me.”
“Yep, it’s worth a try to show her she ain’t fooling anybody.”
Jack hustled into the outer office and recruited Bonnie Sue for the mission.
“Old Mrs. Paisley?”
“She ain’t that old, Bonnie Sue. Sixty-something.”
“Let me get my gear.”
Paisley Ranch.
JACK parked in the drive next to the one-storey ranch house. “I don’t think there’s much chance of her trying to run,” said Jack. “She doesn’t look too fast on her feet.”
“Want me to take the back door just in case?”
Jack shook his head. “If she runs to the back door through the house, you can probably beat her running around the outside.”
Bonnie Sue giggled. “You have faith in my running.”
“I do.” Jack held up his badge at the ready and knocked on the door. “Sheriff’s Office, Mrs. Paisley. We need to speak to you.”
She opened the door a crack and peered through her thick glasses at Jack’s badge. “What do you want?”
“We’d like you to come to the sheriff’s office with us, Mrs. Paisley. Sheriff Tucker wants to ask you some questions.”
