Page 53 of Wellspring

CADE SHIFTED uncomfortably on the pew in the church turned courtroom.

He’d changed into his cleanest outfit in the back room of Miz Hart’s mercantile once they got to Eldorado, and now he had to resist the urge to tug at the collar of his shirt where the bolo tie he wore left him feeling like he was about to choke.

Reichardt sat on the other side of the center aisle, looking as disdainful and superior as always, making Cade wonder if he knew something they didn’t.

Nothing Carter could have told him of Wellspring’s secrets would change his guilt, but it might sway the judge in his favor, not to mention how at least some of the townsfolk might react to hearing what was accepted at Wellspring.

Carter hadn’t known about Payne and Miz Roarke, but he might have told Reichardt about Kit and Mac.

If he couldn’t save his own skin, he’d revel in taking Wellspring down with him.

“All rise. This court is called to order,” Marshal Parnell said from the front of the room. “The Honorable Judge Samuel Martin Morrison presiding.”

A gray-haired man in black robes walked into the room and took a seat behind the large desk that had been moved into the sanctuary.

He appeared serious and no-nonsense to Cade, but what did he know about legal proceedings and trials and, fuck, he should have insisted on driving the buckboard so Erick could be here.

He would’ve been much better at this than Cade would be.

Once the judge was seated, everyone else returned to their places and the marshal outlined the charges against Reichardt: attempted murder, attempted theft, bribing a US Marshal, and the list went on, half of which Cade didn’t understand, but the longer he spoke, the more serious the judge’s expression grew.

“Mr. Reichardt, how do you plead?” the judge asked.

“Not guilty, of course,” Reichardt said haughtily. Cade resisted the urge to snort.

The judge sighed. “Very well. Marshal, present your evidence.”

“Mr. Payne, if you would take the stand?” Marshal Parnell asked.

“You’d take the word of a—”

“Mr. Reichardt, there will be no insults in my court,” the judge interrupted. “You will have your turn to speak, but I will hear the testimony of anyone Marshal Parnell calls as a witness, is that understood?”

Cade relaxed a little for the first time since he’d left Wellspring. Maybe things would be all right after all.

The judge stood with a flutter of his robes.

“Before we begin, let me make it clear that I expect everyone giving testimony today to swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. If there is anyone who isn’t prepared to agree to this, let him or her leave this courtroom now.

” No one moved. “Very well, then consider yourselves all bound by this oath. Now let’s proceed. Mr. Payne, was it?”

Payne rose and walked to the seat beside the judge’s desk. “Ezekiel Payne, foreman of the Wellspring Ranch. And you’d best believe everything I tell you will be the truth.”

Cade smothered a smile. At least Payne hadn’t started swearing yet.

“Mr. Payne, please tell the court what occurred on the evening of May twenty-eight of this year.”

“We had just finished feeding the hands when Webster”—he gestured to where Cade sat—”returned from town riding hell-bent for leather.

He’d heard word from the JR’s foreman, Frank Sanders, that Reichardt had ordered his hands to take over Wellspring.

We barely had time to arm everyone and take cover before the attack started. ”

“I’ll speak with Mr. Webster later, but for now, why would the defendant try to take over Wellspring Ranch? He owns a much larger spread of his own, does he not?”

Payne snorted. “Water,” he replied succinctly.

“Well, and greed. There’s a spring on Wellspring property.

It feeds a creek that runs onto the JR ranch and eventually joins the bigger stream that runs through town.

If we get a bad drought, the creek can run dry on JR land, but the spring itself never runs dry.

Oh, it may not give a lot of water, but there’s always enough to get us through the summer.

We don’t have any dams on the creek, no holding pens, nothing to divert it, just what nature provides, so it’s not like we’re hoarding water or keeping it from flowing downstream.

But Reichardt wanted control of the spring.

He tried years ago, before Miz Roarke married her husband—the land was her father’s, you see—-but old man Wells turned him down, and he’s been sniffing around her skirts again ever since Roarke died.

If you want my opinion, he got tired of her telling him no and decided to try to take it by force. ”

Reichardt scowled and looked as if he was about to speak, but a glare from the judge silenced him.

“So what happened when the JR hands arrived?”

“They expected to take us by surprise, so they rode straight in. The sun had gone down by then and there wasn’t much of a moon, and they were carrying torches.

” Payne grinned. “Made it easy for us to know where to shoot. One of them tossed a torch into the barn, but by then we’d already brought most of them down.

We had a few men injured, but no one killed, luckily.

Can’t say the same for the JR hands. The rest hightailed it off like the cowards they were, but we did catch hold of one of them—Collier.

Turned him over to the marshal when he came to look into what happened. ”

The judge looked at the marshal, who nodded. “He’s in a jail cell for the moment, Your Honor. We’ll bring him over when you’re ready to speak to him.”

“Did you see Mr. Reichardt himself during the attack?” the judge asked Payne.

“No, that would require him to do his own dirty work,” Payne replied, “and as anyone in town will tell you, Reichardt won’t do anything he can pay or force someone else to do for him.

Goddamn coward. But everyone in town heard Sanders say Reichardt had ordered the attack, so whether he was there or not, he’s the one behind it. ”

“But you weren’t in town that night, so you didn’t hear it, is that correct?” the judge asked.

“No, I didn’t hear it, but I didn’t need to, not this time. I’ve seen and heard more than enough other threats to know how it all added up,” Payne replied. “And other people did, so you can ask them.”

“Don’t worry, I will. Thank you, Mr. Payne.”

Payne nodded and returned to his seat. “Mrs. Roarke,” Marshal Parnell said.

Miz Roarke rose and took the seat Payne had just vacated. “Mrs. Roarke is the owner of Wellspring Ranch,” Parnell told the judge.

“Rather unusual out here,” the judge observed.

“My grandfather settled here,” Miz Roarke said. “I grew up on the ranch, but my parents only had me, so when my father died, the ranch passed to me and my husband. He died last year, thrown from a horse. And so it came back to me.”

“My condolences, ma’am,” the judge said kindly. Cade kept his thoughts to himself. Roarke hadn’t been a bad sort in the way Reichardt was, but he knew Miz Roarke was happier now with Payne than she’d ever been before. “Tell me about your relationship with Mr. Reichardt.”

“He owns the neighboring ranch. Our families have known each other since he came to Eldorado. As my foreman told you, he approached my father years ago, but my father refused the match. A few months ago, after my husband died, he and his late foreman came to visit me and he offered marriage again. I refused as it hasn’t even been a year, and when I did so, he told me I’d regret turning him down. ”

“Did anyone else hear him say that?” the judge asked.

“Two of my men were with me,” Miz Roarke replied.

“Sgt. MacRae and Mr. Heller. Mr. Heller isn’t able to be here in person as he’s recovering from being shot in the back by Reichardt’s late foreman, Frank Sanders, after Heller defended me in the saloon here in town.

But Heller’s written an account of everything he’s seen or heard that he thinks might be relevant to the proceedings, if you wish to look at it.

Sgt. MacRae will be here tomorrow if you need to speak with him.

We could only bring so many of the outfit at a time without leaving the herd untended. ”

“Thank you, Mrs. Roarke.” The judge offered her a kindly smile as Parnell escorted her back to her seat.

Parnell called for Javier Trujillo next. Javier explained how they’d come into town for supplies and decided to wait in the saloon while the order was being pulled together.

“When we got there, Sheriff Lutz was drinking at a table with Frank Sanders. Webster told Lutz about the harassment we’d been experiencing from the JR crew—firing at our hands on Wellspring land, trying to stop us from crossing their land to get into town.

Lutz said not to bother him unless somebody was dead. ”

A murmur rose among the spectators, though Cade didn’t know why they seemed surprised. Everyone knew Reichardt had bought and paid for Lutz.

The judge brought his fist down on the desk. “Quiet! Please continue, Mr. Trujillo.”

“Lutz asked if Wellspring was too weak to take care of its own problems, and Sanders said we wouldn’t have to worry about that much longer.

” When the judge raised a questioning eyebrow, Javier added, “Sanders said since Miz Roarke kept refusing Reichardt’s offer, he was going to take more direct action.

By sending Adam Carter and a bunch of men to take over Wellspring. ”

“And it was clear this was at Mr. Reichardt’s orders?” the judge prompted.

“Absolutely,” Javier confirmed. “Sanders said by the end of the night she would either agree to Reichardt’s proposal or—” He glanced apologetically at Miz Roarke. “—that she’d be passed around between the JR hands until no one would have her.”

Cade wanted to smash the lecherous expression off Reichardt’s face. “Tell them what happened next,” he shouted as he jumped to his feet. “Tell them how Erick Heller punched Sanders in the face, and Sanders shot him in the back. And Lutz didn’t raise a hand against him.”

The judge pounded on the desk again for order. “Neither Mr. Sanders nor Mr. Lutz are on trial here today.”

“Because they’re both dead,” Cade muttered.

“Webster, you’ll get your chance to speak next,” Parnell said. “Please take your seat so I don’t have to remove you from the courtroom until it’s your turn.”

Cade subsided grudgingly because he didn’t want to get kicked out. Erick would never let him hear the end of it if he caused that much of a scene, no matter how justified Cade felt it was. When the mutterings in the courtroom had died down, the judge turned back to Javier. “What did happen then?”

“Pretty much what Webster said. Heller defended Miz Roarke. Because he was the fastest, mind. Any one of Wellspring’s outfit would have done the same.

Well, most of us would have gone for our guns instead of fists, but we’d have defended her, one way or another.

But Heller knocked Sanders down and walked out.

Sanders shot him in the back, and Lutz did nothing.

Dr. Lillard managed to save Heller, and I stayed to stand guard while Webster rode like hell to warn Wellspring.

I can’t tell you anything about the attack itself since I was here in town the whole time, but what I do know is what I heard in town before it all started, which I already shared, and that’s that Reichardt ordered the attack, even if he didn’t participate. ”

“Thank you, Mr. Trujillo,” the judge said. “All right, Mr. Webster. Let’s hear what you have to say.”

Cade messed with his tie and reminded himself he’d survived far worse than this as he walked up to take the seat the others had vacated. “Now, what did you see or hear that night?”

“With all due respect, Your Honor, it started before that,” Cade said.

“It goes back at least to mid-March. Miz Roarke sent me to Galveston this spring on an errand, and on my way back, Heller and I stopped in Austin for a night to rest and pick up some supplies to get us the rest of the way home. The next morning, we overheard Reichardt talking to Otto Ulrich, another rancher in the area, about Miz Roarke and how she was a problem. Reichardt said the simplest solution would be to marry her because then it wouldn’t matter what she thought because the land—and the water—would be under his control.

And in a few years, after she’d given him an heir, no one would think twice if she had an unfortunate accident.

Ulrich asked what he’d do if she refused to marry him, and he said there were other ways of getting what he wanted.

Heller and I didn’t hear anything else, but we didn’t stick around either.

We had to get back to warn Miz Roarke, not that I thought she’d give Reichardt the time of day. ”

A sudden thought struck him. “It does make me wonder, though. Roarke had been working with mustangs his whole life. Everybody has bad days, but now I wonder if his accident wasn’t so much of an accident after all.”

“You’ll never prove it, boy,” Reichardt spat. “You can’t prove any of this. It’s all hearsay and gossip.”

“If enough people all saw or heard the same thing, Mr. Reichardt, it stops being hearsay or gossip, and becomes evidence,” the judge said.

“And while facts about the death of Mr. Roarke might be hard to come by, I’ve certainly heard plenty of testimony of other crimes already.

Now, Mr. Webster, you overheard the conversation in Austin and came home to warn your employer. What happened then?”

Leaving out everything between himself and Erick, Cade took the judge through the events of the months since—the harassment by JR hands, the threats, the mounting tension, and finally Erick getting shot and the harrowing ride through growing darkness to warn Wellspring before the nighttime attack.

“And when it was over, I came back to town to make sure Heller had survived and to confront Sanders. You can ask anyone in town. Sanders shot at me first. I killed him in self-defense.”

“You don’t need to defend yourself to me.” Judge Morrison nodded his dismissal. Cade hightailed it back to his seat, loosening his tie enough to pull open his collar. He only hoped he’d been convincing enough.

“Your Honor, I’ll need to fetch Jim Collier from the lockup, if you’ll grant me a few minutes,” Parnell asked.

“Let’s take a twenty-minute recess so the marshal can produce his next witness,” the judge agreed. “In the meantime, can someone show me where I can get a beer in this town?”