Blood on the Verde River Read Free Page A

his wife exploded out of the big house when he rode up and dismounted. She flew into his arms from the porch. “You’re home a day early. Gods, it is good to have you back.”
    â€œI need a bath and a shave.” Chet nodded at the stable hand Jesus, who’d come on the run to welcome him and take the gelding and roan away.
    â€œYou came to the right place. I have a nightshirt for you to wear back from the shower. Have any problems?”
    â€œApaches tried to attack us, stampeded the cattle, and two of the Apaches got shot.”
    â€œOh, my heavens. I thought they were all on the reservations.”
    â€œNot all of them stay there.”
    Turning to the housekeeper who also cooked, Marge said, “Monica, look who got home early.”
    â€œAh, señor. Always so good to see you.”
    Chet used his thumb to point to his wife. “Cause she’s asked you a thousand times, I hope he hurries back?”
    â€œOh, sí . But that is a wife’s duty, no?”
    â€œI guess so. It is good to be home.”
    â€œI have some lunch ready when you two are ready to eat it,”
    â€œFine. I’ll be clean and get shaved then. Has she been minding me when I was away?” he asked Monica quietly.
    â€œOh, sí. She is well behaved.”
    Marge gave him a shove. “I am the perfect minder.”
    They laughed and the two of them went on to the sheepherder’s shower tank atop the shop building that the sun heated. Undressed and standing on the wooden grates, he soaped and showered it away by pulling on a chain. The water wasn’t hot but warm enough he didn’t shiver too much. Then she personally dried him off and brushed his hair.
    â€œYou can’t tell anyone, but Susie is going to say yes to Leif this Saturday night. Act surprised.”
    â€œOh, how wonderful. They will make a neat couple.”
    â€œI thought so myself. But now I’m not certain. She might have fretted a lot about it. He’s younger than she is.”
    â€œSo what about that?”
    â€œI don’t mean anything. But she’s had some kinda reservations about him.”
    After Marge shaved him, they ate lunch and he told Monica about the Apaches and their raid.
    â€œThey are blood thirsty devils. They will never settle down and live on those reservations. They are too free-spirited.”
    â€œThen they may all be dead. It is that simple.”
    Monica agreed.

C HAPTER 2
    That evening, Jenn drove out from town all red-eyed and obviously distraught. The big blond-headed woman ran the café in Preskitt—what the locals called Prescott. She had fed Chet and his nephew Heck when they first came to Yavapai County three years earlier looking for the ranch. She’d found him most of his help for the ranch, too.
    Later, on their way home one night his brother’s son was killed by road agents. Chet hunted them down and put them away.
    Hearing the rig pull into the yard, he and Marge met Jenn at the door.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Chet asked as the two of them led her to the couch.
    Marge went for a towel, pausing in the doorway to hear her say, “It’s my daughter in Tombstone. She’s disappeared. No one knows where she went or what happened to her. Here, read this letter from Mr. White, the town marshal.”
    Marge turned back and sat next to Chet as he read the letter.

    Dear Jenn,
    I have checked where she was working and no one there knows where your daughter Bonnie Allen went. She’s been gone for over a week and took most of her things. Strange, but in many similar cases the girls run off with men they have become attached to and leave their scarlet life to start a new one as a wife. If I learn anything about her I will contact you.

    Sincerely yours,
B. White
Tombstone’s chief marshal

    â€œWhat can we do?” Marge asked.
    Jenn raised her chin. “Only man I know who could find her if she’s alive is your husband. I