Chapter 18 - The Judge's Private War

Bell had quietly purchased land through nominees for fifteen years.

Jonah discovered it by comparing courthouse tax records with Red Mesa files.

Every future railway junction had nearby parcels linked to Bell.

He was not merely protecting Vane.

He intended to profit from whichever side survived.

Rourke served Bell first.

Voss, perhaps, served whoever paid most recently.

They also discovered Deputy Ellis had visited Jonah because he learned Bell planned to destroy original county deed books.

Ellis died before he could testify.

Corvin confronted Vane.

"Did Bell order the killing?"

Vane looked exhausted enough to tell the truth.

"I don't know."

"Who would?"

"Rourke."

"Without Bell?"

"Rourke stopped needing permission years ago."

"Where is he?"

Vane hesitated.

"I heard he has men at the old quarry."

Mara organized riders.

Corvin stopped her.

"No army."

"Why?"

"Because Bell wants fear."

She understood.

They took six people.

At the quarry they found Rourke.

Dead.

Shot in the back.

Beside him lay documents implicating Martin.

Too perfect.

Corvin did not touch them.

Mara examined tracks.

"Three horses."

"Voss?"

"One heavy rider. Two lighter."

They followed tracks to a dry wash.

There they found a frightened young deputy hiding behind rocks.

He had witnessed Rourke's death.

"Judge Bell came himself," the deputy said.

Corvin stared.

"Bell shot him?"

"No. Voss did."

"Bell watched?"

The deputy nodded.

"Rourke wanted more money. Said he had copies of everything."

Bell ordered Voss to kill him.

"Where's Bell now?"

"Courthouse."

"Voss?"

"Don't know."

They returned quietly.

Jonah drafted affidavits.

Rebecca hid originals.

Price prepared another special edition.

But Bell moved first.

He declared martial emergency under an obscure territorial public-order statute and deputized forty armed volunteers.

Then he issued an order requiring Apache riders to leave the county by sunrise.

Mara read the notice.

"My people came to protect evidence."

"He wants you to refuse."

"Yes."

"If you stay, he calls it rebellion."

"If we leave, he takes the ranch."

Corvin looked at the three hundred camps.

Then at Carrick.

"This was always his plan."

Mara asked, "What?"

"Turn a land fraud into a race war so nobody examines the paperwork."

The phrase sickened him.

Fear was easier to control than ledgers.

They needed authority Bell could not command.

Whitcomb provided the answer.

A federal railway investigator named Nathaniel Crowe was traveling with Hawthorne's engineering party and held authority to report fraud involving federally subsidized rail construction.

Crowe was only twenty miles away.

Bell learned too.

Voss left town with eight men.

Corvin and Mara raced to intercept.

They found Crowe's wagon at a bridge.

Voss's men blocked the road.

For the first time Corvin heard Voss speak openly about Bell.

"Turn around," Voss told Crowe.

"Road's unsafe."

Crowe produced credentials.

"Move."

Voss smiled.

"No."

Corvin rode into view.

"He's right about one thing."

Voss turned.

"The road's unsafe."

Mara's riders appeared behind Corvin.

Only six.

Enough.

Voss looked at Mara.

"You survived."

"You aim poorly."

He smiled.

"Wasn't aiming at you."

That confirmed his earlier statement.

"Then why shoot?"

"To frighten you off the trail."

"Whose order?"

Voss glanced toward Crowe.

"Everybody wants a confession now."

Corvin said, "Bell killed Rourke."

"Bell told me to."

Crowe heard it.

Voss realized.

He laughed.

"Well, there goes my retirement."

He drew.

Mara was faster.

Her rifle fired into the dirt beside his boot.

Voss's horse reared.

Corvin tackled him from the saddle.

The fight ended in dust and fists.

When Voss was restrained, Crowe looked at Corvin.

"You realize I just witnessed attempted obstruction of a federal investigator?"

Corvin breathed hard.

"Yes."

"And heard a man admit killing a sheriff on a judge's order?"

"Yes."

Crowe adjusted his coat.

"Then perhaps someone should finally explain why three hundred Apache riders are camped around a cattle ranch."

Mara looked at Corvin.

Corvin smiled faintly.

"How much time do you have?"

Crowe looked toward Carrick.

"Judging by the smoke and gunfire I've seen?"

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He sighed.

"Apparently the rest of my week."