Chapter 16

Paco was dozing in the back seat of Clara Jackson’s buggy. He would have preferred to join her in the church. As a Catholic, he enjoyed going to mass with his mother and sisters. But the Protestant church that Clara belonged to preferred that the Mexican members of the community celebrate the lord at other locations. Paco was ok with this. He was well experienced with the local prejudices. But it would have been nice to sit in the cool interior of the church while waiting for Dona Clara.

Paco was rudely awakened by a white man shoving his shoulder. “Wake up, kid. I got sumthin fur you to do.”

“Si Si senor, what can I do for you?” the white man was big. Twice as big as Paco. Unshaven and had a bad odor. Paco was brave, but this man was dangerous.

“You give this to the lady. Understand? Give. This. To. The. Lady.” he shoved a piece of paper into Paco’s hand. “Understand?”

Paco was almost frozen from fear. “Si Si senor. Give the letter to the lady.”

“Good.” he looked around and then ran off around the corner of the church and out of sight.

Half an hour later, when the parishioners started leaving, Paco handed the note to Clara and explained what happened. Clara quickly read the note. Looked up at Paco, she asked, “Is Colonel Anderson in town?”

“Si senora he plays cards at the saloon. He is with the Sheriff.”

“Take me there, now.”

Paco was aghast, “But Senora, the saloon? it isn’t proper for a lady.”

“Fiddlesticks, this is important.” by this time, Clara was seated in her buggy and seemed to be ready to take the reins herself.

Paco started mumbling to himself in Spanish. Mainly a prayer not to be seen by anybody from the ranch that would tell Senor Obie. Paco stood a good chance of a whipping if this went wrong. But he stood just as much a chance if he refused.

Pulling up to the saloon, Paco parked the buggy across the street in front of the closed bank. He figured this would be the safer location, If he were seen. Any excuse would be better than if he was in front of the saloon.

Clara got out of the buggy before Paco could help her out and ran across the street and into the saloon.

She stood just inside while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. In a moment, Clara saw the inside of a saloon for the first time in her life.

Meanwhile, the occupants of the room were staring at Clara. None of them quite knew what was going to happen next. This was something totally outside of their experience.

Clara scanned the room and spotted Colonel Anderson at the back of the room. He was sitting with the Sheriff, Mayor and Doctor Stone.

Stepping up to the table, She declared, “Colonel Anderson, this was just left with my driver, Paco.” pausing and looking around. Paco was nowhere to be seen. In a voice trained to call children and ranch hands to meals, “Paco, get in here, now.”

In moments Paco was peeking in the doorway. Colonel Anderson called out, “Get in here, boy, we have some questions for you.”

Like a man walking to his execution, head down and shuffling. Paco slowly walked into the saloon and up to the assembled group. Clara laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Paco, you’ve done nothing wrong. Just tell these men about the man and the note.”

Paco spent five minutes telling the story. Then the next 45 minutes were spent answering questions from the group. In the end, he felt wrung out like a dishtowel.

Colonel Anderson called the bartender, “Bart, could you get a sarsaparilla or something for young Paco here. Maybe a sweet tea like I showed you the other day.”

This had to be the most unusual day in all his years working in bars. Having no idea what to do next, Bart decided to go with the flow. “Yes, sir Colonel. I think I’ve got just the thing for the young man.”

Turning back to Clara, Colonel Anderson was grinning. “Clara, I’m in town today, waiting for you to get out of church. I’m generally at the Hacienda on Sunday for services with my people. But I needed to talk to you today. I received word yesterday that Billy had been rescued from his kidnappers.

As you know, he has been injured. But it isn’t life-threatening. My people have treated him and are bringing him back to Wilkins right now. They should be here by the end of the week.”

Clara was seated in the chair that the mayor had given up to her. When she heard the news that Billy was alive and safe, she gasped and hid her face in her hands, her shoulder started heaving, and it was obvious she was crying.

Doc Stone was at her side and started comforting her. After a couple of minutes, Sheriff Quigley spoke up. “Clara, you do know that there is an arrest warrant out for Billy? When he gets here, I’ll have to take him into custody. Don’t worry. He’ll be treated right. But he still needs to see the judge. You’ll need to get an attorney for him too.”

Clara was sniffling and dabbing at her eyes with an embroidered handkerchief. “Yes, I suppose that will need to be considered.”

Colonel Anderson spoke up, “Clara, what do you want us to do about the ransom? My people and I have come up with a plan. We have a strong confidence we can bring these people in. That would put an end to this whole unhappy event. But it’s your choice. Do we act or not?”

Clara pondered for a moment. “Colonel,”

Colonel Anderson interrupted, “Joshua, please, Clara.”

“Joshua, what do you think is best? I leave it up to you.”

“Well, Clara, there is only one way we can guarantee that this doesn’t happen to someone else. We need to bring this person in and have him answer for his crimes. I am almost certain that he has committed other crimes and should be called to account for them.”

Clara looked at the Colonel for a moment, her gaze then shifted to the Sheriff, who nodded his head. Then the Doctor. He also nodded. “Very well, Joshua, we go with your plan.”