Chapter 33

The Matthews clan, along with Margaret, Wainwright, and Fred were gathered in Carla's large living room. Seeing the manila folder that Carla had brought with her, Jeff said, "I hope you did as we asked, got on the net, and picked out the equipment you want. And I'll say it again, so you'll know that we're dead serious. We want that equipment to be the absolute best there is. You pick it solely for what it will do. You let me worry about the price."

Carla looked at her daughter, then back at Jeff. "Mr. Matthews..."

Jeff cleared his throat.

"... Jeff. We got up early and got on the net. We did what you asked, but we can get by just fine and save several thousand dollars. Even though you're buying this, I've got to think about paying it back..."

"No, you haven't," Diana broke in, beating her husband by a heartbeat. "The corporation is paying for this, and we expect to operate at a loss for several years. Now, please pay attention to what my husband says."

Fred spoke up. "We've got to get your crops in and do it in a hurry, as you probably know better than any of us. Another thing, we want enough equipment. If one tractor is baling hay, we don't want to have to wait to use that tractor to pick up the hay and move it to the barn, or wherever you're going to store it. We're going to get some help in, and we don't want someone standing around because he or she doesn't have equipment to work with. As you know," he said, looking at Carla and Jessica, "time, as they say, is of the essence." A little embarrassed for taking over for Jeff and Diana, he wound down.

"Sorry," he said to Jeff.

Jeff laughed. "Why should you be sorry? Maybe she will listen to you." Standing, he continued to everyone, "Fred and I have to check on something. We'll be back in a bit, then we'll head out for Denver."

As Jeff and Fred walked out the back and down the steps, Jeff said, "Let's break one of those busy limbs off that tree over there, and make sure everything is cleaned up from last night."

A few minutes later, they finished brushing the area around the stumps of any possible footprints, then retraced their steps toward the house, doing the same thing. "If those two idiots do start telling the cops their story, all I want them to find is the gasoline can and the Molotov cocktails, plus their footprints coming from the back road to where we intercepted them. There are a couple areas where there isn't grass where we walked, and only a few partial footprints showed up, anyway. Now everything is gone."

"Jeff, I'm with you. Might as well be as careful as we can be, but they didn't have anything left in them last night. They pissed or shit it all out," he laughed. "I'd be amazed if they have balls enough to go to work. No matter what they told the cops, when someone brings their clothes in, billfolds and money intact, from a block or two away from where we put them out, the cops aren't going to believe a damn thing they say."

When they got back to Carla's house, Fred threw the limb on the trash pile and set it afire. Standing up and stretching his back, he looked at Jeff and burst out laughing. "Shit, Buddy. Even with the loss of sleep, I feel like a million dollars today. I just wish that Brenda... Crap, I wish I would quit doing that."

"Why?" Jeff asked, putting his hand on Fred's shoulder. "Brenda would have loved seeing those two assholes get what was coming to them. Quit worrying when you mention her name. She's part of you and always will be. And when you feel like shedding a tear for her, do it. If somebody doesn't like it — fuck um, and feed um beans — right?"

Fred laughed as they turned toward the house. "Damn, Jeff, that was elegantly put," he chuckled.

"Damned straight," Jeff responded, pouring on the accent.

As they got back inside, Diana handed him her phone. "Dave is on the line," she said.

Jeff sat down in a chair beside her. "Yeah, Dave."

"Boss, I've just bought three silos. The company that makes them is starting the loading now. They claim that they will get at least one up tonight, and Carla will have three silos up and ready to receive grain by tomorrow night. They're sending extra people. I spent a ton of your money. I got the best deal I could on short notice, but..."

Jeff broke in, "I'm sure you did, and I certainly appreciate that, but equally important is that they'll be up by tomorrow. Fantastic job!"

Dave went on to describe how the silos were constructed, then Jeff asked, "Are you going to get your crews involved like you said?"

"Yeah, there should be some guys there shortly with a dozer to clear the rubble around the silo foundations and a couple of front-end loaders to help clean up the mess. The crew will start foundations for three more silos like we talked about. And Evie has already taken pictures and video of the destroyed silos and barn for the lawyer, but like we said, we can't wait for the lawyers to fight this out before we get the silos up. Evie took the pictures and video from every direction and from varying distances, including from a good quarter of a mile back. She's documented the destruction as well as can be."

"Good, maybe we can get a reasonable settlement out of the insurance company. If not, we can give them a little piss poor advertising," he chuckled. "We're going to head out to buy new harvesting equipment. So keep in touch if you can."

"Okay, Jeff. Talk to you later," Dave said, breaking the connection.

"How in the world can you have silos by tomorrow?" Jessica asked before her mother could.

Jeff grinned at her. "Dave knew about a company in the area that had, more or less, ready-built, or I guess you could say, quick to assemble silos. After all," he joked, "they're really just a giant pipe with a lid on top and a couple of doors. This company builds them in sections that go together quickly. A crane sets them up as they assemble the pieces. They can, more or less, make them as tall or big around as you want them. And of course, they're installing all new equipment for moving the grain in and out of the silos. By tomorrow night, you'll have a place for a lot of your grain. As soon as Dave gets the other foundations built and the cement sets, we'll get the rest of the silos out here. You will have more storage space for grain than you've ever had before."

Jessica and her mother looked at each other. They suddenly hugged and the tears started.

Crap, Jeff thought. They're acting like I gave them a Christmas present they had been hoping for, not a few silos.

Turning to Jeff, Carla said, "We've never had enough room to store our stuff. We always had to sell a good bit of our harvest as soon as we got it in out of the fields. And we couldn't expand our herd enough because we couldn't store enough feed for more cattle. Just having enough storage will increase our profits more than you would ever realize."

Sighing, she continued, "In addition to everything else, I'm going to have to let another person down. We sold the last of our 'special' cattle a few weeks ago, and if I had still had a phone, I know the butcher would have called for more meat by now. I made a tremendous profit on that 'special' beef."

Diana looked at Jeff, and both of them burst out laughing with the girls, Laura and Helen joining in shortly.

Carla and Jessica looked confused.

"This couldn't be a coincidence," Diana said, smiling at the two women. "We bought some 'special' beef a while back that the butcher guaranteed us would be the best that we ever put in our mouths. It was. He said he got it from a rancher that had a secret ingredient for the cattle. It has to be you."

"Was it Wellington's?" Carla asked.

"Yeah," Diana said. "He's the one."

"Well, I guess you get to find out what the 'secret' is," Carla said, her face now breaking into a smile.

Jeff crossed his legs and leaned back, acting casual. "Well, I guess replacing your special cattle will have to be high up on our priority list, if you make a lot of profit off them..."

"Yeah, Jeff," Ann responded. "We're all sure that you want to get her 'special' beef started again for her profit. Sure you do," she finished dragging out the word.

When the laughing died down, Carla said, "So you like my secret ingredient?"

Jeff chuckled. "I don't know about your secret ingredient, but that was the best steak I've ever eaten — bar none."

Jessica looked at her mother, now serious. Turning back to Jeff, she said, "We'll start twenty head of the best when we begin to restock our cattle. We always start with the best before we... go through the process that makes the meat the best there is."

"We're going to need protection for the stock before the worst of the winter sets in. We're almost eighty-five hundred feet here, even in this sheltered valley. Our cattle make it just fine, though, but when we have really cold weather and heavy snowstorms, they need a good shelter. We have a little longer growing season here than the general area because of the way the valley is situated, but we still have a lot of snow."

"You two need to sit down with Evie and Dave. Think about your old barn and what you've always wanted in a new one. Remember, uh... I'm sorry, I don't want to bring back sorrow, but there are just the two of you now. You need to be as mechanized as you can possibly be. Dave tells me that he and Evie have built various types of barns, but I think you need to research this as well. Tell them what you want so that you can run this farm by yourselves."

Grinning at mother and daughter, he continued, "We'll build this one so that it won't be so easy to burn down, and we'll put some alarms on it," he said, nodding at Frank, "that will warn you when things go wrong. Right Frank?"

"Sure," Frank said, "We can put in videos and fire alarms. Might be interesting to see if our motion detectors and the software can be taught to ignore the movements from the cattle, and still pick up on humans. I'll bet that something my software people never thought of. Hummm..." he said, looking thoughtful.

"Do you know where you want to go?" Jeff asked Carla.

"Sure. I've done business with the same John Deere place ever since we bought the farm. I guess Daniel and I have gotten old together. He took over his dad's business just before we started out with ours. He's treated me right over the years."

"Is his outfit big enough to have everything you need?" Jeff asked, ignoring the "old" comment, knowing she couldn't be more than forty.

"Oh, yeah. He's the biggest around."

"Okay, let's go spend some money. Who wants to ride with me?"

Carla sat in Robert Davenport's office. "Again, Carla, I'm sorry I blurted out and asked where Sam was. I feel like a fool. I hadn't seen you folks for — what has it been? Two years I guess. I had no idea."

"Oh, you didn't know. I still start to say something to him ever now and then," she said, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "Now how much of this are you going to be able to deliver today?"

"We'll get everything you need to start on your corn, today. Carla, that guy," he said, nodding to where Jeff stood in the yard as two salesmen lined up equipment that he and Fred had picked out, "told me to line up whatever you need for your corn, hay and soy beans. He said he wouldn't buy anything but the biggest and best equipment I had. He was very adamant about it. Carla, I'm in the business to make money, but this is going to be a lot of money for you to spend at one time. Don't get me wrong," he hastily added, "I'm making an honest profit, and only an honest profit."

Unconsciously scratching his neck and glancing out the window at Jeff, again, he said, "He was adamant that if I ripped you off, word would get around that I did that to a widow, and in addition, you would need a lot more equipment, and it would not be bought here. He was really in my face, and... he's intimidating. But apparently he has the money. I called his bank. The president of the branch knew him personally, I gather. He just laughed at me and said that he didn't have to check the account balance, but he guaranteed me that I didn't have enough equipment on my lot to even bother Mr. Matthew's checking account."

Leaning back in his seat while Carla fidgeted, he continued, "Are you sure this guy isn't pulling something on you to get your farm? I mean..."

Carla sighed, "If he is, there's nothing I can do about it. It was lost when they showed up. Jess and I were loading a U-Haul with our stuff. And I had rather these folks get it than that asshole at the bank. But if Jeff is, somehow, ripping me off, he sure as hell is spending a lot of money on me to do it."

Leaning forward and putting her forearms on Davenport's desk, she said, "Heck, I'd be tickled if they just let Jess and me live on the place and make enough to put food on the table, but I actually believe that they're honest. I heard everything he told his accountant, the lawyers and the bank president. If he's going to rip me off, he's sure going a round about route to do it.

"They're setting up a corporation to own everything, with me in charge. And they've done some other things that convinced me, that's kinda private. Jessica and I spent the night with them last night. They live in this big... hotel, or something way up on the mountain past my place. This morning, they loaded up that big pickup of his with enough frozen meat to last Jess and me for a year, not to say anything about all the other stuff they filled my freezers and refrigerator with. My pantry is stuffed with canned goods, and they gave me money. If they're ripping me off, then hell, more power to them. It's the best rip-off I've ever had."

Getting up and pouring Carla a cup of coffee without asking, he set it in front of her with the condiments close by. Putting the pot back, he sat down to fix his own coffee. "He gave me a list in addition to the list you gave me. He wants a commercial, top-of-the-line steam cleaner, pressure washer, air compressor, heck there's a dozen things here," he said, picking up a sheet of paper, "and he wants commercial-grade on everything. He's even got pressure grease guns, enough grease to do you for five years, and twenty cases of oil for the tractors. I told him that I didn't sell some of this stuff, but he just stared at me. Before I knew what I was saying, I told him I would get it for him. He said that he would appreciate it if I would make sure everything was the absolute best money could buy. And reminded me that it was for you."

Carla sipped her hot coffee and looked over the cup at Davenport, "We met my silos just before we got on the interstate. Even the sections are monsters. They've got an escort like you see with those extra wide modular homes, plus a county car in front of that. There's a big crane lumbering along behind them, then another of those escort vehicles behind it. They're practically taking up the whole road. They claim that by tomorrow night, I'll have three working silos. They put them together with a crane. He had his project manager — whatever the hell that is — go find them and buy them for me. They're going to pour more foundations for additional silos as soon as these are up. Then they're going to build me another barn. He says this one can't be burned down, and I saw his wife walking around the outside of my house with a pad in her hand. Lord only knows what that means.

"They told me that if I wanted to, they would build very high-end homes on my front forty that I don't use. His project manager claims that the houses will sell before they are built after they build a demo home. They're talking about building homes for the ultra rich. They claim it won't interfere with my farm, since I can use the back road for my driveway. There's a big hill between the front forty and the rest of my property. They're talking about putting up billboards everywhere, and advertising on radio and TV. But they tell me that building or not, is up to me."

"I said something about charity, and his wife about had a fit. She said that this was an investment, and had nothing to do with charity. Hell, I'm about to believe them. Sam and I were doing okay until that cancer hit. I've been so down after having to pay out everything to that hospital up front, and with Sam's passing, I just... Now, for the first time in a while, Jess and I have a little hope."

Davenport stood. "Come on. Let's get back outside. Stampley is going to step on his tongue if he keeps staring at those girls much longer. I need to make sure that we load the first trucks with what you will need in the morning. I helped out the IH dealer a while back, so I called him and asked for two of his delivery trucks and drivers. They should be here shortly. Oh, and Mr. Matthews also reminded me to fuel up everything before we left. He said to lube and oil everything that needed it, and he would pay for it, so you wouldn't have to do that first thing. He said he wanted you to be able to get on the equipment and roll.

"Crap, Carla, you just bought more this morning than I've sold all month. You could have carried Matthews anywhere. I appreciate it. And, I won't forget it. Just remember, if you need anything, just give me a call. I'll put it on a truck and head it your way as soon as I can get it loaded. You've just become my absolute best customer of all time."

Sobering, Carla looked at Davenport. "Just remember Rob, these are nice people, but... I'd be amazed if they don't check the prices on everything we're buying today. I have a very distinct feeling that crossing them would not be a good idea."

Davenport opened the door for her, but stood looking at her for a moment, "That's the reason my secretary is going over the invoice right now. I don't want to cheat myself, but I'm damn sure not going to cheat you, either. Even unintentionally. But I've discounted everything. I don't worry about them checking around, they'll just find out that nobody will beat these prices. You bought so much that I could afford to cut way back."

"Thanks Rob, I appreciate it."

Outside, Jessica met her mother as she stood looking at the line of equipment waiting its turn at the loading dock.