Book Cover  •  Table of Contents  •  < PREV Chapter  •  NEXT Chapter >

CHAPTER 29

      THE MEETING was well underway when Rand got there.

      He was getting a spudnut and a cup of coffee when Navarette arrived, and joined him. The crowd was bigger this time. Pritchard and Noreen had taken the gold Vandergaard had planted in the garage and removed it from the box. It was stacked before them on the table. They were passing around a real bar of gold for the spectators to see - and they were keeping a heavy eye on it, as though it might suddenly disappear into someone's pocket.

      For the new people, Pritchard was telling again about how Nick Hood had found the treasure cave and had lost it before being killed. Noreen was still playing the grieving widow.

      The room was hot. Macky Collins was sitting next to Pritchard dripping sweat. The Mayor came in late, grabbed two spudnuts and a cup of black coffee and sat down at a place Macky had saved for him at the table. The crowd was not as cheerful as the last time, and Rand attributed that to Vandergaard's murder, which had dominated page one of today's paper. They knew that Vandergaard had suggested that there had to be other gold bars somewhere in the house that the folks could see, and he had been killed at Hood's place.

      Rand felt sorry for the crowd. There wasn't a one of them who had not been hurt by the depression, and now they were getting ready to buy stock in a swindle.

      Seeing their faces made it easier for him than he thought it would be. He exchanged glances with Navarette, who stood beside him rocking on his heels, holding a cup of coffee, absolute innocence spread across his face.

      "Now?" Rand said.

      "Might as well."

      Rand gulped down his coffee and they pushed through to the table. He took out his pocketknife and opened the big blade. "Here, let me see one of these," he said loudly, reaching for a bar that was midway down the stack.

      "Hey there! What are you doin'?" Pritchard said, grabbing for the bar, which Rand held out of reach.

      "Let him alone, Len," Navarette said.

      Macky Collins stood up, and the people pressed closer to see what was happening.

      Rand scraped the gold bar and there was a gasp from the people around the table who saw the thin coats of gold and copper came off and the lead became visible. Noreen's eyes blazed with anger as Rand handed it to Collins who stared at it thunderstruck.

      Pritchard grabbed it out of Collins' hands and stared at it in shocked disbelief. "Why - why it looks like lead!" he cried. "We've been swindled! What the hell is going on here?"

      "Let me see that!" Noreen demanded.

      Pritchard handed it to her. She pretended surprise and astonishment. "Nick said these bars were solid gold! We tested them! They were real!" She looked as though she was about to burst into tears.

      Pritchard, his voice shaky, said, "Somebody please bring up that bar we've been passing around."

      The bar was brought up and Pritchard, like a man in a trance, took Rand's knife out of his hand and scraped it. The bar was solid gold. He shook his head in disbelief. "How could some of the bars be real, and some fake?"

      Navarette was staring at them, a look on his face that Rand had seen on cats before they jumped on their prey. He was enjoying himself.

      Pritchard turned to Rand and said, "Mr. Rand, you've saved us one helluva lot of trouble by discovering this and bringing it to our attention. I've wasted a thousand dollars worth of my time on this, and we could have spent a fortune looking for a cave that never existed."

      Noreen said, "It was Nick that must have done it. How could he have gotten bars like this?"

      "From Vandergaard," Navarette said softly.

      "Why I didn't even know they knew each other," she said. Of the two, Rand thought that Pritchard was the best liar. Noreen lacked his experience.

      Collins wasn't taken in by their pretense of ignorance. He said coldly, "I want my check back, Len. I'm sure the other folks here who have contributed want theirs back, too."

      "Of course! Of course!" Pritchard said. "Everybody who has given me money will get it back. Every cent. I have the list right here, and I brought my checkbook. I'll write out a check for every one of you."

      Noreen could no longer hold back the tears. "I can't believe Nick would do such a thing!"

      Navarette shook his head sympathetically, but the smile remained. He said loudly, "I guess the meeting's over folks. All of you who don't have checks comin' can go on home now." To Pritchard and Noreen, he said, "I'd like to have a little talk with you after everybody else goes. A lot has happened. Brennan is dead, and we've cleared up who killed Vandergaard. We gotta talk."

      Pritchard put his face near Navarette's ear and Rand heard him whisper, "I know what you're thinking and you're dead-assed wrong. You give me shit on this and you'll be out there pickin' cotton like the rest of you Mexicans."

      Navarette laughed aloud.

      "Well, I guess I'll be moseying along," Rand said, looking at this watch. "My work is done."

      "You're fired," Noreen said.

      "I figured."

      "And - and I'm not going to pay you the rest of your so-called fee," she said.

      "Didn't expect it."

      "I hope you croak!" she said.

      "Can you take it from here?" Rand asked Navarette.

      "Oh sure, I've got reinforcements. "Come on in boys," he called, and the two deputies came in.

      "See you around, Joe," Rand said. He stuck out his hand and Navarette shook it hard, as though he was really pleased to have known him. A good politician's handshake.

      Rand walked out into cool night air, past people who were shaking their heads and talking about it on the sidewalk. He was tired and he ached from being slugged and tied up so long.

      He drove over to the Courts and picked up the rest of his clothes and threw them in the car and waited while Samms totaled up the charges, then paid his bill.

      By the time he got back to El Paso, he had decided that Navarette was wrong. A case wasn't solved until all the loose ends were tied up. And there was a loose end remaining, dangling as big as a mouse tail sticking out of a cat's mouth.

Cover  •  Contents  •  < PREV Chapter  •  NEXT Chapter >  •  Page Top