Summary:  This is the fourth Adam and Selina story, and it has a darker tone as Adam is embroiled in a plot against him which he misinterprets the danger which is nearly a disaster until many rally to help him.  The villain is someone he knows but hoped never to see again.

Rating = T  Word count = 15137

Selina Series

Fighting his Demons
Revelations and Revolutions
Birthright
A Promise Kept

A Promise Kept

 

Chapter 1

The bed was soft and the sheets were some of the finest made, but Adam Cartwright wasn’t comfortable. He was in agony. In most other circumstances, resting naked on these sheets in this bed on an afternoon would have had him smiling. He did think it was afternoon. It seemed it had been light for quite a while although he couldn’t be sure he had been awake continuously. His arms were bound behind him and tied to the ropes that bound his ankles together. Not only was it effective in preventing him from any chance of getting free, it was humiliating and frustrating to be tied like a hog for slaughter. Restraints were not the most serious problem facing him though. The men who had him at such a disadvantage wanted access to his wealth. Once they had it or most of it, there would be no motivation to keep him alive and many reasons to end his life. He knew who they were and the penalty for the crimes they had committed were severe. He hadn’t paid enough attention to that warning delivered by Hoss only a short time before he had been ambushed.

“You better get used to the idea, older brother. You’re a rich man now and getting richer right along. They’re some who are gonna want a piece of that, and there’s one way to a man’s wealth that some cold-hearted bastards are willing to try.”

“You think they want to kidnap Selina or Aaron?”

“It’s what makes the most sense out of all we found out, don’t it?”

Of course, like Hoss, he had never thought the idea that there might be a kidnapping included him. His worries had been for his wife and son. Though it seemed so long ago now, it was less than a week earlier when he had his first discussion with Selina about it. As usual with the two of them, their best talks took place in darkness after they had been intimate. It made it so much easier to admit fears and vulnerabilities.

“Adam, why is Ross working as your assistant again?”

“Now that’s an unusual topic to bring up while we’re snuggled up after what we just did.”

“It’s something that’s been on my mind. I have reasons for asking.”

“I’m assuming if I explain, you’ll tell me what those are?” He hadn’t waited for an answer though. “Ross came to me about a week or two ago and said he wasn’t getting along with some of the men on the other crew. He said he had liked the work he had done with me and how much he learned working with me. I did wonder about it, but he seemed sincere.”

“Seems like he knows how to get you to see things from his side.”

“You mean by appealing to me as kind of a mentor or teacher? I considered that too and that he might be trying to manipulate me, but I couldn’t see any benefit that he would get by being assigned as my assistant. I do like being able to teach too.”

“Yes, I know how much you like to do that. I look forward to when Aaron is old enough that he can take advantage of all that you can teach him. But back to Ross: that was his whole story?”

“That was it. There are plenty of job openings on the project. We’ll take people wherever we can get them. We do what we can to accommodate requests for work assignments as long as the person is reasonably qualified for what they would like to do.”

“I thought you said Ross was better suited to the other job.”

“He is, but he is capable doing work for me, and I needed an assistant. My previous assistant isn’t able to resume office duties at this time, and I hadn’t found anyone else yet.”

“I’m sorry about that, but I had no idea how much time it would take to care for a baby.”

“Sweetheart, I’m not criticizing. I’m only saying I needed some help to get all the work done. Now, why does this concern you?”

“Well, I know that you like him, and I know he helped us against his mother, and that made him a hero in some ways.”

“I sense a major qualification coming here.”

“I feel weird around him. Whenever I’m there, he keeps looking at me and then looking away and looking all around like he’s trying not to look at me. It’s very strange and makes me uncomfortable.”

“I haven’t seen that.”

“Well, my handsome husband, that’s because whenever I’m around, you stare at me especially at the parts of me that are much larger as a result of having a child and breastfeeding him.”

“Can you blame me? They are so, well, luscious. I’m your husband. I have a right to look at them.”

“I think everyone knows you stare at them.”

“You may be right about that. I’ll try not to be so obvious.”

“But you won’t stop.”

Even in the dark, she thought she could see that grin. However, Adam didn’t seem to take her worry seriously. She decided to push it a bit harder.

“If you haven’t noticed it with Ross, perhaps you could ask someone else if they have noticed anything unusual in his behavior.”

“It may be difficult to work that into the conversation.”

“You could try.”

“All right. I will try.”

There wasn’t any more conversation because Selina had been lightly running her hand over his chest and in other places. He couldn’t ignore her any longer which meant there wasn’t any more talking or at least any talking about serious topics.

At work the next day, keeping his word proved to be easier for Adam than he had anticipated. Apparently several of his coworkers had noticed the nervous behavior Ross exhibited. He called Ross in to talk to him and was clearly looked displeased when the young man entered his office.

“Have I done something wrong?”

“I guess you would be the best one to tell me that?”

Even seated at his desk, Adam Cartwright could be intimidating. Ross got nervous standing there waiting for what the man might say next. The words began pouring out of him in no particular order. He had wanted to tell this story but didn’t know if someone like Adam would ever believe him.

“I think there’s a plan to kidnap your wife or your son or both of them. I was working with the other crew, and I heard two men talking. They said to keep an eye on you especially when your family came to visit. They wanted to know your schedule. Their names were Jones and Johnson. I was going to go to you with that, but they quit right after that. I knew the names had to be fake, and it would only be my story and not much of one at that, but then I saw other men who seemed to be watching you every time you were around our work site. So, I signed on with you to see if they ever showed up here.”

Frowning, Adam had listened to the story and evaluated it. “And what were you going to do? Defend me?” Highly skeptical of the whole situation, he waited to hear what the nervous young man would say next to see if it made any sense.

“Oh, no, but you see if they came over here to sign on, that would back up my story. Then I was going to tell you. I can see you don’t believe me so I was right. I needed more.”

Ross looked dejected and nearly miserable at that point, and Adam wasn’t at all sure he had enough to make any kind of decision. So he took a middle road.

“For now, stay away if my wife visits. Your behavior is making her nervous. As to your continued employment with me, I need to think about this and see what I think about it. Go ahead now and get to work.”

“I’m not fired?”

“No, I won’t fire you. You may be transferred. That would be the worst of it. If you’re right, you might get a raise. Now off to work with you.”

Because Ross looked so relieved to still have his job, Adam chalked that up to one more point in his favor. However if that was true, then his story might be true as well. That meant Adam had to check out the story. It didn’t take long to find out that Jones and Johnson had worked there for only a short time. Their manager said they claimed to have skills they did not have in order to be on the crew that worked the project closest to where the headquarters was. Their skills were more suited to the project further out on the flats toward Reno. That also helped back up Ross’ story. They had quit rather than be reassigned. When Hoss showed up later asking if Adam wanted to have some lunch together, Adam related the whole story to him.

“Maybe I ought to take a looksee and find out if there’s anything else that ain’t looking quite right. Maybe go by your house here in town and see if I kin find anything. Why don’t you take a gander around the outside of your office too.”

“You think if someone has been watching, it wasn’t only from a distance at work.”

“Ifn I was gonna kidnap someone, I’d want to know everything I could about where they live and what they do.”

“And here I was thinking only Joe had the potential to be an outlaw.”

Hoss laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Nah, I just know a mite about how to catch ’em. It’s like hunting. You got to know where they go and what they do ifn you want to bag one.”

“Hunting? Yeah, I guess it is like that, isn’t it.”

It hurt though to think of men hunting his family like he and his brothers went out and hunted game. Hoss saw the look and put a hand on Adam’s shoulder.

“Don’t you worry none. They ain’t gonna get anywhere near your family. We’ll see to that. Ain’t nobody can do nothing like that when the Cartwrights stand ready to defend their own.”

As Hoss went off to do some sleuthing, Adam went back to work but found it difficult to concentrate. He did find some prints at his office window. By itself, that was evidence of anything, but if Hoss found anything, it was going to begin to add up to something ominous. Two men at the site paid attention and knew that they were going to have to make a report that night to their boss who likely wasn’t going to like what they had to say. They wished they could follow the big man wondering what he was doing, but they couldn’t leave work without being fired. There was no way to alert their partners that he should probably be followed and only hoped that whatever he did aroused suspicion enough to get them to do it.

Instead of staying in town on a Monday night which was his usual pattern, Adam headed to the Ponderosa. It would mean a long ride in early on Tuesday morning and another long ride probably back on Tuesday evening, but this was too important to risk having Selina come to town now. If he was inconvenienced, he didn’t mind because it was to keep his family safe. However, he knew that for this week, he was likely to be tired every day.

When Adam arrived on the Ponderosa, there was reason to be invigorated though. His brother-in-law, and good friend and business partner, Thomas Reynolds was there. In a rare display, Adam wrapped him in a hug when he saw him. Those who witnessed it knew how special that was as did Thomas by this point in their relationship.

“Thank you for the warm welcome. I had to come to see my nephew. I thought it was about time for my wife to see the Ponderosa too.”

“Yes, and about time for Selina and I to get to know her. That was a dirty trick getting married when we couldn’t travel.”

“We couldn’t wait.”

At that point, Thomas’ wife Angelina walked out to greet them, and the smile that Selina had been holding back rather unsuccessfully shone more brightly. Angelina’s swollen belly was not hidden very well under her wrap dress.

“We had to make the trip now too before we couldn’t travel.”

“Ah, well now it all makes sense. Angelina, I am pleased to meet you even if your uncouth husband has failed to introduce me. I am Adam. Come on inside. I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”

After they spent quite a bit of time discussing their business ventures in Denver, and then the railroad projects in both Denver and Virginia City, they were about to discuss family when Hoss arrived home. The discussion took on a much more serious tone with his revelations. He wasn’t sure he should divulge everything in front of Selina and the guests, but Adam told him they were part of it and should know it all. He explained his suspicions about Ross and what Ross had told him. Then Hoss had the floor.

“Adam, it’s clear somebody’s been at your house. I found footprints that ain’t yours at windows all around your house. I found the door to the porch was fooled with and someone got in there. I found tracks like them in your little stable and all around it.”

“They were in my house?”

“Far as I could tell, they were. Can’t tell where they were, but they got in.”

“That isn’t all. They were at my office too. I found boot prints at my office windows. Now I know we wouldn’t find them anywhere else because of all the other men walking around, but there was enough to know they were there looking in. If our suspicions are correct, they work there.”

“Looks like Ross could be onto something here. If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t have known this much.”

“I’ll apologize to him for suspecting him. I need him to keep an eye out for the two he suspected, but now I have to wonder who else is there and planning something so foul.”

“Clearly my sister should not travel to town. Here, I can help protect her, but traveling, it would take a small army to be sure she and Aaron are kept safe.”

“I don’t want to be a prisoner here on the Ponderosa.”

Adam moved to sit beside his wife, and taking her hand, he spoke softly. “You have to consider how to keep Aaron safe. I can’t do it. It’s up to you.”

“All right, but how are you going to catch these men then? I don’t want to spend forever here worrying about them.”

Looking up at his family and Thomas, Adam had the same question. The group was silent for a time as they thought about possible ways of drawing out the kidnappers without risking Selina and Aaron. Sitting in his red leather chair and puffing on his pipe, Ben had a thought about what they needed to do first.

“We need to be sure that the Ponderosa is a safe place. Adam had no idea they were at his house or at his business. We have had some new hires here too. Hoss, could you do here what you did for Adam?”

“Sure, Pa. It’s a mite dark to see tracks now so I’ll get to it right away in the morning as soon as there’s enough light to see decent.”

“Hoss, maybe we ought to do it now. It looked like rain might be coming, and even a little could take care of any prints.”

“Joe, you’re right. I was so tired I wasn’t thinking on that. All right, get a couple of lanterns and we’ll go check.”

“I can carry a lantern too. Seems that light from two directions would make it easier for Hoss to see tracks if there are any. I may be dressed like a city man, but I’ve worked hard in my life and I’d like to help.”

With a nod, Hoss included Thomas in their group, and the three men headed out to look for tracks. Candy came out to see what they were doing and his lantern helped even more to illuminate the ground for Hoss. While they worked, they filled Candy in on what they had learned and Candy and Thomas got to know each other a little. In about an hour, the four were back having found nothing. Candy came in the house with them to help with the planning for whatever they would do next. It was a relief to everyone to know that whoever their foes were, apparently they had not found a way onto the ranch. Now they had a big problem though of how to lure their enemies into a trap with the whole area outside the ranch as the target zone because somewhere out there they waited to kidnap part of the family.

Oh, how badly they had miscalculated. Adam knew that and wondered why they had never considered that he would be the target. As he lay on the bed, alternately shivering and sweating, he knew he had a fever but didn’t know why. Dehydration and lack of food along with isolation and pain were depriving him of his logical thought processes. He had to work so hard to concentrate on remembering anything. However, he knew that the only way to defeat these men was to keep a rational mind so he worked to recall all that had happened to get to this predicament in which he found himself. He had used what he could to buy some time and tried to think of what else he could do for he knew when they got what they wanted, he would be killed. There was no doubt in his mind about that. He so wanted to be with his wife again and to see his son grow up. It was a strong motivation to fight them with all that he had even if they held the winning hand or appeared to hold it. With a smile, he recalled the kidnappers retreating when they realized they had been tricked in the first plan the Cartwrights had carried out. They had approached a carriage on the road hoping to give a message to Selina only to find that it was Ross dressed as a woman. At the time, the Cartwrights had not known it was only to give Selina a message.

When his jailers came in to find Adam smiling, it infuriated them. Their plan wasn’t working nearly as well as they had hoped, and their prisoner was smiling about it. Their boss had to remind them not to hit him in the face as they delivered a vicious beating dragging him from the bed and dumping him on the floor. Then leaning over him, the man in charge asked if he was ready to sign the papers they had prepared for him.

“Closer.”

Speaking very softly because it was so difficult to speak at all, Adam got the man to lean down near him expecting him to concede. Then he spit at him in answer spraying spittle and a generous amount of blood on the man’s face and shirt. It was only with an iron will that the man didn’t kick Adam to death as he lay on the floor helpless to protect himself. The beating stopped only when the man in charge decided he might be hurt too much if it continued. They left him on the floor then and retreated to try to plan their next step.

After everything they had done to him to that point, Adam had signed papers transferring the money from his Denver accounts to an account in Carson City. What he didn’t divulge was that there would be a delay in getting to that money as the Denver bank would have to verify his signature and the transfer required a co-signer, Thomas Reynolds. Those were safeguards he had put on his accounts when he left Denver to try to prevent any fraudulent looting of his accounts. Of course, because he was missing, triggering those safeguards successfully was unlikely so the money was in an account in Denver, but these men couldn’t get it nor transfer it. It was maddening for them to have it so close and yet out of reach.

As an alternative or perhaps the next step, they wanted Adam to sign over his bonds and shares in his businesses to them. Once their names were on those certificates, they would own them, and there would be no need to verify any signatures. So far, he was refusing to do that no matter what they did to him. He knew it was a death sentence to agree to their demands because if he was alive he could contest the transfer as done under duress. If he was dead, there would be no grounds for a court challenge. However as their brutal treatment of him seemed to be escalating, he worried about what they might do next as they seemed to have no limits.

 

Chapter 2

There were hours then for Adam to remember what had happened that led him to his predicament. While his captors were planning their strategy or waiting for orders, for he wasn’t sure which it was, they ignored him providing nothing he needed but not doing any more harm either. All he could do to try to ignore the pain and discomfort was to remember what had happened and try to make sense of all of it.

On the Ponderosa when they were trying to come up with plans to prevent the kidnapping of Selina, many ideas were tossed around until Hoss reminded them of the time Joe had a plan to dress Hoss up as a woman. He brought it up again only this time, he offered an alternative. Ross had come out to talk about what he could do to help, and Hoss had a role for him to play.

“I figure we kind of dress Ross up as a woman to set a trap for the kidnappers. He’s got the same hair color as Selena, and he ain’t that much bigger. From a distance, it could work. We could have Thomas drive the carriage. With him there, it would look like the brother and sister taking a trip to town to see Adam.”

“I don’t want to be in town when my wife is at risk. I want to be wherever she is when this happens.”

“Adam, you won’t be. I figure with your planning skills, you would help set up the trap along the way. We wouldn’t know where them kidnappers would be we would have to keep moving our men along the way so we could be ready for anything.”

“Oh, like having squads and then rotating them in positions along the way in kind of a rolling trap. I rather like that concept, Hoss.”

“Now so we have enough help and extra firepower, I figure you and me can open up the area between the boot and the back seat enough that Joe can squeeze in there and not be seen. A black blanket and he can hide in there. Thomas can shoot, can’t he?”

“I’m right here, and yes, of course I can as long as it’s a rifle or shotgun. I don’t have the skill with a pistol that you gentlemen have.”

Ross was more concerned. “I can shoot too, but by the way, what do you mean by ‘kind of dress Ross up as a woman’ as I would like that clarified please.”

“Oh, only putting a bonnet on your head and a big shawl around your shoulders. Until they get close, they ain’t gonna be able to tell any more. As for the shooting, we can have both of those kinds of guns at your feet for you two. Selina, the thing you have to do is stay out of sight here with Angelina and Linda. If them yahoos are watching the place at all, nobody can see you here. Think you kin do that?”

Sighing in exasperation, Selina gave Hoss such a look that everyone there laughed. Even Hoss’ wife slapped him on the back. She gave him that look too that exasperated wives give husbands who are being dense.

“You ought to know better than to ask a question like that of a Cartwright woman.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just the way I am to be protective of Cartwright women and everybody who’s a Cartwright, I guess. With so many of us gone on this, we’re gonna have to trust that the men we leave behind kin keep everyone safe.”

That earned him similar looks from Ben and Hop Sing.

“Guess it’s time for me to stop talking.”

With a snicker, Joe addressed his big brother. “Hoss, I think that time was a few minutes ago.”

Their father was more practical. “When do we do this? I mean, how will we know when they plan to try to kidnap Selina?”

While the others had been talking, Adam was thinking about all that had been discussed and thought they ought to get started on the plan immediately. “Based on what Hoss found out, and what Ross saw, my guess is they are probably ready to strike. They’re waiting for the opportunity. Let’s give them one and see if they act.”

Selina pointed out one weakness in their planning. “You usually go to town early to work. Won’t it look suspicious if you don’t?”

“I can ride in as I usually do and then backtrack.”

“If they’re at work as you seem to think they are, they’ll notice that too.”

Disappointed because her logic was infallible, Adam had to make the concession. “Then, I guess I have to go to work then and trust that the rest of you pull this off without a problem.”

However Ben thought there should be one more addition to the plan. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to ride alone anywhere either.”

“Maybe Hoss can ride with me. We do that quite often so it won’t look unusual.” Adam was willing to make that concession too as anything that helped the plan succeed was a good idea to him.

The plan worked as smoothly as they anticipated with outlaws swooping in and the hands riding down in pursuit before the outlaws even got very close. That may have been a mistake for it gave the outlaws enough time to flee when they saw it was not Selina in the carriage. Ross dropped the shawl and tore off the bonnet so he could better aim the rifle, and Joe got up from his hiding place to fire at the men who were approaching. They didn’t even get close then riding away in a panic because of the men chasing them and shooting at them. Luckily for the outlaws, they had the foresight to plan their getaway and were able to mix with traffic on the road as well as split up. With no good way to identify who they were pursuing, the men following them had to give up.

Once they were back in town, the outlaws gathered in a saloon and talked quietly while having a few bracing drinks. They had not anticipated anything like what had happened.

“Wait, if they had that guy dressed up as his wife, they must have thought we were going to kidnap her for ransom. I don’t know why they thought that, but clearly they did. Now somehow, they know we’re up to something but don’t know who we are or what we want. They don’t know we was only trying to scare her so she wouldn’t go to town because we wanted her out of the way. That means we can still go ahead with our plan. In fact, it probably got a lot easier. We don’t have to scare her because she’s already scared. I don’t know why, but it don’t matter. He won’t have her and the kid with him any more so we won’t have to wait for an opening and do what we have to do.”

“Yeah, he’ll be alone all the time now.”

“The best time to get him is Sunday afternoon near his office. We’ve already marked out good places for hiding so we can surprise him, and he makes that inspection then when everything is shut down. Nobody’s around again until early on Monday. Sometimes he’s there a little while and sometimes for a couple of hours. Either way, we’ll have time to set it up the way we want and wait for him. This will be easy. If we don’t get him there, we know he’ll be riding back and forth from the Ponderosa, and he’ll do that alone most of the time now. Before it was unpredictable, but now it will be every day or almost every day. Sunday is best because we know there will be no witnesses, but we have a backup plan if that doesn’t work out.”

“When we get him, where will we take him?”

“To the one spot they will never think to look. Then when our business is done, we’ll roll out of town with everything he’s got, and no one will even think to stop us.”

“Oh, I think I know what you mean.”

“All right, we do nothing at all until Sunday. Let them think they’ve scared us off completely. If he doesn’t go to the site on Sunday for the inspection, we’ll wait and take him sometime during the week because we know now what he will be doing. We’ll take the papers from his home safe the same day we take him.”

“All right if we take a few bottles back with us. If we’re going to be sitting around until Sunday, we’ll need some entertainment.”

“Get a deck of cards too at the store. We can work on improving our card skills for when we have enough money to actually play some faro or poker.”

“Now that sounds like a great plan, boss.”

“Don’t call me that.” The tone and temperature had changed dramatically.
“Sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it. Remember that. One more mistake like that, and you’ll find out what happens to men who make mistakes.”

That had a sobering effect on all the men there. They did have a good idea what their boss meant by that. He was a cold-hearted bastard, but working with him was making them wealthy so they put up with it at least for the time being.

The Cartwrights were sobered too by the experience. Joe, Thomas, and Ross went to tell Adam what had happened and then went to the sheriff with their news. Ross said he didn’t feel right about leaving Adam alone, and when he said it, the others had the same gut feeling. They stayed in town and went home when Adam did. They did that for the next three days, but when nothing happened, Adam told them to stay home and rode in alone. Again, no threat materialized. They began to think they had discouraged the outlaws, but Adam was still too worried about it to let his wife and son stay in their house in town. On Sunday, after church services, Adam did his usual and sent Selina and Aaron home with the rest of the family as he went to the construction site for a quick inspection. It was the last time any of them saw him for over a week.

The side of the story that Adam couldn’t know was that when he had not returned by late afternoon on that Sunday, his family took that as an ominous sign. Hoss and Joe rode to town hoping it might be a simple issue with his horse but found nothing. At the construction site, it was worse. Sport was tied up there next to the water trough, but there was no sign of Adam at all. A search of the area showed he had not done anything because the office was still locked. The best that Hoss could tell was that a wagon or carriage had been there and had driven away. Any other signs of what had happened had been brushed out or boot prints had obscured them. Whoever had done something with Adam had made sure that there was no evidence of what had happened or where they had gone. The wagon tracks disappeared into the many tracks on the road indistinguishable from all the others.

As expected, Selina was distraught, and Ben and the family worried so much that sleep was nearly impossible. All of them felt guilty. They had all miscalculated thinking it was Selina who was in danger when it was Adam who apparently was the target. Or perhaps by protecting Selina, they made Adam the target. Either way, the guilt was an extra burden. They waited for the ransom note, and after five days, there was nothing. Each day was more depressing than the last knowing that something they didn’t understand was happening, and they had no clues.

On that fifth day, Hoss and Joe rode out as they usually did to look for any sign they could find and to talk with Clem to see if he or Ross had made any progress. They had nothing as they reported every day. They had descriptions of several men and not one sighting of anyone who fit any of them.

On the Ponderosa, there was a surprise when the telegraph messenger showed up with a telegram for Thomas from Denver. The bank wanted to know if it was all right to transfer all of Adam’s funds to a new account in Carson City and wanted to know when either of them would be there to verify his signature on the documents. Thomas knew this was the first clue as to what was happening. He told Ben where he was going and why but only in vague terms.

“Don’t say anything to Selina yet. I’ll tell her I have some Denver business to handle and will be back shortly as soon as I have taken care of it.”

With only that brief explanation to Ben, Thomas went to the bank in Virginia City and the sheriff for advice before responding to the telegram. When he got back on the Ponderosa, he told Ben and Selina what he had done and what he thought was happening.

“I have to cosign for any funds being taken from Adam’s Denver accounts as well as verify his signature. These are the safeguards he put in place when he left to come here. They must be forcing him to turn over his assets, and he probably said the ones in Denver were the easiest to turn over knowing I would be contacted.”

With tears in her eyes, Selina knew something terrible must be happening for that scenario to be playing out. “What are they doing to him to make him do that? You know how strong he is and how stubborn. He wouldn’t easily sign that money over to them.”

“No, of course he wouldn’t. What’s more important, Selina, is that Adam is still capable of planning and devising a scheme to counter what they’re doing. Plus the sheriff is checking to see who sent those telegrams to Denver. If they came from Virginia City, then we know Adam is still in this area and probably somewhere in town. The sheriff is contacting the Carson City Bank and sheriff in Carson City to find out who set up the account there to get a name or at least a description. We finally have some clues as to what is going on, and we know Adam is alive and still in good enough to outthink them.”

“But it’s such a big town to search there and here.”

“Yes, but these men are strangers so people may have noticed them, and Ross can give us a general description of them too. He is even spending his time in town to see if he can spot any of them. It’s what the sheriff wants him to do for now. If any of them show their faces, he’ll be able to point them out. Once Clem has the description from Carson City, his deputies can watch for those men as well. Adam has given us what we need to get on the trail of these men.”

Although his family thought he was strong, at that moment, Adam didn’t feel strong. He hurt everywhere he could think of hurting. Weak from hunger and lack of water as well as from pain and lack of sleep, he was having trouble concentrating and even thinking. That last beating had taken him close to unconsciousness. He had burns in private places and those were festering. With scrapes and shallow cuts that were almost too numerous to count, he could not find any position that offered any relief. Now when he heard what these men were saying, he wished he had given in to the blackness. What they proposed was so evil, it was beyond what he had imagined they would do. All he could do was agree to their terms. He felt he had no choice. There was no gambit he could devise that was worth the risk.

“Untie him and get him to the table. It’s time for him to sign some papers.”

That might have worked except they had overdone it with the beating, the deprivation and especially the restraints. Adam couldn’t even hold the pen much less sign any documents. He was willing but unable. The man in charge was furious but even he could see that the swollen hands were too badly affected to be useful. He ordered one of his men to get one of the boys they used for errands to get some ice.

“You may as well order up more food and this time, get some for him.”

After telling one of the others to give Adam a cup of water, he had to tell the man to hold it to Adam’s lips so he could drink. It had been a test to see if Adam could use his hands to get the precious liquid. After he fumbled with the cup repeatedly and was unable to pick it up, the man knew he wasn’t faking the problems with his hands. His thirst was obvious as was his disability. They had waited a long time so he decided that one more day wasn’t going to be that much more of a problem. It meant Adam Cartwright had one more day to live. The boss wondered what Adam was thinking because he knew Adam was smart enough to know what his agreement to their plan meant. Adam could identify all of them and because of how they got his property, he could get it all back if he was freed. That is, he could if he was still alive so they had to make sure that wasn’t the case. With no one to testify to how the property was transferred, there would be no legal way to contest the ownership of the properties.

Watching Adam tremble with weakness and then alternately shiver with the cold or sweat from the fever, the boss realized he was getting weak and that he was ill. He had one of the men wrap a blanket around him. It helped with the stench too as Adam smelled rather awful after all that time with nothing being done for his personal care. After the food was delivered, one of the men had to help Adam eat. When the meal was done, the boss had the men help Adam back to his bed telling him he had some papers to sign in the morning if he wanted to keep his wife alive. Adam’s last thought before sleep claimed him was that he would keep his wife alive, but she might soon be a widow.

 

Chapter 3

When Hoss, Joe, and the others heard the news from Thomas, they had mixed feelings. They were glad to finally have a clue or two, but they were upset knowing that Adam must be suffering greatly to have agreed to transfer that money. When Joe was alone with his father and brother, he had a question voicing his own concerns at the same time.

“Pa, do you think Selina knows how serious this is. I mean, does she know what kidnappers are likely to do when they get what they want?”

Speaking softly to be sure not to be overheard and sending a message to his sons to do the same, Ben’s answer was strong. “I don’t know if she knows, but I’m not going to discuss it with her. At this point, she’s holding together rather well. I’d like to be able help her keep doing that. There’s no need to bring it up. If she knows, she is managing that well too. If she doesn’t know, what’s the point of telling her and making her any more frightened than she already is?” He waited a moment. “I imagine she faced a lot in Virginia during the War. This must make her feel much the same, but we have to be strong for her too and protect her as much as we can. I’m glad Thomas and Angelina are here. It’s another layer of support for her.”

Hoss didn’t like the negative tone of the conversation. “Besides, Joe, we’re gonna get Adam back safe and sound, you hear. Don’t be talking like he ain’t gonna be all right.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that’s it’s been a week now, and there hasn’t been anything. We’ve got no more to go on than we had. Ross hasn’t spotted a single one of those men. I’m worried that they left town and took Adam somewhere that we can’t find him. The bank hasn’t gotten any more requests. We’ve been all over town looking for something out of the ordinary and nothing.”

Of the three, Ben was perhaps the most frustrated. At home in charge of protecting Adam’s wife and son, he chafed at not taking a more active role in finding his son. “He has got to be here. I don’t know how they can have him here and not show themselves at all. They have to eat and deliver those messages and pick up their telegrams. Today, I’m going in to town with you. We have a lot of men here. I’ll assign some to watch the house.”

At least two of the Cartwrights were in town at all times. Often Candy and one or more of the hands went in with them to help. All the extra help to Clem’s deputies still wasn’t enough. They were getting nowhere. That day with Ben, there were three Cartwrights and Candy who had gone in to town very early with a few of the hands to continue the search. As Ben and his sons and Candy sat at their breakfast, they fell into a stony silence until Clem walked in with Roy. Both men sat down when invited and looked more upbeat than they had. Ben sat up straighter.

“You must have made some progress.”

Clem’s response was delivered to them in a quiet voice as if it wasn’t good news. “We made a lot of progress thanks to Roy. Next, we’re going to go over to my office and work out a plan. We’ll talk over the details there. Don’t look too happy though. There are eyes watching our every move, and we don’t want them to know we’ve made a breakthrough. Look unhappy”

Roy put a hand on Ben’s shoulder as if in sympathy. “Ben, Clem and I are gonna leave you now. Look as discouraged as ya can be when we walk out. A fist on the table might help. Look frustrated. Do something that can be reported back to them that’s got your boy. You two boys and Candy can look like you’re doing your best to calm him down. You know what I mean. We’re being watched but mostly not up close. If you talk, do it real quiet like you’re trying to encourage Ben some.”

Though Ben and his sons didn’t know what the charade was about, they followed their instructions so much so that nearby patrons were moved to sympathy by the demonstration. When they left the restaurant, they stood silently for a time outside until Hoss pointed at the sheriff’s office and said maybe they ought to go there and wait to see if anyone had any word on anything.

“What’s the point, Hoss. No one knows anything.”

“Sooner or later, Pa, somebody might.”

With a deep sigh, Ben agreed to go. Watching eyes noted it all and then headed back to the rail car with food and news. Inside Clem’s office, Roy was ready to explain what he had found out.

“You know I always spent a lot of time with some of the youngsters in town. I kept a number of them from turning the wrong way by being there to talk with ’em and offer them a hand when they needed it. Well, I still do that, and one of them has been telling me of this new income source they got, a real good one. Seems there are five men living in a private rail car down by the new tracks that were put in. They pay the boys to bring tins of beer as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner trays. Today, they asked for six trays for breakfast just like they did for dinner last night. Oh, and they like to hear news of anything the sheriff or the Cartwrights might be doing and toss them a few extra coins when they like what they have to report.”

“If they’re paying the boys, how did you find out?”

“I paid the boy more. One of them started to wonder if what they were doing might have had anything to do with the Cartwright he had heard was missing. I told him that I thought it might and he could get paid a lot more for what he knew than what them five was paying him. Then I said the Cartwrights would be good for it and would pay him even more and maybe even give him a job with room and board. You are good for that, aren’t you?”

“Roy, I’ll send the boy to college if that’s what he wants. Now, when do we go get Adam?”

“Well, I talked to Clem, and we can’t see how we can get close to that rail car until night. It sits right out in the open. If we get spotted, that puts Adam right in the middle of things. Say, don’t you have a hand working for you that’s really short?”

“Yeah, we do.” Hoss understood. “Paul could get very close including up to the door opening because he looks like a boy until you’re up right next to him. He’s here with us today.”

Joe chimed in with an idea. “Candy knows this trick the Apache use to move across the desert even in daytime without being seen. The two of us could do that.”

“Only if you can do it and not be seen at all. If you get seen, it could mean your brother’s life. You willing to take that chance?”

“I’m worried that they’re feeding him now. It’s a change so something has already happened. It’s almost as if the condemned getting his last meal.”

“Joseph!”

“Sorry, Pa, but it’s what I feel.”

“Ben, he’s got a point. There has to be a reason why they changed what they were doing. We may need to go faster than waiting for nightfall.”

“Ross works for the railroad. Maybe he could drive a wagon over there with some railroad stuff in it. That would get him close and maybe anybody he hid in crates in that wagon he was driving.”

“Yeah, this is sounding more and more like a plan that could work. All right, Joe, you find Candy and go do your part. Hoss, you make your arrangements with Ross. Ben, you and I are going to find all the street boys we can find and bring ’em to the livery stable where you are going to pay them royally not to do anything. Meanwhile we’re gonna have your man Paul show up at the right time to get called over to that car to bring in meals. Everyone, when they open that door for Paul, it’s gonna be time to move.”

In Adam’s private rail car, the men were having Adam practice writing his name. It wasn’t going well. Despite his efforts as shown by the sweat beading on his forehead, his signature was shaky at best and clearly not the strong lines of his normal writing.

“You have to do better or we do what we said. We send a man to the top of that hill overlooking the house, and when she comes out, bang, a bullet to the head. You don’t want that, I can tell, but so far, you aren’t trying hard enough. If that signature doesn’t start looking better soon, I’m sending a man and only a good signature is going to make me send a man to bring him back. Of course, who knows if he’ll shoot her before I get a chance to call him back.”

“I’m trying.”

Adam’s voice was slurred. Not only was his hand still numb and swollen, the paper was floating in and out of focus. The men who beat him had not hit him in the face except for a few stray blows, but he had been kicked in the head at least once and dropped on the floor another time. The head injuries with the deprivation and pain had an impact that two meals and water could not overcome. He was not only fighting to sign his name, he was doing his best to stay conscious. When he started to topple from the chair, he knew he had lost that battle.

“Damn. Pour some water on him to wake him up.”

They tried but it didn’t work. Deciding that perhaps more rest might help, the boss had them carry him to the bed and lay him down far more gently than they had handled him previously. There were no restraints and a blanket was pulled over him. He actually looked like he was sleeping. The boss had one man stay with him.

“Why?”

“So he doesn’t sneak out.”

“How? Oh.” The man remembered the hole in the floor of the car under the water closet then. It would be disagreeable, but if your life was in the balance, it would be worth the stench.

“Tell us when he wakes. We’ll start again. I’m beginning to think we need to get this done. It’s taking too long.”

“We gonna get some lunch soon?”

“In an hour or so. By then those boys will be hanging around for the chance to run that errand.”

“Boss, are we becoming too predictable with that routine?”

“You know, you don’t have a lot of great ideas, but that one earned your keep. You’re right. We probably shouldn’t be on such a predictable schedule. Let’s look out and see if any one of those boys is here early. It’ll be a good payday for him.”

The boss walked back out to the main salon to see one man staring out the west window.

“There’s a freight wagon outside. Looks like a railroad wagon with some crates in back.”

“Not a problem then. Has anyone looked over this way?”

“No, he’s putting down some planks to slide some crates off the wagon. Hasn’t paid us any attention at all.”

“Anything else on the other side?”

“Nope, quiet as usual.”

“Any boys out there?”

“Just one wandered out a short time ago and sat down in the shade. Looks like he’s waiting for the others. Looks back over his shoulder now and then like he’s wondering where they are.”

“I don’t suppose any of them have a watch.”

They got a chuckle from that. Often, they made fun of the mismatched clothing the boys wore and how they talked. There wasn’t much to do in the rail car so anything passed for entertainment. Usually they spent more time talking about what they were going to spend their fortunes on when they got them.

“Call the boy over and give him some coins to go get us some lunch.”

Flopping down onto a padded bench seat, the boss tried to think of what to do next. Somehow, things weren’t going according to plan, and he didn’t know what to do next. He needed more instructions but had no way to contact his superior and ask him what to do in this circumstance. It was frustrating to work this way. All of his worries became moot in the next five minutes though as men burst into the rail car with weapons. He and three of his men were quickly disarmed. The fifth made the mistake of holding his pistol to Adam’s head. When Hoss and Joe entered that room, they were shocked to see Adam unconscious, he was pale and there was blood on the pillow by his head.

“Mister, you want to live longer than the next few seconds, you’re gonna drop that pistol and back away from my brother.”

“You want your brother to live, you’ll drop your pistols and let me leave.”

“My brother is already dying. I kin see that. There’s more men outside this room who’ll put a bullet in your head ifn we don’t. You got ten seconds to decide and we shoot. Ready, Joe?”

The man’s gun clattered to the floor. Something in Hoss’ voice had let him know he was about to die. He didn’t think he had done anything so far that was going to get him the gallows so he took the wiser course. He was quickly taken out, and Hoss rushed to Adam. Ben was soon there as Joe had gone to tell Doctor Martin he was needed. When Hoss pulled back the blanket, they knew it was best to let Paul examine Adam there instead of moving him. When Paul gave his assessment later to Selina who had arrived, it wasn’t as bad as they had feared.

“He has a concussion, but it was the lack of sleep, food, and water that made it appear to be so much worse. Of course, the pain of his injuries was a contributing factor as well. When he has had rest, food, and water, he should begin to recover quickly although it could be months to a full recovery. He has some painful bruising all over, and some swelling yet in his hands. Again, he needs rest. I don’t think it would be a good idea to move him either until we’re sure there are no internal injuries. Now, if you could get this rail car cleaned up, it seems to have everything this little family needs. Meals can be brought here.”

“That’s good news.”

“Selina, he wants to see you first. Ben, he would like to talk with you too. He wants to know how you pulled off his rescue. He is quite curious about that.”

“He’s that alert?”

“Yes, it’s one of the best signs I could see.”

“We can tell him it was a group effort. We needed a lot of people to make it work.” Then Ben looked at his younger sons. “Oh, and we have a new hand. He’s quite young, but he was the key to getting this whole rescue done.”

“How young, Pa?”

“He’s thirteen, but that doesn’t matter. He’s a strong boy. I thought we could fix up a room in the barn, and make him the stable boy there. He says he likes to work with horses.”

“Not in the bunkhouse?”

“Joe, at thirteen in the bunkhouse?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess that wouldn’t be the best place for him.”

“Yeah, Pa, me and Joe will clear out part of the tack room for now, and when Adam is feeling fit, he can help us build a room for the boy. We can make it real nice. I suppose we better get him a horse and saddle too. Can’t have a stable boy without a horse.”

“No, I suppose not.”

Although it was a bit more expensive than a used saddle, Ben liked that Hoss and Joe were ready to take on the project of the boy. He rather liked the idea too of having a place where boys could learn to be hardworking men instead of running on the streets of the city. Maybe they could make this a tradition and as one grew up, they could take on another. Joe could see his father thinking about the idea and smiled. He had been thinking the same thing.

Ben went in to see Adam, Hoss and Joe trailed behind. With Selina sitting on the bed holding Adam’s swollen hand gently in her own, the two were entertained briefly by the tale of the rescue. Then Paul was back to say he was ready to clean up the wounds Adam had.

“I’m sorry, but it has to be done. Some are festering already. I know this is going to prolong the torture he endured, but it is the only way to get him on the road to recovery.”

As the men began to troop out of the room, Paul asked if one could stay. It was decided that Ben was the best choice. He sat with Adam trying to help hold him steady as Selina provided clean cloths and water to the doctor who cleaned each wound thoroughly bandaging some and leaving others to scab over. Both Ben and Paul were impressed that Selina was able to stay reasonably calm even as Adam bucked against the pain and moaned almost constantly with the agony of every wound being probed. When it was over, she walked into the water closet and vomited into the hole there. They still were impressed by her fortitude but knew she had been brave to hold back what clearly made her ill in order to help her husband.

Later after Adam was more rested and had something more to eat as well as more water to drink, the story of the rescue was told in great detail by the Cartwright men, all of whom were great story tellers, and each of whom then exaggerated their role all out of proportion to what they had actually done. Everyone knew that of course, but that was part of the entertainment portion of the story.

When they finished, Adam said only a few words about his ordeal, but they were sobering. “It was hell, and thank you for saving me from it. But I have one worry. Although there was one man in charge here, I had the impression he was carrying out orders from someone else. When things started not to work out as planned, he complained in ways that led me to believe he had not formulated his plan but was following it as well as he could.”

“So there’s someone else out there who engineered this?”

“Pa, this railroad is predicted to generate as much as thirty thousand dollars per month for investors. That is an awful lot of money. Greedy men, or women for that matter, would have a hard time not going after that.”

Hoss whistled in appreciation. “You mean you’re gonna get that kind of money just cause you put money into this railroad?”

“My share is ten per cent.”

“Three thousand a month and you ain’t gotta do nothing but collect it?”

With a shrug, Adam smiled. “It’s the advantage of saving money and investing it.”

“You gonna get that same kind of money from the Denver railroad you invested in?”

“Yeah, about that.”

Looking over at Joe, Hoss frowned. “Joe, I should have done what Adam done instead of following your crazy schemes all these years. His ideas really make money.”

Doctor Martin intervened then to say it was time to let Adam have some dinner and then rest. Ben made arrangements to have the rail car cleaned up before going to the Ponderosa for what was needed and to get Aaron, and he brought clothing in for Selina and Adam when he came back with their son. There was a cot in the supplies he brought.

“I’m not leaving you unprotected. Hoss and Joe can take care of the ranch.”

A week later, Adam returned to the Ponderosa with his family. He wasn’t able to return to work because his vision was affected and his hands needed time to heal completely. By then, he knew he would be replaced and wouldn’t have to work on the project. He was free to pursue any other work he wanted to do. There was only one on his mind at that point. He was determined to have justice and to find out who had plotted against him to take his wealth and his life.

It seemed life was becoming more normal again. Thomas and Angelina returned to Denver with a promise from Adam and Selina that they would visit after that couple had their child. The new stable boy settled into his new job, and the Cartwrights enjoyed not having to do chores every morning and evening. But at night, Selina often soothed Adam when he had nightmares and then talked with him about his ordeal and what he needed to do to get peace for his mind and his soul.

 

Chapter 4

It had been a long time since Adam had brooded so much on anything. For years, he had managed to banish those dark moods. But his experience at the hand of the kidnappers had triggered something inside of him that couldn’t be stopped. Despite the pain it caused him, he went to their trial and testified. He didn’t have to do it because there was more than enough evidence to convict them, but he wanted them to get the longest sentence possible and that was more likely if he recounted some of what they did and what they threatened to do. He knew how the judge was likely to react hearing what they said they would do to Selina if he didn’t cooperate. Such a threat was beneath contempt in the west, and it meant that not one of these men would get any mercy from the court. Knowing that, he wanted justice even if it felt more like revenge at times, but also he knew the threat these men posed. He saw the hatred in their eyes as he gave his testimony for they knew too what he was doing. That night, Clem arrived on the Ponderosa to talk with Adam.

“We got one of them willing to talk about who hired them. He doesn’t know much he says but enough that we might be able to figure it out. All he wants is leniency. He knows he’s going to prison, but he figures if the judge gives him a lesser sentence so he gets out sooner, he’s willing to take that.”

“None of the others will talk?”

“Maybe after this one does we can get more out of the others. The best deal always goes to the first one who talks though. It’s how it goes. The judge isn’t going to do it though, unless you’re all right with it. After what he heard today, he knows the jury will convict and he’s ready to impose the maximum when they do. That is, unless you’re willing to say it’s all right to show some mercy to a cooperating witness. So, what do you say? Are you willing to give up a little justice for one of the men who did this to you to get to the one who put it in motion?”

“And the judge will still give him a prison term?”

“That’s my understanding. Now I can’t speak for the judge. You can put it in writing to the judge any way you want.”

Selina and Ben waited hoping Adam would agree. Finally he did. Ben immediately went to his desk for paper and a pen as well as a board for Adam to use to write. He was sitting in the blue chair, and he still found it very difficult to move. With Ben’s aid, Adam drafted a letter to the judge asking that some consideration be given to the first prisoner who offered information on whoever had masterminded the plot against him. Once the letter was dry, Clem thanked him and headed back to town.

“Son, you hesitated in doing that. Why?”

“They were going to kill me. They threatened to kill Selina. It’s difficult to think of being merciful to a man like that and thinking about what he might do to someone else.”

Both Ben and Selina were a bit embarrassed then because they had thought Adam’s thoughts had been of revenge when he had been thinking of the possible negative consequences of this man getting out of prison sooner and being unleashed on society. Adam saw their looks and correctly interpreted them. Hoss and Joe walked in as he was talking, but he decided to continue thinking he was ready to explain more of what had happened.

“Yes, there was some feeling that there is some justice denied too, but that wasn’t the overwhelming issue.”

“We stopped them, son. What is the overwhelming issue as you see it?”

Even though Adam had thought he was ready to talk, there was hesitation and Adam looked to Selina. Ben could tell they must have discussed this issue, and he waited to see if his son would confide in him and in his brothers as well. Selina reached out and took Adam’s hand looking into his eyes as if to encourage him. He got the message and the strength to continue.

“They didn’t just hurt me and try to steal what I owned. They did what they could to humiliate me, to show me how weak I was. Whoever did this to me wanted to not only take my wealth, he wanted to destroy me in every way that he could. I have never felt so helpless in my life, so miserable, and so sure that nothing I did would work out as I hoped.”

For the first time, Adam admitted more of what had happened to him other than the physical injuries. He didn’t want to tell them more, but he knew he had to do it for them to understand.

“They laughed and burned me with their cigarettes and cigars especially where men don’t think to do that to other men. They said more than once they were getting paid more to do it that way. The more I suffered, the more they would be paid as long as they didn’t kill me in the process because they needed me to get my money, and I was useless to them if I was dead. I knew they intended to kill me eventually, but not by what they did then.”

Of course, Ben was aware of those injuries but had not known how he had received them. He had helped Doctor Martin when he had treated them, but Paul had not revealed the extent of them only asking Ben to hold Adam still as he cleaned each one. Adam’s brothers had mostly been unaware of those injuries. Selina had tears in her eyes as Adam spoke, she knew both the extent and the number of those wounds and where they were.

“They violated my body in ways not only to hurt me but to humiliate me, to make me feel less than a man. None of that was necessary to what they were trying to accomplish. Someone was directing them to not only kill me but to destroy me first. What I’m saying is with that kind of hate, we stopped this plot, but there will be another one until we uncover who it is and stop him before he does it again.”

“What will you do with the information?”

“As Selina as encouraged me to do: investigate. I’ll have time to write letters with her help. I hope to track down whatever Clem can find out for me. Once, I find something out, I will have to work out the rest of the plan. It depends on who we find is behind all this.”

“Do you have any idea who your enemy might be?”

“Not much at all other than it is some greedy coward with an ax to grind.”

“Adam, tell them what you think of his background.”

“Yes, as Selina has reminded me, I don’t think this is a professional criminal nor is this someone in the business world I’ve crossed or even in the political realm. This person showed an amateurish side in dealing with a criminal enterprise as well as an amateur level of handling large amounts of money and investments.”

“That does help narrow the field to people with whom you have had direct confrontations then.”

“Yes, I’ve started to make a list. It isn’t long if you take out those qualifiers.”

As they waited for the outcome of the court case, the family discussed that list and the men whose names were on it. Some were considered to be too old or likely too far away. Others were real possibilities and telegrams were sent seeking information on where they were and what they were doing.

In town, as expected, the verdicts for the outlaws were all guilty on all counts. The judge gave the maximum sentence to all of the men except one who got half of what the others got with a chance at an early release. The other men seemed to know he had talked. Clem thought there was still a possibility that one of the others might give them more information for a commutation. Getting even some limited clues from one man was a good start though. Clem rode out to the Ponderosa with what the man had been able to provide.

“Good afternoon, Ben and Adam. You must know why I’m here. The man didn’t know much, but he gave up some important clues. The man who hired him writes articles for magazines and newspapers. He wrote a series about you, Adam, and it went into a major Portland newspaper and was quite a hit up there.”

“A series about me: why?”

“Apparently it was about how you cheated a man out of money and then used it to build a fortune for yourself. It ran in one paper but didn’t get picked up by any other paper in the country because the writer didn’t show any evidence for outrageous claims. The other papers were put off by that and his past record of over-sensationalizing stories making newspapers who published his stories look foolish. That should be enough to get his name though.”

At that point, Adam as well as Ben were getting suspicious of whom this might be, and Clem’s next words confirmed it for them.

“He didn’t remember the man’s name, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find out. He recalled it was a bird name but couldn’t say what it was as he heard it as he heard that and the rest of it from his boss.”

“Tobias Wentworth Finch!”

Both Ben and Adam said the name as soon as Clem stopped talking. Selina and Clem were surprised, but Hoss and Joe were not as they had heard that name before.

“Pa, ain’t that the dime novel type writer you and Adam had that trouble with when you got tangled up with that stage coach robbery and that two-bit sheriff?”

“Yes, Hoss, that’s the one. It has to be him. He didn’t like Adam at all for messing up his scheme. This is extreme for revenge. He must have stewed on this for all these years and decided to get wealthy at it as well.”

“Now, Ben, you can’t know it was him just on what I’ve said.”

“Clem, Pa and I know. We’ve met the man, and we know enough based on what you’ve told us. It will take some time to build a case against him, but it will be done.”

“Adam, at least I know you’re in no shape to go after him directly right now. Let me check into this more. If he is the one behind this conspiracy, I can get some wanted posters out for him. That will certainly slow him down in any further attempts to do harm here.”

Looking down at his damaged hands, Adam had to agree to that although he wanted nothing more than to chase Finch down and strangle him with those same hands. He knew he couldn’t do it. There was more that Clem could do for him other than getting wanted posters printed though.

“Clem, could you get a copy of those articles he wrote? I’d like to read them to see what he claimed, and to see if my suspicions are correct.”

“Yes, I was planning to get copies because if I have to make a case against Finch here, it would be evidence, but what are your suspicions?”

“It seems that two people I helped out may have turned against me and supplied him with the ammunition to come after me. I hope it isn’t true, but from what you’ve told me, it seems the most logical conclusion to draw. They moved up to that area.”

“Now there is one more thing the man told me and I hesitated telling you. You seem to be in a reasonable mind about this, so I going to say it. He told me and it’s in his sworn statement. Hear me out before you get all crazy about this. The man who ordered this said that after you signed away those shares and bonds, they were to shoot your wife anyway and then tell you before they killed you. Those were the orders. Now, they had discussed it and decided they wouldn’t do it but only tell you they had. They figured that would be enough to satisfy their employer. These boys agreed that there was a lot they would do for money but murdering a woman wasn’t on that list.”

It was shocking, but at the same time gave them more insight into the heart of the man they wanted to find and prosecute. He used others to do his evil, and he had to be stopped.

It took months not only for Adam to recover fully from his ordeal, but to get all the evidence needed to show that not only was the article false but Finch had worked with James and Tilda for the foundation of the article. Then apparently Finch had gotten the rest of his information from Denver and Virginia City newspapers on the rapid rise of Adam’s fortunes. Finch put it all together liberally sprinkling in his own narrative of how it must have happened. Meanwhile Adam got records from Virginia City Montana of the sale of the original claim he had made for himself and James Cady, the farmer from Wisconsin, who had been made a wealthy man because of Adam’s knowledge of mining. It showed the actual amount paid for the claim and the even split between Adam and James. Then Adam got records from Denver on how he had spent his money from that claim to buy up real estate and begin building his fortune. His work on the railroads as well as investing in them was documented as well. When he had it all together, he asked Selina an important question.

“Have you ever been to Oregon?”

Of course, she had not, and smiled because she had hoped to go with him when he went.

“No, and when do we go?”

“As soon as I can make the travel arrangements?”

“Give me a few more days so I can arrange for someone to care for Aaron while we’re gone. It will be a while and I want the right person.”

“Not Linda?”

“Yes, of course, but she has her own and I want someone here to help. I’ll go talk to Hop Sing right now.”

A week later, they left. When they arrived in Portland, they had discussed their plan and were ready to start as soon as they checked into their hotel. They sent a message and arranged a meeting the next day with Abigail Scott Duniway, the head of the New Northwest newspaper. It was fairly new, but with the research he had done, Adam thought he had the best chance of convincing her to do what he wanted done. The next day, she greeted them cordially but met his request with skepticism.

“Why should I publish these things you have brought me? It seems self-serving for you, of course, but what benefit is it to my paper?”

“It was your brother’s paper who published the original story about me with the false claims about things I had done. If I brought the evidence to him to show that, do you think he would publish a retraction?” She shrugged at that knowing he wouldn’t. “You can best him in this by showing what he did. Meanwhile, I’m here, and I will submit to an interview. My wife will talk to you as well.”

“Talk? She hasn’t said a word.”

“Because it was Adam’s time to state his case. I am no shrinking violet. I have worked in business. I was an assistant in my husband’s business and was paid a salary there. I am at home now with our son, but I could work. It was my choice to stay home. That’s the key to that. It was my choice. If I wanted to return to work, Adam would support that choice.”

“Why would he need to support it if it was your choice?”

With a smile at Adam, Selina answered. “Oh, I am rather sure my father-in-law and perhaps even my brother would not like the idea of me working now that I am a mother.”

“May I include the contents of this meeting in the article I publish if I choose to do so?”

“Of course you may. We have nothing to hide even though my husband doesn’t like publicity, in this case, that choice was taken from him.”

The two women continued to talk for a few more minutes as Adam wisely refrained from commenting. At the conclusion of their discussion, Abigail agreed to publish what amounted to a retraction of the series that had appeared in her brother’s paper.

“He’s going to be furious.”

“One more thing: if you have a good investigative journalist, Finch himself might make for a good story. I can personally give you the details of two major incidents in which he manipulated people to break the laws including soliciting murder.”

“Now that sounds intriguing. Do you have evidence?”

Pulling more papers from his valise, Adam showed her the newly printed wanted poster for Finch and then the papers detailing the crimes for which he was sought. Abigail looked them over and knew she had a great story.

“You could have started with this.”

“The retraction was the most important to me. If I showed you this first, you might have not been too concerned with what I needed.”

“I can see how you’ve made money in business, Adam. Will the two of you be in town long?”

“As long as necessary to get this resolved.”

When Adam and Selina left the office, Abigail had that look of the canary that ate the cat. She began to work on the story as soon as she assigned her best reporter to begin working on the Finch story. She hoped to run both on the same day. She would run extra copies that day and try to set a record for publication. Even in the competitive newspaper market of Portland, she knew she had a good story. Her brother opposed women’s rights, but she was going to show him what a woman could do.

As Abigail made progress on the story, she decided she needed to go out to see James and Tilda Cady as soon as she could. A note was sent by messenger to their large estate. They had lost some of their wealth in the last flood, but they still had a great deal and made more all the time. She wondered how they could have been so greedy as to cooperate in this assault on the man who had started them off on their journey to the wealthy class. An interview might offer some enlightenment.

When Abigail received a positive response the next day, she took the reporter who was working on the Finch story as well as her rough draft of Adam’s story with her. James and Tilda were curious about her visit but had apparently expected some kind of vanity story. When she told them why she was there, they were at first angry. When she showed them her rough draft which included supporting evidence, they were surprised or maybe shocked was a better term. When her reporter began talking about what she had already discovered about Finch and that he was wanted for conspiracy to commit a number of crimes, they were dismayed.

“Oh, James, he did evil things, and we helped him. He spun a web of lies, and we fell into it as neatly as flies into a spider’s work. Adam must hate us now. He was a bit scary. I hope he doesn’t intend revenge on us for our foolishness.”

“I didn’t get the impression that he was a dangerous man when he was in my office.”

“Ma’am, my wife is right. Adam Cartwright can be downright scary when he sets his mind to something. I don’t know what he’s got in mind for us or for Finch. If I was Finch, I’d be scared for my life. If you know where Finch is, you best tell him what you told us so he can go turn himself in. It might be the best thing he can do to protect himself.”

Based on what James had said, her reporter suggested they ought to go see Mister Finch on leaving the Cady estate. As they walked into his hotel, they met Adam and Selina who were talking to the desk clerk. Abigail heard him request a doctor for Mister Finch. Adam looked so different than he had in her office. Then he had looked the distinguished, sophisticated business man with that rich baritone voice that was so smooth and seductive it made her have thoughts that a married woman shouldn’t have about another man especially one who was married. Now though he was dressed all in black with a pistol hanging from those narrow hips, and it looked like he knew how to use it.

“You didn’t shoot him, did you?”

“No, Abigail, I did not shoot him.”

The voice was similar but now it was softer but at the same time almost menacing. It rumbled and made her heart beat against her sternum as he turned those hazel eyes on her.

He spoke again and it took a moment for the words to register as he had shaken her so much with the power of his voice and look.

“I told him at our last meeting that if he ever wrote a story like that about me again he needed to get a good stomach doctor because I was going to make him eat it. I just did. I imagine the constabulary may have been called. I’ll wait for them. There may be a fine. I’m paying any cleaning fees right now to this gentleman. I have informed him that Mister Finch is a wanted man, and his luggage is being retrieved at this moment so the authorities can take it if they wish when they take him.”

The thoughts that Abigail was having were not ones she knew she ought not to be having. There was something so viscerally engaging about the man that all she could imagine was spending the rest of her life with him or at least the next eight hours with him in bed. She glanced at Selina and could see it in her eyes. She had the same feeling. The lucky woman was married to him though, and she could act on her desire. All Abigail was able to stammer out was an inane question.

“Cleaning fees?”

“Mister Finch is not a brave man. He does his work best by hiding behind others. He made his cowardice abundantly clear when I confronted him.”

Selina couldn’t help herself. “He wet himself so badly everyone could tell.”

Abigail addressed Adam in response to that. “And then you made him eat the newspaper?”

“On his knees, yes. He did try to have me murdered and threatened to have my wife murdered. It seemed a fair enough trade.”

“Are you going to be in town long?”

“Oh, I doubt that will be possible. But I’ve done what I wanted to do so that’s not a problem. You have a bit more for your story now. Please be accurate when you write it.”

With eyes wide, Abigail could only nod her agreement. Adam smirked.

“I am a gentleman regardless of what you know about what happened here today. You have nothing to fear from me.”

“And James and Tilda?”

“Finch fooled them?”

“I believe so.”

“That’s it then. I have no desire to see them ever again. They can live with what they did. They are not my friends.”

“You can’t forgive them?”

“I think I just indicated that I did. What I can’t do is forget. I can’t trust them. Without trust, there is no friendship.”

That was the end of the conversation as the authorities did show up. Adam explained what had happened and why. He paid his fines and was told politely but firmly that he should make arrangements to leave by the next day. It was his plan anyway so that wasn’t a problem.

Abigail had plenty for her article about Adam, and she was meticulous in getting it accurately reported. The Finch story was longer as she had to wait for him to be extradited and then to get the verdict in the Nevada case.

That night before they headed back to Nevada, Adam and Selina found they couldn’t sleep. What they could do was make love and did so quite energetically the first time, and then slowly the second time, and in the light of dawn, kissed and touched until they realized that making love a third time was inevitable. By the time they boarded their boat for the trip to the sea, they headed to their stateroom and fell into the bunks to sleep ignoring all the opportunities to sightsee.

On their return to Virginia City, the couple had to tell all the news with Selina by then acting out the part of Finch dropping to his knees and begging Adam not to kill him.

“He admitted right there in the dining room in front of all those people that he had published all those lies. Adam reminded him what he said he would do to him if he ever wrote lies about him again, and Finch begged him again. But Adam made him eat that newspaper. He kept pouring him glasses of water to help wash it down.”

Her pride in her husband was clear. However the story was ghastly, and Ben could hardly say he approved, but deep down inside, he did. The lack of much objection from him was evidence of that. He was mostly happy that Adam was back, and nothing bad had happened. The news that Finch was being returned was a mixed blessing, but once that trial was over, it would all be over.

On the Ponderosa, the story was continuing as Adam and Selina decided it was time to decide where to live. A house near the main house seemed the best option so Adam began drawing up plans for one. He had to draw up plans for a room to be added to the stable for the boy who worked there now.

It was handy having someone to keep that clean and make sure the animals were always well cared for. Ben wondered why he hadn’t taken care of that years earlier. The boy took his meals in the bunkhouse or in the kitchen with Hop Sing.

Ben asked for some changes to the main house too and mentioned more additions to the lumber mill. Adam was busy with those projects and had time for his family. For now, he decided that perhaps designing and building homes and other building projects might be the right job for him. He didn’t need the money, but did need to be busy and feel that he was accomplishing something. Selina knew it wasn’t a long-term solution because a creative and curious man like Adam would move on to other things eventually, but she had signed on to make a home wherever he was. She hadn’t regretted a moment of it and looked forward to the next step in their journey together.

As expected, Finch went to prison. As predicted by Clem, he didn’t last long there. A weak and cowardly man who was also dishonest, he got into too much trouble too fast and was killed in a fight less than six months into his sentence. That part of the story truly was over.

***The End***

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Candy Canaday, Family, Hop Sing, Hoss Cartwright, SAS