Chapter 13 - Virgil Tatum Makes Clementine an Offer
Three days after the supper, Virgil Tatum requested to see Clementine.
Again.
This time from jail.
Josiah's answer was immediate.
"No."
Clementine's was equally immediate.
"Yes."
They stared.
The children quietly left the room.
Even Emmett sensed danger.
"You don't owe him anything," Josiah said.
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because men like Virgil rarely ask without reason."
"You want to hear him threaten you again?"
"I want to hear what he thinks he still has."
Josiah crossed his arms.
"You enjoy making me miserable."
"Occasionally."
"This isn't funny."
"No."
She softened.
"I won't go alone."
That changed the argument.
Sheriff Pike escorted her.
Mr. Belling waited outside.
Josiah came too but remained in the front office.
Virgil sat behind iron bars.
He looked smaller.
Not physically.
Power had once filled space around him.
Now it was gone.
"Clementine."
"Virgil."
"You've been busy."
"So have investigators."
He smiled faintly.
"You think I acted alone?"
She said nothing.
"There are men in Denver."
Still nothing.
"Railroad men."
That interested her.
He noticed.
"Land doesn't become valuable accidentally."
"What do you want?"
"Protection."
She almost laughed.
"From me?"
"Influence."
"I have no official position."
"Exactly."
He leaned closer to the bars.
"People trust you."
Clementine disliked hearing it spoken like currency.
"What are you offering?"
"Information."
"In exchange?"
"Tell Briggs to stop printing."
"No."
"Tell Nathan to modify testimony."
"No."
"Then your husband may lose more than a ranch."
Clementine became still.
Virgil smiled.
"There's a second note."
"Lie."
"Ask Josiah."
She held his gaze.
"Ask him about winter of '84."
Clementine said nothing.
"Five hundred wasn't the first money."
"What was?"
"Two hundred."
"From you?"
"From Harlan."
"When?"
Virgil leaned back.
"Ask your husband."
The meeting ended.
Outside, Josiah waited.
One look at Clementine's face told him.
"What did he say?"
"Winter of '84."
Josiah stopped breathing normally.
There.
Truth.
"What happened?"
"Not here."
They rode home in silence.
In the barn, away from children, Josiah told her.
Abigail had become ill the previous winter too.
Not fatal then.
Doctor expenses.
Feed shortage.
Josiah borrowed two hundred dollars from banker Harlan Webb.
No formal mortgage.
Personal note.
"I paid some."
"How much remains?"
"Maybe eighty."
"Maybe?"
"Harlan never asked after Abigail died."
"And after Harlan died?"
"I forgot."
Clementine closed her eyes.
"Josiah."
"I know."
"Where is the note?"
"No idea."
"Could Virgil have it?"
"If he bought Harlan's accounts."
Of course.
Another debt.
Perhaps legitimate.
Perhaps altered.
Clementine felt anger rising.
Not because Josiah owed money.
Because he hid it.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I forgot."
"No."
He looked away.
"I was ashamed."
"That is not forgetting."
"I know."
"We have spent weeks fighting documents."
"I know."
"I asked for every debt."
"I know."
Her voice rose.
"And you decided humiliation mattered more than truth?"
Josiah's own anger flared.
"You think this is easy for me?"
"No."
"You arrived and fixed things in ten days I've failed to fix in two years."
"That is not true."
"It feels true!"
Silence.
The argument shifted.
Josiah paced.
"My children listen to you."
"They love you."
"The ranch earns money because of you."
"Because of all of us."
"There you go again."
"What?"
"Making failure disappear with words."
Clementine stared.
"You think I see you as a failure?"
"Don't you?"
"No."
"Then what?"
She stepped closer.
"I see a man who buried his wife and kept seven children alive while a predator used his grief to take his property."
Josiah looked away.
"That's generous."
"It is accurate."
"No. Accurate is I nearly lost everything."
"And yet you didn't."
"Because you arrived!"
The barn became quiet.
Josiah's voice broke.
"Because you arrived."
Clementine's anger vanished.
He continued.
"I don't know what this family becomes if you leave."
Her heart tightened.
"Why would I leave?"
"Because I lied."
"You omitted."
"Same thing."
"Not always."
"I was ashamed."
Clementine sat on a bale.
"Do you know why I sold my Chicago business?"
"You said pressure."
"Partly."
She looked at her hands.
"I borrowed money too."
Josiah blinked.
"How much?"
"Enough."
"For?"
"Expansion."
She smiled bitterly.
"I thought more customers meant more success. More carts. Bigger kitchen. More rooms."
"What happened?"
"Recession. Meat prices changed. Two contracts disappeared."
She had nearly lost everything before Doyle ever threatened her.
"I hated telling my brothers."
"Why?"
"Because I was the competent one."
Josiah sat beside her.
There it was.
Same shame.
Different city.
Different life.
Same human fear.
Clementine touched his hand.
"We tell everything now."
"Everything."
"Even embarrassing things."
"Especially."
He smiled faintly.
"You're frightening."
"Useful."
They found the second note two days later among Virgil's confiscated records.
Original principal: two hundred.
Remaining balance: seventy-four dollars.
No fraud.
Legitimate.
Clementine almost felt relieved.
They paid it.
Immediately.
Josiah insisted.
When the receipt arrived, he placed it in a new ledger.
Every debt.
Every payment.
Every contract.
Transparent.
Clementine labeled the first page.
CALDWELL FAMILY ACCOUNTS
Josiah objected.
"Should be Broken Spur."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because ranches don't make choices. People do."
He looked at her.
Then added one word beneath the title.
CLEMENTINE
She stared.
"You're already a Caldwell."
"Legally."
"More than legally."
Again, he offered something.
Again, fear rose.
But this time Clementine did not retreat.
She leaned forward and kissed him.
It was brief.
Gentle.
Surprising enough that Josiah forgot how to speak.
Clementine stood.
"Do not become insufferable."
He blinked.
"What?"
"You heard me."
She walked toward the house.
Josiah remained seated for several seconds.
Then smiled like an idiot.
Wyatt passed the barn door.
Saw him.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
Wyatt narrowed his eyes.
"You look strange."
Josiah laughed.
"Go feed the horses."
Wyatt walked away muttering.
Inside, Clementine leaned against the pantry door.
Her face felt hot.
Sadi saw everything.
"Finally."
Clementine jumped.
"What?"
Sadi grinned.
"Nothing."
May you like
Apparently everyone in the Caldwell family was becoming terrible at nothing.
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