Darcy drew a long, slow breath. Sense told her she was hearing the truth from this man, a truth that didn’t bode well for anybody holding rights down in Tarmin.
“So what’s your proposition, Mr. Riggs? I take it you have a proposition.”
“Well, yes, ma’am, I do. This little girl, her havin’ rights and all, her brothers is dealing with the wrong folk in the Mackeys, and they’re going to get sharped out of ever’thing they got due ’em. Which is fairly well goin’ to take this little girl’s property down with ’em, if you’re relyin’ on them two boys to protect her rights. Mackeys is going to get killed if they go down there. And so’s them boys. But that little girl—she’s such a pretty thing—”
“You said there’s a rider backing the boys.”
“Oh, yeah. And that’s a powerful hand. Don’t nothin’ move crosscountry without ’em. But once we get there, once there’s walls, ma’am, us miner types, we know how to dig in, we know how to get by. First villager boy tries it, he’s down something’s gullet fast. But there ain’t but your two riders, and they got a little girl to watch out for, besides they can’t leave the village without riders. That’s down to one rider, this Fisher boy, and some friends of his, supposedly, but that’s still three riders and a lot of supplies to haul down—and how many places can this Fisher be at once? You got supplies to haul. You got Tarmin to sit guard on. Any convoy that moves ain’t really safe without at least a rider to front and one to back. There’s just a hell of a lot they ain’t addin’ up, ma’am. You got to have somebody to sit down there and defend a bunch of pukin’ village boys who’d lose all their sense and rush right out into a lorrie-lie’s arms, first night they heard the Wild talkin’ to ’em, and you got to have somebody to ride with the truck convoys—granted they’ll come with their own riders—but somebody’s got to fix the damn phone lines, too. And that’s another rider. Fisher can’t be all those places. The convoy riders, they’re another breed, and they got their hire. Before they can do anything like move supplies they got to get riders from the other villages, and then the word’s out, and not a lot of people in those villages—specially the miners—is going to be damn happy there’s a bunch from Evergreen who’s gone down to Tarmin and squatted on the good property. Miner’s laws goin‘ to rule this ’un when the dust flies, ma’am, and if somebody ain’t looking out for that little girl’s interests—she ain’t going to get a penny.”
“Then I can provide for her, Mr. Riggs. Sounds as if I’m going to have a lot of business.”
Earnest leaned forward across the table. “Yes, ma’am. But that ain’t the only danger. You got this little girl, same as them boys, walking around with nobody to watch ’em, and could happen— could happen, there’d be some snatch this pretty little thing on account of her being not only just damn pretty but also rich and having rights. And when the law does come down there in a couple of years, if you’re alive and you got rights—the law’s going to be for you and again’ others in whatever dispute might be. You don’t want to sign away what’s due that pretty little girl.”
“Yeah. I might, rather than see her involved in what you’re talking about.”
“No, now, ma’am, you can look out for that little lady’s interest, you know, if you’d have somebody as can defend her claim down there.”
Now it came to money. “Mr. Riggs, clearly you’re expecting I’ll give you a stake. And I don’t have money for groceries. I’ve not been working the last year.”
“You got this nice house. You got credit at the bank.”
“Mr. Riggs, —if I gave you money and you went down there and got killed, I’d have a debt, the girl would be broke, and there’d be no recourse.”
“Ma’am, we’ve thought of that. There’s a number of us, five or six, that’s willin’ to go down there together to look out for ourselves, and the little girl’s interest, well, you know men. It’s a hell of a lot easier to keep guys headed the same direction, if they got a thing to do together. So while we’re looking out for ourselves, we could look out for the little girl’s property.”
“Her brothers’ property.”
“Well, we could strike a deal with them for her third. Damn sure the Mackeys ain’t going to pay anything to keep the property safe, and the boys are poorer than we are. We could hire them, howsoever.”
“Let me have it clear. You’re proposing to have me pay you money to shoot anybody who tries to claim the Goss property.”
“No, ma’am. I’m proposing you buy us shells and flour and oil and such and we’ll sit on the property and defend ourselves if someone’s such a fool as to take on five of us. It’s that little girl’s legal title to the property that’d give us special status before the law, ma’am. And the property around it’s what we’d claim for ourselves. Wouldn’t lay no claim on the girl’s property.”
“That’d be a fair piece of the village you’d be sitting on.”
“Yes, ma’am, it would.”
“How much would you want?”
“Thousand. In advance. For supplies, ma’am. Not a penny more.”
It wasn’t so much as she’d feared. But it was a huge amount of cash.
“And what about the brothers?”
“Fairly well depends on them. How they like us for neighbors. Or we’d protect them, too, if they come up with an offer.”
There were very sharp edges to this affair. And she couldn’t trust that Riggs wouldn’t strong-arm the Goss brothers once they were down in Tarmin with Riggs’ crew all around them.
She was halfway surprised she didn’t hear an offer to make sure The Little Girl inherited all the Goss property. But if she borrowed that trouble she lost all power to control the purse strings and thereby to control Riggs.
And there was a chance the Gross boys might—might try to prevent her gaining custody of Brionne. She wasn’t a fool. She didn’t give up her cards until she knew what they were worth.
And she didn’t need to put a thousand in cash into Riggs’ hands so he could drink it up by spring and ask for another.
“This spring,” she said, “I’ll have the cash for you.”
“Begging your pardon, ma’am, but spring’ll be a rush on supplies, prices are bound to go up. We’ll need more if we wait till spring.”
“Then I’ll put it on account at the store and they’ll reserve you supplies, but they won’t deliver until I say so.”
“Ma’am, you’re one sharp woman.”
“Yes, I am. You turn in your list to me. Can you write?”
“No, ma’am. But one of my guys can. We’ll get a list.”
“The other matter, Mr. Riggs, is—don’t talk outside your group about my supporting you. If this becomes gossip around town, I’ll know I can’t trust you, and you won’t get a sack of flour or a foot of rope.”
“I do understand. And you don’t have no doubts: I’m the one can get that little girl her rights. I can lay claim down there for her, fix up the place—what needs fixin’. I mean, if them houses was swarmed, it’s going to be pretty messy inside. But I can do that. Pretty little girl.”
“She’s thirteen,” Darcy said coldly, seeing exactly where that was going.
It set him back. Maybe. For about two seconds. “Well, that’d be about right, a few years on. Pretty little thing. Awful pretty. You got to watch out, them rough guys, you know.”