“Now,” continued Looks Away, ignoring the bird and giving Perkins a stern and uncompromising look, “I believe I heard my friend ask you a fair question, son. What exactly were the crimes for which you were attempting to arrest Miss Pearl and Brother Joe?”
Perkins licked his lips.
“Theft,” he said.
“Theft?” cried Jenny Pearl. “So help me God I’ll nut you and feed—.”
Looks Away touched her arm and it cut her flow of threats.
“Theft it was and there’s no way you can deny it,” countered Perkins. “There’s your proof, and it’s enough to get you a full month in the mines. Hard labor, too.”
As he spoke, Perkins pointed to the base of the well, where two wooden buckets lay on their side, surrounded by a pool of water that was drying quickly in the hot afternoon sun.
“Maybe I’m missing something here,” said Grey. “Are you saying they stole the buckets?”
“No, you damn-fool,” said Perkins. “Anyone can clearly see they were stealing water.”
“Water?” echoed Grey. He looked from Perkins to Jenny Pearl, to Looks Away, to the monk named Brother Joe, and back again. “You’re arresting them for drawing water from the town well?”
“Of course,” said Perkins. “That well is the sole and complete property of—.”
“No, wait,” said Grey, holding up his free hand. “We’re talking about water? Water as in… water?”
“What are you? Stupid?”
“No, but I am deeply confused,” admitted Grey. “Or maybe appalled is the right word.”
“That’ll work,” agreed Looks Away, icily. Miss Pearl nodded.
Brother Joe tried to explain. “Mr. Deray has legal claim to all the water rights in this whole region.”
“Why? Is he grazing cattle or sheep?”
“No.”
“What’s he farm, then, that he needs so much water? Help me out here, brother, ’cause I’m having a hard time getting my hands on this.”
“Like I said,” laughed Perkins, “you’re a fool who doesn’t know shit from sheep’s wool.”
Grey’s arm was a blur. He raised his gun and fired a shot into the dirt between Perkins’s feet. The bullet ricocheted up and whined away into the distance. The deputy emitted a sharp yelp like a kicked dog and jumped two feet in the air. He landed flat-footed and froze into a hunched statue, eyes as wide as saucers.
“You want to keep a tighter rein on your mouth, son,” he said. “Call me a fool again and I’d be just as happy to put the next one through your kneecap. See if I don’t.”
Perkins’s mouth was open but he said nothing. Grey was pretty sure that the man was, at the moment, incapable of human speech. It took some effort to keep a smile off his face.
Brother Joe took a step forward as if he planned to stand between Perkins and Grey should the former incur any further wrath. The action said a lot about the monk’s devotion to the heart of scripture. It said a lot less about his awareness of the realities of this hard world. Even so, Grey lowered his gun again. He still didn’t holster it, though.
Looks Away let out an audible breath.
Jenny huffed. “You should have shot him. That’s what people do with mangy dogs.”
Grey turned to the other men. He could see that they each wore a deputy badge. His heart sank. However he said, “I see anyone’s hand twitch in the direction of their holsters I will kill each and every damn one of you. No, don’t look at me like that. I have five shots and my friend has six. If you don’t think we can put you down before you clear leather, then have at it. I’m sure there’s a coffin-maker in town.”
“There is,” Jenny assured him.
“So,” continued Grey, “you have to ask yourself if there’s anything here worth dying for. I’m thinking there isn’t.”
The deputies did not draw their guns. Brother Joe let out a deep breath of obvious relief.
“Well now,” said Grey affably, “how about someone tell me what in the actual hell is going on here? How is it that someone can claim water rights inside a damn town? Pardon my language, ma’am.”
“I don’t want your damn apologies,” she fired back. “I’d rather you had the balls to shoot these shit-heels and be done with it.”
Looks Away chuckled. “Ah, I do admire you, Jenny Pearl.”
“And you can keep your mouth shut, too, Mr. Looks Through Windows,” growled Jenny.
Looks Away affected to look like innocence offended. He said nothing, though, and Grey could see a ghost of a smile on his mouth.
“Padre,” said Grey, trying to find a voice of reason in this pack, “what’s the story with this water rights thing? Surely you’re able to tell the truth. Kind of a professional requirement, as I understand it.”
“Don’t listen to that old—,” began Perkins, but Grey shushed him. Not with a finger to his lips but with the barrel of his big Colt. That shut the deputy’s mouth.
“You were saying, Padre—?” encouraged Grey.
The monk cleared his throat. “Please, I don’t want any more trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” Grey assured him. “Just some folks standing around chatting on a sunny afternoon. So… if you please…”
“Well,” said Brother Joe, “what Deputy Perkins says may be true in the sense of the local law. This well is technically owned by Mr. Deray.”
“Tell him all of it,” said Jenny.
Brother Joe nodded. He wiped blood from his broken nose and pawed it from within the tangles of his beard. There was a lot of it. “That’s the thing… Aleksander Deray has acquired the rights to all of the water in this part of the Maze. All fresh water, that is.”
“All of it?” asked Grey, smiling at the absurdity of it.
“Every drop.”
“How’s that even possible? This well is inside the town limits. Surely it has to belong to the town.” Before he finished both Brother Joe and Jenny were shaking their heads.
“Mr. Deray bought all of the water,” said Brother Joe.
“You mean he stole it,” growled Jenny.
“More like swindled,” suggested Looks Away casually. They ignored him.
“All of it?” Grey asked. “What about on the farms? You can’t tell me there’s no water on any of the farms.”
“There’s water,” said Looks Away. “Not a lot, but it’s there.”
“Well, there you go, then—.”
“Mr. Deray owns that, too,” said Brother Joe. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s what makes this all so unfair. People are dying for want of water. The livestock and crops are already withered down to nothing. At first Mr. Deray would sell us some. A gallon a day for a family of four. Then it was a gallon every other day. Then a gallon a week.”
Grey gaped at him.
Jenny Pearl’s eyes flashed with blue fire. “Now Deray says that we can’t even buy water.”
“How does he expect you to live?”
“That, my dear chap,” said Looks Away dryly, “seems to be the question. Perhaps one of these fine constables can furnish us with an adequate answer. Shall we ask them?”
Grey took a step toward Perkins who, for all that he was afraid, held his ground. Grey had to grudge him that much. The deputy stiffened and stuck out his jaw in an attempt to look like the symbol of authority he was supposed to be.
“Talk,” said Grey.
“This ain’t your business, mister,” said Perkins. “Or the Indian’s.”
“I beg to differ,” drawled Looks Away.
Grey smiled. “I guess we’re making it our business.”
“You know you only got the better of us because you snucked up on us and bushwhacked us.”