welcome.” Dovie then turned to Ketchum. “Any more of your ugliness and you’ll be asked to leave.”
“Says who?”
Dovie walked over to where he sat. Towering over him from her six-foot-plus frame, she replied calmly, “I whipped you when we were nine. I whipped you when we were fourteen. If you want to try me again, let me know.” Matt turned beet-red beneath his bruises. Upon hearing the chuckling, and taking in the grins of those looking on, his face twisted with anger and he got up and walked out.
The amused Spring began eating her stew. For all his bragging and threats, he’d always had a thin skin. She expected Jarvis and his companions to follow his exit, but they stayed.
After placing their orders with Dovie, Jarvis got to his feet and walked over to Spring’s table, much to her ire.
“Miss Lee?”
She looked up and waited for him to say more.
“I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am for what happened to McCray. I did warn him as you remember.”
She wondered why he’d added that last part. If he’d come to express true concern, he could’ve done it and moved on. “Were you involved?”
“Of course not.”
“Just wondering why you included the ‘told you so.’ Couldn’t help crowing, I suppose.”
His anger plainly showed he didn’t like where she’d taken the conversation, but someone tried to put McCray in his grave. She didn’t have to play nice. “You should probably go back to your seat.”
He gritted out, “You might need to be taught a lesson, too.”
“Someone already did. You’re speaking to the result.” She refused to be intimidated, especially by a man ignorant enough to believe being allied with Ketchum was a good idea. She again wondered what the two were really up to, but her food was getting cold. “Anything else?”
“I hope I’m around to witness you being brought down a peg or two. I’ll enjoy it.” He turned and went back to his seat.
She supposed she could’ve told him he wasn’t the first person to wish her ill, and probably wouldn’t be the last. Being a burr beneath some people’s saddles seemed to be part of her charm, as McCray called it. Thinking about him put a damper on her mood, so sending good thoughts his way, she refocused on her meal.
When she finished eating, she paid Dovie and left.
Before going back to her brother’s office, she wanted to talk with Odell, so she stopped at the telegraph office. To her surprise, there was no checkers game underway. In fact, Odell was alone.
“I sent the telegram to McCray’s people,” he told her. “Hoping we’ll hear something back soon.”
She wondered how they’d respond. Even if she and her brother were still estranged, getting word that he’d been injured, she’d’ve been on the next train heading his way. She wondered if his family would do the same. “Okay. Came to talk about the Ketchum land we purchased. Matt told Jarvis the acreage was sold illegally.”
Odell rolled his eyes. “Matt’s so full of manure, I’m surprised he doesn’t leave a trail of pies every time he takes a step.”
Tickled by that, she then relayed the details of Jarvis’s visit, adding, “Says he wants to build a mill.”
“According to what I’ve been hearing there’s a bunch of back-East fellas wanting to buy land here so they can chop down all the trees.”
Spring was confused.
He explained. “There’s a big thirst for lumber to build houses and such, but not enough trees anymore. So companies are turning their eyes to places out West. Man like Jarvis could make a small fortune with a mill, especially a new fancy one.”
“So has Jarvis approached you?”
“No. This is my first time hearing why he might be sniffing around. He can’t be very bright if he’s hitched his wagon to Ketchum.”
She agreed.
“And if Arnold Cale hears that Matt is telling folks his pa’s land was sold illegally, Arnold’s going to have his head. He takes a lot of pride in his reputation, and this would be a big smear if it were true, which it isn’t. Cale put adverts in papers from San Francisco to Chicago looking for heirs after Mitch Ketchum died. Didn’t hear a peep from Matt.”
“Anybody know where he’s been?”
“Hiding out, apparently. I heard rumors he was back East. That big politician in Cheyenne whose daughter Matt assaulted died recently, so I guess he figured it was safe to come back.”
“And stir up trouble.”
Odell nodded.
Spring admittedly didn’t pay much attention to politics but wondered if