Jordy figured Marx did not have enough money to have paid a lot for the painting, and he could pick up plenty of cheap art in one of the bigger cities that would serve his purposes. It wasn’t like he was operating an art museum here. “Fifty dollars.”
“Nope.”
“Everything’s got a price. What do you want?”
Marx was silent for a long time, which told Jordy the painting was now on the market.
“I’d never find another like this,” Marx said.
“What do you care? You can find others that would decorate your place just fine. Some drunk will shoot this place up sometime and fill it full of holes. Then what would it be worth?” Marx’s lips tightened and his left eye squinted, telling Jordy that this was something the tavern owner had not considered.
“Maybe I’ll have me an auction.”
“Go ahead, but if I don’t get it today, I won’t be a bidder.”
“Three hundred dollars.”
Jordy had never placed a limit on what he would pay to get Sierra’s painting out of the place, but he would easily have paid five hundred. He did not want the man backing out because he thought he could have gotten more. He doubted if Marx had any integrity about such things. “Two hundred dollars.”
Marx was studying him now, like a poker player. Jack and Rudy had always kidded Jordy about being poker-faced. He hoped that was the face he was showing now.
“Ah, shit,” Marx said. “Split the difference?”
Jordy rendered a loud sigh. “Oh, what the hell? It’s too damned much, but let’s do it. Take my bank draft?”
“I know where to find you if it’s no good. Besides, you wouldn’t want word to get around that you’re both a deadbeat and a deviant.”
“Deviant. That’s a big word.”
“Don’t know what it means exactly. Woman called me that because of my business once. Stuck in my head, and I figured you earned it today.”
Jordy pulled a blank draft from his shirt pocket, filled it out, signed it, and handed it to Marx. “Now let’s take the painting down and go to your backroom and see if we can get it out of the frame.” He was not about to carry the framed painting down Main Street for all the gossips to see. There would be enough of that anyhow.
They removed the painting from the wall and took some “boos” from the few tavern customers. In the storage room behind the bar, Jordy carefully detached the frame and rolled up the painting’s canvas. Then he returned to the freight office and asked Juana to help him wrap it in the heaviest cover she could find. She suggested another layer of canvas and took care of the task, binding it snuggly with twine but not so tight as to cause a depression in the object. She had obviously been curious but asked no questions.
Later, as Jordy headed back to the ranch with a rolled and wrapped painted canvas tucked carefully under his arms, he pondered what he was going to do with the acquisition that had cost him the equivalent of ten cows and half of his bank account. He was not about to tell anyone what he had done, but he was certain word would get around. And if Sierra happened to stay near San Angelo, how many men would recognize her as the beautiful woman in the painting? Should he warn her? What had possessed her to pose for the painting? Were there others out there? He had a lot of thinking to do. He decided that his purchase would go in his bedroom closet for now.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Jordy handled the buggy reins as the party rode to San Angelo behind a team of mules. Rudy sat silently in the front seat with Jordy, and Sierra and Tess chatted amicably in the back seat. Rudy had said little since his return midday yesterday with the Lucky Five crew and Sierra’s horse herd. The wagons had swung through town, where the Studebakers had been abandoned near the freight company’s stables. There he had received the news of Jack’s death. Although he should not have been surprised, the old man had plummeted into a stupor, and when he did emerge, it was frequently with sudden outbursts of anger.
Ranch operations had turned to near chaos when the horses showed up. Jordy and Sierra had joined the wranglers in driving the herd to the selected pasture area along the river. Sierra had ridden Dancer through the herd, weaving back and forth as she selected fillies to be cut out in a week or two and taken to the ranch headquarters and corralled to await Buster’s services. The area was not fenced off, but water was close by and grass was plentiful. Irish said he would arrange for wranglers to rotate in six-hour shifts to keep the herd from straying but he thought it unlikely the horses would be looking to stray after so many days of barely subsistence forage.
Rudy had appeared at supper that evening and picked at his food before exploding into a rage at Jordy for not waiting for Rudy’s return before burying Jack. Jordy chose not to respond. Following supper, Rudy had accosted both Jordy and Sierra about sharing the house without a chaperone. He ordered Jordy to move in with him until appropriate supervision was arranged. Sierra had prudently remained silent. Jordy had politely declined.
The old man had stomped out and before dark returned with blanket and pillow and made his bed on the living room couch. Jordy had suggested Rudy move into Jack’s bedroom. Rudy had replied, “You expect an old cripple to go up and down them steps? But I can get there if I hear any foolishness going on up there, and I’ll be bringing Jack’s old double-barreled.” Jordy thought the old devil would not even hear the shotgun if it accidently fired downstairs. If Rudy’s hearing was the only barrier
