Page 116 of Stockman's Showdown

‘The married woman.’

‘Not legally. Jack Price wasn’t his real name.’

‘What was his name, then?’

‘Jack Price was Jake Blackwell. An army deserter who’d pinched a load of shotties from them and done a runner to the scrub.’

‘What else?’

‘Well, I only knew the man as Jack Price. As my boss, he was a good head stockman, and before you ask,’ said Charlie, raising his open palm, ‘I had no clue what was going on with my brother and Jack’s wife, coz I was out musterin’. By the time I’d come back, Price was dead, my brother was accused of murdering him, and run away with Jack’s wife, Penelope.’

‘So when did that story change?’

‘The other week. We were out musterin’ and there was a stampede. Bree cut ‘em off. You should have seen it, riding her horse with the reins in her teeth, pumping the shotgun in one hand, while cracking her whip to stop them.’

‘Pop, they don’t need to hear that.’ She internally cringed with embarrassment. But Charlie always loved an audience, even if it was at gunpoint.

‘Leo wanted to hear this, and I don’t mind tellin’ a tale now and again.’ Charlie then swivelled around to face Leo, but he also included the other men in the room speaking to them just like he did to the crowd at the rodeo earlier. ‘Anyhoodle, with the ground shaking from over a thousand head of cattle, it started a landslide.’

‘Hey, we felt that,’ said Hammer, with Wrench nodding beside him. ‘We thought it was an earthquake.’

‘I’m not surprised. It happened just on the other side of Cattleman’s Keep there.’

‘Any damage to the property, or the cattle?’

‘The cattle bolted back the way they came, along with Bree and Ryder. But once the dust had settled, it revealed this old mining cave.’ Charlie scooped up the glass, his hand shaky as he swallowed a mouthful of liquor. ‘And… Well…’ He glanced back at Bree to finish for him.

‘That’s where I found Great-Uncle Harry’s skeleton, holding his lover, Penelope. They’d died in each other’s arms.’

‘No way.’ Wrench pulled out a chair and flipped it around to sit on it like a horse’s saddle. Even Bones sat on the edge of the kitchen bench, with Hammer sitting on the desk. It was Gator, as the watchdog, who hadn’t relaxed his stance. ‘From the cave-in?’

‘Lack of oxygen.’ Charlie nodded. ‘We didn’t even know the cave existed. But there it was. And according to them geo-whatnot mining specialists, they’d been trapped alive by dynamite blasts.’

‘Did they know who did it?’

Again, Charlie nodded. ‘Jack Price did it. Murdered his own wife, he did.’

‘How?’ Leo’s look shifted from one of amusement to something else entirely.

‘Jack Price used the dynamite to get back at his wife for leaving him for another man. The police reckon some bad people were after him for skedaddling with his stolen shotguns, that he’d been trying to sell as fast as he could. But when he went to grab his cash and passport so he could leave, it was all gone.’

‘Where was it?’ This time Bones, on the other side, asked the question.

‘His wife, Penelope, had his ID and all that dosh. The thing was, Price didn’t know it, only realisingafterhe’d buried her behind tons of rock and rubble.’

‘Jeez…’ The brothers Wrench and Hammer looked at each other, both raking fingers through their hair. It had Bree wondering if they were twins.

‘Now them coppers reckon, based on the evidence Ryder and Bree found—’

‘What was that?’ Leo asked her.

She shrugged. ‘The murder weapon and some dynamite.’

‘How did the police—’

‘Oi.’ Charlie raised his hands at the men who were holding them hostage, as if trying to control the conversation in the pub.

Bree grinned, shaking her head. ‘Sorry, Pop, the floor is yours.’

---