Texas Born (43 page)

Neither Elizabeth-Anne nor Zaccheus could
quite explain how they managed to juggle their time. There was so
much to do it was mind-boggling. Every phase of construction had to
be overseen. Zaccheus suggested that the Sexton Construction
Company build the tourist court, but Elizabeth Anne had other
ideas. Wisely, she made it seem that they were his.

During one of their planning discussions
before ground was broken, she looked sideways at him. 'It's
wonderful how well things are going, don't you think? And you know,
we're really very lucky. The girls are pitching in, and I didn't
even have to ask Rosa to come to work early. Imagine! She knows how
busy we are, and suddenly she starts showing up two hours
early.'

'She is a jewel,' Zaccheus agreed. Then he
laughed. 'A big two-hundred-pound jewel, at that.'

Elizabeth-Anne poked him in the ribs with a
sharp jab of her elbow. 'Now, that's not nice, and you know it.
There's no one as devoted to us as she is. I thank God we have
her.'

'Sorry, Mama,' he said, pulling a straight
face. 'I stand corrected. She is worth her weight in gold. A lot of
the Mexicans are, you know. It's a pity they don't have more
opportunities. Everyone likes to say they're lazy, but they're not.
The problem is, nobody wants to give them any responsibility.
Everyone's afraid they'll take away jobs from the whites.'

'Why, Zaccheus!' Elizabeth-Anne exclaimed.
'What a
good
idea!' She clapped her hands together in
delight and rested her head against his shoulder.

He frowned. 'What's a good idea?'

'What you just said. Hiring Mexicans and
giving them a chance. I should have thought of that myself! Rosa's
nephew, Carlos Cortez, is an engineer, and he's never had the
opportunity he needs. I hear he's very talented. He can be in
charge of building the tourist court, and he'll see about hiring
everyone we need. His people will work hard. It's like you said,
they have to, just to prove how capable they are.' She sighed
happily. 'Sometimes you make me so happy. I'm
proud
of
you!'

And after that, he thought ruefully, what
choice did he have but to follow through with 'his' suggestion? He
couldn't help but feel that he'd been very cleverly railroaded.

He thought to himself:
She's a clever
cookie, that wife of mine.

Despite all there was to do, life was
comfortable; week after week brought new plateaus of happiness and
peaks of surprises.

Six-year-old Rebecca found her first
boyfriend, a schoolmate named Gentry Olivant.
'Yech!
' her
sisters teased her mercilessly. 'Nobody's named Gentry
Olivant
. At least nobody
human
. Besides, he's got
elephant ears and chipped front teeth.'

'
I
think he's handsome!' Rebecca cried
loyally every time they teased her and called him 'Gentry
Elephant.'

Regina celebrated her eleventh birthday and
Elizabeth-Anne took the time out to plan a surprise party for her
and invited all her school friends over to the café that
afternoon.

Elizabeth-Anne and Zaccheus contemplated
purchasing a car, but frugality won out. Eventually they would buy
one, they decided, but not just yet. They would wait until the
tourist court was completed and bringing in money.

Elizabeth-Anne would never forget that spring
of 1923. Her joy knew no bounds. She was pregnant again. 'This time
it'll be a boy!' she promised an exultant Zaccheus. 'I
know
it will!'

'I don't care what it is!' he declared
joyfully. 'Son, daughter, twins—I'll love him or her or them all
the same!'

'I'm worried though,' Elizabeth-Anne confided
to him. 'It's bad timing. Having the baby now will slow me down.
And there's so
much
to do!'

He laughed. 'Mama,' he told her, 'in the
twelve years since we've been together, I've never seen you let
anything slow you down yet.'

How wonderful those months seemed as they
raced through them. The stormy clouds on the horizon had yet to
come, and nothing gave them an inkling of the web Jenny had
spun.

They were at the construction site,
Elizabeth-Anne and Zaccheus, with the girls playing tag in the
fields.

'It's really coming along,' Elizabeth-Anne
said. 'Look, part of the concrete foundations have already been
poured!'

'By next week sometime, the timber framework
will start to go up. It
is
amazing, isn't it?'

They both turned to look at the horizon.
Beyond it somewhere, slowly but surely, yard by yard and mile by
mile, the highway coming north from Brownsville was approaching
ever closer.

Summer came, and with it the first indication
that treacherous waters lay ahead.

Doing paperwork and accounting, paying the
bills and making financial projections was Zaccheus'
responsibility, so he was the first to see the storm clouds
gathering. He waited awhile before mentioning anything to
Elizabeth-Anne. He didn't want to scare her unduly. And besides, he
wanted to have absolute proof before confronting the issue.

It was but a matter of time. After several
weeks of suspecting inconsistencies, he could keep quiet no
longer.

For Elizabeth-Anne, the day dawned with the
usual everyday anxieties, but she could see no major danger looming
on the horizon. She awoke feeling safe and secure, certain that all
was well in her snug little world. The morning was crystal clear
and the stars seemed brighter and closer to earth than ever.

As usual, Carlos Cortez was waiting for her
and Zaccheus at the construction site. Cortez was always the first
to arrive in the morning, unless they arrived minutes earlier, and
the last to leave at night. She knew that hiring him had been a
good choice. No one could ask for more dedication from anybody.

'I don't believe it!' Elizabeth-Anne marveled
as she stared around at the dark, ghostly shapes. 'Half the
framework is already completed!'

Carlos nodded. 'My men work fast.'

'Indeed they do!' Elizabeth-Anne hooked her
arm through Zaccheus.' 'Come on, darling!' she said excitedly as
the dawn began to pale the night sky. 'Let's poke around!' She
shook her head in wonderment. 'I didn't realize the tourist court
was so big! Now that the timber frames are half up, it looks . . .
well,
monstrous!
'

'And expensive,' Zaccheus added quietly.

She caught the undercurrent in his voice and
glanced at him sharply. This was the first time he had voiced
concern over the budget. 'What's wrong?' she asked gently.

'Nothing's wrong, exactly. But since I drew
up the original estimates, costs have been spiraling steadily
upward. I hadn't taken that into account.'

'You mean it won't come in within the
budget?' She smiled. 'Well, don't worry. I didn't really expect to
repay the extra two thousand early.' She paused. 'How far over
budget do you think it's going to run?'

He shook his head. 'I don't know, exactly,'
he said cautiously, 'but it looks as though it might go well over
the extra two thousand. We may have to dip into our savings.'

Her fingers clasped his arm tightly, but she
did not say a word. She didn't have to: the pressure she applied on
his arm said it all.

'These units are expensive,' he explained.
'Especially the plumbing and the wiring. It would have been a lot
cheaper putting up a single large building, but . . . well, that
would have been a hotel, and not a tourist court. That's what's
costing us . . . that, plus the fact that nothing's getting any
cheaper.'

'At least we have money in the bank,'
Elizabeth-Anne said.

'I hope it's enough.'

'You hope what?' She stared at him.

'I'll have to go over the figures with Carlos
this weekend, but I only think it fair to warn you . . .'He
hesitated uncomfortably, and looked out over the fields in the
direction from which the highway was coming. 'I would have told you
earlier,' he said softly, 'but I didn't want to worry you. Not
until I was sure.'

'And now you are?'

He nodded. 'Now I am.'

Summer dragged on, and then events began to
overtake them. It was the beginning of August; they had been
married thirteen years. The fickle wheel of fortune and the plot
Jenny had hatched were too potent to withstand.

The strong noonday sun baked the fields
remorselessly and the Mexican laborers were hidden, enjoying their
siesta in the shade behind stacks of lumber and building materials
as Zaccheus pulled up in the Sexton Model T Ford he had use of. The
construction site seemed deserted.

He killed the engine and the silence was
almost eerie. But from the shadows he could feel the small army of
Mexican workers eyeing him curiously.

'El jefe
. '

The boss. That was how he was known by
them.

He saw Carlos Cortez striding toward him from
the patch of shade. 'You sent a message that it's urgent you see me
immediately?' he asked as he climbed out of the car.

Cortez nodded. '
Si
, Senor Hale. It is
very, very important.' He gestured to the far end of the site. 'Let
us talk over there. Some of the men understand English and I do not
wish for them to hear.'

Zaccheus nodded. 'All right,' he said, his
voice sounding unnaturally loud in the silence.

They took the wide path that had been
trampled down over the past weeks toward the foundation of the last
building, at the far end of the tourist court. When they reached it
they sat down on the raised porch. Cortez produced an open pack of
cigarettes and offered it delicately to Zaccheus, who shook his
head. Cortez took one for himself, lit it, and took a deep drag.
'Things are not right,' he said softly.

Zaccheus stared at him. 'What's wrong?'

Cortez laughed mirthlessly. 'What is not
wrong, senor? Coyote Building Suppliers, they always raise their
prices. Nothing arrives at the time it is promised. For some things
we have waited for weeks now.' He paused, and added softly, 'You
work for Senor Sexton. Can you not appeal to him?'

'I already did. He says there is nothing he
can do. He says the building-supply company is controlled by his
brother, Roy.'

Something flickered deep within the Mexican's
dark, liquid eyes.

Wearily Zaccheus looked out across the
fields.

Cortez smoked in silence for half a minute.
'There is something else. It worries me even more.'

Zaccheus turned to him.

Cortez ground the cigarette out under his
heel. 'We are always short of supplies. What is delivered is
carefully inventoried, but then . . .'He shrugged. 'When we use the
supplies, much is missing.'

Zaccheus' voice was hushed. 'You mean someone
is stealing from us?'

The Mexican's expression did not change. 'The
last night, I spent it here, Senor Hale,' he said in a hushed
voice. 'I wanted to see for myself.'

'And someone came? To steal?' It was more a
statement than a question.

'
Si
. ' Cortez nodded. 'It was after
midnight when they arrived. There were two trucks and five men. I
did not try to stop them. There were too many of them, and only one
of me.'

'It would have been stupid to try anything,'
Zaccheus agreed. 'Did they see you?'

'No, senor. But I recognized two of them . .
. and the trucks.'

Zaccheus stared intently at him.

Cortez did not speak.

Zaccheus' voice was a bare whisper.' 'Who
were they?''

Cortez remained silent.

'They were Sexton men, weren't they?'
Zaccheus said tightly. His bright blue eyes turned dark and
stonelike with anger. 'They had to have been.'

Cortez nodded. 'And the trucks were Coyote
Building Suppliers trucks. I am sorry, senor.'

'I should have known,' Zaccheus said
bitterly. 'First they sell us the materials, and then they steal
them back to sell them all over again.'

'They are not good people, senor.'

' 'I know.'' Zaccheus sighed. ' 'And I am one
of them.''

'Senor?'

'I work for Sexton. Or, I should say, I
worked for him. I am resigning today.'

Cortez looked at him and nodded. 'That is
good.' He paused. 'About the thefts, senor. What are you going to
do?'

Zaccheus' voice was thoughtful. 'When is the
next big shipment coming in?'

'Tomorrow afternoon is when it is
scheduled.'

Zaccheus rose from the porch. 'Then they are
likely to come again tomorrow night. I will spend it here; I will
have to,' he said.

Cortez looked at him. 'Then I shall spend the
night here with you, Senor Hale,' he said softly. 'Better that
there are two of us. Those men, they look dangerous.'

'No.' Zaccheus shook his head. 'This I must
do myself.'

'Then be careful, senor. If you change your
mind. . .'

Zaccheus smiled. 'I won't, but thank you.
You're a brave man, Senor Cortez. There are not many men in this
state who would dare put themselves in that position.''

'De nada
. ' Cortez shrugged. 'It is
nothing. They are thieves and must be stopped.'

'I will stop them.'

Cortez stood there, smiling sadly. 'You, too,
are a brave man, Senor Hale,' he said softy. 'I only hope you are
not a foolish one, as well.'

'No!' Elizabeth-Anne gasped. It was
approaching dusk and they were standing on the porch of the café.
'No, Zaccheus. I forbid it! You can't. If you go out there tonight,
I think you ought to get Sheriff Parker to go with you.'

He smiled. 'Don't worry so much, Mama. I'm
just going to hide on the site to see what happens.'

'I'm scared, Zaccheus.'

He smiled. 'Don't worry so much. I'm not
going to play the hero. But we've got to find out exactly who's
behind the thefts. How else can we stop them?'