THE WILL 19

when the deputy got out of his car he had his official face on tobey walked up and stood in front of him. " i just got a complaint from a real estate agent that you acosted him for being on your property, is that so?" partley but i never laid a hand on him i did caress his necck tie and asked him some questions you might be intrested in the answeres to"tobey confessed. he then told the deputy about people knowing about the shooting of roberto before the deputys had a chance to even write their report. through all of it the deputy listened close and when tobey ws through he looked at him"are you acusing tubbs od the shootings?" " all ime saying is he needs looking into he knows to much before any one else does." tobey stated. " but you didnt hit the real estate man?" the deputy asked " no, just showed him what i would use if i did hit him." tobey almost started laughing " well since i didnt see any marks on him and there was no witnesses ill just have to take your word for it. and il talk to my boss about bringing in tubbs for questioning. that is a curious thing about the word getting out so quick. in the mean time stay out of trouble ok"the deputy asked. tobey nodded and turned toward the open gate.when the deputy drove away he shut the gate and went in the house. roberto was asleep on the couch. tobey got a serape and covered him up.then went into the kitchen and poured a drink.

THE WILL 18

tobey walked out to the hiway and flagged down a deputy. he handed the deputy the slip of paper with the license plate number" who does that belong to?" the deputy called the number in and it came back belonging to the real estate agent hardy leech. tobey thanked the deputy and turned to walk back to the house. the deputy sat there and watched before he pulled back onto the hiway. tobey spent the morning selling hay and loading trucks and trailers. after lunch things got quiet so he saddled a horse and slipped in to the corral full of cattle he started cutting off the big fat cattle that needed marketing. after a hour he had 22 head of big fat steers and young cows without calves. when he was unsaddling his horse he saw a truck pull up to the hay stack. he walked over and the man was stacking hay onto his flat bed truck. as tobey walked up the man looked up in surprise."{ i didnt think anyone was about i hope you didnt think i was stealing this." the man explained as he was tying his load down. tobey stod by and watched. the man turned and handed tobey a hand ful of cash" they told me at the coffee shop in town that the yard man was murdered. ime sorry to hear that, he was a good man." " thank you , i appreciate it. who at the coffee shop was telling you that?" tobey asked. he stuffed the cash in his pocket without counting it. "that fat man tubbs, he was makeing a show out of telling everyone.. wanting to prosper on some one elses misery."the man said. " well thanks for that too maybe we can catch up with this chicken heart who is shooting folks." tobey said. the man got in his truck and pulled out of the yard. as he pulled out on the hiway a car rolled in with a real estate sighn on it. tobey drew him self up in preperation for the comming conversation. the real estste agent got out of his car he was swole up with self importance. he swaggered over to tobey" i thought maybe we could talk about tyour selling this place since youve been here a few days." tobey looked the man up and down his skinny frame" well its like this, i been a 400 doller a month cow puncher all my working life. and now through my uncles misfortunate death i have a good solid residence, not a bunk house some where and a good income and enough cattle to keep me happy. so no ime not intrested in selling ." " well since the murder of your hired hand i thought you might have a different out look on things.i thought since the old man that was your neighbor passed on and you are buying that ranch from his sister we could put a combined listing out there. i have a potential buyer for something like this." the dirt pirate was talking and tobey liked what he was hearing tobey steped between the agent and his car. " and just how did you know i been talking to alexis and hi before her?"tobey grined at the skinney man. " well, well i ran into alexis in town and she told me."leech answered suddenly nervous. " and how did you know that roberto had been shot? nobody but the deputys knew about it, so how did you find out?"tobey was still grinning. " i, i heard it in town" leech stutered. tobeys hand shot out and grabbed the mans neck tie and pulled him closer. he balled up his right fist" ime going to ask you one more time, who told you? you do this the easy way or your not going to like the other way." leech tryed to lean back but tobey pulled him closer and raised the fist. leech looked at the fist " all rit, all right it was tubbs he told me.now let me go" tobey swung leech aside by his neck tie. " git! i dont ever want to see you on my property again or anywhere i have any thing to do with or ill give you that alternative i spoke of" leech left tobeys yard spinning tires .tobey swung the gates shut, and walked back to his corrals and started feeding the stock. just as he got done he heard a horn honking down at the gate. stabbing his pit fork in the loose hay he started walking that way. he could see it was a deputy s car. when he opened the gate the deputy pulled through and parked at the house.