The Drowning Man by Margaret Coel Page A

were looking for cowboying work. Well, they looked sturdy enough and they had some okay references, so we decided to take them on, give them a chance, you know. We’re always trying to help out the Indians around here, those that want to work.
    Deaver: When you say, “we,” who do you mean?
    Taylor: Andy Lyle, my foreman. Been with me for going on ten years now, ever since my husband died. Couldn’t run the ranch without Andy. About the time the Indians showed up, we’d bought a Hereford bull since we were looking to increase our herd. So we figured a couple extra hands could help out.
    Deaver: Was it unusual for two men to apply together for work on the ranch?
    Taylor: We didn’t make anything of it. They were friends, they said. Worked on a ranch south of Lander the year before. Guess they liked working together.
    Deaver: Birdsong and Trublood didn’t get along very well, did they?
    Taylor: Well, they got in a big fight day before the murder. Raymond was beating the you-know-what out of Travis. I yelled for Andy and he broke them up. I told them, any more of that and they were going to be off the ranch.
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    Vicky pulled a yellow highlighter out of the desk drawer and made a long, yellow smear across the question. “Leading question,” she said out loud. Where was Harry Gruenwald? He should have objected; then the judge would have asked Deaver to rephrase.
    Deaver: What were they fighting about?
    â€œObject, Gruenwald.” Out loud again, as if the defense attorney were in the office.
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    Taylor: About money, what else? They stole that petroglyph, and they got into a fight over the money they got.
    Gruenwald: Objection. This is hearsay and conjecture, Your Honor.
    Judge: Sustained. The jury will disregard. Mr. Deaver, you’re on a fishing expedition. You will confine your questions to the matter before this court.
    Deaver: Your Honor, it is a fact that a petroglyph was recently stolen from Red Cliff Canyon. Chips and rocks identified as having come from the rock of the petroglyph were found in the victim’s pickup. The theft goes to the defendant’s motive for shooting Mr. Trublood.
    Judge: The defendant was not charged, Mr. Deaver. Stay on track.
    Deaver: Mrs. Taylor, please tell the court what you saw the following day.
    Taylor: Yeah, that day I’ll never forget. I was working in the office up by the house when I heard a gunshot. “Jesus,” I said to myself. “One of those Indians went and shot the other.” So I ran out of the office down the road to the barn because I knew Raymond had been shoeing horses in the corral right next to the barn. I saw Andy running ahead. He was already in the barn when I got there. Right inside the door, there was Raymond on the ground, a big hole in his stomach. I’ve seen enough varmints get hit with a shotgun. I knew the Indian was dead. Laying next to him was the shotgun that we kept in the barn. Andy says, “I seen the bastard. I’ll get him,” and he takes off running. I ran back to the office and called the sheriff. Next thing I know, here comes Andy with Travis. I mean he’s got that Indian by the arm and there wasn’t any way he was going to run off again.
    Deaver: Your witness, Mr. Gruenwald.
    Gruenwald: No questions.
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    No questions? Vicky ran the highlighter over the words, pressing so hard that the print turned orange. She skipped past the next few lines: Andy Lyle called to the stand. Sworn in. States his name and says he is the foreman at the Taylor Ranch.
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    Deaver: Mr. Lyle, please tell the court what you witnessed on the day of the murder.
    Lyle: Well, it’s just like Marjorie, Mrs. Taylor, says. I was bringing a couple of horses to the corral when I heard the gunshot. I jumped off my horse and went running for the barn. Just as I got to the door, Travis there comes running out, and he’s going, I mean, a hundred miles an hour, like he can’t get away fast