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    Alvarado's Woman
    Alvarado's Woman
    Alvarado's Woman
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    Alvarado's Woman

    By Michael E. Benson

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    About this ebook

    Tommy Alvarado has a problem. His stepdaughter has disappeared and the locals, headed by Tommy's outraged father-in-law, have rushed to judgment and called it murder. Tommy is charged with the crime and realizes that only Frank can save him from being convicted of a crime he did not commit.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichael E. Benson
    Release dateJul 24, 2011
    ISBN9781466156258
    Alvarado's Woman
    Author

    Michael E. Benson

    Michael E. Benson was born in a small coal mining town in Kansas. He moved to the deserts of Utah when he was twelve and there he learned to hunt and to survive in the wilderness. It was there he also learned of his affinity with horses. Later, he moved to Kansas City. After high school, he joined the United States Coast Guard. When he returned home, he worked at many occupations. Eventually, he became a private detective and later a police officer.He earned a Master of Science in Education degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Arts degree in American History. He became a member of the faculty at Longview Community College in Lee's Summit, Missouri, where he stayed for the next twenty-five years teaching American History and Criminal Justice. After his retirement, he began his writing career in earnest. Today, Michael lives in south Texas with his wife Barbara.

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      Book preview

      Alvarado's Woman - Michael E. Benson

      Alvarado’s Woman

      A Frank Petrovic Mystery

      by

      Michael E. Benson

      Published by Michael E. Benson

      and Shanty Town Books

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2010

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      For Virginia R. Taylor

      Acquaintances come and go

      But our friendship will last forever.

      Chapter One

      The wagon was overturned, smashed against the rocks, and the horses lay dead, half a dozen arrows protruding from their lifeless bodies. Her husband, also dead, lay beneath the wreckage of the wagon, an arrow piecing his heart. Benita Alvarado, safe for the moment next to the monolithic volcanic rock that rose from the desert, spoke to her three young children from parched lips: Come here, behind me.

      The unmerciful sun beat down on them and she wished she had brought the water from the wagon when she sought the refuge of the monolith. But, she reasoned, soon I will have no need for water.

      In the distance, she saw a group of thirty Chiracahua Apache sitting astride their horses, waiting. Seven of them had attacked minutes before and she had killed three of them with her rifle. They would, she knew, attack again.

      She checked her ammunition. Five cartridges left. Without hesitation, she turned the rifle on her children. Three quick shots and it was all over. The lifeless little bodies lay where they fell, drenched in blood. Two bullets left, but she wouldn’t waste one on herself. Not yet.

      A single brave approached from the group carrying a white flag. When he was ten yards from her he dismounted. He wore long moccasins which were turned down at the top to form a pocket, and an animal skin around his waist. His face bore marks of white paint which made him look even more fierce than he was.

      When he had advanced five steps, Benita Alvarado brought the rifle to her shoulder and shot him between the eyes. Then, without a second’s hesitation, she turned the rifle on herself.

      The Apache respected her bravery and often talked about her around the campfire. At one such conclave, a Mexican trader picked up the story and carried it back to Mexico with him, spreading it as one might sow a field with seed until everyone knew of the bravery of Benita Alvarado.

      The monolithic rock became a spiritual monument to the Apache and other tribes who lived in the area. It became endowed with spiritual significance to the Mexicans who traveled the land as well. The rock became known as Alvarado’s Woman.

      Thomas J. Alvarado scowled and hesitated at the front door as he was locking up his law office, a former filling station he had acquired through a foreclosure proceeding. He strode back to his desk, picked the wastebasket up and began to go through it. At the bottom he found the note, now stained with coffee and crumpled into a tight ball. He spread it out on the desk one more time and read it again, then crammed it into the vest pocket of his three piece suit.

      It read: Tommy, I need you. Sandy

      What arrogance, he thought as he turned out the lights and locked the door behind him. Twelve years, and she thinks all she has to do is crook her finger and I’ll come running. Well, not this time. No.

      He’d read about her husband dying a year ago. A premature death for a rising star in the state’s political heavens, the man hand-picked by her father to perpetuate the family line. The man they picked to replace him after their marriage was annulled. A good man, by all accounts. But how good could he be if he was in her father’s employ?

      He drove to the Coyote Grill for dinner. On the way, he stopped at a stop sign and his headlights illuminated a young couple across a school yard next to the building. They were locked in a passionate embrace and it reminded him once again of her - or them. High school sweethearts, the captain of the football team and the head cheerleader, destined to be together. The frantic, adolescent groping every time they could find an opportunity to be alone. The agony of being separated from her by the will of her father, William A. Red Drummond, who forbade them to see each other when he realized the relationship was becoming serious. The elopement and the mad dash for Oklahoma where they could be married without waiting if they lied about their ages and produced fake birth certificates. The aftermath and the girl being ripped away from him and sent to another state while the marriage was being annulled. The hurried marriage between her and Joseph Caster, a junior partner in Red’s law firm almost immediately after she was graduated.

      Broken, he attended a small Texas college on a football scholarship. He became a pre-law student and later a law student at Baylor University. Upon graduation, he returned to New Mexico and settled in Santa Fe where he took his exams and set up shop, first with an established firm and later on his own.

      He ate his steak, sitting alone in a corner where no one he knew would be able to pass by and greet him. He did not feel like talking or being cordial. Tonight, he enjoyed being morose and sullen.

      What could she possibly want with him? But deep inside he knew, knew the instant he read her note, that despite his protestations to the contrary, he would see her again.

      The next day the phone rang, and it was her. Her voice tinkled like water running over rocks and small waterfalls. Twelve years and he still recognized it.

      Tommy?

      Yes?

      Did you get my note? Why didn’t you call me?

      Oh, he lied, you’re Sandy. I didn’t know who it was.

      Yes, you did, she contradicted flatly. I’m coming up there. Meet me at the airport at 2:30. Frontier flight 1232.

      Why should I? He wanted to say more, but she interrupted him.

      Frontier flight 1232. 2:30. She hung up.

      He was there, just as they both knew he would be, waiting for her. She was wearing a white flowered dress and high heels, clutching a white, wide brimmed hat to her head covering her red hair against the wind as she walked determinedly across the tarmac. A glance at her would be enough for anyone to know she was privileged in every sense of the word.

      Hello, Tommy, she said when she was standing in front of him.

      His resolve, what was left of it, crumbled when he saw her leave the plane. His total capitulation and surrender occurred when he put his arms around her and kissed her. He held her for a long time, longer than he thought he should in such a public place.

      I was hoping you’d do that, she smiled.

      She had a single carry-on and no other luggage. He took it from her and guided her toward a lounge inside the airport. When they were seated, the waitress took his order. Bushmills, rocks with water on the side.

      I’ll have the same, Sandra smiled.

      What’s this all about? he asked when the waitress had gone.

      Joe died a year ago, she said. I don’t know if you heard about it. . .

      I did.

      I thought maybe I’d hear from you. Condolences or something.

      Why? Red put an end to anything we had going twelve years ago.

      I’m a woman now. Red doesn’t make my decisions any longer.

      How is the son of a bitch?

      You won’t shock me by calling him names. I have, more than once. It was shameful the way he treated you and you have a right to be sore.

      Damn right I have, he agreed.

      Try to put all that behind you, Tommy. I wasn’t the one who had the marriage annulled. I was the one who was forbidden to see you and sent to California until you were out of the picture. It wasn’t fun for me, either.

      No, he said slowly, grudgingly admitting she was right. I guess we were both victims. But why did you marry Joe Castor?

      I was pressured into it. I never loved him, never. He was a kind man and very considerate and I thought the world of him. But he was fifteen years older than I, and I never loved him.

      The waitress brought their drinks and he took a sip and sat back in his chair, reflecting on what she’d said. None of it was making any sense to him.

      Do you have any children? he asked.

      Melanie, she nodded. "She’s

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