anything. He’d moved here, to Hollister, with his family when the owner of the feed store, a man named Jake McGuire, advertised in a trade paper for someone to manage it for him. Apparently Tarleton had been the only applicant and McGuire was desperate. Tarleton got the job.
“This McGuire,” John asked over his cell phone, “how old is he?”
“In his thirties,” came the reply. “Everyone I spoke to about him said that he’s a decent sort.”
“In other words, he doesn’t have a clue that Tarleton’s hassling the girl.”
“That would be my guess.”
John’s eyes twinkled. “Do you suppose McGuire would like to sell that business?”
There was a chuckle. “He’s losing money hand over fist on that place. Two of the people I spoke to said he’d almost give it away to get rid of it.”
“Thanks,” John said. “That answers my question. Can you get me McGuire’s telephone number?”
“Already did. Here it is.”
John wrote it down. The next morning, he put in a call to McGuire Enterprises in Billings.
“I’m looking to buy a business in a town called Hollister,” John said after he’d introduced himself. “Someone said you might know the owner of the local feed store.”
“The feed store?” McGuire replied. “You want to buy it?” He sounded astonished.
“I might,” John said. “If the price is right.”
There was a pause. “Okay, here’s the deal. That business was started by my father over forty years ago. I inherited it when he died. I don’t really want to sell it.”
“It’s going bankrupt,” John replied.
There was another pause. “Yeah, I know,” came the disgusted reply. “I had to put in a new manager there, and he didn’t come cheap. I had to move him and his wife from Billings down here.” He sighed. “I’m between a rock and a hard place. I own several businesses, and I don’t have the time to manage them myself. That particular one has sentimental value. The manager just went to work. There’s a chance he can pull it out of the red.”
“There’s a better chance that he’s going to get you involved in a major lawsuit.”
“What? What for?”
“For one thing, he was let go from his last job for sexual harassment, or that’s what we turned up on a background check. He’s up to his old tricks in Hollister, this time with a young girl just out of high school that he hired to work for him.”
“Good Lord! He came with excellent references!”
“He might have them,” John said. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if that wasn’t the first time he lost a job for the same reason. He was giving the girl the eye when I was in there. There’s local gossip that the girl may sue if your manager doesn’t lay off her. There goes your bottom line,” he added dryly.
“Well, that’s what you get when you’re desperate for personnel,” McGuire said wearily. “I couldn’t find anybody else who’d take the job. I can’t fire him without proper cause, and I just paid to move him there! What a hell of a mess!”
“You don’t want to sell the business. Okay. How about leasing it to us? We’ll fire Tarleton on the grounds that we’re leasing the business, put in a manager of our own, and you’ll make money. We’ll have you in the black in two months.”
“And just who is ‘we’?” McGuire wanted to know.
“My brother and I. We’re ranchers.”
“But why would you want to lease a feed store in the middle of nowhere?”
“Because we just bought the Bradbury place. We’re going to rebuild the house, add a stable and a barn, and we’re going to raise purebred young bulls on the place. The feed store is going to do a lot of business when we start adding personnel to the outfit.”
“Old man Bradbury and my father were best friends,” McGuire reminisced. “He was a fine rancher, a nice gentleman. His health failed and the business failed with him. It’s nice to know it will be a working ranch again.”
“It’s good land. We’ll make it pay.”
“What did you say your name was?”
“Callister,” John told him. “My brother and I have a sizable spread over in Medicine Ridge.”
“Those Callisters? My God, your holdings are worth millions!”
“At least.” John chuckled.
There was a soft whistle. “Well, if you’re going to keep me in orders, I suppose I’d be willing to lease the place to you.”
“And the manager?”
“I just moved him there,” McGuire groaned again.
“We’ll pay to move him back to Billings and give him two weeks severance pay,” John said. “I will not agree to let him stay on,” he added firmly.
“He may sue.”
“Let him,” John replied tersely. “If he tries it, I’ll make it my life’s work to see that any skeleton in his past is brought into the light of day. You can tell him that.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“If you’ll give me your attorney’s name and number, I’ll have our legal department contact him,” John said. “I think we’ll get along.”
There was a deep chuckle. “So do I.”
“There’s one other matter.”
“Yes?”
John hesitated. “I’m going to be working on the place myself, but I don’t want anyone local to know who I am. I’ll be known as the ranch foreman—Taggert by name. Got that?”
There was a chuckle. “Keeping it low-key, I see. Sure. I won’t blow your cover.”
“Especially to Tarleton and his employee,” John emphasized.
“No problem. I’ll tell him your boss phoned me.”
“I’m much obliged.”
“Before we settle this deal, do you have someone in mind who can take over the business in two weeks if I put Tarleton on notice?”
“Indeed I do,” John replied. “He’s a retired corporate executive who’s bored stiff with retirement. Mind like a steel trap. He could make money in the desert.”
“Sounds like just the man for the job.”
“I’ll have him up here in two weeks.”
“That’s
