The genuine surprise must show on my face, because he rolls his eyes and chuckles. “Beginning to think you must have been the one to overindulge last night. You didn’t notice that either? That he disappeared right before my gun did?”
Damn.I’d been so focused on shielding Arty from blame for the sheriff that it hadn’t even occurred to me that Maddock would think to blame him for the missing pistol.
“Arty isn’t exactly…he doesn’t exactly seem like a seasoned criminal,” I start to say, hoping to let what Maddock has witnessed with his own eyes speak for what he didn’t. “Do you really think he’d be able to? To steal it without being noticed? Fromyouof all people?”
Maddock’s chest puffs up at the purposefully implied compliment, and the inflated egos of less-than-mediocre men should truly be studied. “Ordinarily, I would say there’d be no chance. That kid can barely tack his horse, but I’d been hard on him earlier to try to help him learn. Then after, I’d been so focused on making sure Aiden didn’t do anything rash, that he didn’t hurt someone.”
“ThatAidendidn’t?” I repeat, and likely not with the tone I should have used as I try to keep up with the history that Maddock is rewriting even from the beginning of this conversation. I blend my indignation into something that more resembles curious intrigue. “He seemed opposed to the idea of thedemonstration, no?”
“It’s all a show,” Maddock replies, rolling his eyes. “Didn’t want me calling him out is what it is. Wants to keep everyone fooled. But he won’t me. I’m more discerning than most.”
“How tragically true,” I reply, sighing deeply. “You’rethatcertain, though, that the claims about him are exaggerated?” I ask, setting my coffee down on the table so that I can rest my left hand on my thigh. “That the papers made too much of him?”
“Course they did.” He shrugs. “Makes a good story, doesn’t it? A poor boy playing vigilante? Fills headlines and sells papers. Meanwhile, those of us who are really worthy, who are moving this country forward, are left to toil in obscurity. Paving the way for industry with nothing to show for it.”
“Except a fortune,” I say, wondering how deluded he must be to believe any of this, and I have little doubt that he does—with the type of true devotion you’d be pressed to find in most cathedrals. “Surely the large piles of money must ease the sting a little?”
Maddock smirks. “It does help. Although my parents…let’s just say we have very different ideals on how that fortune could be best put to use.”
“How frustrating for you,” I say, contemplating picking my coffee back up to have something else to focus on but not entirely trusting myselfnotto hurl the mug at him if I did. “To have parents that cannot see your vision.”
“Yes, that’spreciselyit,” Maddock says, clapping his hand against his leg. “They can’t see the possibilities that I can. Nothing exists for them outside of our land and our cattle, but me? I can see it. I see the opportunity, and I have the conviction and the resilience to make it happen. The courage to make the tough choices when it comes to the obstacles in our country’s way.”
“I’ll bet you do,” I say, afraid to ask just how many of thoseobstaclesare actually human lives. “Tell me, have youconsidered a career in politics? Your mentality seems perfectly suited for it.”
“I have,” Maddock says, smiling proudly before he frowns. “Another area of disagreement between my family and me, as it happens, but they’ll come around eventually. It’s partially why…” He pauses, considering whether to press on until the temptation of a willing listener once again proves to be too much for him. “It’s partially why I originally brought the gunslinger on. I figured with him at my side…”
I think back to what Maddock said yesterday morning about helping Aiden make a name for himself again, the true reason now revealing itself. “You figured you could make some headlines,” I guess. “Ones that might help launch a campaign?”
Maddock nods, eagerly leaning forward. “You saw how Clayton practically tripped over himself last night simply to shake his hand. People…people like Clayton…thelittlepeople—”
I laugh, picturing the towering older man. “Is that how you would deem him?”
“You know what I mean,” Maddock hedges. “He’s not like us. He doesn’t come from the same…he made his money quick. What’s to say he won’t lose it just as quickly? Not that I wouldn’t take a donation all the same.”
“Of course not.”
“But these people, they look at Aiden and see a hero. Practically a king.”
“A god.”
“Yes, and who can blame them when they’ve so little to look toward? But still…a powerful weapon in the right hands. The kind that could make real change.”
“As interesting a picture it is that you’re painting, Maddock, I don’t see him agreeing to be yourweapon.”
“He is already. The whole reason he’s in town at all is by my request. By my order.”
“And what will your next order be?” I ask, wondering how much Maddock knows about Aiden’s plans to leave, the ones he’d told me about last night.
“When we reach the next town? Same as it was here.” He sits back in his chair, looking deeply satisfied with himself. “I told you I don’t believe in letting opportunities pass by, and this trip we’re taking up to Kansas—”
“The cattle drive?”
He rolls his eyes again. “Yes, the drive. Why not treat it as the beginning of my campaign trail? Why not have it be the start of something that actually matters?”
“I see,” I say, understanding more why he and his parents might be having some differences of opinion if he’s treating their business and their animals as little more than a ticket to get from town to town. “Well, certainly a packed agenda that you’ve laid out for yourself, which reminds me, I should—”
“You should be getting in on this,” Maddock says, shooting forward to grab my arm when I begin to stand. “You’re like me. You’re someone with vision.”