She heard Tessa's foreman, Eladio, bring hay into the stables behind her, and called to him, "Look at that. It is not every day you see someone ride a horse so badly."

His eyes went to the form in the distance that she pointed to, then his initial smile fell. When Marta looked back at the rider, he clutched his side and fell off the horse. The horse stepped over him and then came to a halt and started to eat from a mesquite tree.

"Get the wagon," Marta ordered Eladio as she raced to the man. "That man is hurt!"

As she ran to the rider, she felt bad that she hadn't seen his distress earlier. When she arrived at him, Marta was overwhelmed by his size. She had a flash that the man was Roman and fear gripped her heart. He was turned away from her and Marta didn't want to know that this was a man she had loved but who had to leave for his safety. He had told her that he would be back. "Please! Do not let it be Roman!" she cried out, as she gathered the strength to turn the man onto his back.

He wasn't Roman, and the sight of the blood covering his stomach made her gasp. The blood had flowed down his white shirt under the black jacket and onto his grey pants all the way down to his left brown leather boot. Marta thought he was dead already and closed her eyes to say a prayer for him, but she felt him grasp her hand and put something metal in it.

The sound of the horses pulling the wagon to them drowned out what the man was saying as she looked at him. She leaned down so her ear was just at his ear when she heard, "...I failed. Mary...."

Eladio had jumped off the buckboard and joined her at the man's side as the man took his last breath. Eladio took over opening his clothes to see the wound and what he might do to help the man as Marta opened her fist. She saw a gold watch, with a Spanish flag etched on the casing. It was smeared with blood, as the man had probably held it to his wound.

Eladio felt for a pulse at the man's neck as Marta saw the deep cut wound on his stomach and wondered where it had happened, how he could have traveled on horseback with it, and most importantly, why. He didn't appear Spanish to her, and there was an accent to his few words that made her think he was European, probably German.

Marta and Eladio looked to each other in sorrow, as there wasn't anything they could do for the man. Eladio started looking through the man's pockets. Marta took one of his hands and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find his identification."

Marta let him continue his quest and saw Tessa ride to them on Escaldo, wearing her riding habit. Tessa dismounted in a flash and said, "I was going to pick up Vera; we were going for an afternoon ride. Who is this? What happened?"

"You know as much as we do," Marta said, standing as she looked at the watch. "He was riding along slowly and faltered. He was stabbed."

"What is that?" Tessa took the watch from Marta and inspected it.

"Mary," Marta mused. "He did not say Maria, but Mary."

"He said something? What did he say?"

"'I failed,' and 'Mary'."

"Mary Rose? She is the only woman who does not go by Maria in these parts."

Eladio stood and said, "A foreigner should have traveling papers, at least." He held up a folded piece of parchment and handed it to Tessa. "He only had that watch and this."

Tessa opened the parchment to find it was a hand-drawn map. Marta looked at it as well. There was a jagged line, probably indicating shoreline, down the left side of the parchment, an X which seemed to be on the water side, and two other X's marked on the land side. One of the X's was surrounded by caret markings that probably indicated mountains. The initials SE were by one of the land X's. "Santa Elena?" Tessa asked. A small arrow was pointed at the other X, which had been drawn between the X and the shore.

Tessa looked at the face of the dead man. "Mary Rose's hacienda is about where the other X is situated on the map."

Eladio said, "We should bring him into the pueblo."

"Yes, the Colonel should, of course, be notified of this death," Tessa said. "But, let us just wait a little while longer."

When Eladio reacted with horror, Marta felt a flutter of anxiety. Tessa's workers thought her a law-abiding, somewhat-afraid girl. For her to not follow the letter of the law in this matter would be considered extremely strange to Eladio.

"Señorita Alvarado," Eladio exclaimed. "We must tell the authorities that a man has been murdered."

"We will. Just...later." Tessa soothed him. "There is not anything that can be done for this man. He is already dead. Montoya will know, just...not yet. I would like to show this to Mary Rose to see if she knows anything. Once Montoya gets his hands on the body, who knows what will be covered up?"

Marta asked with wonder, "What does Mary Rose have to do with this foreigner?"

"She is a foreigner, as well," Tessa pointed out. "But, there is some connection, and I am going to find out what that is."

Marta sighed and couldn't take her eyes off the dead man. Tessa rubbed her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I am just concerned."

"About what? That man has nothing to do with us."

"How can you be so sure?" Marta asked her. Once again, Tessa's actions almost turned her blood cold. She had seen the moment of fear flash on Tessa's face, then saw the instant resolve of demanding justice. Tessa was too young and too noble to have to be the symbol of rightness. She should be able to take an afternoon ride with a friend. That was another thing Marta was going to have to talk to Tessa about one day: Who her friends were. Tessa determinedly put the map and watch in her pockets, mounted Escaldo, and rode quickly in the direction of the Guevara hacienda.

Marta looked at Eladio, who had concern written all over his face, as his eyes flitted from the dead man to her. "Do not worry, Eladio. We know what we are doing. Get the wagon into the barn. The sun will not be kind to this man's body."

We know what we are doing, she repeated to herself. It was amazing how Tessa's forthrightness could suck her in even though Marta would rather she not get involved in all the escapades she did. After she and Eladio got the man into the back of the wagon, covered him with a tarp, and rode back to the barn, she couldn't help wondering what dangers laid ahead. She had a feeling, as she had lifted the feet of the dead man, that Death was not finished there. Marta knew that, before long, there would be at least one more body.

Marta asked Eladio to just go about his business and not think about the body, then she went into the house to get out her tarot cards. If ever there was a time to read what could be coming, now was the time.

After looking closely at the formation of cards in front of her on the table, Marta sat back and sighed nervously. The Death card held a prominent position in the layout, which she hoped meant the dead man in the stables. On closer inspection, she saw the Hermit, The Lovers, Wheel of Fortune, and Temperance cards in a peculiar pattern. The entire layout spoke to her. This was a warning, not a reason for past happenings. Marta clutched her heart when she realized that someone was going to die.

Tessa walked back out into the hot sun and turned to wait for Mary Rose, as she would change into her riding habit and they would share an afternoon ride. Anton was nowhere to be seen, which pleased her to no end. Tessa hoped that one day they could bury the hatchet, but Anton seemed intent on keeping the bad feelings going. She hadn't brought up the dead man at her hacienda yet, as Mary Rose was more intent on asking the questions. Tessa hoped that she would relax during the ride and Tessa could ask her about him. If for no other reason than to warn her that a murdered man had a map to her hacienda in his pocket.

Sofia walked out with an armful of broken materials and sighed. "Colonel Montoya's men were not in the least delicate, were they?" Tessa asked.

"Your ship for Carlotta? That is why the ship sailed?"

"So, you know about it. How could you have done it?!"

"Enough!" Tessa shouted. She didn't know Mary Rose well, and Mary Rose had kidnapped Marta. But, kidnapping Mazar's daughter wasn't part of the plan that she had overheard and it seemed ridiculous that Mary Rose would have done it. "No one is going to understand anything if you just snipe at each other. Calmly talk this out." When she got everyone's attention, she said, "I have news to add to this mess." She was going to mention the dead man, but Mazar attacked Anton and soon they were rolling around in the dirt after having fallen off the porch.

Mary Rose quickly disappeared in the house. Tessa looked at the large man, who was smiling at the ruckus at his feet. "Do something!" she ordered him.

Anton had gotten the better part of the fight and was choking Mazar as his body weight was on top. The large man took hold of the back of Anton's collar and lifted him into the air as if he were just a puppy. He told Anton, "Shame on you, tearing up your mother's correspondence."

"Let go of me, you ape!" Anton moaned, kicking out to hit Mazar's head with his boot as the Captain got to his feet, holding his throat.

"Fine," the large man said, and dropped Anton.

It was only then that Tessa recognized the bear of a man. "Señor Prado?"

Prado nodded to her. "Greetings, Señorita Alvarado." He turned to Anton as he got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes and seethed at Mazar. "I will take the palomino, but only if I get to witness the end of this...controversy."

Tessa chuckled at the old hermit, who had kept to himself since his wife, Louisa, had died the year before. Her father had liked him very much and told stories of the hulking man, who would crumble like a leaf when he looked upon his lovely baby girl. Tessa also wistfully remembered her father adding, "Just as I do, my querida."

Anton held his head, as it had to have been ringing after the fight when his head had already been conked. The bright sun had done nothing to diminish the large bruise. Mazar took hold of him again, but saw that Anton wasn't fighting back and paused.

A shot rang out, and all jumped and turned to the door. Mary Rose was holding a smoking rifle in her hands. "You," she pointed at Anton, "get back to work. You," she pointed to Prado and said, "find which horse you want to buy and leave the reales in the stable. You," she indicated Mazar with just a tilt of her head as her hands were busy refilling the flint in the rifle, "Go to Hell, and you," she focused on Tessa. "Let us ride. I have a lot of aggression to work off. Lord help my Arabian."

"Querida," Mazar said softly as he walked up the steps to her. "We must--“"

"We have nothing to discuss," she said as she pointed the freshly-loaded rifle at him.

Prado patted Anton on the back and said, "Let them talk. What harm will it do?" and nudged him in the direction of the stables.

Mazar just scoffed at Mary Rose's aim and pointed the tip of it away as he walked closer to her. Tessa went to the left, out of range of the rifle's new angle, and continued down the stairs. Even if that gun went off accidentally, she didn't want to have to see Dr. Helm for a gunshot wound, especially not as Maria Teresa. He would never let her hear the end of it.

Mary Rose's and Mazar's argument drifted past her, and she decided to wait until cooler heads prevailed. Just as she was watching Prado saddle up the same palomino that she had seen him walking when she had arrived, a shot rang out. She spun around to see Mary Rose's eyes widen, and she slowly slipped to the porch in Mazar's arms. "Mary Rose!" he declared as the rifle fell, and he tenderly laid her down.

Tessa ran up the steps and dropped to her knees by Mary Rose's side. She pushed Mazar away to look at the wound, any wound, as she obviously had been shot. Her right side was bleeding. Tessa yelled at Mazar, "Get the wagon. She needs to get to the doctor." When he didn't move, she yelled, "NOW!" She stopped him when he got to his feet, clearly rattled, and said, "Give me your shirt. I need to stop the blood loss."

He stripped off his shirt quickly and Tessa piled it against Mary Rose's side as she said to her, "You will be all right. We will get you to Doctor Helm. Just hang on. It does not look that bad." But, mostly, Tessa was saying that to herself.

She heard a horse behind her, and turned to see Prado dismounting and running up the steps to them. "She has been shot! Help Mazar get a wagon to take her to the doctor."

"Si," he said, as he turned on his heel and ran.

Mary Rose was gulping air, as she had to have been in great pain, and trying to sit up. Tessa laid a hand on her shoulder to keep her still and flat. "If only Marta were here," Tessa told her.

"Yes," Mary Rose weakly said. "That gypsy could save my life. Tell her...."

"She knows," Tessa said, quieting her. "Just stay still. It will be all right."

"Mother!" Anton shouted as he ran to her. "He tried to kill you! I knew he would!"

"Stop," Tessa warned. She didn't want Anton jostling Mary Rose as he looked as if he would, as he knelt beside her.

Mary Rose tried to speak, but slowly lost consciousness. Mazar and Prado came with the wagon, pulled by two horses, and Mazar flew off the driver's seat to Mary Rose. Anton punched him in the nose. "You stay away from her! You have done enough!"

Prado broke the two of them apart and patted Tessa on the shoulder, indicating that she should move. With little effort, Prado lifted Mary Rose into his arms and carried her past the two men, who stood quietly with tears in their eyes. Tessa rushed to the back of the wagon and helped Prado lay Mary Rose down. Mazar ran to the driver's seat and grabbed the reins as Anton climbed into the back. Sofia appeared with a blanket and crossed herself. Tessa nodded to her as she took the blanket and Anton quickly took it and covered his mother up. The wagon was in motion as Prado got onto his palomino and shouted, "I will ride ahead to warn the doctor!"

Tessa, having not been able to get on the wagon before it took off, saw her saddled horse and ran to it. As she ran, the split-second events went through her mind and she tried to make sense of it. She wished she had paid more attention to what Mary Rose and Mazar had been saying, but she couldn't remember any of it. It just seemed to be the same accusations repeated. As she mounted Escaldo, she wondered how Mary Rose had been accidently shot from the rifle. It had to have been an accident. She didn't know Mazar from a hole in the ground, but besides his not getting any benefit from shooting Mary Rose, he seemed to care for her. Could she have tried to shoot Mazar--she was angry enough--and he turned the rifle on her?

As Tessa started to ride to Santa Elena, she saw the rifle on the porch. She stopped Escaldo and had a thought. She didn't remember what Mary Rose and Mazar had been shouting about, but now that she thought about it, the gunshot didn't sound as close as when Mary Rose had fired it when making her entrance. The shot seemed to have come from farther away. Horrified that it seemed logical, she waltzed Escaldo around so she could scan the perimeter. Up a hill at the edge of the Guevara property, a lone man on horseback was riding as if he were on fire.

"Yah!" Tessa yelled as she kicked Escaldo's sides, and soon she was charging after the man on horseback, riding in the direction of the shore.

Watch for the next exciting adventure, Devil on Their Shoulders, part two - Episode #307, starting on December 8, 2002.

If you have missed any episodes, you will find them in the Season Three Archives section.