Chapter 9
Tats partially obeyed. He went downstairs and ordered a drink, but he sipped it really slowly. So slowly in fact that by the time an hour had gone by he had only finished half of it. Drinking had never really been his thing, and especially not on a night like tonight, where he wanted all his wits about him.
His discomfort grew to the point he decided this simply was not a place he wanted to kill time. He went outside to check on Valiant and to his great satisfaction found the noble beast waiting there good-naturedly for his master. He patted Valiant’s side, mounted him, and took off on a very slow ride. His watch said it was just after 11 a.m., so he had some serious time to kill.
He dared not risk getting lost at a time when punctuality was so important to the aim of his mission, so he took none of the many turns proffered him as he rode up the street. He checked his watch and waited until Valiant had walked about an hour, and then he returned. He then repeated this, except reducing it to forty-five minutes each way.
By the time he returned it was just after 2:30 a.m. He wasn’t sure whether to enter or stay outside. Either way, he figured there was some chance of somebody noticing he was following Rose and misinterpreting this as the act of a predator. He assumed the girls likely had some form of security to ensure that no overzealous client who confused the acts of a profession with the acts of affection pestered any of them when they left the confines of their establishment.
But he felt that if he didn’t go inside Rose might think he had lost his nerve or interest, and if Rose concluded either, she just might leave the saloon with a troupe of girls and so blend in that Tats would be unaware she had ever even left. Or he might spot her, only to find that she returned to her own home rather than leading him to the home of his sister.
The International Businessman Page 10
