Whiskey Rose (Fallen)

by Melissa Jones

  “I have work to do Ranger.”

  “I was just curious what you do to let your hair down, you know other than actually letting your hair down.”

  “When I agreed to support your cover I assumed you would be professional and show a little discretion.”

  “I am showing discretion, there is no one here.” He continued following her.“Are you saying no one knows that is a wig?” He laughed.“I am sure they do. It’s not like you’re the only one wearing one.” She continued walking and walked behind the bar, busying herself wiping down the bar that wasn’t even dirty.“So why do you wear it?”

  “It’s none of your business, so you can just stop with the personal questions.”

  “But I am your husband. You shouldn’t have any secrets from me!” She threw the bar towel in her hand at him. He caught it and burst out laughing. He saw the corner of her mouth twitch before she turned away.“So where are you from really? I know that Texas accent is as fake as that blond hair.” She turned back and he was sure she was about to make a scathing retort but then she looked past him out the front.

  “Make yourself scarce,” she hissed at him.

  “What?”

  “Not a word,” she warned. He turned and saw a man enter through the swinging doors he had dark hair and a full dark beard. He didn’t look too imposing but Rose didn’t look happy to see him. He walked to the end of the bar and grabbed a broom. He began sweeping up in an attempt to be invisible.“Allen, what are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow.”

  “I was in the neighborhood, thought I would save myself a trip.” Matt watched the scene carefully as he continued to sweep. Rose crossed her arms and glared at the man.

  “I don’t think you want me to go back to Eddie empty handed.” He stepped closer to her and dropped his voice. “Of course we could work something out.” He reached out and touched her hair and she batted his hand away.

  “Get real Allen, you can’t afford me,” she said icily and Matt could see she had struck a nerve by the way he clenched his jaw. She walked away from him disappearing into the back room and returned a moment later. She held an envelope out to the man. He took the envelope but then he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Matt dropped the broom and pulled his pistol in one motion.

  “Nh-huh,” he said pulling the hammer back. The man immediately released Rose but he glared at Matt.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “Security.” Matt said coolly. The man reached out and knocked a bottle of whiskey off the shelf before he walked out. Neither of them moved until the man was completely gone. Matt lowered his revolver and she turned and glared at him.

  “What did you do that for?” she demanded.

  “What? I was trying to help,” he said surprised.

  “I can take care of myself. All you did was make it worse.” Matt was a little irritated that she was angry.

  “What did you give him? Was that a payoff?”

  “You can call it a payoff I call it the price of doing business.”

  “Why would you pay him? Doesn’t it occur to you that that’s wrong?”

  “Ha, wrong by whose standards? Yours? The Sheriff’s? Do you know how often he comes here? About as often as you.” She grabbed the towel he had left behind and began mopping up the mess.

  “Who is Eddie?” She didn’t answer so he approached and asked again more forcefully.“Who is Eddie? Who does he work for?”

  “Eddie Cannon,” she refused to look at him.

  “The Cannon boys.” Matt muttered.

  “There is supposed to be two, there is really only one and his lackeys.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were mixed up with them?” Her head snapped up and she glared at him.

  “I am not mixed up with them.”

  “I am looking for a murderer. I need to know every criminal type that comes around here.”

  “Well then I would suggest you go out and investigate instead of getting in my way here.” She began angrily scooping up glass. He was angry but he knew she was right. He didn’t say anything he just stood and walked away. Just as he reached the doorway he heard her gasp. His instincts made him turn back.

  Rose felt the sting and gasped. She shut her eyes tightly and surged to her feet. She didn’t look at it but it was too late she could smell it. She focused on getting back to her room. She walked straight for the door she was dizzy and the edges of her vision grew dark and closed in on her until it was all she could see.

  Matt watched her weave and stumble toward him. She was holding her hand down at her side and he could see the blood running down her fingertips. He stepped toward her just as she stumbled and fell forward. He jumped and barely caught her. It would have been funny if she wasn’t so completely unconscious. He swept her up and carried her to her room.

  Rose blinked and blinked again before she sat up. She looked at her hand it was bandaged, there was no sign of blood.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she mumbled. He watched her for a moment as she gathered her wits.“Did you bring me in here?”

  “Yeah. The cut wasn’t bad. No stitches required.”

  “Did anyone see you?” she demanded.

  “No. What’s the big deal? A lot of people have a problem with blood.” Her gaze focused on him.

  “You can’t tell anyone.”

  “What’s the big deal?”

  “Promise me you won’t tell,” she insisted.

  “Alright I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Promise.”

  “I promise.” She finally seemed to relax a bit and pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead.

  “Oh,” She groaned.“Did I hit my head?”

  “No you just fainted.”

  “Well at least I didn’t vomit this time,” she mumbled and he smiled.

  “Yes, that would have been much worse.”

  Rose surged to her feet and headed for the door. When she reached it she paused she looked back over her shoulder at him.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled. She didn’t wait for him to respond she just walked out. He hesitated and allowed himself just a moment to smile while she couldn’t see him. She despised weakness, she must really hate that she had this one.

  When he caught up to her in the kitchen she wasn’t alone. Several of the other women were already in there.

  “Well it’s nice to see that something can make you sleep in.” Katrina commented and the others giggled. Rose gave the expected smile but she didn’t correct the woman and tell her she had already been up for hours. In fact she poured herself a cup of coffee. Furthering the impression that she had just gotten out of bed.

  “I’m surprised you’re up now. If my husband showed up out of the blue I wouldn’t come out for a week.” Dixie laughed but she wasn’t looking at Rose, she was looking at him. He kept his face neutral not reacting to the suggestion in her eyes. Rose didn’t respond to that either. She took a sip of the coffee then she walked to the door. She handed him the cup on the way out and he smiled. He took a drink and then followed her. He saw her stop at the doorway to the saloon and draw a deep breath. She walked slowly in and he could tell she was bracing herself to see the blood in the floor. When she didn’t find any she turned back and looked at him.

  “I didn’t figure you would be able to clean it up.” He shrugged.

  “I could have.” She lifted her chin defiantly.“Thank you,” she relented and turned away.

  Chapter 3

  Matt stepped out into the bright sunlight and looked around. It was a small town, the kind where everyone knew everyone else’s business. He saw an older woman turn up her nose as she walked past him and figured the Whiskey Rose was only popular with the male population. There wasn’t a lot of activity in the street but there was enough that he didn’t stand out as he walked down the boardwalk. It was like every other small down. It didn’t have that fear that hung in the air when there was there was a killer on the loose. He
was fairly certain that half these people didn’t even know someone had been killed. Those that did probably thought it was related to the Saloon, a grudge to be settled. He walked into the general store and looked around. In a town of this size the general store was always the best source of information.

  “Afternoon,” he said, there was a woman in a white apron behind the counter and a man in a white apron sweeping up in the corner.

  “Good afternoon, can I get you something?” The woman asked.

  “Just thought I’d have a look around.” He smiled. She smiled back.“This is a nice little town you’ve got here.”

  “We like it. Are you just passing through?”

  “Yeah. You get many outlaws up this way?”

  “No, we are a pretty quiet town.”

  “Really, I thought I read somewhere that this where that standoff happened between the Rangers and… what was his name… Hardin?”

  “Oh yeah that was a couple of years ago, but he never bothered the town. All of his crimes were committed somewhere else. Kind of like those Cannon boys.”

  “The Cannon boys don’t bother the town either.” Matt glanced at the man sweeping up in the corner as he asked the question.

  “Not the decent folk.” The woman said, but Matt could see by the subtle change in the man that there was more to the story. The Cannon boys were probably shaking down every business in this town.

  “So no shootouts?”

  “Not for a while. I think the last time someone was killed was when that whole Hardin thing happened.

  People were already arriving when he returned to the saloon. Rose was already behind the bar, Izzy was already dealing cards. He stood there debating where to go. He looked at Rose and saw her drink from the flask he had seen the day before. If she was drinking now it stood to reason the she would be completely drunk before closing. He wondered what she was like drunk. Is that when she let her hair down? Did she still wear that chaste Victorian night gown if she was drunk or did she only wear that for his benefit? Drinking seemed out of character for her. She was so in control of everything in her life. Drinking was like giving up control.

  He was lost in his thoughts when a shrill whistle cut into his trance. He looked around for the source of the sound and saw Izzy wave him over.

  "Do you know how to deal?"

  "Yes."

  "Good take my place." He stood up and handed him the deck. Izzy didn't wait for him to respond he just walked away. Matt sat down and began to shuffle the cards.

  "What's the game gentlemen?"

  Rose watched Izzy walk out of the Saloon into the hall way toward his office and followed him.

  "You alright?" she asked.

  "Yeah. I'm just tired is all." She looked at him for a long moment. He did look tired, in fact he looked more than tired he looked weary.

  "Maybe you should take a break. Go spend a few days away from this place."

  "I know I just don't want to leave you here alone."

  "I can take care of myself. Besides the Ranger is here now."

  "You better stop calling him that, you'll blow his cover. You want me to call you Savannah?" he chastised.

  "No," she snapped glaring at him. "Matt is here," she amended.

  "I'll think about it." She nodded and turned to go but he stopped her, "How much longer?" She didn't have to ask what he meant she knew.

  "If business stays this good, three maybe four months.” Izzy nodded and Rose felt strangely uncomfortable.“You can run this place when I am gone. You don’t need me.” He smiled at her but it didn’t make her feel any better. “My original offer still stands. You could come with me.”

  “That kind of defeats the purpose. You’ll never have a completely new life if you still have me in tow.” She didn’t bother to argue with him.

  “Get some rest,” she said simply and walked away.

  Matt barely moved from the card table the whole night. It gave him the chance to evaluate the gamblers at the table but not much else. He scanned the room between each hand but on the whole not much was happening. Rose was behind the bar and the girls were circulating as usual. No one got rowdy and nothing exciting happened. He was beginning to wonder if he was going about this wrong. Maybe this hadn’t been the right place to go undercover. Maybe Benji’s murder had nothing to do with this place.

  Izzy had never reappeared after passing off the cards so when Rose began closing up he started picking up the chairs. Rose was writing in a ledger when he returned to the bar. He took note of every movement as he approached. He’d seen her drink from that flask so many times he was certain she wasn’t going to make it through the night. Yet here she was moving through her routine as if she hadn’t had a drop. She must have built up an extreme tolerance.

  “How‘bout a drink?” he said when he reached the bar. She looked up at him but didn’t say a word. She put a glass on the bar and poured whiskey into it. She started to turn away but he caught the bottle before she did. She looked into his eyes surprised.“I meant have a drink with me.” She looked into his eyes a moment longer before she relented and retrieved another glass. He picked up the glass and motioned to the nearest table. She sighed but she followed him and sat down at the table.

  “You look tired,” he said softly.

  “Boy you really know how to flatter a girl,” she said dryly.

  “I didn’t mean it like that at all. You are…”

  “Save it R… Matt,” she caught herself,“I just spent eight hours listening to empty flattery.” He closed his mouth and poured her drink instead.“I am tired,” she sighed.“I have a headache.” She lifted the glass and shot back the contents. He lifted the bottle to refill the glass but she held up her hand.

  “That’s my limit.” His brows rose in surprise but he set the bottle down.

  “You run a pretty tight ship around here. You’ve built a solid business.”

  “It’s my father’s business.”

  “No it isn’t.” She looked deep into his pale eyes. They weren’t easy to read but there was no malice and no accusation.

  “Alright it isn’t.” She shrugged.

  “So why did you agree to let me come in? Potentially cause problems?”

  “How is your investigation going?” She asked blatantly changing the subject.

  “Slow.” He ran his fingertips lightly over the glass of whiskey that he hadn’t yet touched.

  “Why are you here really? Are you looking to take down the Cannon boys? They are small time but there are a lot of them.”

  “One gang one Ranger,” he said blandly. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

  “You’re not here for them either. Why are you here really?”

  “I am here because a man was murdered.” He finally lifted the glass and downed the whiskey.

  “They don’t send the Rangers when one man is murdered.”

  “They didn’t send me.” She saw his jaw muscles twitch beneath his whiskers.“He wasn’t just some guy. He was my partner. My best friend. He saved my hide more times than I can count and I saved his.” He paused his voice gruff.“Just not this time. This time someone got the drop on him and I came to find out who and why.” She swallowed back the sudden lump of emotion that rose up in her throat.

  "I'm sorry," she said softly. He didn't say anything he just spun the empty glass with his fingers. "Did he have any enemies?"

  "Yeah we made our fair share." Matt smirked. "But no one in the area that I can think of."

  "Do you know why he came here?”

  “No.” Matt sighed.“We just wrapped up a case, a long one. Captain gave us two weeks. We were close so I went to see my brother. He… I don’t know where he was going. The last thing he said to me was that he was tired of looking at my ugly mug and he was going to go find a face prettier than mine.” Matt paused staring at the table.“I said two weeks wasn’t going to be long enough.” The volume of his voice had dropped to a whisper. Automatically Rose scooted forward and put her hand over his.
<
br />   “He knew you were joking,” she said softly.

  “I know,” he sighed, “I just wish I knew what he was doing here.”

  “Well you can certainly find a pretty face here.”

  “We were in Austin. There are a lot of pretty faces between here and there.”

  “Well I would like to think I have collected the prettiest faces in all of Texas,” she said haughtily. He couldn’t help it he smiled. Her hand was warm and soft where it was lying on his. Her smoky eyes were clear, bright and caring. They made him feel like a night in her arms would take all of his pain away. He leaned forward resting his elbow on his knee. He was close enough to see the blue sea behind the smoke screen in her eyes.

  “Don’t you ever get lonely always pretending to be someone else? Never letting anyone see who you really are?” he whispered.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” Her voice was as quiet as his.

  “Yes, you could, and yes I do.” She couldn’t breathe. It was like those pale eyes could see her very soul. He was so handsome it made her want to touch him all the time but those eyes… those eyes held her in a paralyzed trance. The fact that she didn’t move away must have been invitation enough because he closed the gap and kissed her. It was soft, asking instead of demanding. Persuading her to return the caress and she did without any conscious thought. Her stomach dropped and her whole being felt jittery as if she were shaking uncontrollably but she wasn’t actually moving. He moved forward sliding his hand up her neck to her cheek. He parted his lips, and again she responded. He tasted faintly of the whiskey he had just drank but there was something else, something sweet and unidentifiable. She could feel herself getting carried away with the sensation. She had to stop this or she was going to lose control of the situation. She pulled back severing the kiss. She tried to remind herself that she was supposed to be an experienced madam not a giddy maiden and forced a smile. She put her hand on his cheek and ran her thumb lightly across his lips.