by Jake Logan
From the corner of the clapboard stage stop, he could see the riders coming in a trot out of the south. He and Collie Bill went inside. They both took coffee and stood at the back of the room. Perla was off in the kitchen with Flores’s wife Juanita.
When Perla appeared in the doorway, Slocum cleared his throat to get her attention. Then when she looked at him, he shook his head at her. She nodded and turned to go back in the side shed that housed the cooking facility. Collie Bill shared a nod of approval with him.
Juanita called the two small children into the kitchen with her and Perla.
Outside, the riders were talking among themselves with lots of bravado. Slocum could hear words and the cling of spurs and the drum of boot heels on the porch. A tall black man filled the doorway, ducking his head to enter.
“Well . . .” He paused and considered the two of them. “Howdy there. Guess you’s two be new in dis country?”
“New enough,” Slocum said.
“Well, brother, we just passing through. Don’t want no trouble and we be looking for some food is all we’s want. Right, boys?” he said over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” came the chorus.
“I can feed them,” Juanita said, coming from the kitchen. “Come in. Have a seat. I have some pork roast and some potatoes.”
The man removed his hat and put it on a peg. “You’s heard her, boys. Get in here.” He shifted the gaze of his bloodshot brown eyes back to Slocum and Collie Bill. “My name’s Sims.”
“Slocum’s mine and that’s Collie Bill.”
“Pleased to meetcha.” He eased his huge frame down on the bench. He was still taller sitting than the three hands standing: a pimple-faced kid, an older man with a white mustache, and a bald-headed man. “That’s Kid, that’s Kemp, and that’s Baldie. He ain’t hard to tell.” Sims laughed. Not a funny laugh, but a cold one.
Slocum rested his butt against the wall and blew on his coffee. Collie Bill stood ten feet to his left doing the same. How long they’d stand them off, Slocum had no way to measure—time would tell.
Juanita quickly brought the heaping dishes and served the outlaws. Then she poured them coffee in mugs.
With a biscuit in his left hand and ready to fork in the food with his other, Sims cut Slocum a hard look. “Better eat with us.”
“We’ve ate,” Slocum lied.
“Sure be good food, huh?” Sims elbowed the younger one.
“Yeah,” he said with his mouth full.
With his fork, Sims pointed at the door. “That be you’s new bull out there.”
“We’re looking after it.”
“I guess that lady owns him be proud to see him.”
“I guess she will.”
“Hey! This sure is good grub, Mrs. Flores.”
She came out of the kitchen, acknowledged his compliment, and refilled their cups.
The others made small comments to each other, barely audible to Slocum, who held his cup out for a refill, too. She nodded grimly to him and then went over to fill Collie Bill’s.
“You figuring on planting you-self around here?” Sims asked, ready to swill down some coffee.
“Depends.”
“And what that be?”
“Who my neighbors are.”
“Oh, you might not like them.”
“Might not.”
“Be a pure shame to live by someone you didn’t like.”
“It would be.”
‘Well, we’s got work to do. Finish up here, boys, we got’s some miles to make. Better shake our hocks.” He went for his hat and the boys began to get up.
Sims let the others file outside, then put on his hat, sucking on his teeth. “Guess we’ll meet again.”
“Maybe you should pay her for the meal,” Slocum said.
A slow smile parted Sims’s thick dark lips. “My, my, I ’most forgot.” He tossed two coins on the table with a wave.
Perla appeared in the side doorway after Sims went outside. Slocum waved her back into the kitchen. It wasn’t over yet. He and Collie Bill went to the front door, and then out on the porch to watch the big man mount a horse that stood seventeen hands high.
“See’s you’s boys,” Sims said with a wave, and rode off with the others.
Collie Bill’s blue eyes flashed when he whirled to face Slocum. “You thinking like I was?”
Slocum nodded. “Yeah, I figured that cocky Kid might try to take some shots at King Arthur, too.”
The white-faced bull bellowed loudly, and then Slocum and Collie Bull turned to go inside. At least the bull was still alive to bawl. Slocum took off his hat and slapped his leg with it. He looked up and met Perla’s concerned gaze.
“I am sorry you had to take such a chance for me,” she said.
“Wasn’t no chance for us. If they’d blowed up at Collie and me, there’d been a bunch of boot toes pointing at the sky.”
“Those men are killers.” A frown creased her smooth forehead. “You don’t know them.”
“Back shooters and women abusers. Aside from Sims, there ain’t a one in that outfit could hit a barn door. Right, Collie?”
“The way I figure it, they were counting on him, too.”
“How many more of them are there?” Slocum asked her.
“The two brothers, a sister is all I know. Unless they’ve hired more.”
“Those the men raided your ranch?”
She shook her head. “The gang raided the ranch all had masks. We didn’t know them. I think that bunch fled. They probably were worried about the law getting after them.”
“Probably so.” Slocum turned back to Collie Bill, who was standing in the doorway. Why did people always say the raiders were masked, he wondered.
Collie Bill nodded. “Sims is the main one they got. Damn big. He’s six feet eight if he’s an inch.”
Flores was out of breath when he arrived at the headquarters. “I had to check on some ditch water. I was on my way in the back. Did they harm anyone?”
Slocum shook his head, and wondered why at this time of year a man had to worry about ditch water. But it wasn’t his concern. “They ate and ran.”
“Good,” Flores sighed.
“Wonder where they were headed.” Collie Bill held a toothpick in his hand.
“Your food is ready,” Juanita announced, holding two heaping plates. “Gracias to both of you.”
“Juanita,” Collie Bill said to her. “You ever need you another man, just call on me.” He sat down on the bench with his back to the wall and looked in amazement at all the food. “I’d work for my keep here.”
They all laughed.
Perla refilled their coffee cups. Slocum had taken his first bite when the stage driver’s bugle in the distance told him the coach was coming. Flores rushed off to get the horses ready for the change, and the quiet Diego went to help him. Slocum savored his food, and Perla rook a seat opposite him. She fidgeted with putting sugar in her coffee. She acted undecided about being there. When she did settle down, she chewed on her lower lip and glanced several times at the door.
“That taste good?” Slocum asked in a low voice.
“What?” She blinked at him.
“You’re going to chew a hole in that lip of yours.”
She ran her hands over her legs under the table. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re upset. Those men are gone. They won’t ever hurt you again.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m going to see to it.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Let me handle it my way.”
She shook her head. “Losing my husband was bad enough.”
He dropped his gaze to his heaping plate and went to eating his food. There was no convincing her. He’d let things settle, then he’d start culling Booster’s men out. The first ones would be easy. Then he’d handle the rest of them. The food did taste good.
The stage passengers came in the room. Perla fled to the kitchen. The three men in suits
stomped in looking road-weary and hard-eyed from the long ride. He didn’t know the three drummers, but the thin dark-headed woman wrapped tight in the long black cape, he recognized. Mary Murphy, a gambler he knew from Kansas cow towns. She always acted like she could wrap up in her clothes and disappear. When she took a seat on the opposite side of the table, she never showed any sign that she’d recognized him.
Where was she headed? Then a strong musky smell struck his nose. An aroma that wasn’t particularly inviting to him. Then he realized that Murphy was experiencing the curse of Eve. It must be her. The poor woman was riding in a stage full of men with few or no conveniences for herself along the way.
She ate nothing and then excused herself. He watched her hit the back door and go outside. He took his coffee cup to the front door. When he heard the outhouse door slam open, he stepped out and around to the side of the building to speak to her.
She pulled the cape tight around herself and looked at him with sharp eyes. “What in hell’s name are you doing up here?”
“Working. Where’re you headed?”
She gave him a peeved look, drew the cape tighter around herself, and raised her chin. “I didn’t like Colorado and some of the people up there.”
He’d forgotten what a bitch she could be, especially during her time. “You get crossways with the boss?”
“You could say that. I fuck who I want and when I want them. I ain’t some damn orphan that he could poke any time his dick flowered. Besides, there isn’t much gold crossing the felt up there.”
“Do I know him?”
“The name he used up there was Anderson.” She folded her arms and quickly swept back a wisp of hair from her face. “Vince Anderson.”
“Well, Murph, where next?”
“Tombstone. They say it’s wide-open.”
“Have a nice stage ride.”
She looked around and then made a face. “Shame there ain’t a place here, we could get it on. I always liked you when I felt the lousiest. Might make this damn stage ride easier to take.”
He shook his head. “No place here. Good luck to you in Tombstone.”
“Come down there. We’ll renew our acquaintances. I could always stand a good long night with you.”
“They’re rustling cattle around here. Taking them up to Colorado and selling them to a butcher.”
“To a German named Raunald Krone who has the slaughterhouse. I dealt some cards with him. He don’t know shit about cards, but he makes lots of money in the butcher business up there.”
“The stage is about ready to haul out.”
She looked around. “Guess you’re busy working?”
He nodded. “Why?”
“Well, I could take the next stage if you had a bed to fuck me in.”
“I’ve got a blanket.”
“Screw that. Too cold for that crap. Besides, you’d ruin my back on some rocks under it. Don’t take any bad pussy.”
He nodded. His nose full of her thick musky smell, he watched her close herself in the cape and hurry away to get on the stage. With a chuckle in his throat, he went back to the porch—whew, he was glad she’d gotten aboard the coach.
The Booster brothers and Sims were still out there. A force to be reckoned with sooner or later if he stayed in this country. He, Collie Bill, and Diego would deliver the bull the next day to Perla’s ranch. Then he could decide on what to do.
Murphy’s sour smell was still in his nose.
10
A thick frost coated everything before sunup. Slocum had a fire going when Collie Bill crawled out from under his blankets and came to the heat. Both squatted down holding out their hands to warm them in the radiant heat, using blankets slung over their backs for coats.
“Son of a bitch, it’s cold. I’d give my eyeteeth for some long handles,” Collie Bill swore when he backed up to sit on a log. “I’d swear we’re stupid being up here and winter coming on. Why, the snow’ll be butt-deep on a tall mule one of these mornings.”
“What do you think?”
“Think? I can’t think. I’m up here on a borrowed horse, living off my friend and penniless.”
“You’ve been in rougher deals.”
“I damn sure have, but I swore that it would never happen to me again.”
“She’s coming,” Slocum said under his breath, and both of them rose to meet Perla.
“Good morning,” she said. “I think Diego and I can make it up to the ranch today from here. I thought I should pay what I owe you.”
His hat in his hand, Slocum nodded. “We’d like to see you make it home since we came this far.” He turned back in the fire’s light to Collie, and Collie nodded agreement.
“That won’t be necessary,” she said. “We can make it fine from here.”
“There’s the matter of the roan horse.” Slocum turned to Collie Bill, who nodded again.
“I can pay my cousin for him on my next trip south and make you a bill of sale for him. My cousin won’t mind. Is the roan horse and ten dollars enough?” she asked Collie Bill.
“Oh, yes, ma’am. I’m plumb grateful. I haven’t done that much work for you.”
“Here is the ten.”
“Thanks.”
She turned back to Slocum. “I owe you fifty, right?”
“Yes, ma’am, but—” Slocum wanted to protest.
“No, we agreed to that amount. I live by my word.”
“It’s too much is what I mean.”
“I agreed to pay you fifty dollars.” She handed him the money. “My thanks to both of you.”
Slocum stood with the money in his hand and shook his head at her. Ignoring his concern, she turned and headed for the stage building in the shadowy light.
Collie Bill grinned. “Broke one minute, and the next I’ve got a good horse and ten bucks in my pants pocket. You can’t beat that.”
Slocum tossed another pine knot on the fire. “I’d’ve felt lots better if she’d took my offer to let us get rid of those Boosters.”
“I savvy that. What are you going to do now?”
“Find a pair of long handles, a wool-lined coat, some gloves, and then I’ll see what I need to do.”
“Where you going to find all that?”
“Right up the road in Colorado. There’s stores up there.”
Collie Bill gave him a disappointed look. “You’re aiming to winter here, ain’tcha?”
“I aim to find out all I can about the Boosters and their business.”
“They ain’t worth freezing your ass off up here for that.” Collie Bill clapped his hands on his legs. “But if you’re going to do that, guess I’ll hang on awhile. Why do you reckon she paid us off here? Ashamed for us to see her place, or has she got other problems?”
“She’s a loner. I don’t know what she was like before they killed her husband, but she’s sure private now.”
“Yeah,” Collie Bill agreed. “She’s damn sure a keep-to-herself woman. Ain’t no flirt in her.” He shook his head and hunkered under his blanket.
Diego came up about then under a blanket. “Cold today.”
“We’ve already done found that out,” Collie Bill said, and laughed. “Guess we part ways here this morning.”
“Where do you go?”
“We ain’t sure. She paid us off and thanked us. Said you two’d make it fine the last leg of the journey.”
Diego stood close to the fire and warmed his fingers. “I am sorry to hear that. I had hoped she would hire you and more men. Maybe you could have run the Boosters and their bunch out of here.”
“She don’t want that,” Slocum said.
“She is afraid. Her husband was forming a posse to do that when that masked gang came and killed him and raided the ranch.”
Slocum nodded. “That may be why.”
“It sure makes sense. Them coming in here yesterday like they owned the place probably reminded her of all that, too,” Collie Bill said.
Diego agreed. “What will you do?”
“Go look for gold, I guess.” Slocum added more wood to the fire. “She don’t want us to help her.”
“Ah, it will soon be too cold to do much anyway.”
The man was probably right. Once Slocum was dressed in some winter clothing, he could go look over the Booster deal. He planned to do that, unsure what Collie Bill might want to do.
“When’re we leaving for Colorado?” Collie Bill asked.
“After we talk Juanita out of breakfast.”
“Good, I thought you might starve me.” Collie Bill fell in with him and they went inside.
“Good morning.” Juanita flashed her white teeth at them from the stove where she cooked in the side room. “How long have you two been up?”
“Since it got too cold to sleep,” Collie Bill said, sliding the blankets off his shoulders.
She looked them over as if sizing them up. “I have some coats might fit you, but . . .”
“What is it?” Collie Bill asked.
“They belonged to dead men. I save them. When a passenger is shot in a robbery, the driver brings them to me and I mend them.”
“Wouldn’t bother me.” He looked at Slocum.
“Heavens, I ain’t particular.” Slocum shook his head.
“They have bullet holes in them.”
“Ain’t no ghosts in them?” Collie Bill asked with a grin.
Ignoring his question, she handed him a plate with a stack of flapjacks. “Here, you two can start on these. I’ll go up and get the coats. They’re in a trunk in the house.”
Skirt in hand, she started for the side door and stopped. “Go eat those. I can make more.”
They smiled and did as they were told. Her fresh butter and huckleberry jam made the pancakes mouth-watering, especially washed down with the rich hot coffee.
Collie Bill looked around. “Guess her man doesn’t get up early.”
“Guess not.”
“A man got a woman works as hard as she does sure is lucky.”
Between forking in food, Slocum looked over at Collie Bill. “Didn’t you ride off and leave one like her?”
“Most foolish damn thing I ever did.”
“Maybe someday you’ll get another chance.”
“Naw.” Collie Bill shook his head. “A man only gets a chance like that once in a lifetime.”
