The Reluctant Pinkerton Page 7

  “What happened?” Larry asked.

  “I killed them.”

  “Lucky for you,” Stan said. “Any idea who they were?”

  “The sheriff recognized one of them,” Roper said, “but I didn’t get a name. Just some guy who bushwhacks men for their wallets.”

  Stan and Larry exchanged a glance.

  “Mighta been somebody we know,” Larry said.

  Roper froze with his fork halfway to his mouth and said, “Not a friend, I hope. Or somebody you work with?”

  “No, no, no,” Larry said. “Hey, we’re just a couple of guys who work in the stockyards.”

  “We heard the sheriff say you were lookin’ for a job there.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “Well,” Stan said, “we could take you in there and introduce you.”

  “We got some influence.”

  “Yeah?” Roper asked. He pushed his plate away. “When could we do that?”

  “Well…now, if ya want,” Larry said.

  “Yeah, we gotta go to work anyway.”

  “Sounds good,” Roper said. “Let me pay my bill.” He almost offered to pay for their breakfast, too, but caught himself. He was supposed to be somebody who didn’t have much money.

  The brothers pushed their chairs back and stood up.

  “We’ll just wait for ya outside,” Stan said.

  “Yeah, okay,” Roper said, figuring they must have paid their bill already.

  The Fixx brothers left the café and Roper called over the waiter to settle up.

  “Did those two fellas pay their bill?” he asked.

  “The Fixx brothers?” the waiter asked. “Oh, they never pay.”

  “Really. How do I get a deal like that?”

  “You’d have to make arrangements with the owner,” the man said, “like they did.”

  “Okay,” Roper said, “maybe next time I come in.”

  The waiter nodded disinterestedly and walked away. Roper went out to meet the Fixx boys.

  14

  The brothers took Roper to the stockyards to the office of the foreman.

  “What’s this fella’s name?” Roper asked as they walked up the steps.

  “Pete Orton,” Larry said. “Been the boss around here for a coupla years.”

  “A good boss?”

  “He’s fair,” Stan said, “if you get on his good side.”

  “Like you boys?”

  “Yeah,” Larry said. “He likes us.”

  “Come on, we’ll introduce ya.”

  Larry opened the door and the three men walked in.

  There was a man sitting behind a large, raw wood desk. He had short hair, a lantern jaw, and the look of somebody who used to work in the stockyards before he became a foreman. In his fifties, he also had the look of a man whose muscle had started going to fat.

  “What the hell?” he roared. “How many times I gotta tell you idiots to knock!”

  “Oh, hey,” Stan said, “sorry, boss.”

  “We got a feller here’s lookin’ fer a job, boss,” Larry said.

  “Yeah? I hope he ain’t a friend of yours.”

  “Um, yeah, well, we just met this mornin’,” Stan said.

  “Yeah, at the café,” Larry said. “The sheriff was givin’ him a hard time.”

  “That a fact?” Orton asked. “What’d you do?”

  “I killed two men.”

  Orton sat back in his chair and laughed.

  “Where’d that happen?”

  “My hotel room,” Roper said. “Seems they thought I was asleep and decided to rob me.”

  “Only you wasn’t asleep, huh?”

  “Yeah, I was,” Roper said, “but I’m a light sleeper.”

  “Haw,” Orton laughed. “Light sleeper. I like that.” He looked at the Fixx brothers. “You two, get lost. I’m doin’ a job interview.”

  “Sure, boss, sure,” Larry said.

  “Get to work!” Orton said.

  “Right, boss,” Larry said. “See ya later, Andy.”

  “Yeah,” Roper said.

  The brothers left the office and Orton said, “Have a seat. Andy…what?”

  “Andy Blake.”

  “From where?”

  “All over.”

  “Where you from first, boy?” Orton asked. “You gotta answer my questions if you want a job.”

  “I’m from Missouri, originally,” Roper said. “Been travelin’ around. Came up here from South Texas.”

  “You wanted?”

  “No.”

  “You sure you’re not wanted somewhere?” Orton asked. “We can’t hire no wanted men. If there’s paper out on you, you better tell me.”

  “No paper,” Roper said. “Not from anywhere.”

  “What can you do in a stockyard?”

  “Anythin’,” Roper said. “Cattle, sheep, whatever you got, I can tend ’em, haul ’em, butcher ’em.”

  “That so?” Orton said. “If that’s true, you’d be pretty valuable around here.”

  “I figure.”

  “Yeah, you figure,” Orton said. “I’m gonna have to talk to the sheriff about you before I hire you. And my boss.”

  “That’s okay,” Roper said. “The sheriff ain’t gonna tell you nothin’ against me.”

  “If he don’t,” Orton said, “then you’ll be hired.”

  “When will I know?”

  “Come back here in the mornin’,” Orton said, “ready to work. If you’re not hired, I’ll let you know.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Orton stood up.

  “You get the job we’ll talk about salary tomorrow.”

  “Yes, sir,” Roper said. “I appreciate that.”

  Orton shook hands with Roper, who then turned and left. He was pretty sure he’d be hired by the next morning.

  * * *

  Outside he found the Fixx boys waiting for him.

  “What happened?” Stan asked.

  “I’ll find out tomorrow,” Roper said, “but I’m pretty sure I got a job.”

  “Well, all right,” Larry said, slapping Roper on the back. “We gotta have us some drinks later and celebrate.”

  “I’ll be at the saloon,” Roper said.

  “Which saloon?”

  “The Bullshead.”

  “That’s a good place,” Larry Fixx said. “We’ll meet ya there.”

  “We gotta get to work before ol’ Orton sees us out here,” Stan said.

  “I wanna thank you boys for the introduction,” Roper said. “First round’s on me tonight.”

  “Well, all right,” Larry said, again. “See ya at the Bullshead.”

  15

  Roper went back to his hotel, surprised at how well the day had gone so far. That is, for a day that started with him killing two men.

  He sat down on his bed, trying to put everything in its proper perspective. Andy Blake was established with the law as a troublemaker, with the Fixx brothers as one of their own, with Orton as a possible employee. But he didn’t know where he stood with Nancy the saloon girl. How would she take the fact that he’d killed two of her men? And who did she work for? He was going to have to go to the Bullshead and have a talk with her, find out if she was going to be sending any other boys after him. Or if her boss was.

  He walked to his window and looked out. He was about to turn away when he saw Dol standing across the street.

  “Damn it!” he said. He forgot about her. He still had to settle with her and get her out of town.

  He left his room, went down the steps and outside the hotel to do just that.

  * * *

  “Don’t be mad,” she said as she saw him coming.

  “Are you crazy?” he asked, barely containing his anger. “Do you want to get us killed?”

  “I just want to do my part,” she said. “I want to prove myself.”

  She was still in her disguise, with freshly applied soot on her face. Roper looked around. There was foot traffic around them, but nobody seemed t
o be paying them any special attention. Still, he had to get her off the street.

  “Come on,” he said, grabbing her arm roughly.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I’ll just take you to the train station and throw you on the first train that pulls in.”

  “Going where?” she asked, her eyes widening.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Just away.”

  “Roper—” she said, but he cut her off.

  “Don’t call me that!” he said. “I don’t want anyone to hear my name.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said, “sorry. What name—”

  “It’s Blake, Andy Blake.”

  “Really?”

  “What’s wrong with that name?”

  “It’s kind of…plain.”

  As they walked, he asked her, “What are you calling yourself?”

  “Jaime,” she said.

  “Jaime what?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Nobody’s asked me.”

  “How did you register at the hotel?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Oh no,” he said. “Don’t tell me you registered at the White Elephant under your real name?”

  “I wasn’t hiding from anyone,” she said. “Not then.”

  “Damn it,” he said. “Are you still there?”

  “No, I checked out.”

  “Good.”

  “I checked into a cheaper hotel.”

  “Well, you’re just going to have to check out again…Jaime.”

  She stopped walking abruptly. He took two more steps, then stopped and turned to face her.

  “I’m not leaving!” she said firmly.

  “Don’t argue with me,” he said. “Not here. Come on, we have to get out of Hell’s Half Acre before somebody sees us together.”

  * * *

  They walked until Roper felt they were in a sort of limbo, an area between Hell’s Half Acre and the high-class saloons like the White Elephant and the Silverado.

  He found a livery stable and dragged Dol to the back of it, so they could lean on the corral and talk away from prying eyes.

  “What do I have to do to convince you?” he asked. “Physically put you on the train myself?”

  He didn’t want to do that. A man putting a writhing, squirming woman on a train would attract attention.

  Dol became irritated, almost pugnacious, and suddenly looked comical behind the soot. Putting her fists on her hips certainly did not help matters.

  “I don’t know why I have to explain myself to you,” she said.

  “I’ll tell you why,” Roper said. “Because you’re risking my life.”

  “I saved your life last night!”

  “No you didn’t,” he said. “I was ready for those two, and I wanted one of them alive. All you did was get in the way.”

  “Well, fine, then,” she said. “Fine. I can do this job without you.”

  “I’m warning you,” Roper said. “If you stay in Fort Worth, stay away from me. You want to get yourself killed, that’s one thing, but don’t take me with you.”

  “Fine!”

  She turned and stormed away from him. His preference certainly would have been to get her to go home, but the next best thing was for her to stay away from him. And—if she got herself killed—for him to feel no guilt at all.

  None.

  16

  Roper went from his scene with Dol directly to the Bullshead Saloon. In the middle of the day it was still crowded, with music and gambling going strong. Also, the girls were working the floor.

  He stood just inside the batwings, trying to spot Nancy. When he didn’t see her, he went to the bar and made a space for himself.

  “What’ll ya have?” the bartender asked.

  “Beer.”

  “Comin’ up.”

  Roper had stopped thinking about dirty glasses and silverware and rooms. If he was going to immerse himself in the character of Andy Blake, all of that was going to have to be accepted.

  The bartender set a mug in front of him. It was surprisingly cold and good, with an impressive head on it.

  “A nickel,” the bartender said, “now.”

  Apparently, the bartender did not see in him whatever Nancy had detected the night before. The man took him at face value and wanted his money now.

  Roper took out a nickel and slapped it down on the bar. The bartender picked up the nickel and walked away.

  Roper nursed his beer, hoping Nancy would come out onto the floor eventually. When she hadn’t shown by the time he finished his beer, he decided to take action. He waved the bartender over.

  “I don’t see that blonde around. You know, um…” he began.

  “Nancy Ransom? She’ll be on tonight,” the bartender said.

  “Uh, yeah, Nancy. Hmm,” Roper said, “me and her, we was supposed to, uh…”

  “She’s upstairs, second door to the right,” the bartender said. “If you’re lyin’, she’ll put a bullet in ya. Good luck.”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  The place was crowded and nobody was looking at him. It was too early for the Fixx brothers to come in looking for him. He walked casually to the open stairway and started up slowly, not wanting to attract any attention. When he got to the second level, he found Nancy’s door and knocked.

  “Who is it?”

  He didn’t answer, just knocked again.

  “Whataya want?”

  He knocked once more.

  “Goddamn it…” she was swearing as she swung the door open. When she saw him, she froze in place. “You—” she started, but he cut her off by pushing her inside, and stepping in after her. He pulled the door closed behind him.

  “Get out of here!” she snapped. She was wearing a dressing gown that was hanging open, revealing her undergarments and a lot of skin. Abruptly, she pulled it closed in front of her, crossing her arms. Her golden hair was piled atop her head, revealing a long, graceful neck.

  “Relax,” he said, “I ain’t after your lily-white skin.” He had to make sure he sounded like Andy Blake.

  “If I scream, there’ll be five guns in here in a minute,” she said.

  “I don’t think you’ll scream.”

  “Why not?”

  “You ain’t the type.”

  She snorted and said, “Type. So what are you supposed to be?”

  “I’m just a guy lookin’ for a job,” he said. “I wanna know why you sent two guys to rob me, maybe kill me.”

  “What do you car—I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

  “Sure you do, honey,” he said. “You made a quick decision about me yesterday, decided to send two of your cronies to rob me. What made you think I got anything worth robbing I don’t know.”

  “Listen, honey,” she said, with heavy emphasis on the word “honey.” “I been here in the Half Acre long enough to know quality when I see it. And you know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I never see it,” she replied. “Not in here.”

  She turned her back to him, belted her robe, then turned back.

  “What are you talkin’ about?” he demanded.

  “You’re a phony,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re doin’ here dressed like that, but you ain’t lookin’ for a job. At least, not for the same reason everybody else is.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” Roper said. “All I want to do is get you to leave me alone.”

  “Hell, I ain’t gonna bother you, cowboy,” she said. “Why don’t we agree to leave each other alone?”

  “Fine. Just keep your men away from me,” he said. “I don’t wanna have to kill any more of ’em.”

  “Oh yeah,” she said, still playing her part, “I heard about that. I heard some cowboy killed two bushwhackers. Good for you.”

  Roper stood there and stared at her. She wasn’t going to admit she had anything to do with them. How, then, was he to believe th
at she’d leave him alone from this point on?

  “Maybe I better talk to your boss,” he said.

  “The owner of this place?” Nancy said. “Why would he wanna talk to you?”

  “Maybe he doesn’t know you have a side job robbin’ his customers.”

  Suddenly, Nancy became serious.

  “You don’t wanna be sayin’ that out loud,” she told him.

  “Ah, I hit a nerve there, didn’t I?” Roper said. “Your boss doesn’t know. But you can’t be doing this alone. You’re either working for someone, or with someone.”

  She glared at him.

  “What’s your game?” she demanded.

  “I thought we were talkin’ about your game.”

  “You wanna talk to my…my partner?”

  “That’s right,” he said. “I wanna get this cleared up.”

  “Well, you come back here tonight and we’ll get it all cleared up.”

  “That’s a deal,” he said.

  “Now get out!”

  He tipped his hat, said, “Ma’am,” and left.

  17

  Roper left the Bullshead, knew that he now had time to kill before he returned there to meet the Fixx brothers, as well as Nancy’s partner.

  He went back to his hotel to pick something up, then once again left the Half Acre neighborhood, walked past the White Elephant Saloon until he reached the new brick building that housed the Cattleman’s Club of Fort Worth. Knowing he couldn’t go in the front door looking the way he did, he went around to the back to look for another entrance.

  He tried several doors, finding them locked tight, and was about to try a window when suddenly one of the doors opened. There was garbage outside the door, and a man came walking out carrying more. He was dressed all in white, and behind him Roper could see the kitchen. He headed for the door.

  “Hey!” the man in white snapped. “You can’t go in there.”

  Roper took ten dollars from his pocket and held it out to the man.

  “You didn’t see me.”

  The man looked at the money for a moment, then shrugged and said, “Have it your way, fella. I ain’t seen ya.”

  Roper went into the building, made his way through the kitchen, with the kitchen staff giving him looks but not moving to stop him.

  He came out of the kitchen into a long hallway and followed it until it emptied out into a foyer. Beyond him he could see men in expensive suits sitting and standing, holding drinks and big cigars. He couldn’t afford to be seen by any of them but the one he was looking for.