Horse With No Name (10 page)

Mr. Eng turned to his wife and made a
shushing motion and then turned back toward Julia. He said one word
that had several syllables, but Julia didn't catch it.

"I beg your pardon?"

Mr. Eng said the word again, but it was
indecipherable to Julia.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Eng, I don't underst...."

"Finnegan's!" Mrs. Eng nearly shouted and
made Julia jump. The word was as clear as any spoken yet, either by
Julia or the Engs.

Julia's face broke into a wide smile. "Thank
you," she said, backing out of the shop, nodding and smiling,
"thank you!"

Thirteen

Caroline Finnegan was behind the bar, which was not
entirely unusual, but not commonplace either. Lily Cecil was
walking two dinner plates out to a couple Julia didn't recognize,
whose heads were bent together, chatting quietly. Julia nodded to
Lily on her way by and walked up to the bar with more confidence
than she felt.

"I'm joining the poker game tonight,
Caroline. Where is it?"

Caroline looked at Julia with her clear green
eyes and snorted, "The hell you are, Julia Thom. You're the
schoolteacher and a woman of good breeding. I will not send you
into a room with those four dunderheads." Then she paused, catching
herself. "What poker game?"

"It seems I'm the last person in town to know
about it. And now I want in."

Caroline stood her ground, leaning on the bar
with both hands and pushing her face toward Julia. "No."

Julia leaned in herself, the bar's edge
pressing into her ribs. She spoke quietly, but with clarity, "If
you don't tell me where it is, I'll make sure to mention to Millie
Jones next time I see her that you were admiring her feathered hat
the other day and were wanting her to teach you how to make such
things."

The two women locked eyes. Julia knew she had
Caroline over a barrel. Caroline had no time or patience for either
couture or Millie Jones. Julia knew that Millie got under
Caroline's skin more than most. And further, that Millie could
sense it and would take any opportunity to get closer to Caroline
and win her over.

Julia refused to blink. She watched ideas and
questions swirl in her friend's clear brown eyes.

Finally Caroline said, "You will not. You're
too nice to do that to me."

"The jury's still out on whether I'm nice,
but I'll tell you for sure what I am tonight: I'm desperate and
determined. I'm trying to find out who beat James Hunter."

There was another slight pause while Caroline
considered this. Then she stood up straight, pulling herself away
from the bar. The game was lost. Julia swore to herself; here she'd
come to win at poker and hadn't even been able to bluff the
gatekeeper. She prepared to turn and walk away.

"Room eight," Caroline said, looking
stern.

Julia took a deep breath. "Thank you."

"They won't like you being there."

Julia expected this was true. The men's poker
game was probably like a secret club and appealing as such.

Caroline continued, "But you tell them this.
If they don't let you join I won't be bringing up sandwiches and
beer throughout the night. They can feed themselves and the bar and
kitchen will be closed to them." She nodded her head once,
sharply.

"Thank you, Caroline." Julia smiled and
turned to leave.

Caroline stopped her before she reached the
bottom of the staircase. "You wouldn't have told Millie that lie
about me liking her hat, would you?" the proprietress asked.

Julia shrugged and smiled. "We'll never know,
will we?"

***

The room smelled of cigars and men.

When Julia opened the door to the room, Edgar
Finnegan said, without looking up from his cards, "Sandwiches
already? Christ, woman, we've hardly sat down."

Julia closed the door behind her. She wished
she had a way to capture the comical look on each of the men's
faces as they looked up at her.

The room was one of the hotel's standard
guest rooms, but it had been altered for the men's purposes. There
was no bed in it at all. The center of the room held a large round
table, a match to the ones in the dining room below them. There was
a wardrobe in one corner, and a tall dresser with a lamp burning on
it. The bedside tables were there as well, though between them was
not a bed but a narrow rectangular table with two partially empty
bottles of whisky and a plate with just crumbs.

"I see you've got an empty place," Julia
said, and sat down in what she assumed was James Hunter's spot.

Mayor Billy Jones had his cigar firmly
planted between his lips. His round face sitting atop his round
body always reminded Julia of a snowman. Now he looked even more
like one, except instead of a carrot nose he had a cigar sticking
out of his face.

Walt and Merrick were there. Walt grinned
across the table at Julia and she could almost hear his glee.
Merrick looked less thrilled to see her. He glared at her out from
under his thick, black eyebrows.

"What're you doing, Miss Thom?" Finnegan
asked. "You can't be here, lass."

Julia pulled off her gloves and laid them in
her lap with her purse. "Deal me in, Edgar. I came to play, not
talk."

Across the table Walt quietly snorted.

Mayor Billy looked at Finnegan and shifted
his cigar to one side of his mouth, "This is preposterous. She's a
woman, for crying out loud."

Finnegan nodded and placed the deck he'd been
shuffling down on the table in front of him. He folded his hands
over it and pinned Julia down with a stare. "Miss Thom, I don't
mean to be rude but this is a private game. Invitation only, you
see."

"I do see." Julia nodded, folding her own
hands together in front of her on the table. "And here's what else
I see. An illegal gambling operation that I'm fairly confident Mrs.
Jones doesn't know about. Or am I wrong about that, Mayor?"

The mayor shook his head sadly. "No. You're
right. She thinks I'm here every Wednesday night talking town
business with Edgar."

"I thought so," Julia nodded and smiled
genially. She looked back to Edgar Finnegan. "Deal me in
Edgar."

The host looked around the table at Walt,
Merrick and Mayor Billy. She wasn't sure what he saw in his
friends' eyes but he continued to hesitate.

Julia reached down into her lap and opened
the clasp on her purse. She pulled out a wad of dollar bills and a
few coins. The stack of bills was almost half an inch high.

Mayor Billy looked from the money up into
Julia's face. "You heard the woman, Edgar," he said. "Deal her
in."

***

Julia was way out of her depth at the card
table. She figured that out almost immediately.

She'd played a bit of poker with her father
as a child, but only when her mother was out of the house. It was a
secret between them and Julia loved these instances of something
precious and secret that she had with her father. Poker was one of
the devil's devices, so Mrs. Thom could never know about the games.
From her father Julia learned strategy and bluffing. But they were
rudimentary lessons; she had never played with more than one other
player. This game in the smoky, stuffy hotel room was taking things
to a whole new level.

As luck would have it, bluffing was a skill
Julia had very recently been practicing. As a school teacher she
had to be in command of the room of children she was in charge of,
whether she felt in control or not. The children, she found out
pretty quickly, could smell fear. They were like a pack of wolves
on the hunt for the weakest member of the herd. It wasn't conscious
with them, it seemed to be almost instinctual. Within three days of
landing in Horse's schoolhouse, she had figured out that she could
never, ever let her weak flank show. For her own safety, and
ultimately for theirs, Julia needed to be in command at every
moment. She wasn't cruel or mean, but she never let her guard down
in front of the group.

This was the skill she applied now. The men
were watching her, sussing her out, trying to find her weak spots
and trying to intimidate her with their frosty glares. (All except
Walt. He was enjoying himself immensely.) So Julia feigned
confidence.

To her delight, she won the first round. This
set the men back on their heels. Her presence was clearly removing
some of the joy and banter they normally shared. They couldn't be
themselves with Julia present and she knew that. She almost felt
sorry for them.

While Merrick dealt the next hand, and while
her luck held, Julia broached the reason she was there at all.

"Gentlemen, I understand James Hunter is a
regular at this table."

The men grumbled agreement.

"Is he a good player?"

More grumbling but no actual words reached
Julia's ears. She gathered the cards Merrick was flicking toward
her under her palms and made an effort to ignore his hostility. Was
his ill temper about her pushing in on the game, or because she had
forced him to take her to the Double A ranch the other day? She
shrugged and pressed on.

"Let me put it to you this way, then. Did he
owe anyone money? Had he lost recently at the table?"

Merrick finished dealing and set the remains
of the deck in the center of the table. "Why do you ask?" he said,
gathering his own cards together and ordering them in his
hands.

"Because someone beat him up and I'd like to
know why."

Merrick laid his cards down and looked to his
left. Mayor Billy indicated he wanted two cards. While he went
around the table, questioning each player, Merrick's mouth formed a
thin line. "I told you I talked to Hunter, didn't I? He doesn't
want the matter investigated."

"You did tell me that, and I understand
but..." she hesitated.

"But you can't leave well enough alone."
Merrick's eyebrows were crowded together in the center of his
face.

"Correct," Julia said. "One card,
please."

There was silence while the men attended to
the business of betting. Mayor Billy folded when Julia threw a
dollar into the pot. Edgar Finnegan folded shortly after that.
"I'll go see where the sandwiches are," he said, and stood up.

This left Julia playing with just Walt and
Merrick.

Merrick tossed a two-bit piece into the
center of the table. "Call," he said. And then, "What if we don't
want to talk? What if we'd just like to play our usual quiet game
of cards and not have to jabber with you about Hunter's
business?"

"What about this?" she said, tossing her own
two-bit piece into the pot.

"Fold," Walt said and leaned back in his
chair. He rested his hands on his stomach and watched Merrick and
Julia with a hint of mischief in his eyes and a smile flickering at
the corners of his mouth.

"What if," Julia continued, "I only get to
ask a question when I win a hand?"

Merrick looked up from his cards at her. "One
question?"

"One question. Per hand won."

Merrick glanced at Walt and Billy, looking
for their approval.

"Seems fair to me, Jack," the mayor said.

Merrick looked at Walt. The big Irishman
said, "Fine with me. I'd let her stay regardless. She makes things
interesting." He winked at Julia who smiled back at him.

Finnegan reentered the room carrying two
large plates on one arm, piled high with Caroline's hand cut roast
beef sandwiches. In his right hand he had a huge glass jar filled
with pickles.

"Finn, Julia has a proposal," Merrick said to
him. "For every round she wins she gets to ask a question about
what we know about James Hunter."

Finnegan put the plates down on the side
table and opened the jar of pickles. "Fine with me. It should be a
pretty quiet night then." He stood up grinning and he too winked at
Julia, showing her he meant no harm.

"Okay, then." Merrick looked
uncharacteristically pleased with himself. Julia's stomach did a
little flip. The cards she was holding were decent but the
constable looked as though he believed he held the winning hand.
Julia wasn't sure she could take the humiliation if she started
losing. But she was in too deep now to back out.

"On that note," Merrick continued, "it's just
down to you and me." He looked smug and confident and Julia had to
admit she found the combination attractive. "Looks like you'll be
quiet for a while yet." He laid his cards down on the table.
"Straight," he said, and spread out a sequence of cards running
from a four of clubs to an eight of hearts.

"Oh, dear," Julia said, "Well, that's too
bad." She laid her cards down, "I only have a flush." She looked up
and met Merrick's eyes. His face dropped in disappointment. "Oh,
wait," she said, feigning ignorance, "a flush beats a straight,
right? Silly me." She scooped the pot toward her.

"Ah, Merrick, she got ya," Finnegan clapped
the constable on the back as he walked back to his chair. "You were
bested by a wee lass."

After that things got tougher for Julia. The
men were on their guard, which was too bad. She'd had more of an
advantage when they thought nothing of her. And yet, she won her
fair share of hands. Mayor Billy was an abysmal player and Finnegan
wasn't that great either. They seemed to be in the game for the
camaraderie and, in Mayor Billy's case, the food. He spent a great
deal of time getting himself dealt out of hands so that he could
stand at the sandwich table and crunch loudly on pickles.

"I swear to God," he said at one point, "if I
didn't come to this game each week I'd starve to death." His round
torso gave lie to this statement but none of the players challenged
him.

At the end of the night, Julia suspected Walt
of taking it easy on her. But Merrick did not. Most rounds went to
one of them, although Finnegan did win a hand with a lucky deal.
His poker face was terrible though and they all knew when he held
an exceptional hand, and bowed out early. He didn't seem to care
about the money and was just thrilled to win.