Silver Lies (24 page)

"You’re purtier than them girls," Useless choked out. "Before you hired me, I used to come and watch you work the bar. I remember seein’ you in that dress. Makes your skin look like, like…"

Bottles of bonded
Kentucky
bourbon and Portuguese port clinked and tinked as his shaking hands gripped the rough corners of the box.

Inez frowned at the turn of conversation, his odd deportment.
Useless needs lessons in decorum. No wonder respectable women like Susan and Emma shy away.

A shadow zipped out from under the sideboard and veered away from her. The rat zigzagged toward the door where a sizeable gap between sill and frame promised escape.

Inez gripped her skirts with both hands. For an insane moment, she visualized pulling out her gun and ending the rodent’s mad dash to freedom. "Do something!"

Useless moved faster than she’d ever seen him move. He reached the rat and stomped with a force that shook the boards beneath her feet.

The rat’s ear-piercing screech blended with Inez’s shriek.

"Useless! Jesus Christ!"

Useless looked down. He lifted his boot. Bits of gore dripped from the sole, plopped to the rug. The tail, the only part that remained unmashed, twitched once.

"Oh my God! What possessed you!"

"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled, shrinking. "I, uh, didn’t want to drop the box."

Rat fur, guts, and splattered blood glistened on the carpet, imposing a mangled pattern on the maroon and gold wool leaves.

Inez thought she would lose the contents of her stomach on the spot.

The door cracked open and the cacophony of the saloon washed over her. Jed Elliston hesitated, looking first at Useless, who’d hastily hidden the rat remains beneath his boot again, then at Inez. "Mrs. Stannert, a word with you. It’s about Joe Rose."

Inez forced out a response in a tone approaching normal. "Certainly. In the office."

Jed turned around and headed toward the stairs.

As she passed Useless, Inez hissed, "Clean it up. Now! The others will be here any minute. Good God, Useless. You really lived up to your name this time. If the carpet’s ruined, you’ll pay for it out of your wages."

Revulsion added intensity to her tongue-lashing. Useless ducked his head, but not before Inez saw a sullen anger in his eyes.

Climbing the stairs, she fought to bring her twisted insides under control.
I need a drink. Soon as this chat with Jed is finished.

In the office, she turned to Jed, eyebrows raised in question.

Careful grooming aside, there was something beaten in his carriage. He looked like a dog that had been whipped and kicked into the street. Elliston coughed and addressed a point high over her left shoulder. "I’m dropping the paper’s inquiry into Rose’s death."

"You’re dropping—" She stopped.
What would convince a bulldog like Jed to drop a story?

Then she knew. "What did Gallagher say to you?"

Elliston jerked his head back, as if she’d whacked his nose with one of his own rolled-up newspapers. "Harry Gallagher? Ha ha! No, no. This is strictly a business decision. I asked around. But there’s no story. It’s…" He ran out of steam. "Miss Carothers has the ledger," he finished lamely.

Inez sighed, too drained to push him any further. She led him to the door, saying, "Well, you tried. Don’t think any more on it. A nice evening of cards is what we need. And a drink. We both need a drink."

They found Doc outside the card room, brandy in hand. "Ah, a quorum is developing. And here’s Bob."

Inez flashed her hostess smile at Bob Evan, owner of the biggest mercantile in Leadville. Evan had arrived early in town, hoping to strike it rich. Story was, while hacking through the rocky subsoil of his claim, he’d broken the shaft of his pickaxe. He’d vowed then and there to make his fortune not from silver but from shovel handles, drill bits, rifles, wool socks—whatever was needed by the miners. He played cards like he ran his business: with careful calculation, but without disdaining an occasional risk.

The four of them entered the card room. Useless stood at the sidebar, setting up the bottles. Inez glanced down at the rug. The stain looked innocent. As if it could have been caused by a spilled drink, a mis-aimed squirt at a spittoon.

Jed Elliston headed straight for the liquor. Useless picked up the box, which now held rags bunched around a suspicious lump. He hurried out, avoiding Inez, just as David Cooper arrived, brushing snow from his fur coat.

"I see I’m not late after all." Cooper smiled at Inez, every inch the East Coast lawyer. His successful Leadville practice rested on settling claim disputes. He had an uncanny ability to guess which way judge and jury would lean. His mannered speech didn’t reflect an unfortunate tendency to yield to impulse on the cards.

"Pick your poison, gentlemen." She settled in her chair, feeling the bulky train of dress flatten beneath her. Glancing about the table, she noted Nigel and Harry were missing. The others took their seats as Inez broke the seal on the cards.

Evan adjusted his brown corduroy jacket. "You look very fashionable, Mrs. Stannert. Lovely, as always." He squinted. "New dress?"

"Thank you, but no. Just one I haven’t worn in a while." Inez suspected that Evan’s concept of women’s fashion was hampered by his main customers, miners and roustabouts. She privately bet he had a wardrobe full of corduroy, his fashion mainstay.

"Ah, here’s Harry." Doc beamed. "Business hold you in abeyance?"

Harry removed his overcoat, still dusted with snow. "An overturned sledge on Stray Horse Gulch held up traffic." His eyes settled on Inez. "Evening, Mrs. Stannert."

"We’re waiting on you, Harry." Cooper waved at the empty chair by Inez.

Inez tapped the deck of cards on the table. With Harry seated, she shuffled the stiff cards with an expert hand. "Ante up, gentlemen."

Quarter eagles rained onto the table. All murmuring ceased as she dealt out cards, one at a time, five cards face down. The players picked up their hands.

As was her habit, before looking at her own cards she scanned the men’s expressions and postures. To her immediate left, Elliston’s grim face looked a shade grimmer.
Nothing there.
Next to him, Doc straightened up a bit, no longer so snoozy.
Possible pair? Doc takes even two deuces as a good omen.
Evan peered through metal-rimmed glasses at his hand, noncommittal.
Hard to say. We’ll see when the betting starts.
Cooper eased back in his chair, getting comfortable.
Settled in for the long haul. He must have something worthwhile.
Nigel’s empty chair. Then Harry.

Harry was watching her. His gaze traveled leisurely down to encompass her gown. The color flew to her cheeks.
Perhaps it was a mistake to wear this dress.
She examined her own hand. Pair of queens. Jack, seven, five.

Elliston said, "Pass."

"Time to get the evening rolling." Doc threw in a quarter eagle.

Evan’s coin chinked onto the pile.

"Oh, we can do better than that." Cooper added a half eagle.

Everyone stayed in. Cards were discarded, replacements dealt. Inez found no improvement to her pair of ladies. When Harry doubled Cooper’s twenty-dollar bet, Inez groaned inwardly and stared at Harry, trying to divine his mind. No nervous ticks or mannerisms showed. Just a knowing smile that irritated her beyond belief. She hated backing down to him.
However…

"I’m out." She closed her hand.

"Well, my dear, the house wins every time, in any case." Doc’s consoling smile lifted the loose wrinkles around his jowls.

She reached for her coffee cup. Doc was right. The house got its cut from each pot. Her personal objective was to neither lose nor win an extravagant amount. Lose too much, it wiped out the house’s take. Win too much…well, the customers didn’t like losing. Especially to the house. And, despite all their gallantry, especially to a woman.

Elliston threw down his cards. "Out."

Doc shook his head. "Until more citizens pay their medical bills—"

"Guess they’re paying me first." Evan added forty dollars.

Cooper stroked his close-cropped beard, examining Harry as if he was a potential juror of unknown quantity. "Raise you sixty."

Harry didn’t even bother to look at his hand. "Double it."

Cooper said, "Call, Harry, you old devil. What’ve you got?"

Harry spread out a king-high straight.

"I’d’ve sworn you were bluffing." Cooper chucked his hand. Evan followed.

Doc swirled the brandy in his glass, "So, Harry, I hear you’re headed east this spring. Doesn’t our
Chestnut Avenue
measure up to
Philadelphia
’s? Or are you in search of more capital?"

Harry counted his winnings, slid the house’s portion toward Inez. "
Philadelphia
for family business. Then
New York
,
Boston
. Eastern capitalists are all afire about Leadville. I don’t want that heat to go to waste. As for Chestnut, Leadville will never be the
Philadelphia
of the West."

"I dunno." Evan laced his hands over his brown waistcoat. "There’s talk that Leadville might steal the title of capital city from
Denver
."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Leadville needs more than gaslights, a telephone exchange, and an opera house to qualify as a capital. More law and order, for example."

"But a railroad." Evan’s face glowed, as if he contemplated the Holy Grail.

Cooper nodded. "The Supreme Court should decide on the
Santa Fe
and D&RG case soon. I’m betting we have a line by summer."

A murmur of agreement circled the table. Folks took a serious interest in the legal and occasionally armed disputes between the
Atchison
,
Topeka
and
Santa Fe
and the
Denver
and
Rio Grande
railroads. While the court debated which would have right-of-way up the narrow
Royal Gorge
canyon to Leadville, both railroads continued to sabotage each other’s tracks.