Buzzard's Bluff

by William W. Johnstone; J. A. Johnstone

  Still confused, Rachel tried to understand what he was saying. Then it suddenly struck her. Totally stunned then, both eyes and mouth opened wide as she tried to speak. “You don’t mean...” she started. He nodded. “Oh, my God!” she managed. “You’re the new owner?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Ben answered. “I’ve got the papers to prove it.”

  Amid the hooting and hollering, Rachel was trying to remember all that she had just told him and wondered if she would still have a place there. There were comments she had made about Jim Vickers and his lack of business sense that might come back to strike her. She looked at Annie, who was standing there grinning, and speculated on the chance she might work in the kitchen with her. “I guess you’ll want to go over some things in the office and catch up on things,” she suggested, lamely.

  “I expect that would be a good idea. Maybe we’ll do that tonight sometime and get it over with,” Ben told her.

  “Certainly, Mr. Savage.”

  “First thing we’ll take care of is my name’s Ben and I don’t intend to call you Miss Baskin. Is that all right with you?”

  “Of course,” she blushed. That was as far as they got for the moment, because there was the matter of a dead man lying in the front door. In the middle of it, Tuck Tucker and Ham Martin were eager to meet the new owner of the Lost Coyote. Bragg asked for a little help in relocating the cowhand’s body to the porch to await Merle Baker’s handcart, so Ben helped him carry the body outside.

  Once that was done, the sheriff went to fetch Merle, who acted as the town’s undertaker. But before he walked away, he felt inspired to offer an opinion. “I ain’t about to tell you how to run your business, but for what it’s worth, Rachel Baskin is a fine woman, and she’s done a good job takin’ care of this saloon.”

  “I ’preciate what you’re sayin’, Sheriff. That was my first impression of Rachel, as a matter of fact. I was just as surprised as everyone else here a couple days ago when I found out I owned this saloon. I rode a few years with Jim Vickers. He was the one who broke me in as a Ranger. And just like Jim, I ain’t got a grain of experience runnin’ a saloon, so it looks like Rachel’s got another greenhorn to break in.”

  “I’m glad to hear you ain’t bringin’ in new people to replace the ones workin’ here now,” Bragg said. “And I hope you do well here in Buzzard’s Bluff.”

  “’Preciate it, Sheriff,” Ben said and went back inside. When he walked in the door, the conversation at the end of the bar between Rachel, Annie, and Tiny stopped immediately. All three stared at him, waiting to see what instructions he might have for them. He was not insensitive to their concern, so he thought it best to set them at ease as soon as possible. Starting with Annie and Tiny, he asked them how long they had worked there in the saloon. Both had been on the payroll for more than two years. “I reckon if Jim thought you were doin’ a good job, then I do, too, so everything’s the same for you two.” He looked at Rachel then. “But not for you, Rachel. Let’s you and I go in the office and take a look at those books you mentioned before.”

  She was not quick enough to hide the instant look of concern as she turned at once and led the way to the office, which was immediately behind the barroom. When she passed by Annie, the cheerful little woman touched her arm and said, “Don’t worry, honey, I’ve got a good feeling about this man.”

  When she and Ben walked in the office door, she started to sit down at the desk, but thought better of it, and sat down at a straight-back chair against the wall instead. He paused in front of the desk and said, “Why don’t you go ahead and sit down at your regular place. I’ll pull this chair over by the desk.” When she did as he directed, he said, “Now, I’m wonderin’ if you can show me how much it costs to run this place—how much we take in and how much we pay out.”

  “I can,” she replied and pulled a set of ledgers from one of the desk drawers. She showed him the balance sheet and pointed out her’s, Tiny’s, and Annie’s salaries, and showed him that the saloon was showing a profit every month. This was even after the owner’s share was taken out. He was impressed. When he had asked to see the books, he had actually expected to hear there were no books. “Well, that’s about it,” she said. “We’re gonna need a new shipment of whiskey in the next week or two, so some of that money will be needed to pay for that. That usually runs me about six hundred dollars. The kitchen pantry is well stocked, Annie keeps it that way, and there’s a little over nine hundred dollars in the safe. You wanna count it?”

  He didn’t tell her that he had not the slightest idea what he was looking for, but he studied the ledgers intently, noticing expenditures generated by Jim Vickers’s personal expenses. He was looking to make sure expenses like costs for stabling his horses were included. When he had satisfied himself that the saloon would more than support his needs, he closed the ledgers and handed them back to Rachel. “I reckon that’ll do for now. I don’t need to count the money in the safe. In case you ain’t figured it out yet, but I expect you already have, I don’t know any more about runnin’ a place like this than Jim did when he started. So I want you to do the same job you’ve been doin’, but I don’t think your salary is right for your job. I think the fairest thing to do is to make you a partner in the business. Whaddaya say? Fifty-fifty, we’ll split the profits down the middle. Does that sound fair to you?”

  She was struck speechless for a few moments. Jim Vickers had paid her a generous salary, but nowhere near the income she would enjoy as an equal partner. She could not imagine why he would give up half of the profits of a going business when there was no reason to do so. When she had still not replied after several more seconds, he suggested, “You’re good at things like this, so you could draw up a partnership agreement, if you like, and we’ll sign it. Take it to the bank and let them notarize it. Whaddaya say?”

  Finally recovering her emotions, she answered him. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, of course I accept. I just didn’t expect you to be so generous.” Then she quickly sought to assure him. “I will do my best to make sure you don’t ever regret this. I’ll surely take care of your business for you.”

  “Our business,” he corrected her. “I’d be very surprised if I’ve misjudged you.”

  “I have to ask,” she insisted. “Why would you do this? I would work just as hard if you kept me on at my regular salary.”

  “I figured you would, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted you as a partner. Look, I’m pretty much in the same boat Jim was. I ain’t as old as Jim was when he quit the Ranger service, but I don’t have any family, and I don’t need much money to live on. So why not pay the person who’s really operatin’ the saloon?”

  When they returned to the saloon, they found Tiny and Annie waiting by the bar, anxious to try to read the expression on Rachel’s face. They relaxed their concern at once when they saw her beaming happily. Waiting with them were two women of uncertain age, but obvious occupation. Only then did it occur to the new owner that he had seen no trace of the soiled doves that are typically found in saloons. Whereas he was surprised to see them now, he told himself that, of course, the Lost Coyote had saloon gals, like every other saloon in the wild west. Sensing his surprise, Rachel said, “You were probably wondering where the girls were. I was wondering, myself.” She motioned for them to come over. “Meet the new owner of Lost Coyote Saloon, Ben Savage. Ben, this is Ruby and Clarice.” Addressing them directly, she asked, “Where were you two hiding while all the fuss was going on down here?”

  Clarice, the larger of the two and obviously a little older, answered Rachel. “We were both stayin’ in our rooms as long as those two fellers from the Double-D were down here. Didn’t neither one of us wanna see those two animals again. Then Ruby came into my room when we heard the shot down here and we stayed there till we were sure everything was all right.”

  Back to Ben then, Rachel said, “Clarice and Ruby sell a lot of whiskey for us. They keep a lot of customers coming back here, instead of going d
own the street to the Golden Rail.”

  Both women looked at the imposing man who was their new boss, wondering if they were to be at his call whenever he needed company, and if it would be without compensation. “Pleased to meetcha, Ben,” Clarice managed.

  “Me, too,” Ruby seconded.

  “Ladies,” Ben returned the greetings. “Just to set things straight, I’m the new half-owner. Rachel’s now an equal partner.” Back to her, he said, “I reckon I might as well move in. Did Jim have a room here?”

  “Yes,” she answered. “He had a room here behind the kitchen. He also kept a room at the hotel he’d sleep in. It was a little too noisy here in the saloon sometimes, so he would go to the hotel some nights. I think he liked to eat breakfast in the dining room there, too. Come on and I’ll show you his room. I guess it’s about time I showed you around the whole place, isn’t it?”

  She led him through the kitchen, where Annie had finally gotten back to her cleanup. From the kitchen, Rachel led him through a door back to a long hallway that led to several rooms. The first two were storerooms for the kitchen. The last two were bedrooms. “Jim’s room is the last one before the outside door.”

  “What’s the other one?” Ben asked.

  “That’s my room,” she answered, waiting for a typical male remark, but there was none.

  “That’ll be handy,” he said, causing her to change her mind back to her original thought. “I can bring the stuff off my packhorse right in the back door, there.” She hoped he didn’t notice her little flush of embarrassment. He walked past her room and tried the doorknob on his, but found it locked.

  “Here, let me,” she said and stepped up to the door to unlock it. “When we go back to the office, I’ll get your key to the room and the key to the outside door. We usually keep that outside door locked.” When the door was unlocked, she pushed it wide and stepped back to let him enter. “Probably need to open a window and let it air out a little,” she suggested.

  He walked in and went straight to the window to open it. “It’ll be all right in a little while. It’ll beat where I was plannin’ to sleep tonight, in the stable with my horses.” He looked around for a moment at the bare furnishings, primarily a bed and a dresser. “This’ll do,” he said. “What’s upstairs?”

  “Bedrooms,” she answered. “Four of ’em, Clarice and Ruby have rooms up there, and Tiny lives in the last one.”

  “Might as well have a look,” he decided, so they went upstairs and he took a quick look at the rooms, just so he would know the whole building. “What happened to the side of the porch out front?” he asked when they were back downstairs.

  “Freighter let his mules get away from him when a couple of drunk cowboys started shooting up the town. The sheriff put ’em in jail, but not till after one of the mules killed itself when it tried to jump up on the porch.”

  “Anybody in town do carpentry work?” Ben asked.

  “Ham Greeley,” Rachel said. “That was him playing cards with Tuck and the two cowhands.”

  “Maybe we oughta talk to him about fixin’ that porch. We don’t want strangers comin’ through town and goin’ to the Golden Rail for a drink ’cause they think the Lost Coyote looks run-down.”

  She laughed. “I guess you’re right. We’ll talk to Ham.”

  “Why do you call him Ham?” Ben wondered, thinking it to be a nickname and probably had a story behind it.

  “’Cause that’s his name. He says his mama named him Hammer, hopin’ it would encourage him to wanna be a carpenter when he grew up, like his daddy.” She paused to let him think about that for a few seconds. “Well, you’ve seen the whole place, except the outhouses.”

  He nodded and said, “I reckon I’ll wait on seein’ that till my insides tell me to go see it.” He started to walk toward the stairs but paused to ask one more question. “How’d Jim come to name this place the Lost Coyote?”

  She smiled as she recalled. “When he started building the place, one morning a coyote came up from the creek. Just one coyote, and Jim said it was the mangiest coyote he’d ever seen. And it would just stand off about fifty yards and watch. It came back the second day and one of the men helping him build the saloon said it looked like it was lost. Jim hadn’t been able to decide on what to call the saloon, so he said that coyote was a sign and he called this the Lost Coyote.” She laughed when she remembered. “I asked him if he was sure he wasn’t supposed to call this place the Mangy Coyote, but he said Lost was the sign. He said that coyote came back every morning for the next four days and then they never saw it again.”

  CHAPTER 5

  He left the saloon and walked up to the stable at the end of the street. He found Henry Barnes cleaning out some stalls in the back of the stable. “You decide you ain’t gonna stay in town tonight?” he asked when Ben walked in. Everybody in town knew about the shooting at the saloon, so Henry thought Ben might be thinking about getting out of town, in case some of the cowhand’s friends came looking for him.

  “No,” Ben answered. “I decided I’d stay awhile. I’ll bunk in the Lost Coyote. Right now, I’ll need my packhorse to carry my possibles down to the saloon. Then I’ll bring him back and I’ll want the monthly rate for boardin’ both of ’em. I’ll expect the same rate you gave Jim Vickers. Fair enough?”

  “Fair enough.” Henry answered, then shook his head as if astonished. “It’s true then. Tuck Tucker said you came into town and bought the saloon after you shot that man down.”

  “Well, that ain’t exactly right. I already owned the saloon before I rode into town. I shot the man after that.” He loaded the sorrel up rather loosely for the short trip back to the saloon, leaving Henry standing in the door of the stable shaking his head.

  After he unloaded his belongings into his room in the saloon, he returned his packhorse to Henry’s care. Before he left for the night, he spent some time with Cousin while Henry stood talking to him. When he decided it was time to go to the hotel dining room for supper, since Annie didn’t cook supper at the saloon, he gave Cousin’s face a good scratching and asked, “Is Henry treatin’ you all right? You just let me know if he ain’t.” He looked at Henry then and said, “He’ll tell me if you ain’t.”

  Henry chuckled. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. But I ain’t likely to do anything that might rile you up, he thought, recalling Tiny’s description of the stranger in action.

  * * *

  He walked in the outside entrance to the River House Hotel dining room and was met at the door by Lacy James, who was serving as hostess. She gave him a good looking over before asking, “Welcome to the River House, stranger. Are you by any chance the new owner of the Lost Coyote?”

  An attractive woman, he had to admit, but with a bit of smugness in her tone. “That’s a fact,” he answered her. “I’m hopin’ you permit saloon owners to eat in your dinin’ room.”

  “You’re in luck,” she joked. “Today’s Tuesday and we let all manner of riffraff in on Tuesdays.” She gave a hearty chuckle in appreciation for her wit. “Come on in, Mr. Ben Savage.” When he looked surprised, she said, “Word gets around fast in this little town, especially when newcomers make as big an entrance as you did.”

  “I can see that,” he replied.

  “Let me officially welcome you to our dining room,” Lacy said grandly, “and invite you to leave your firearm with the others on the table.” She fairly beamed at him while he unbuckled his gun belt. “Will your family be coming to Buzzard’s Bluff soon?” she asked.

  “You’re lookin’ at the whole family,” he informed her.

  “Well, we’ll treat you like family here. Jim Vickers used to eat supper here every day and sometimes breakfast, too. Nice man,” she commented. “We’ll miss seeing him come in.” She waited for him to put his gun belt on the table, then asked, “You wanna sit at the big table?”

  “How ’bout one of those little tables against the wall?” he answered.

  “Anywhere you want, you’re too
big to argue with,” she said cheerfully. “Cindy will take care of you,” she said when a young girl came out of the kitchen. “Enjoy your supper.” She spun around and hurried off to greet a couple of men, then escorted them to the large community table in the center of the room. Then she disappeared into the kitchen.

  “Was that him?” Myrtle Johnson asked when Lacy came in.

  “Yep,” Lacy replied. “That’s him, all right. Freeman said he heard he was a Ranger, just like Jim Vickers, but he looks a lot younger than Jim was when he came here.”

  Cindy came into the kitchen then and headed for the coffeepot. “He wants the special, Myrtle,” she said as she poured a cup of coffee. “Seems like a nice enough man, kinda quiet.”

  Lacy laughed. “I don’t know if that cowpoke from the Double-D would agree with you or not,” she said. “He made quite an impression on him. First day in his new business and he shoots one of his customers. I’m gonna have to get the whole story from Rachel Baskin.”

  “I guess I’d better be careful not to make him mad,” Cindy joked. “Fill him up a big plate, Myrtle. I bet a man his size needs a lotta food.” She picked up the cup of coffee and headed back out the kitchen door. “There’s Freeman now,” she said as she went out.

  Freeman Brown, the owner of the hotel, came in the entrance from the hotel hallway. Spotting the big man sitting alone at a small table, he walked over, arriving there at the same time Cindy got there with Ben’s coffee. “Ben Savage?” Freeman asked.

  “That’s right,” Ben answered.

  “Just wanted to welcome you to Buzzard’s Bluff. I’m Freeman Brown. I own the hotel.” He extended his hand and after they shook, he asked, “Mind if I join you for supper?”

  “Not at all,” Ben responded, “have a seat.”

  Freeman pulled a chair back and sat down. “Cindy, bring me a cup of that coffee, will you?” She asked if he was going to have supper and he said he thought he would, so she went to get his coffee. Back to Ben, he said, “Jim Vickers used to keep a room here in the hotel. Are you plannin’ on a room here, too?”