The Granite Heart (An Ozark Mountain Series Book 2)

by Alan Black

  A large fat woman stepped between them and the room. She laughed loudly. It was as if she was trying to outdo the rest of the noise in the room. “Ladies, you may have come to the wrong place.”

  LillieBeth shook her head. “No, ma’am. I am exactly where I planned to be.”

  The woman laughed harder. “Well, glory be. We don’t get too many women customers, but when we do we know how to treat them right. Do you want to watch or play? We mostly have womens here, but we can find you some mens, if you would rather?”

  Susanne looked shocked.

  The fat woman laughed. “No mens? That is fine. Becky and Rachel both take women customers.”

  LillieBeth said, “I would like to speak to Mister Samson please.”

  “Well sweetie, so would I, but I haven’t seen him in a hundred pounds or so.” She patted her shaking belly. “Man done run off, got shot, buried in a ditch or just plain disappeared into thin air. I am Mrs. Samson. You ladies looking for work?” Samson looked at Susanne. “You are a might skinny, but you’ll do after we fatten you up some.” She poked LillieBeth in the shoulder. “Clean you up a bit, put your hair in braids and we could get a premium selling you as a virgin. Pretty thing like you might make us both rich. Might even save you for some rich clients I know up in St. Louis.”

  LillieBeth flicked the safety off the Winchester and levered a cartridge into the chamber. “I am a virgin, Mrs. Samson. And I intend to stay that way.” Samson’s laugh died in a gurgle with the Winchester’s muzzle rested comfortably between two of the madam’s chins.

  Susanne said, “We do not want to disrupt your business too much this evening. I was wondering, would you be so kind as to answer a few questions?” Susanne tried to take a deep breath but she choked on the smoke. She coughed a few times. Coughing did not clear her throat; it managed to cause her eyes to tear up. “I am sorry, Mrs. Samson.” She coughed again. “This air does not seem to agree with me.”

  Samson raised a hand and put it on Susanne’s shoulder. “Easy there, sweetie. We do not want your little friend getting nervous while she is holding that cannon.”

  Susanne noticed a large well-muscled man slide out of a corner. He began to move toward them. The hand on her shoulder must be some kind of signal.

  “LillieBeth,” Susanne pointed at the man.

  LillieBeth shrugged. She cocked the hammer back on the Winchester.

  Samson waved the man away. “Ladies, please. We don’t want any trouble here. Your man here? We will toss him out and never let him back. I swear.”

  Susanne said, “Let’s move to where we can talk. I would like to get out of this doorway.”

  Samson said, “Can I move, sweetie? We can go into my special parlor back behind that curtain.”

  Susanne nodded, “That should be fine. I would feel more comfortable if you would have your man join us.”

  “Really? Why?” Samson asked.

  Susanne replied, “I would rather have him where I can keep an eye on him.”

  Samson chuckled. “I kind of like to watch him, too. Can he stand in the doorway to the parlor? I need him to keep an eye on the girls. It is a busy night and I don’t want them over tired before Saturday night. Saturday is our busiest.” She gestured to the parlor curtain and backed away slowly.

  LillieBeth followed Samson, but kept her rifle at the ready. Susanne walked behind. She did not want to look around the room, but curiosity got the better of her. There were half a dozen men sitting around, but only two women. She wondered if the other women were off with customers, clients or whatever they called the men who visited such places.

  She recognized one of the men in passing, “Good evening, Mr. Howerbach.” She almost laughed as the man scuttled out of the place so fast he left his coat behind. It was not really funny for her to see Rail Howerbach. He was a school board member, a married man, a member of the church and one of the men who fired her for being an immoral person. She laughed anyway; Clare was right. It helped to laugh rather than cry.

  She did not imagine poor Mrs. Howerbach knew where Mr. Howerbach spent his Friday nights. She swallowed the desire to tell her. Telling her secret had ruined her life. She had no desire to ruin another woman’s life, even at the expense of poking Mr. Howerbach in his oversized hypocrisy by laying light his sins.

  The two women in the room were not the poor wasted creatures she imagined. Both women were dressing only in undergarments and flimsy robes but neither was concerned about their near nudity. Both looked well fed, their hair combed, clean teeth, and bright eyes. One woman looked bored, giggling at jokes as if she’d heard the punch line a hundred times. The other woman looked as if she was really enjoying herself, teasing the men sitting around her, flashing bits of skin here and there.

  It was strange. How could women be so immune to the horror of their lives? The stench alone would drive a decent woman to run away.

  She stepped through the curtain into Samson’s private parlor. Mrs. Samson’s man followed her, but stopped in the doorway, his large bulk blocking the view to the front room. It was apparent that he planned to keep an eye on both rooms at the same time.

  Susanne said, “Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Mrs. Samson. We apologize for such a rude interruption.”

  Samson regained her laugh. “Goodness, sweetie. This ain’t a church social. Rude is how we make our living in this world.”

  There were two other women in the room. One woman was trying to cover a bruised eye on the other women with pancake makeup.

  Samson said, “Vidalia, you take Maggie up to your room. Use the back stairs, you both have done your shift for today.”

  LillieBeth said, “No. Please stay.” Vidalia stood anyway. “I said no. Sit down.”

  Vidalia plopped back down on the couch.

  Samson said, “You are the one with the guns, sweetie. Suppose you and your skinny friend tell us what we can do for you. If you are looking for your man, we will kick him out.”

  Susanne said, “We are looking for a couple of men.”

  Samson laughed. “I knew it. We try to cater to all kinds of folks here at Samson’s. We even have a couple of darkie girls upstairs for the white men-folk who like such things. Of course, I can’t let them girls in the main parlor with the white girls for proprieties sake. But the men don’t even need to ask, I can spot men who want that. I read people like a book.”

  Susanne did not want to ask when the last time this woman read an actual book. Instead, she said, “We do not want these men to know we are looking for them until we have found them.”

  Mrs. Samson’s large man at the door said, “We don’t want no kind of trouble in this place. Gun or not, it is bad for business.”

  Samson said, “He’s right. You tell us who you are looking for. We will throw them into the street. What you do there is not our problem.”

  Susanne could not contain herself. She turned to Vidalia, “Miss, how can you work here, in this…place of evil desires?”

  Vidalia laughed, “Why not? I had men getting into my panties since I grew breasts. Uncles, cousins, neighbors and even a circuit preacher or two. It is the same thing here, but now I make them pay for it. See? I am in charge now, not them.”

  LillieBeth pointed at Maggie’s swollen black eye. “It does not look like she was in charge.”

  Samson shook her head. “It was that danged Trance Braunawall. He is always rough with the girls. Maggie just mouthed off to him at the wrong time…” Her voice faded away when she saw the look on Susanne and LillieBeth’s faces. “What?”

  Susanne said, “Trance and Dangle Braunawall. Are they here?”

  Samson shook her head. She looked at the man in the doorway.

  He said, “I tossed Trance out a while back when he hit Maggie. Oh, he said he would be back to get me, but I ain’t worried about him.”

  Samson said, “Wasn’t them the two boys that killed that old hermit last weekend? What was his name?”

  Samson’s man shrugged.


  LillieBeth said, “Hoffman. His name was Fletcher Hoffman. He was a friend of mine.”

  Samson said, “I am sorry, sweetie. But we can’t have no revenge killings in here.”

  Susanne said, “This is not all about Mr. Hoffman. Trance and Dangle also murdered Clayton Grissom.”

  Samson looked startled. “Clayton’s dead?”

  Samson’s man shook his head, swiveling it on thick neck muscles, “That is bad news, Boss. Clayton Grissom was a good man, tough and hard, but honest and fair.”

  Samson said, “New sheriff may not be so…um…understanding of my business. You ladies going to kill the Braunawalls?”

  Susanne said, “That is not our intention. Our plan is to take them into custody for the law to deal with. Nothing more.”

  LillieBeth said, “I will kill them I have to.”

  Vidalia said, “You be careful with them Braunawalls. They can be a mean bunch. I hate it when Abe and Ike come into town.”

  Samson said, “You fight one of them, you will have to fight them all.”

  Susanne said, “You threw Trance out. Do you know where he went?”

  Samson shook her head. “Sweetie, we do not get outside these walls very often. Oasis puts up with us, but only because we are out of sight and out of mind.”

  LillieBeth said, “Trance is gone. Where is Dangle?”

  Samson’s man hooked a thumb skyward and said, “Up with Mary Margaret. Both him and his cousin Ike.”

  Samson said, “Dangle has got to go. If Ike complains, you toss him out too. Tell them to come back next week and we throw them one on the house.” She laughed and looked at Susanne and LillieBeth. “You do them like they deserve and that is one free that I will get to keep.”

  Susanne said, “Do you have a back door we can go out without disturbing your customers again?”

  Samson laughed, “Why that is mighty thoughtful of you! Right down that little hallway. You come back anytime, but next time, leave your little friend with the guns at home. Come to think of it, I have a client or two that likes skinny women. You might make a tidy profit from selling something that you get to keep after it is sold.”

  Susanne wanted to tell the woman that she might be back sooner than later. Art might not let her back in his house after her adventures today with his daughter. It might be come here or starve to death. She also wanted to tell Samson she would rather drown herself in the river than live like these women, but she held her tongue. She did not have an excess of bridges left in her life. There was no sense burning this bridge behind her, or on the other hand, giving the bridge a fresh coat of paint.

  The back door led them out to the river side of the building. There was no porch to the back door, but it was under the landing for the second story door over head. A light hung over the back door, bathing the area in a soft glow that only provided enough light to find the door and nothing else. Anyone coming to the back door would remain hidden in the shadows until they actually passed into the building.

  Susanne wondered if men like Howerbach used the back door more often than the front door. Her mother always said that the best way to avoid being embarrassed about something you did was not to do it in the first place.

  Susanne took a deep breath of fresh air. The air was full of moisture coming off the swollen river, but it smelled clean. The river had retreated within its normal banks, but it was still running full. A normal bank for the White River was an odd standard. Oasis had been washed away more than once. No one should ever build here, but the town sat on the best ford for ferry use between the Taneycomo dam and the river’s headwaters.

  Samson’s Boarding House for Young Ladies, was built along the river. It was close enough to the river that it had a boat dock of its own for customers crossing the river. No boatman would attempt the White River tonight.

  The water on the main streets of Oasis especially this close to the river still stood an inch or two deep. Both women stood ankle deep in the river water. Their skirts soaked up muddy river water like sponges. Susanne gestured toward the higher planks of the boat dock.

  They stepped out of the water and out of the pale light from the doorway. The moon was playing tag with a covey of clouds. Splotches of light reflected and disappeared with the irregularity of the upper winds.

  LillieBeth said, “That place was not what I expected. That woman Vidalia acted as if she was where she wanted to be. How is that possible?”

  Susanne said, “I cannot explain it. I wish I could.”

  LillieBeth looked thoughtful, “Maybe she just told herself she liked it so much she began to believe the lie.”

  Susanne nodded. “Lies will do that to you. The bigger it is and the more you tell it, the easier it gets to believe it.” She looked around, “Now what, Miss Hazkit?”

  LillieBeth said, “Let’s wait and see what door Dangle comes out of.”

  Susanne did not have any other plan in mind, so she stood waiting. She wanted to borrow one of LillieBeth’s two guns, but she still was not sure she could pull the trigger when the time came. Even if she had to, she did not want to kill Dangle Braunawall. She did not want LillieBeth to kill Dangle Braunawall either. She wanted to finish what Clayton Grissom started and take him to stand trial in Galena.

  A man stumbled out of the second story door. He was trying to button his pants. The door slammed shut behind him.

  “That ain’t fair, Samson,” he slurred a shout. “I wasn’t done yet.” He staggered a bit, still trying to button his pants.

  Susanne did not recognize the man. She called out, “Hey! Ike.”

  Ike turned, just as he started down the steps. “That’s me. Who-” His foot missed the top step and he went over, tumbling down the staircase.

  Susanne said, “Oops. I guess he fell.” She almost felt like giggling. She stood in the shadows waiting for the drunken man to rise to his feet.

  Ike did not move. He lay face down in the street water.

  Susanne started to rush forward. LillieBeth put a hand out to stop her.

  The younger woman shook her head. “His head is not laying right. I do not think you can help him.”

  Susanne said, “But I called to him. I made him fall.”

  LillieBeth said, “No. The drink made him fall. The night air made him fall. The wet steps made him fall. Not having his pants buttoned made him fall.”

  Susanne nodded, “So the student becomes the teacher.”

  LillieBeth said, “What?”

  Susanne said, “It was something a professor told me at college. Somewhere, sometime, somehow, good students surpass the teacher. It means that I have a lot to learn from you.”

  LillieBeth started to respond, but stopped. She pointed at the corner of the building.

  Dangle Braunawall was stumbling around the building. He shouted, “Ike? Where did you go? Ike?”

  He practically fell over Ike’s body. He slid to the ground, belching loudly. “Passed out again, Cousin Ike? Can’t stand a man who can’t hold his liquor.”

  LillieBeth said, “Susanne. You just stay here. I am going to get Dangle. I will get him tied up and we can hold him over for transport to Galena.”

  Susanne nodded. She wanted to capture both of the Braunawalls. She wanted to help, but she was not sure she could get close to either man without becoming physically ill. Even seeing him from this distance made the acid in her stomach gurgle and roil. She had replayed the rape a hundred times in her head. Seeing Dangle made it all too real. It was one thing to see him chained up in the Grissom’s wagon by the Hazkit’s old cabin. It was an entirely different matter to see him free and unfettered.

  LillieBeth walked around the pale ring of light coming from Samson’s back door. It was almost as if she were stalking prey, circling to get downwind. She reached the side wall of Samson’s brothel and moved slowly along it until she reached the corner.

  LillieBeth spoke loudly enough so Susanne could hear each word. She said, “Dangle, I am here to take you to jail.”
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br />   Dangle laughed. “I ain’t goin’. Trance said I don’t have to go. Uncle Zeke says I don’t have to go.”

  LillieBeth said, “Dangle. I say you have to go. You have to be tried for murder and you have to be hung by the neck until dead. Then we are going to bury your body in the cold ground and let the worms and bugs feed on your rotting corpse.”

  Dangle laughed, “You can’t prove nothin’.”

  LillieBeth said, “I can and I will.”

  Dangle said, “Come out into the light where I can see you.”

  Susanne saw Dangle slide a hand into his pocket and pull out a knife. She wanted to call out to LillieBeth, but she did not want to startle the younger woman.

  LillieBeth moved out and around the building. She was at the edge of the light. Dangle would be able to see her, but she was well out of his reach.

  Dangle glared up her. “Who’re you?”

  LillieBeth said, “Well, now I am offended. You do not remember your old friend LillieBeth Hazkit? I broke my best staff over your head and you cannot even recognize me.”

  Dangle slurred his words and stumbled to his feet. He had his knife in his hand, waving it, threatening LillieBeth and poking holes in nothing more than the night air.

  LillieBeth laughed. It was a cold, hard laugh. “You are pathetic, Daniel Glen Braunawall. Your mother should have smothered you at birth.”

  Dangle muttered curses in her direction and waved his knife. He fell back against the building, but kept his feet under him. He hit the building hard enough it must have been heard from inside.

  The door flew open. Samson’s man stood there looking into the night. He saw Dangle in the ring of light and LillieBeth at the edge of the dark. Her rifle was at the ready, but not pointed at anyone.

  LillieBeth ignored Samson’s man at the door. She looked at Dangle. “Is that the best you have? No wonder an old man could beat you into the ground and a twelve-year-old girl could whip both you and your brother.”