Tommy sighed, running a hand through his hair, while Deek had maneuvered his way into a chair in the comer, trying to remain inconspicuous. He didn’t like or trust Sam Gates.
“When we finally found the village where she was livin’, she was with a Cherokee man who had took her and her kids in after River Joe was killed by a bear. River Joe is dead, so we don’t have to worry about his comin’ for her or anything like that.”
Emma forced herself to stay awake, to remember everything that was said. She told herself to stick to the story awhile longer. River! Surely he would come soon and take her away from here!
Sam Gates was snickering. He turned to face Tommy. “You are something else, Decker. I should have known better than to put my faith and money into an ignorant mountain jackass!”
Tommy frowned. Those were fighting words for a young man like Tommy Decker, but Sam Gates was one man his instincts told him never to hit or threaten. He stiffened at the insult, struggling against an urge to clobber Sam Gates. His face reddened slightly at the realization that Emma lay there hearing everything. “Why did you call me that, Mr. Gates? I brought her, didn’t I? That was the agreement. I said I could find her, and I did.”
“And you really believe that story about River Joe?”
Tommy blinked. “Sure. He wasn’t around anyplace. I know him, Sam. If he was alive, he would have fought for Emma. He would have showed himself.”
Gates was grinning with a hint of disgust. “I have had this River Joe described to me several times, Tommy.” He reached for a cigar. “Why is it I have trouble picturing a bear getting the better of a man like that? He’s a man of the mountains, good with a knife, a hunter and apparently a fighter. And I don’t believe for one minute that he’s dead.”
Emma’s heart tightened, and Tommy paled with a fear he did not want to admit. “But… they all said he was, Sam. He wasn’t around anywhere… and he—”
Gates waved him off. “What if he really was attacked by a bear?” the man interrupted. “And what if he was only wounded?”
“I… I don’t know what you mean…”
Gates put his hands on his desk and leaned closer. “I mean, Tommy, that you should have done some searching. The Cherokee raised that man, you idiot! He’s like a son to them! That woman lying over there loved the man—more than likely enough to protect him. If he was wounded and too weak to fight, you would have killed him on the spot, right?”
Tommy swallowed again. “Well, sure I would. Wasn’t no sense bringin’ him back here. We done hung Nigger Jim for killin’ Hank.”
Emma’s eyes widened. Jim Jackson! He had been accused of killing Hank! Why? Tommy had made her think everyone was convinced that River had killed the man. He had said if River was alive, he would have been brought back to be hanged; and he had said that even she could be hanged, for running off with River.
“There you are,” Gates was saying. “Maybe the man was only wounded, and this woman and the Cherokee did the only thing they could think of to save his life. They convinced you he was dead. Did you search the cabins?”
Tommy’s temple flexed with indignity. “No, sir.”
Gates sighed deeply. “I thought not.” He quietly lit his cigar while the room hung silent. Emma was amazed at Sam Gates’s perceptive thinking. This was a very clever, quick-thinking man. In moments he had figured out what Tommy had not even considered. She realized then that dealing with Sam Gates would be an entirely different matter from dealing with Tommy Decker. Now Gates was puffing on the cigar. He walked from behind the desk and came toward her. “Let’s have your version, Miss Simms. Is River Joe dead?”
Emma just stared at him, trying to think quickly. This was a man not easily fooled. For some reason he had let poor Jim Jackson be blamed for killing Hank. That left River free of the murder. And at the moment, everyone thought River was dead besides. Would it foil River’s rescue attempts if these three men knew the truth? She had wanted very much to see Tommy’s face when she told him River was alive, yet over the last days she had thought better of telling him. It was best for River if they were not watching for him.
“I asked you a question, Miss Simms,” Gates said, interrupting her thoughts. She sensed a deep, rising anger, and he leaned closer, waving the hot end of his cigar near her face. “I am not a man to be fooled with, I assure you. Nor do I care to be lied to. I have ways of making you tell the truth, believe me. And if you want even the slimmest hope of remaining alive and seeing your babies again, you will tell me the truth, young lady. Is River Joe alive?”
The babies! Her first vow had been to survive, to get back to little Joshua and Rachael. River was surely well and stronger by now. Perhaps he was already on his way. As long as he was on his feet and moving, they could never find River Joe now unless he wanted to be found.
“Yes,” she answered. “River is my husband, and he is alive.” With absolute joy she watched Tommy pale and actually tremble.
“You whorin’ bitch!” he hissed. He went for her, but Sam Gates reached out with an iron arm and knocked him backward, almost making him fall.
“The woman is my property,” he warned. “I don’t want her face messed up until I see how pretty it really is.” He looked down at Emma. “Was River Joe hurt?”
In spite of her weakened condition, she cast a haughty look at Tommy, almost smiling. “Yes,” she answered, more firmly this time. She moved defiant eyes to Sam Gates. “He was badly injured by a bear, just like we said. Only he didn’t die. He was so weak when Tommy came that he could never have defended himself. So we convinced Tommy he was dead. I knew Tommy would kill him if he found River that way.”
“God damn you, Emma Simms,” Tommy growled, almost in tears. “You know what that means?”
This time Emma did smile. “I know what it means. It means you can’t even think about getting a good night’s sleep for the rest of your life, Tommy Decker! And I have a feeling that life will be mighty short! And when you do sleep, it will be a permanent sleep; and the last thing you’ll feel is River Joe’s big blade slicing through your yellow back!”
Tommy stood there shaking, fists clenched, while Sam Gates only grinned at the scene.
“Damn you! Damn you!” Tommy almost squeaked.
“I’m gettin’ the hell out of here,” Deek said then, rising from his chair. “I told you this whole thing was stupid, Tommy! I’ve listened to you long enough! I’m goin’ home to my pa, and if you’re smart, you’ll get out of Knoxville!” He looked at Sam Gates. “I don’t want no money, Mr. Gates. I won’t say nothin’.”
“Won’t you? I don’t want anyone else to know River Joe is alive, Deek. That way—” He looked deliberately at Emma. “When my men kill him, no one will know the difference. You can’t kill a dead man, now, can you?”
Emma would not allow his words to make her cower. “Your men will never find River if he doesn’t want to be found,” she said. “He’ll find you, Mr. Gates, and if you’ve abused me, he’ll get to you without your men ever knowing it.”
She saw momentary hesitation in his eyes, a tiny hint of fear. But this was a man who always got what he wanted and was well protected in his own familiar surroundings. Here was a man who was sure that anything and anyone could be bought for the right price, and a wealthy, well-guarded man could not be harmed.
“I highly doubt that will be possible,” he answered. “You can be sure, Miss Simms, or whatever you call yourself now, that the rumors about River Joe being dead will soon be true. I’ll be sure to bring you his body so you can verify we have killed the right man.” He looked at Deek. “You can go, Deek, but you might as well wait until morning. Take room number three upstairs. It’s empty tonight.”
Deek nodded, casting an accusing look at Tommy. “Thanks to you I ain’t gonna have the best time of sleepin’ myself for a while.”
“River Joe don’t know nothin’ about you.” Tommy turned to Emma. “It’s me he’ll be lookin’ for, thanks to
the bitch here!”
“Did you ever tell Deek how you got your jaw knocked out of place?” Emma asked. Her voice was weak but clear. She looked at Deek. “I did it, with a fence board!” she told him proudly. “Tommy thought he could get under my skirts, but he found out different!”
Sam Gates grinned more, the cigar between his teeth, and Deek stared at a reddening Tommy Decker. “So that’s your beef! You been draggin’ me all over hell lookin’ for Emma just to get even! It wasn’t for the money or anything else. You’re just plain mad at her! Thanks a lot, Decker! Now I might have River Joe on my ass, and all because you got whomped by a goddamned, stupid girl!”
“It wasn’t that way!” Tommy started after him, but Sam Gates stepped between them, glaring at Tommy.
“Go on up to your room, Deek,” he ordered without even looking at the young man.
Deek turned and left gladly, and Sam grasped Tommy by the shirt front, giving him a shove. “You just might be turning out to be more trouble than you’re worth, Decker!” he snarled. “Now I’ll tell you how it is! You haven’t brought me a new girl to decorate my upper rooms with. You’ve brought me a bellyful of trouble! I’ve got a sick girl on my hands with a husband somewhere out there looking for her, and I’m sure he knows just where to look! That means that when this girl is ready to travel, she has to be shipped off someplace else—away from this saloon and this town!”
Emma’s heart raced. How would River find her if she wasn’t here in Knoxville! Sam Gates walked around behind his desk. “I’ll have Joanna clean her up—let her rest a couple of days and fix her up and have a look at her. Then I’ll decide what to do with her. I’ll most likely send her to the mine. My customers here in the city are more selective, with more money to spend. I’ll grant you this woman here is probably quite beautiful when she’s cleaned up, but she’s trouble—trouble I don’t need. And she’s a mother and a fighter. My customers here don’t want to mess with either one.”
He turned dark eyes to Emma again. “But the coal miners… some of them haven’t been with a woman in weeks, maybe months. They don’t give a damn what kind of woman she is. Throw her in a barracks with twenty men, and she’ll stop fighting soon enough. It will cost them a good deal of their weekly pay, but they’ll pay it, and I’ll get back my investment in this whole mess.”
He looked back at Tommy. “When and if this River Joe comes looking for her, she won’t be here; and I and everyone else in this establishment will swear we’ve never seen her. That will be the end of it! You won’t be anywhere around, because you will take her to the coal mine. And if you value your hide and want to see the money I’ve promised you, you will stay there and work in the mine for six months, and make sure Miss Emma Simms does her job right. Then, and only then, will I pay you what you think you’ve got coming!”
Tommy’s eyes widened. “The coal mine! I ain’t workin’ in no coal mine! I did what I promised, Mr. Gates! I found the girl!”
“All you did was find me trouble! And trouble for yourself! And the only way out is for you to get rid of this girl. When River Joe comes for her, I’ll be ready, and my men will take care of him. I’ve never seen him, but I know how he looks and how he dresses. He can’t come after his wife without coming straight to the Tennessee Belle. And the minute he sets foot on this property, he’s a dead man! This place is too well guarded for him to get two feet past the door.”
“He’ll be sly. He still thinks he’s wanted for murder.”
“He thinks all of us figure him to be dead. I let Jim Jackson hang for Hank’s murder so no one would know about me buying that girl—and I thought you would kill this River Joe yourself if you ever found him, and that would be the end of it! But thanks to your bungling, the man is still alive. He isn’t going to give a damn if he’s wanted for murder or anything else. He’ll come for his wife! But she won’t be here, and my men will make sure he never leaves! The choice I’m leaving you is to take this girl to the mine and stay there yourself for six months, or die at the hands of my own men! Because I don’t want to see your face for a good, long time, Decker!”
Tommy blinked in surprise. “You mean… you’d have your men… kill me?”
Gates seemed to calm again. He smiled. “Yes,” he answered flatly. “That is exactly what I mean. At least if you go to the coal mine, this River Joe would never look for you there. You would be safe, from him and from me. When he comes here, my men will see that he never leaves. And I won’t see your face for a long time. If everything works out, and the miners find pleasure in, uh…” He looked over at Emma, a chilling gleam in his dark eyes. “In Miss Simms, and I earn back my investment, you can come back and work here for me again, and I will pay you what I promised. Are we agreed?”
Tommy turned hate-filled eyes to Emma. “Do I get to have a piece of her myself on the way to the mine?”
Gates took the cigar from his mouth. “Do whatever you want with her, as long as you don’t mess up her face. I want her to look her best for the men at the mine. Now get out of my office and leave me alone with the girl.”
Tommy glowered at Emma. “I told you you’d regret what you did,” he sneered. He turned and went through the same door Deek had exited. Emma realized there was a saloon and a crowd of people somewhere beyond the hallway into which the door opened. She could hear muffled voices and piano music, and her stomach churned at the thought of being out there, men looking at her, some deciding to go to bed with her. That was what surely went on out there. But what worse fate lay waiting for her if River didn’t come in time?
Sam Gates walked back toward her, kneeling down beside her again. He nodded. “Yes, I believe Tommy might be right. We wash that golden hair and that dirty face and put a nice, pretty dress on you—” He grinned. “My men at the mine will go crazy when they see you. You’ll be a very busy lady.”
She fought against a scream. “What mine? Where are you sending me?”
“I own a coal mine, Miss Simms.” He rose and sat down on the edge of the sofa, putting a hand on her bottom. She tried to jerk away, but he squeezed hard, his thumb against her hip bone, causing a sharp pain that made her wince. “I told you I have ways of making you do what I want, little girl,” he said. “I’ll give you a couple of days to rest, and one of my girls will clean you up and I’ll have a good look at you. Then I will decide what I will charge the men at the mine to take their pent-up needs out on you. And don’t think you can find help from anyone in the mining town. I own the whole place. It’s a company town and everyone works for me. And now you will also work for me. If you cooperate, it won’t be a bad life. You will be provided with everything you need.”
Emma could not imagine there could be such horrors in the world. The possibility that River might not have healed hit her then. What if he didn’t come after all? Her eyes teared, and a lump rose in her throat.
“Can I… if I… do it… can I go back to my babies?” she asked. Oh, for the feel of River’s protective arms around her! And how wonderful it would be to pick up her children, to cuddle them, kiss their fat little necks, be home again with the Cherokee.
Sam Gates stood up again, grinning with victory. “I’ll make you a promise, Miss Simms. If you cooperate for the six months I’m making Tommy work there, and if I make back the investment I lost to Hank Toole in that flood, plus make a little profit, I’ll let you go free. I’ll even hire a man to help you find your way back to wherever your children are.”
She moved her eyes to meet his dark, victorious look. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
“Oh, I don’t lie, Miss Simms. I always say exactly what I mean.” He bowed slightly. “Besides, after six months with those miners, you won’t be worth much to me anymore anyway. You will have served your purpose. And, of course, your white Indian buck will be dead, so everything will be nicely settled.”
She struggled against tears. “I used to think my stepfather and Tommy Decker were the meanest men I ever knew,
” she said. “Then I thought maybe Hank Toole was. But you’re the meanest, Mr. Gates. You use people like slaves, like dogs. You’re lower than the dung under a pig’s hoof!”
His eyes immediately blazed and he bent down, jerking her close, bending one arm behind her and making her cry out. She was far too weak to fight him. “Call me what you want, Miss Simms,” he hissed. “I am indeed mean. And if you choose to keep insulting me, you will find out just how mean I can be!”
Her breath came in pants of pain. “I know… somebody meaner,” she sneered, refusing to wither and weep. “River Joe! Someday… you’ll find out how mean he can be!”
Again she saw the faint doubt in his eyes, the hint of fear. He let go of her and left the room, returning moments later with a huge, burly man who looked her over with no particular emotion in his eyes.
“Take her up to Joanna’s room, Stu,” he ordered. “Use the back stairs. Have Joanna clean her up and give her something to put her to sleep. She needs a couple of days’ rest.”
“Yes, sir.”
The big man came toward Emma and lifted her with ease. He carried her out into the hallway and up a dark stairway. He laid her on a bed, then left for a moment, returning with a glass of something that looked like warm milk. “Drink this,” he told her. “Sam says to make you go to sleep first.”
“Why?” she asked weakly. “So he can inspect me while his whore cleans me up? So he can do what he wants with me without my protest? Without me reminding him that if he touches me River Joe will come and kill him?”
“Who is River Joe?”
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