I shrugged. “From what I can see, Mr. James, there are plenty of women who would love to go out to this ranch with you. I, for one, have no desire to be so far from town, however uncivilized it might be.”
His response was cut off by another knock on the door as two Chinamen lugged the metal washtub up into the center of the room.
“Hot water comee in moment.” One of them men bowed to me, his pigtail swinging from the back of his silk cap.
I nodded my thanks and dug into my reticule to give him a small bit of change, but he shook his head.
“No pay now, missy. Gentleman pay.” He smiled at me and then bowed to Logan as he disappeared down the hall to fetch the steaming water.
“Thank you.” It was the only thing I could say under the circumstances. “Thank you for paying for my bath and for your kind offer, but I really am too tired to think about anything tonight and my water is hot.” I motioned toward the metal basin which was rapidly being filled with soapy water. “Besides, I do expect my cousin to be coming for me shortly and then I shall not need to worry about a job.”
He shrugged and smiled. “Suit yourself, Miss Elisa.” The tone of his voice as he said my name, drawing the syllables out, made me wince.
Tipping his hat to me again, he said, “I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”
He left the room then.
“I’m gonna see about rustlin’ me up a drink or two,” Dru said as she proceeded to push herself into a frilly, low-cut red silk gown. She had the figure men seemed to crave – large breasts, slender waist, and generous backside. I thought of my own stick figure and knew that I’d never be considered pretty by those standards.
“Surely you don’t wear that out in public?” I stared at her.
“Why not? Does the job. Attracts the customers.” Smiling at me, she inserted a lace edging, then put on lace gloves, and stuck a huge red ostrich feather into her curls. She winked. “Not bad if I do say so myself.” She preened in the mirror as I gingerly stepped into the steaming water.
At the door, she turned to me. “Enjoy your bath, honey.” Her hand went to the knob. “Oh, and don’t wait up for me cuz I might not be in ‘til late. Just make sure you don’t take up all the bed. I’m a real light sleeper.”
I nodded as she started to turn the handle. “Dru, what do you know about my brother? Is it true that he’s wanted by the law? What did he do?”
She shrugged and turned to me. “Don’t rightly know, honey. Some say he killed a man, but others...” She shrugged again. “Can’t say that I see Eddie as having killed anyone. He was a gentle sort of guy. Real pleasure to be with. Not like some of the other louts I know.”
“But what else do you know about him?”
“I know that he talked about you a lot. He looked forward to your letters and to your comin’ out here. If he ain’t here t’meet you, honey, then I’d guess something dreadful’s wrong. Like I said, if he’d a told me you were comin’ now, I’d have been sure to meet the stagecoach.”
I sighed. “I sent a telegram. Someone picked it up, but I don’t know who. All I know is that Logan, the sheriff and some other men met the stage looking to see if my brother might have hidden in it.” My heart hammered. “Do you think he’s dead?”
Her words echoed my worst fears “Could be. He talked up a storm about his findings. Many a man here’d kill for that.” She paused. “Though if he is dead, don’t know why Washburne and the James brothers would still be lookin’ for him. Less they don’t know it.”
Tears came to my eyes as I tried to keep my chin higher than the soapy suds around me. But it wasn’t just the soap making me cry.
“Listen, darlin’. I got meself some work to do. What do you say, we have a nice chat over breakfast tomorrow? Say twelvish? I’ll tell ya everything I know about Eddie Elliot then.”
I didn’t have the strength to correct her. Besides that was the name he seemed to be known by here. I nodded as she hurried out the room, and I heard her footsteps echo in the hall.
Only as I bathed alone in the steaming water did I realize my brother must have suspected foul play from the beginning. Why else would he have changed his name?
I sank into the sudsy water as I attempted to cleanse my thoughts of these fearful thoughts.
It was imperative that I find out about my brother’s supposed crimes and discover what had happened to him. I had nothing more to live for.
Chapter 4
I felt infinitely better after I bathed. I lay in the feathery softness of the bed, thankful that I did indeed have a bed rather than a mat on the floor somewhere. In one of his few letters, Elliot had told me that when he’d first arrived, all he could get was extra straw in the stable! I thought about my brother and wished I knew where he was and what had happened to him. I did not want to think he might be dead. But as tears came to my eyes, I knew there was no other answer.
Then who had picked up the telegram?
Exhausted as I was from the journey, I nevertheless tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Not only did the noise from the saloon below and the street sounds keep me alert, but every time I closed my eyes I would see the brilliant blue stare of Logan James. What did he want from me? What had he done with my brother? With every passing moment, it became more and more obvious to me that he had something to do with my brother’s problems. Perhaps he was even keeping him a prisoner somewhere. I admit that sounded a bit farfetched, but Logan James seemed capable of just about anything. I shivered and tried to forget him, if only for a short while.
I had begun to doze off when the sounds of gunfire jerked me back awake. Cries and shouts assaulted my ears. My heart pounded. Now alert, I swung my legs off the bed and ran to the window. What was happening? Was someone being murdered out there? I could see nothing but the empty street. As I leaned out the window further, the shooting started again along with the whooping cries.
Someone yelled at me. “Get back, you fool! Don’t stick your head out like that!”
Quickly I obeyed as another bullet whizzed past me, hitting the door behind me and going through it. I turned to stare, thinking how close I had just come to death, and yet the cowboys down there were still yelling. I realized now that this was what Elliot had called hurrahing. He’d written to me of the men on the ranch where he worked, of how when they came into town after an especially hard week, and after drinking up whatever wages they didn’t give to the saloon girls, they would ride down the center of the street, drunk and whooping at the top of their lungs.
My feet cold on the bare floor, I hurriedly returned to the bed, shivering. If Elliot wasn’t here, I didn’t really want to stay in such a godforsaken place as this, but with the little money I had left, what choice did I have?
In desperation, I realized Logan James was right. I would have to find work and find the funds if I intended to hunt for my brother’s story, if I wanted to find out what had become of him.
When the noise outside diminished to a dull roar, I attempted to close my eyes again, but with no success.
When I was younger, Mother had given me a nip of her brandy when I was unable to sleep. I wondered if that would help me now. I lit the lamp and studied the flowered wallpaper and the remains of the bullet which had just missed me. To get the brandy would mean I would have to go downstairs again and that was not something I wished to do, but if there was no other way for me to sleep...
I stared again at the bullet-hole. Could the shot have been fired on purpose? No, of course not, I told myself. Who would want to hurt me here in Ruby City? I knew no one. And then I realized that just my presence here – trying to find my brother and trying to find out about his claim which both Theora and Dru had mentioned – was a threat to someone. Could that someone be Logan James?
My stomach tightened. However unladylike it might be, I was going to get that drink.
Reluctantly, I unpacked a clean gown. Putting my hair up into a Psyche knot, I fastened the sleeves of my gingham check dress and, taking my reticu
le with the key, started down the stairs.
Even before I reached the landing, I could smell the thick smoke from the cigars fogging the lower room. I coughed and grasped the rail as I tried to catch my breath. My eyes smarted from the tainted air as I tried to focus on the scene below me. The air had considerably thickened since the time of my entrance. How could anyone breathe in this foul place!
According to my brother’s letters, this hotel/saloon also served as the entertainment hall, the meeting room, the court room, and any other place where a gathering might be needed.
Teary, I blinked several times, realizing that other than the women like Drucilla who were working the men, dancing with them, and encouraging them to buy drinks, there were no other females in the room. A bit intimidated, I took a deep breath.
Smoke engulfed me.
Clinging to the rail, I coughed until my face reddened and I had caught the attention of almost every man in the room.
Embarrassed, I wanted to run back up to the room and hide, but pride would not let me. Besides, I knew that tense as I was, I would not be able to sleep without a drop of something. And so I hurried down the worn wooden steps toward the marble slab bar. Only as I neared the last step did I realize that Drucilla was sitting with Logan. They were deep in conversation and I prayed that I was not the topic.
A cold sensation struck me. I had hoped that Drucilla would be of some help to me. After all, she had seemed so genuine up there, but perhaps I was wrong.
In one of his last letters to me Elliot had said he thought that everyone in this town had been bought by someone. He had never mentioned a name and I hadn’t quite understood what he meant... until just now. It was obvious that Logan intended to bribe or intimidate Drucilla so that she wouldn’t tell me about my brother.
Staring at the couple a moment more, I clenched my fist and vowed that somehow I would learn the truth. Dead or alive, I would free my brother of this horrid suspicion which hung over his head. He was no murderer!
~
Making my way over to the bar was more difficult than I had thought. Several men tried to stop me. One even successfully grabbed my skirt, but a stare from me managed to free it.
I don’t know if my heart pounded more from the effect of the smoke, or from the uneasy sensation I had with all these men surrounding me.
“Well, howdy!” Charlie grinned at me. “Everything just fine, little lady?”
My lips pressed together tightly. I nodded.
“So. What ken I do for you?”
His lopsided grin unnerved me.
“I’d like... a brandy.”
“Ho... ho!” His laughter rang out through the room, causing me to flush. “Little lady, we don’t got no brandy here. Got raw whiskey and that’s about the size of it. Ya can have it straight up, if ye dare, or mix it.” He eyed me. “I’d suggest Brigham Young Whiskey, myself. Make you feel real good.”
I could hear the silence behind me and felt that I had become the new show. Impossible to speak, I only nodded.
“Be two bits then.”
I blanched momentarily. Not even the imported brandy was that expensive in Chicago. I was not a habitual drinker like some women I knew, but Mama had taught me how to politely and occasionally take a sip.
Before I could dig the change out from my reticule, several rough gold coins, looking more like pebbles, were placed on the counter.
Expecting it to be Logan James irritating me again with his presence, I turned abruptly. The man in front of me was clean-shaven and rather handsome in a smooth-looking way.
“Give her the brandy, Charlie.”
“Ah, Morgan,” the drunk bartender snorted.
“Give her the brandy, Charlie,” he repeated. “And give me a Taos Lightin’n.” He turned to me and smiled, tipping his hat. “Morgan James, at your service, ma’am.”
I stared at him, wondering how he could be Logan’s brother. No two men ever looked so dissimilar. True, they both had dark skin from their time outdoors, as did most the men out here, but his hair was lighter than his brother’s, and his smile was warm and genuine, making me like him instantly, whereas his brother had just the opposite effect on me.
“Thank you, sir. Elisa Edwards.” I hesitated a moment before giving him my name, but then realized that if his brother knew it, it wouldn’t be long before this Morgan knew it. Besides, I had nothing to hide. I had done nothing wrong and I was sure my brother hadn’t either.
“Ah, right. You were on the coach today?”
I nodded and then recalled he, too, had been there, but only his brother had stood out in my mind.
A grumbling Charlie brought forth two drinks. The brandy which he put in front of me did not look much like that which I had occasionally consumed in Chicago, but at least it would relax me.
I slowly lifted the glass to my lips. My eyes watered with the strength of the drink, but I forced myself to swallow another sip. I saw Morgan slug his down in one gulp. He sputtered and coughed as his eyes watered and then he smiled at me.
“Good stuff that! Strikes you right on the spot.”
I stared at him a moment. “Yes, I can see.” I sipped my own drink again, relieved to hear the music behind me again as the gamblers went back to their cards.
~
I had nearly finished my drink when suddenly in the center of the room a young man stood abruptly throwing his chair backward with the force of his movement. “I want my money back, James! Now!”
My eyes had become accustomed to the foul smoke as I blinked a moment and realized the man was talking to Logan James.
“You’re a cheat and a liar.”
Logan continued to sit there ‒ one foot arrogantly perched atop the table as he stared at the young man.
“Do you hear me, James?” He said, “I want my money back.”
Logan shrugged, swung his legs down from the table, and stood over the boy as a hush came over the room.
“You’ve drunk a bit much, boy. Best you go home. We’ll talk on it in the morning.” Logan’s melodic baritone drifted across the floor.
“No, we talk now.” His hand touched his gun. I gasped. No one else seemed affected the way I was. I supposed they were used to this sort of violence. Yet there definitely was a hush in the room.
“You cheated. That pot shoulda been mine.”
“Billy, m’boy,” someone else tried to calm him, “yer makin’ a mistake.”
“No. I ain’t. This here fellow cheated me at cards, and I want justice.”
Logan gave a slow smile. “I don’t think you understand what you’re accusin’ me of.”
“That I do, Mister James, and I want that money back.”
“Billy” Drucilla came up to him, trying to draw him away from the table with her feminine wiles. “Billy, honey, why don’t ya just go home and rest it off. Then you can talk with Logan in the morning.”
He glared at her.
“Come on, Billy. That pretty little wife of yours’d be awful upset if anything happened to you.” She began to guide him away from the center of the room.
Reluctantly, he turned away and I heaved a sigh of relief. After what I had just witnessed, I didn’t want to stay in this town any longer than I had to. The gun seemed to be the only law here and whoever was the fastest was the one who ruled. I certainly would have hated to see that young man hurt.
Pressing my lips together, I started again for the stairs. I felt the liquor start to take its effect.
The scene reinforced my distrust of Logan James even more. If he could cheat and steal from a young boy like that, one who, if Drucilla was correct, had a wife waiting for him, then he could do just about anything... even steal my brother’s claim.
Chapter 5
Drucilla returned after escorting the young man to his horse, but I was in no mood to talk to her tonight. All I wanted was to rest my exhausted body. Tomorrow, I thought, I could think about Elliot. I could question the telegraph mistress as well as Drucilla and perhaps I coul
d even find work.
I started up the stairs but had barely reached the first landing when I crashed into someone coming down.
“Excuse me, sir.” I tried to move past him, but he remained in the center of the stairwell. His arm blocked my way.
“Well what d’ya know! Lookee here... got yourself a nice new piece, Jake? The cowhand tilted back his hat as he shouted down to the man playing the piano.
“Sir, please. I’d like to —”
“Ah, the angel speaks. Jake, what d’ya call this new little piece?”
I flushed, when I realized that he was referring to me. I looked around for Drucilla, hoping that she might help me, but she was at the other end of the room and busy, it seemed, with another one of her customers.
“Sir, please. Move your arm so I can pass.”
“Ah, a coy one. I like them types.” He grinned.
“You heard the lady, Bart. Move. Let her pass.”
We both looked in the direction of the voice and found Logan James staring up at the man. He seemed to blanch for just a moment before he regained his composure.
“Lo, Logan.”
“It’s Mr. James to you, Bart. Move your arm.”
Bart looked to me and then to Logan but remained where he was. “Just want a piece of the action.”
“Like you took a piece of the action at the ranch?” Logan sneered. “Got to hand it to you, Bart. I wouldn’t have had the nerve t’come back to Ruby City like you’ve done.”
He shrugged as casually as he could but even with dense smoke I could see him go white again. “I done nuthin’ Logan... er... Mr. James. You knows I was set up by your man.”
“Move your arm and let the lady pass.” Logan’s own arms folded across his massive chest.
“She ain’t no lady. Not if she’s in here.” Bart grinned down at me again from his perch two steps above me. My heart contracted and the acid in my stomach churned.
Logan's Land Page 4