him. He advanced me forty dollars with the rest to come on him getting that car.”
“He has sent others before you.”
“That I’ve heard.”
“They came at night. They did not wish to face me.”
Archer eyed the over-under. “I can see why they might have done it that way.”
“Trespassing is a crime hereabouts, as it should be in every democratic union that holds property rights as sacred. Thus, I furnished them exactly what they deserved.”
“Okay. I’m one who doesn’t think property is worth a man’s life, but that may just be me.”
The emerald eyes blazed at this comment. “However, you, sir, show up in broad daylight and knock on my door and admit your mission to my face. Explain yourself.”
“Pretty simple. I wanted you to tell me to my face whether you owe that debt or not.”
“Why is that important to you?”
“Well, if you don’t owe it, I have no further business here.”
“And if I do owe the debt?”
Archer said nothing.
Tuttle appraised him, running his gaze from the top of the hat to the heels of the shoes.
“Come on inside, Archer, and let’s talk.”
He moved aside so Archer could enter and led him down a long, tiled hallway to a small, plainly furnished room with wood paneling and a plank floor with a colorful rug laid over it.
“Sit down over there,” he said, motioning with his shotgun to a chair.
Tuttle took the chair opposite, his shotgun muzzle pointed to the floor.
“I borrowed the money from Hank Pittleman. I had need to do so at the time.”
“Do you owe the man five thousand dollars plus interest?”
“Yes. And it’s also true that I gave my 1947 Cadillac as collateral for that loan.”
“Why’d you do that? Seems like you have a good deal of prosperity going on here.”
“Prosperity sometimes does not equal folding money, Archer. And my suppliers do not barter in wishful thinking.”
“So you owe the debt but won’t pay it back?”
“Do you think life is that simple?”
“Life has never struck me as being simple unless you’re determined to make it so.”
“Pittleman has stolen from me. That is why I have not repaid the money.”
“What’s he taken from you?”
“Something far more precious than the sum of five thousand dollars.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“He has taken my daughter.”
That was a new one on Archer, and his face showed it to be so. “How’s that exactly?”
“He has convinced my beautiful daughter that she should no longer be a part of her father’s life. She has fallen in with his evil and sick ways. For all of her life, I saw her sweet face every day. Now, I have not seen her for over a year.”
“How’d he do that?”
“By giving her things, Archer. By turning her head with materialistic offers. By introducing her to the shallow pleasures of his hedonistic lifestyle. And he treats her roughly, or so I have been told.”
“What’s her name?” Archer asked, though he was reasonably confident of the answer.
“Jackie.”
“I’ve met her.”
“Indeed? And she was no doubt in the company of this heathen.”
“Then you won’t pay back the debt because he’s turned your daughter against you?”
“You said before that property is not worth a man’s life. Well, why is a debt, though legally owed, more important than a father’s love for his daughter?”
“And you said you hadn’t seen her for over a year?”
“That is so.”
“Well, why not try talking to her?”
“I can’t, Archer. She refuses to see me.”
“Why?”
“That is my business.”
“When I saw her, she didn’t act like she was being held against her will. And you’re talking to a man who has seen that up close and personal.”
Tuttle shook his head dismissively at this comment. “He has her trapped in a prison of the mind’s making, Archer. Far stronger than steel bars with no predetermined release date, and no judge to whom to appeal.”
Archer rubbed his chin, thinking about his sixty dollars. “Just to be clear, you have the money for the repayment?”
“I have, but not one penny will the man receive so long as my daughter remains absent from her home. I can only imagine the ways in which he has defiled her.”
Archer glanced at the Remington. “I have to say I’m kind of surprised you haven’t taken out your anger on him directly.”
“And with what result, Archer? Do you think me a simpleton?”
“You want to explain that?”
“If I were to shoot that foul being, my freedom would be forfeited, if not my life. And if I did not succeed in killing him, he would sue me for all I have.