Silver Creek - G.L. Snodgrass Page 0,23
and occasional blood.
Behind the bar, a small man cleaned a glass with a grungy towel. A handlebar mustache and garters on his sleeves gave the appearance of a man who worried about how he looked. A half dozen cowboys. Three of them around a table playing poker. Three more off in the corner staring at him with narrowed eyes.
Two bar girls stood off to the side, leaning against the bar, slowly studying him as a potential customer.
Luke stepped up to the bar, resting his foot on the brass rail, purposely turning his back on the other customers, silently letting them know that he wasn’t worried about them. The fact that the mirror behind the bar gave him a perfect vantage was beside the point.
“Whiskey,” he said to the bartender.
The man plopped down a glass, pulled a cork, and poured a quick glop.
Luke spread his fingers, silently asking for more. Then threw it back and cocked an eyebrow. “You Bill Frost?”
The man nodded as he raised the bottle asking if he wanted another.
Luke pointed at the glass then asked, “You were here the night Tom Johnson sold his ranch to Travers?”
The bartender shot the three cowboys in the corner a quick look.
“Don’t be worrying about the Circle B riders,” Luke said in a voice loud enough to be heard at the far end of the room. “Me and their boss have an agreement, we’re going to hang the man who killed old Tom.”
Frost swallowed, then placed another glass on the bar and poured himself a drink.
“Yeah, I was here,” he said after finishing his drink. “But like I told the sheriff, it was all square. Tom knew what he was doing and he wasn’t drunk.”
“He say why he was selling out?”
“No,” the tender said as he shook his head. “Not where I heard.”
“Wasn’t you curious? I mean, the man’s built that place up over the last eleven years. One of the first in this valley.”
The man scoffed. “I’m a bartender. I learned a long time ago not to get into other people’s business.”
Once again Luke felt that sense of disappointment. He hadn’t expected much, but this constant running into walls was getting frustrating. He was thinking of leaving when one of the bar girls approached and gently rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Buy a girl a drink?” she asked in a sultry voice. Luke stopped from pulling away too quickly as he turned and studied her. A pretty brunette with too much wear on too few years. But she wasn’t here against her will he’d wager.
“Sure,” he said to the bartender. He noticed that Frost used a different bottle for the girl’s drink. Weak tea he’d bet. How many cowboys thought they were buying her whiskey?
“What’s your name?” she asked as she once again gently touched his shoulder. “I’m Elizabeth, but you can call me Scarlet”.”
He laughed inside, there was absolutely no way this woman didn’t know who he was. “Luke Parker.”
She smiled before taking a sip of her drink. He noticed she didn’t wince. Unusual as the rotgut they’d served him had tasted like it’d come from the depths of a borax mine and been mixed with snake venom.
“Were you here the night Tom Johnson sold his ranch?” he asked her. “They say he counted out his money right here on the bar? All silver.”
She frowned then glanced at Frost who had moved to the far end of the bar. Then dropped her hand and nodded.
Luke felt his insides jump with hope. “Any idea why he was selling out? Did he mention something?”
Again, the woman looked around the room to see who was listening. She shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, we talked a bit. I mean, all that money. I thought … But, no, he said it was all for his niece.”
Luke sighed, it was as he suspected. Tom had really sold the ranch. But why now? Because the price was so good?
“Did you see anyone follow him out?”
“He didn’t leave. Got a room upstairs. Alone,” she emphasized. “Said he was feeling poorly and would leave in the morning. But he stayed two days. Both Jenna and I checked on him, you know, just to make sure. But he shooed us away. Telling us to leave him alone.”
Frowning, Luke asked, “You tell the sheriff this?”
She shook her head. “He never asked. … He don’t like talking to us girls. I think he wants to pretend girls like us ain’t around.”
Luke waved the bartender back over. “Two more,” he told him. “From