forgotten. He hadn’t courted her. He hadn’t known she was one of the ladies. In fact, he still didn’t know; he’d been mad because she’d passed herself off as a McMurray. He thought she was just some woman who worked with the horses.
He’d kissed her for no other reason than he wanted to.
Em revised her plan. She would kiss him when he came back. She’d give him a kiss he’d never forget, and then she’d kill him.
CHAPTER 27
LEWT PATERSON WALKED INTO THE ROADHOUSE called Three Forks. The place might have been a ranch headquarters fifty years ago, but this owner had found selling supplies and sin far more profitable than cattle or crops. The original house looked like it had been added on to several times without any consideration given to the architecture.
He’d seen worse, but it had been a long time since he’d played cards in a place like this. Most of the men looked like they hadn’t had a bath in months, and the girls working the room for drinks and opportunities didn’t look much better. The floor was filthy and needed a good fight to mop it up. From the looks of it, men had given up even trying to hit the spittoon. The place reminded him of a saloon in Fort Worth that was so bad they didn’t clean up from a gunfight until the body got to smelling worse than the floor.
The gambling hall at Three Forks was big, several tables in play and a roulette wheel just inside the door. There was no stage or music. Men who came here came to drink and gamble. Along the back wall was a long bar and a wide door that opened into what looked like a café. Thirty or forty men were in the place, and most, including the two guards at the door, looked like they were long past drunk.
There were no social drinkers here, and he guessed the card games were not played for sport either.
Lewt turned slowly, noticing everything as he stretched and complained to the bartender about how it had taken him forever to ride in from Texas.
He counted six exits, but except for the double doors at the front, all looked like they went farther into the building. One was probably the women’s quarters, and from the number of men walking in and out, the girls were doing a good business tonight. Men usually paid for an hour but needed only five or ten minutes. He heard a girl laugh once and say she worked a forty-hour day one night.
Another door, up a few steps of stairs, was probably where the rooms were rented for the night. A sign over the opening said, BED—ONE DOLLAR, BATH—TWO BITS, SEE BARTENDER. Two small doors were near the back of the bar. One might be the direction to the outhouse; another probably served as a pass-through to a kitchen.
Lewt almost missed a catwalk near the top of the high ceiling. It ran half the way around the saloon, a plain balcony fashioned to blend into the ceiling beams. One old woman, dressed in rags, stood watching like hell’s guardian angel. Lewt had a feeling she missed little, from men cheating to bartenders pocketing cash. She reminded him of a buzzard on a perch.
“First drink’s on the house,” the bartender said in English as he shoved a whiskey in Lewt’s direction. “I’m guessing you came to gamble.”
“That’s right.” Lewt took a swallow of the terrible whiskey. “I heard there’s money to be made here for an honest man who likes to bet.”
“Keep it honest and you’ll stay alive. Most of this crowd wouldn’t hesitate to fire first and ask questions later.” The bartender pointed with his head. “Slip that man in the chair by the door a few dollars and he’ll sit you at a good table. There’s no charge to play other than the money you lose, but we collect for the food and drinks when we deliver. That way we don’t have anyone go broke owing a tab.”
“Food any good?” Lewt asked, to pass the time. He wanted to get a good feel of the place before he sat down at a table. “I don’t see any samples sitting out on the bar.”
“Best we’ve had in years. Made to order until six, then you take what’s left in the oven. What would make you happy?”
“What you got?”
“Thick steaks. We got our Texas beef cheap. Any dessert they bring you, don’t turn it down.