The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,53

man, a liquor salesman from up north, grabbed his sample case and his hat and bolted out of the room.

It wasn’t the first time there had been gunshots in the White Dove, but it was the first time she’d heard them since Jim had died. The sound made her sick to her stomach, but she was curious as to what was going on. She slipped out of her room and peered over the railing just as Will the Bartender pulled a shotgun from underneath the bar. She got a brief glimpse of a man lying in a pool of blood and a dozen others in a rip-snorting fight, and ran back inside her room and locked the door. But the moment she’d done it, another round of gunshots went off. At that point, she panicked. She was mad at the world, but not ready to die and the floors in this place were as thin as the walls. She could get shot here as quickly as if she were downstairs. She grabbed a shawl and made a run for the back stairs, exiting onto the street just as she heard running footsteps behind her. Still nervous, she darted into the nearby alley then held her breath as the men ran past. Like her, they’d just wanted out of the way of flying lead. Another round of gunshots sounded and Letty resisted the urge to duck, even though she knew she was far away enough now to be out of danger.

Figuring that work was over for the night and knowing it was too soon to go back inside, she stood for a moment, uncertain of where to go next. She ventured out of the White Dove only rarely, and never at night. But the air was cool and the way she figured it, the farther she got from the saloon, the safer she would be. Pulling her shawl a little closer around her shoulders, she started to walk. At first, it was only to put some distance between her and the gunshots, then it became a journey of a different kind.

It only took three blocks before she ran out of sidewalk. Although she was now walking on dry ground, she kept moving. She passed the barber shop, then the livery stable and finally came to the house where Sophie Hollis lived.

From outside, the house looked like something from a storybook, all clean and pretty with lamp light in the downstairs windows. As she stood, she saw a silhouette pass between the curtains and the light and knew that Sophie must have heard the gunshots, too. When she saw the curtains part and then saw Sophie peering out, she moved back into the shadows. But as she watched, she saw something she hadn’t expected to see. There was fear on the pretty widow’s face.

Letty frowned. She had never considered that someone who had everything would still be afraid. There was a brief moment when she felt a kinship for another woman alone, but the feeling disappeared. The only thing she and Sophie Hollis would ever share was that little weasel of a man she was going to marry.

There was a soft fluttering of wings above her head, then a whippoorwill called—so close that she imagined if she took just one step backward, she would hear its tiny, beating heart.

“Who’s there?”

Letty jerked. While she’d been daydreaming, Sophie Hollis had walked out on her porch, and wonder of wonders, she was carrying a gun. Afraid she’d be shot in the back if she walked away without letting herself be known, she knew that she had to speak up.

“It’s me, Leticia Murphy. I’m just out for a stroll.”

It took Sophie a moment to realize who she was speaking to and then stepped back in shock, as if speaking to a woman such as Letty would soil her own reputation.

“Get out!” Sophie cried, and waved the gun in the air. “Get away from my house this instant or I’ll shoot.”

“Perfect,” Letty drawled. “Then you’ll be no better than the fools down at the White Dove.”

Sophie gasped and then hurried back into the house, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Disgusted for having yet a moment of softness for this woman, Letty started back to the White Dove. Sophie Hollis had her place in this world. Letty Murphy had hers and they were never going to be the same.

She thought of the preacher as she retraced her steps. He would probably be as out of place in