HELL HATH NO FURY (A Jess Williams western novel) (25 page)

             
Chase Penrod smiled as he looked at Jess’ left hand and he stuck his left hand out to shake it. “I can see that you’re one who never takes any chances, Mr. Williams.”

             
“No I sure don’t. I once saw a man put his right gun hand out to shake another man’s hand and the other man just drew his pistol and shot him dead, so I ain’t falling for that, even though I don’t figure you meant to do any such thing anyway.”

             
“Like I said earlier, I do respect your skills, Mr. Williams. If you ever need any help, you can call on me for sure. I’d like to consider you a friend if that’s okay with you,” said Penrod.

             
“Okay, friends then,” replied Jess. Penrod tipped his hat and walked down to the livery and retrieved his horse and rode out of town, waving back at Jess, who was still standing in the middle of the street, watching his every move until he was out of town. Jess even watched the trail of dust to make sure it didn’t stop suddenly after he rode behind the last building on the street. Jess looked around the street, which seemed peaceful for a place where someone had just died in a violent confrontation. He watched as the caretaker came for Hunt’s body, which was still lying in the street. Jess walked over to the caretaker, who looked up at him. “You paying for his burial?” the caretaker asked.

             
Jess smiled. “I guess you could say that, but it’s not the kind of burial you’d be giving him. Here’s twenty dollars for your trouble, Mister.” The caretaker was confused, but he took the money and walked away, not wanting to upset the man he had earlier watched shoot a hole into a twenty-dollar gold piece before it hit the dirt. Jess hollered down to the livery owner who had been watching everything from the livery.

             
“Hank, bring me a cheap horse and saddle him up, too,” hollered Jess. Hank nodded and in a few minutes he brought out a horse saddled up. He walked over to Jess and handed him the reins to the horse.

             
“How much do you want for the horse and saddle, Hank?” Jess asked.

             
“Well, twenty dollars will do just fine for this old nag, but why do you want him? You have two of the finest horses I’ve seen in a long time,” replied Hank.

             
“No, it’s not for me. I’m just making good on the promise I made to this one here,” said Jess, as he cut one of the reins off and used it to tie both of Hunt’s feet to one of the stirrups. Then, he smacked the horse hard on his rear and the horse started running out of town, dragging Cliff Hunt’s lifeless body through the dirt. Hank had a strange look on his face, but the only thing he said was—“Well, I guess he deserved no less than that.”

             
“That’s exactly what I was thinking, Hank,” replied Jess, as he watched Hunt’s body bounce off the corner of the last building at the end of the street. Hank winced at that, but Jess simply smiled at it.

             
“That must’ve hurt,” said Hank.

             
“Nope, he didn’t feel a thing, just like when he was alive,” replied Jess, as he headed for the saloon. Annie had come through the swinging doors just in time to see Hunt’s body being dragged down the street and out of town.

             
“Oh my,” she said. “Jess done tied that man to a horse and it’s dragging his body out of town.”

             
“Ain’t no one here going to miss that one,” said the barkeep, Samuel.

             
“That’s a fact,” replied Hal. John nodded in agreement. Jess walked into the saloon where Samuel already poured Jess a glass of good whiskey and had it sitting on the bar right where Jess always stood, in the corner with his back to a wall. He took a long sip of the whiskey and he pulled a wad of bills out of his front pocket and began counting out two piles consisting of one hundred dollars each for both Hal and John. They smiled and gladly accepted the money from him and thanked him repeatedly. Annie finally joined him at the bar. She had that same devious and devilish look she had before and it kind of scared Jess a little. He was beginning to feel like a fish in the river, hooked and not knowing what to do about any of it.

             
“Well, Mr. Williams, I see that you let Mr. Penrod go instead of killing him,” said Annie.

             
“Yeah, he seems like a right nice fellow. I guess he decided he’d rather have me for a friend instead of an enemy and I need all the friends I can get nowadays,” replied Jess.

             
“Well, you certainly have one right here,” replied Annie.

             
“I know, and I certainly appreciate it,” said Jess, stammering and unsure of what to say.

             
“You sure have a lot to learn about women,” said Annie, stepping even closer. Jess couldn’t back up if he wanted to with his back to the wall. Annie gently placed her right index finger on Jess’ nose and touched it. “And I’m going to teach you everything you need to know about women when we take that trip to Abilene, Kansas and stay at the Moorehouse Inn like you promised.”

             
“Uh—okay,” stammered Jess.

             
“You know what else?” asked Annie.

             
“Uh—no—not really.”

             
“When you were talking to Cliff Hunt out in the street, I heard him call me your woman.”

             
“Yeah, what about it?”

             
“Well, that was the third time that you didn’t disagree with someone who called me your woman,” replied Anni, smiling.

             
Jess took another sip of his whiskey and looked at Samuel who was shaking his head. “Now what?” Jess asked Samuel.

             
“She’s right. You do have a lot to learn about the wizardly ways of women,” replied Samuel, chuckling out loud now.

             
Jess simply hung his head a little and looked into his glass of whiskey as if he might find some answers in it, but there were none.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

              Jess made arrangements with Samuel to get a hot bath going for Annie. Jess enlisted Hal nd John to guard the bathhouse while she was taking her bath. When she was done, Jess took a nice hot soak in the tub and it felt wonderful. He rented two rooms above the saloon from Samuel. He had both his and Annie’s extra sets of clothes sent out to be cleaned by Samuel’s wife. Samuel had a huge pot of beef stew brewing in the back; and when Jess was done bathing, he joined Annie in the saloon for a bite to eat. Samuel brought out two huge plates of stew with some bread. Jess took a big mouthful and while the beef was a little tough, it was still very delicious.

             
“This is some mighty good stew, Samuel,” complimented Jess.

             
“I do my best, but I’d like to get me a cook one of these days,” replied Samuel, looking straight at Annie. Annie looked up from her plate.

             
“Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not staying in this town any longer than I have to, Samuel. I mean no disrespect though,” exclaimed Annie.

             
“I understand, I was just hoping is all,” said Samuel. “I have to admit, this town is no place for an unmarried woman, especially one as pretty as you.”

             
Annie Smiled at Samuel. “Why thank you, Samuel. That was a really nice thing you said.”

             
“Well Jess, I suppose you’re leaving first thing in the morning, eh?” asked Samuel.

             
“Yeah, I promised Annie a nice stay at the Moorehouse Inn over in Abilene. They have those really big rooms and a small café that serves some of the most delicious food I ever ate before. Each room has its own bath in it if you can believe such a thing.”

             
“I’ve eaten there once while traveling on business, but I never got to stay in one of the rooms since I couldn’t afford it. I think it’s one of the nicest places I’ve ever been to,” replied Samuel.

             
“Well, Jess and I are going to stay there and we are going to have a real nice and proper supper with white linen tablecloths and real silverware too. I can’t wait to see the rooms,” replied Annie, excitedly.

             
“I hope you two enjoy your stay there,” replied Samuel, as he went back behind the bar to serve some customers who had come in.

             
Jess and Annie rode out at daylight and headed straight for Abilene. It was a two-day ride and they chatted all the while about everything that had happened since fate had brought them together. Annie talked about her house, which was being built back in Black Creek, Kansas and working for Jim and Sara at their second store. Jess could see the life slowly coming back into her eyes now that she had resolved her pain and suffering from the knowledge that both of the men who raped her were now dead; one of them by her own hands. She seemed to be a completely different woman, not arguing about every little thing or giving Jess a hard time about things. It was a very peaceful two-day ride indeed.

             
They arrived in Abilene in the early afternoon and stopped at one of the liveries in town and handed off their horses to the worker there. Jess enlisted a young man who was cleaning up the stalls in the livery to carry their bags over to the Moorehouse Inn and he was happy to do so, especially when Jess threw him a five-dollar gold piece, which he quickly pocketed. Jess and Annie were walking toward the hotel when Sheriff Colt Baxter walked up.

             
“It’s nice to see you come back to visit us again, Mr. Williams. Especially if you ain’t planning on killing anyone while you’re here,” said Sheriff Baxter.

             
“It’s nice to see you too, Sheriff. By the way, this is a really good friend of mine, Annie McCracken,” said Jess, as he introduced Annie to Sheriff Baxter.

             
“It sure is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Miss McCracken. Any friend of Jess’ is certainly a friend of mine.”

             
“The pleasure is all mine, Sheriff,” replied Annie, blushing.

             
“Well, you folks enjoy your stay over at the hotel. I’ve got to make a house call two streets over,” said the sheriff, as he walked away.

             
Annie stopped out in front of the Moorehouse Inn and looked it over real good. “It’s absolutely beautiful, Jess. I’ve never stayed in a place this nice before. Everything looks so clean and proper.”

             
“Wait until you see the rooms they have on the second floor,” replied Jess, as they walked up the steps. Jess walked over to the counter where a little man, who was obviously the clerk of the hotel, greeted him.

             
“What can I do for you, sir?” asked the clerk.

             
“Well, I’d like two of your best suites upstairs and I would like the rooms to be next to each other, replied Jess.”

             
The clerk seemed to pause for a moment. “Are you aware of the rates for such rooms, sir?”

             
“Not really,” replied Jess, as he pulled a huge wad of bills out of his front pocket. “Why don’t you start counting and let me know when I’ve paid for the two rooms for two nights.” Jess counted out a large pile of bills and the clerk waved his hand to let Jess know that he had paid whatever the rate was for the two rooms. Jess counted out fifty dollars extra on top of that.

             
The clerk looked quite surprised at the huge wad of bills Jess had produced. He counted the money out and put it in the cash register and he handed Jess back the extra fifty dollars. “I believe you overpaid for the rooms, sir.”

             
“No I didn’t. The extra fifty dollars is for you. I expect you’ll be taking real good care of us while we are here at this fine establishment,” replied Jess.

             
The clerk blushed and took the money from Jess. “If there is anything you need during your stay, anything at all, you find me and I will take care of it for you, sir,” said the clerk. “Are those your bags that the young man from the livery dropped off over there?” asked the man, pointing at Jess and Annie’s saddlebags that were leaning against a wall.

             
“Yes they are. Can you have them taken up to our rooms?” Jess asked.

             
“Right away,” replied the clerk, as he called over to a man wearing a strange looking uniform. The man took their bags and went up to deliver them to the rooms.

             
Jess was still standing at the counter smiling at the clerk. “Will there be anything else, sir?” the clerk asked.

             
“Actually, yes there is. We would both really appreciate it if you could have enough hot water delivered to our rooms so that we can both take a bath,” replied Jess.

             
“Right away, sir,” replied the clerk. “Will there be anything else sir?”