Quicksilver Passion (196 page)

The crowd would not be done out of its fun. As they surged forward, Lon Brett realized too late that a mob was like a wild animal on the loose and looking for prey.

No!” they shouted.
No, we won’t be stopped! Let’s burn the Palace! Death to the red-skinned whore!”

Lon tried to hold them back as they pressed forward with their torches. Someone hit him, knocking him against the hitching post. He dropped his torch and wiped the blood from his mouth, still shouting for the mob to stop long enough for him to go in and get the governess. No one paid any attention as they pushed ahead, setting the tinder-dry wood on fire. He managed to run up on the steps before the door.
No, men! Stop! Listen to me!”

All around him, men were torching the dry wooden building and shouting drunkenly. He ran right up in front of the doors and tried to pull a torch from someone’s hands. The man knocked him down. Then the dozens of people came at him, walking on him as they hurried to set the Palace ablaze.

Lon Brett screamed in pain, trying to fight his way to his feet and escape from the hundreds of boots that were trampling him as the mob pushed forward. Lon shrieked and struggled but no one seemed to hear him. The crowd moved like some big uncontrolled animal and crushed him beneath their feet. The last thing he saw was the fire catching the paint on fire and men running inside to set fire to the tables and velvet drapes.

At the Essex, Silver came awake with a start, wondering what had awakened her. She sat up in bed, looking around.
Cherokee?”

No answer. Where could he be? The room was dark and she was suddenly afraid of the dark without him by her side. What was that noise outside? She went to the window and looked out. In the black night, a faint orange glow lit the sky.
Fire.

The thought sent a shiver of fear through her after what they’d all experienced in the April fire of last year. Almost the whole downtown had burned and been rebuilt out of bricks.

The Palace was the only frame building in the area. Silver jerked on her clothes, grabbed her cloak, and ran for the street.
Waanibe
. She had left Waanibe alone and asleep. Silver fairly flew down the steps and out into the street. For a long moment, she looked, trying to pinpoint the source of the blaze.
The Palace
. It had to be the Palace. In that split second, memories came back to her of the Nugget burning with all her hopes and dreams.

Waanibe
. Surely the Duchess would get the child out. Silver took off at a dead run toward the Palace.

The Duchess had looked up from her table in the far corner as a bartender came running and shouted over the loud piano,
Ma’am, there’s a mob coming down the street!”

So what? It’s the holiday season and Saturday night besides. Some of the boys have had a little too much to drink, that’s all!”

He shook his head.
You better come look. Somehow I think there’s more to it than that.”

She frowned as she went to the window. A crowd marched down the street carrying torches. The orange and yellow flames threw a strange glow over the faces of the mob. A handsome man led the bunch and she tried to remember who he was and where he might be leading the men.

Around her, customers and dancing girls had heard the noise and looked at each other uneasily. A few went to the windows and door for a look.

The piano stopped playing and Gray Dove swore under her breath. With all this excitement, first thing she knew, her customers would be out there in the street, tagging along wherever the crowd was headed and she’d lose money.

Duchess!” the bartender shouted.
I think they’re coming here!”

Oh hell, no! Why would they?”

But the people around her were already pushing through the doors front and back to get outside. She stood transfixed, staring out at the handsome man raising his arm for silence, trying to tell the crowd something, but the crowd was drunk and angry, not listening to him.

Suddenly, she remembered where she had seen the handsome man before—he worked for Big Ed Chase at the Progressive. For a split second, she remembered how she had encouraged a similar mob only two years ago. Then she realized that the torches were moving toward the Palace doors, the mob surging right over the man who had tried to hold them back.
What in the hell was going on?