Song of the Road (32 page)

“The man had a big fist.”

“Why’re ya fussin’ over him for, darlin’? I got a big lump on my head the size of a teacup and it hurts somethin’ awful.” Deke set the coffeepot on the stove and came to stand close behind Trudy.

“I’d be worried if the lump was anywhere but on your hard head, buster.”

“Now, now, darlin’. I understand what yo’re meanin’, but ya ort to watch what yo’re sayin’ in front of the boy.”

“You know what I mean, you . . . you slimy toad,” she hissed. “You’ve got a nasty mind.”

“Is there any other kind?” he whispered back.

When Trudy heard a noise coming from Dolly’s room, she quickly surrendered the job of turning the hotcakes to Deke and hurried from the room, her face hot and red.

“Do you want somethin’, Mrs. Finley?” When she leaned over the bed, Trudy could feel the heat from the fevered body and smell the repulsive odor of urine.

“Where’s Miss Goody-goody?”

“Mary Lee’s sleepin’. She was here with ya most of the night. Would you like a drink of water?”

“Water?” she croaked. “I want whis . . . key, ya ugly little shit!”

“I’ll get what there is left. You be quiet now until I get back.” Trudy went quickly to the kitchen and grabbed up the nearly empty whiskey bottle, emptied what was left into a glass and added a little water. “I hope she doesn’t notice the difference. This is the only thing that keeps her quiet,” she said to the men seated at the table.

“I’ll get more today.” Jake was eating out of habit, not because he was hungry.

Trudy held Dolly’s head and shoulders while she drank from the glass, then eased her back down onto the pillow.

“Is there anything else I can do for you? I’ll rub your back, if you want me to.”

Dolly looked at her for a long moment. Her eyes seemed to glaze over before she closed them wearily. Trudy had turned away when she heard her mutter.

“Ya . . . ain’t so ugly. Guess I ain’t . . . looked at ya real good.”

She waited for several minutes before she went back to the kitchen. Three pairs of eyes were on her when she came through the doorway.

“She didn’t notice that it was watered down. Maybe she’ll sleep awhile. Mama says someone can drink so much of that rotgut whiskey that it’ll fry their brains. I’m surprised she’s not got jake leg. It’s why she talks nasty. Poor thing. She’s just skin and bones.”

Jake got up and refilled the coffee cups. “I’m going to be gone for a little while this morning,” he said to Trudy. “Eli and Deke will be here.”

“Now, don’t ya go off and get yourself in trouble. That would go hard on Mary Lee. She’s facin’ enough as it is without havin’ to worry about you. Maybe you ought to go along and keep an eye on him,” she said to Deke.

“No.” Jake spoke before Deke could answer. “He and Eli will keep an eye out here. Eli is good, but he can’t be two places at one time. I’ll not be gone but an hour or so.”

“You’re not workin’ today?”

“When I get back, Deke will go out and tell Mr. Quitman that we’ll not be out at the ranch until this thing is cleared up here.”

“Will he fire you?”

“No. He wants me to train his horses and he wants Deke to build him a motorcycle. Besides, he’s a decent sort and will understand.”

As badly as he wanted to see Mary Lee and know that she was all right, he gulped his coffee and picked up his hat.

“Are ya takin’ the truck?” Deke asked.

“No, I’ll walk. No use advertising that I’m in town. Do you need anything from the store, Trudy?”

“Eli will take the wagon and go up this afternoon. Mary Lee will make out a list.”

Jake dug into his pocket and placed two silver dollars on the table. “Put this in the grocery pot.”

“And not say a word about it, huh?”

“You got it right.”

Jake walked across the field toward town. He’d had a sleepless night. Not only was the pallet on the front porch hard and uncomfortable, but his mind was awash with thoughts of the sudden change in Mary Lee’s attitude toward him. During supper she had smiled at him and once squeezed his hand. Something had happened while he and Deke were at his cabin getting the bedrolls and the radio.

He had first noticed it when she came out onto the porch and sat on the end of the bench beside Trudy and Deke. She would have ordinarily sat farther away to give them some privacy. Although it was dark, she kept her head turned away from him. And when the songs about the convicts were sung, she had gone into the house.

Was she ashamed that she had let a convict hold her and kiss her? Was she ashamed that she was forced to accept his help because there was no one else she could depend on?

Jake’s long legs ate up the distance to town quickly. He took the stairs that separated the dry-goods store from the billiard parlor two at a time. At the top he hesitated, not sure whether he should knock or walk in. Deciding, he opened the door and walked into the office.

Sidney Morales was sitting behind his desk. He’d not had a secretary for several years. At this time in his life he didn’t want to do enough work to require one.

“Howdy.” The lawyer leaned back in his chair.

“Morning,” Jake said. “Got a few minute? I’ll pay for your time.”

Sidney waved him to a chair beside the desk. “How ya doin’, Jake? See you’re sportin’ a shiner.”

“Yeah. I ran into a big fist over at Paco’s.”

“I heard Pete Hanna’ll not be using his tallywacker for a while. He’s been needing someone to give him a little of what he’s been dishin’ out ever since he came to town.”

“When you go up against a bully as big and mean as he is, you got to use every trick you know.”

“How are things at the motor court?”

“It’s closed for now. Trudy Bender is staying with Mrs. Clawson. Mrs. Finley is bad-off. The doctor said her heart’s giving out. She could go anytime. Mr. Morales, I’ve a favor to ask . . . sort of.”

While he was talking, he lifted his shirt and took a money belt from around his waist. Jake counted out three stacks of one hundred dollars, then placed a single fifty-dollar bill beside them.

“Beside the fifty-dollar bill in my wallet, my truck and six horses out at Quitman’s, this is the sum of everything I have. I want Mrs. Clawson to have it to pay off that bloodsucker at the bank, but I don’t know how to give it to her. She’s got pride she hasn’t used yet.”

“Why’re ya doing this, Jake? Seems to me that if you have feelings for her, you could tell her and she would accept your help.”

“She’ll not have feelings for a jailbird. I’d not have my stink rubbing off on her if she did. Scott Finley did me a favor once. I’m paying his daughter back.”

“Don’t give me that line of bull about a favor to Scott. But why you’re doing it is your business.”

“She mustn’t know where the money came from.”

“Now, that’ll be a problem. What the hell will I tell her? That I found it under a rock?”

“I have one idea. You can kick it around and see what you think. Her mother is dying. The doctor seems to think it could be anytime. He told Mary Lee to give her whiskey when she asks for it. What if Scott had taken out an insurance policy on her a long time ago and paid it up? When she passes, couldn’t you claim the money is from the policy?”

Mr. Morales leaned back and eyed Jake. “That might work. I’ll have to have a reason for giving her cash.”

Jake got to his feet. “You’re the lawyer. You figure it out. Another thing. Work around Rosen at the bank. He’s not to know where she got the money. The greedy old fool is dying to get his hands on the motor court.”

“Hold on; I’ll give you a receipt for the money. Her bank loan is three hundred, but I suppose there will be an interest charge.”

“It won’t be over fifty dollars. It’ll give her a little extra. As soon as I get a paycheck from Quitman, I’ll be in and pay you for your trouble.”

“You’ll not owe me anything. I’ll get my pay when I see the look on the girl’s face when I give her the money, and again when she pays off Rosen at the bank. How’s she doin’? Isn’t her baby due in a little while?”

“She’s holding up. Her baby is due the last of September.” Jake grinned. “You should have seen her tie into Frank Pierce with that plate.”

“The rumor is that someone came in off the highway and killed him.”

“That’s too pat for me. I think it was someone who knew him, maybe someone who was afraid that he’d spill the beans on him. But I’m hoping that it was someone who came in off the highway and has gone on down the road by now.”

Mr. Morales handed Jake a receipt for the money. “Keep in touch and let me know what’s goin’ on.”

“When Mrs. Finley passes, you’ll probably know about it.”

“Good-bye, Jake.”

“Thanks.”

Jake felt a little easier in his mind as he walked down the street toward the Red Pepper Corral. Now, regardless of what happened to him, Mary Lee would be able to make a living for herself and her child at the motor court.

It worried him some that he’d not have the money he needed to buy a small herd, but that was a mild concern when compared to the ease it would give Mary Lee to know that she didn’t have the mortgage hanging over her head. If he got too down-and-out, he’d sell a couple of his horses to Quitman.

The door of the Red Pepper Corral was closed. Jake looked through the glass door to see Paco mopping the floor. He rapped sharply on the window. At first Paco ignored the knock, but when Jake did it again, he turned with a scowl on his face. Seeing who it was, he put his mop aside and unlocked the door.

“Hey,
amigo.
Come in.”

“Morning. I’m surprised to see the owner of this lofty establishment mopping the floor.”

“I clean toilets too. How’s the eye?”

“It hurts some, but probably not as much as Pete’s nuts.”

“Ohhh . . . ,” Paco groaned. “It hurts to even think of it.”

“If I learned anything in prison, it was how to fight dirty.”

“I hear that Pete and that sneaky weasel he runs with spent the night in the livery. Pete couldn’t fork a horse to get back to the Circle C.”

“That’s a shame. Has Lon been in?”

“Not for a day or two. Do you think he’d want to get rid of Frank?”

“Not unless he thought Frank had turned on him and was spilling his guts.”

“What’s Pleggenkuhle saying?”

“Not much. He would have liked for it to have been me or Deke. It would have made his job easier.”

“He’s counted you out?”

“Not yet. I came by to get a bottle of whiskey.”

“Jesus Christ. When did you start drinking whiskey?” “It’s not for me. Mrs. Finley is bad-off. Doc doesn’t think she’ll last long and said to give it to her when she asks for it.”

“Old Dolly is dyin’?”

“Yeah. She’s been slidin’ downhill for a month or more, and in the last few days she’s taken to her bed. She doesn’t eat. All she wants is whiskey. I had half a bottle I kept for snakebites. She drank that last night.”

“Snakebites, my rear end.”

“All right. I stole it off a man at the bridge site. I didn’t want him drinking while I was attached to him on that high girder.”

“I’ve got tequila.” Paco went into the back room and came out with two bottles. He rolled them in newspaper and tied the bundle with twine. Jake placed two silver dollars on the counter.

“Is this enough?”

Paco drew one toward him. “This is enough.”

“Thanks.” Jake pocketed the other dollar. “What’s the talk around town?”

“You know how it goes,
amigo.
There’s not been this much excitement in town since two teamsters with bullwhips fought to the death out in the middle of Main Street.”

“I’ve not heard about that. When was it?”

“Back in 1889.”

“No wonder I’ve not heard about it.” Jake gave his friend a disgusted look.

“Yi, yi, yi . . .”
Paco’s grin showed his gold tooth prominently. “Yancy had some folks believing that you had killed Frank. Some thought Mrs. Clawson had done it, and others thought the little fellow from Oklahoma was the one. Now, I think they’ve settled on a tramp comin’ off the highway or . . . you.”

“Between you and me, I think it was someone who knew Frank or he’d have put up a fight. Sheriff said he was lying on the bed.”

“Someone should be keepin’ an eye on that girl. Sure as shootin’, somebody tried to send her headfirst down that stairway coming down from Doc’s.”

“She won’t be by herself. Trudy Bender will be staying with her, and Eli, the boy who has been helping out, will be there. He’d tackle a herd of wildcats for her.”

“But he’s still a boy. I’ve seen him pulling a wagon going to the store. Where’d he come from?”

“He wandered in. He was at the Circle C doing this and that for his grub until Lon ran him off. Mary Lee has taken him under her wing. He’s a good boy and smart as a whip. You only have to tell him one time how to do something.”

“How are you comin’ along at Quitman’s?”

“He seems to think I’m doing a good job. He’s getting a hell of a price for the quarter horses I’ve trained, and he’s got a few more that look promising.”