Texas Lucky (4 page)

Tess felt the sudden need to confide, “I never really wanted to marry Mr. Beckwith. It was something my father arranged before he died.”

“Well, you ain’t got to worry about it now, but I can tell you this—Saul woulda made you a good husband. He was a kind man and a hard worker. He was makin’ lots of money on his prospectin’, too, and he tol’ me at breakfast the day he got killed how he was plannin’ on buildin’ you a fine house, right here in town, so’s you and the younguns he wanted so bad would have someplace decent to stay while he was gone. You’d have lived good, for sure.

“Say!” Lulie snapped her fingers and sat up straight. “Maybe you ain’t bad off, after all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen to this.” Lulie scooted the rocker closer to Tess. “I know for a fact Saul left ore at the assay office the day before he got shot, and he told me he figured it was worth around ten thousand dollars. It has to still be there.”

“And what does that have to do with me? We weren’t married yet. I don’t have any claim on it.”

Lulie slapped her knee and cried, “Well, if you don’t, who does? Hell, honey. Saul told everybody in town he was fixin’ to get married. And since he didn’t have no family, there won’t be nobody comin’ around to claim it.

“Besides…” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “I’ve always thought Jake Harville, the man who runs the assay office, was a crook, anyway. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Saul’s death wasn’t really an accident.”

Tess gasped. “You mean you think he was shot on purpose?”

“Well, the story was he got caught in cross fire. Booty Harville, Jake’s nephew, claimed a drunk drifter drew on him in the street, and when he fired, Saul was in the way. But nobody ever saw who Booty was supposed to be shootin’ at. If you ask me, I think it happened so’s Jake could keep the ore Saul left.”

Suddenly Tess was not hungry anymore. “Did you tell Worley Branson what you suspect?”

Lulie nearly choked with laughter before exclaiming, “Fat lot of good that would do. Chances are Worley was in on it, too. Him and Jake are tighter’n ticks on a hound’s ear. Hell, no, I ain’t said nothin’ to him or nobody else, for that matter. But if I was you, I’d get myself over to that assay office and claim that silver.”

“They’d never give it to me.”

“Don’t hurt to try. You got more right to it than anybody else. Tell ’em if they don’t hand it over, you’re going to see the judge when he gets here and let him decide, ’cause you got some questions about Saul’s death, anyway. That might get ’em to thinkin’ and decide to give it up and be done with it.”

Tess was still skeptical. “I don’t know…”

“What have you got to lose?”

“Well, nothing, I suppose, but it would take a lot of nerve for me to do it. I mean, I’ve never been in this kind of situation before, confronting people and—”

Lulie was suddenly harsh. “And you better goddamn well get used to it, girlie, if you’re plannin’ on stayin’ in these parts. You’re gonna have to learn to kick balls not only to keep from gettin’ raped but to keep from bein’ cheated as well.

“You sleep on it.” Lulie got up and went to a cabinet. She took out a nightshirt and tossed it to Tess. “And in the morning I’ll go over to that whorehouse they call a hotel and get your trunk. Once you get yourself fixed up, you can either go claim what’s yours or get ready to head back East.

“Where you
belong
.” she said with finality, walking out and closing the door behind her.

Tess spent a restless night and wondered if she would ever know enough peace to sleep soundly again.

What Lulie said made sense.

Saul would have wanted her to have the money. He would not have wanted to leave her stranded and destitute.

Still, it made her tremble to think about making a claim.

But, again, she supposed Lulie was right in pointing out that if she planned to stay, she had to learn how to stick up for herself.

The next morning Lulie walked into the room and dropped a bundle on the floor. “This is what was in Saul’s room. I’m going to get your trunk, so’s you can get dressed, then I’ll make breakfast.”

Tess protested, “But you can’t carry that big trunk by yourself.”

Lulie grinned. “Don’t plan to. I’m gonna snatch Lester’s worthless ass outta bed and let him do it.”

Tess had no doubt she would do just that.

After Lulie left, Tess opened the bundle. It gave her a funny feeling to be going through the belongings of a complete stranger who was to have been her husband.

There was a worn suit, the fabric shiny. Tess thought it was probably what he had worn when he got married the first time and was planning to use again.

She held it up for scrutiny and decided Lulie was right. He had been a big man…

…
as big as Curt Hammond
.

She gave herself a shake from head to toe.

Stop thinking about him.

She would never see him again. Anyway she had other things to worry about—like trying to convince a man who might be a crook, maybe even a murderer, that she was entitled to ten thousand dollars in silver ore left by a man she was to have married.

Breakfast was delicious. Flapjacks, fried side meat, and the best coffee Tess had ever tasted.

She found she enjoyed the others at the table—three men passing through town but reluctant to leave Lulie’s good cooking…despite her sometimes foul mouth.

“You could have your choice of any of ’em,” Lulie said as she and Tess washed dishes afterward. “They each pulled me to the side to ask when I thought you’d be ready to start bein’ courted.”

They were all old enough to be her father. “Maybe I’ll be like you, Lulie,” she said. “I’ll find a way to take care of myself and not depend on a man to do it.”

“Then you’d better get your ass over to that assay office and claim Saul’s money. Otherwise, the only way you’ll ever support yourself is workin’ in Lester’s whorehouse, and then you’d have a tough time of it there, ’cause you’re so skinny. Men out here like their women plump as a peach, and you’re hardly more’n a
pit
.”

Tess had never thought of herself as being too thin, because she had curves where she was supposed to. Her father had said she was a dainty sort, but more and more she was realizing that dainty was not a good thing to be in the West.

“You look real nice,” Lulie told her when she was dressed in a pink dress and ribboned bonnet. “Like a dolly with all them golden curls and big, blue eyes. Just be careful. Jake’s always had an eye for the ladies.

“Remember,” Lulie said as Tess went out the door, “You gotta look out for yourself in this world. Ain’t nobody gonna do it for you. So you just hold your head up and march over there and get what’s yours.”

Tess repeated Lulie’s words over and over as she walked to the assay office.

She paused outside to take a deep breath of air, then opened the door and walked in.

The room was empty. She went to the counter and peered about to see a cluttered desk, some chairs, and a coat rack with a man’s hat hanging from a hook.

Looking at the closed door to the rear, she called softly, “Hello, is anyone here?”

The door opened. A man walked out, and, as he seared her with his eyes, Tess knew how a deer must feel before a hunter shot it. She got right to the point. “Are you Jake Harville?”

He had a cigar in his mouth and rolled it from one side to the other and smirked. “That I am, and just who might you be, pretty lady?”

She lifted her chin. “My name is Miss Tess Partridge. I’m here to claim the silver ore that my fiancé, Mr. Saul Beckwith, deposited with you the day before he was killed.”

Jake Harville let out a loud guffaw, causing ashes to drop on his silk vest. He quickly flicked them away and approached the counter. “Now, I don’t believe I heard you right.”

Tess just hoped he couldn’t hear how her heart was pounding. “I said I am here to claim my fiancé’s silver, because I’m the only one who has a right to it.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“The money”—she swallowed nervously—“I mean, the silver, was for our marriage.”

He smiled. “But you didn’t
get
married—not unless old Saul climbed up out of that grave Worley Branson planted him in, so, to repeat myself, just what makes you think you got a right to it?”

Behind her, the door opened, and Tess was dismayed to see three men walk in. She did not, for heaven’s sake, need anyone witnessing what was turning out to be a very tense situation.

She turned back to Jake. “And I repeat to you, sir, that I am the only one with a legal claim.”

“Now, this is just about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.” He looked at the men, who had moved to the counter to see what was going on. “Want to hear something funny, boys? This here little lady says she was supposed to be Saul Beckwith’s bride, and even though he couldn’t marry her ’cause he got himself killed, she wants his silver ore.”

The men broke into laughter, and Tess gave them a withering glance before furiously demanding of Jake, “Well, if I don’t have a right to it, who does? You? Because you happen to run this office? I think not, sir, and if you don’t honor my claim, which I feel is right and just, then you leave me no choice but to take it up with the circuit judge when he comes to town.”

The men laughed all the louder, and Jake found it so hilarious he could only pound his hand up and down on the counter repeatedly, unable to speak because he was so tickled.

Tess, humiliated, began to back away. “You…you’re making a terrible mistake,” she stammered. “The judge will see that I’m right. You certainly have no claim on it, and—”

At that, Jake stopped laughing, and instead of pounding his hand, he slammed his fist instead, hard enough to startle the others and cause them to step back. “Anything left here is mine, dammit. That’s how it is. Now you get your little hiney out of here before I really get mad.”

Tess ran out of the office, and she did not stop running until she reached Lulie’s boardinghouse, imagining all the while that she could still hear the men laughing.

Lulie, rolling pie crust on the kitchen table, took one look at Tess and knew what had happened. “Wait here,” she said curtly, and walked out of the room.

When she returned a few moments later, Tess was so shocked to see the gun in her hand that she actually swayed.

“Don’t you faint on me again.” Lulie rushed to grab her by her arm and push her into the nearest chair. “Damn, I wish you’d get some grit and stop lookin’ like churned butter every time you get upset.”

“The…the gun,” Tess whispered, eyes wide and fearful.

“It’s for you.” Lulie stuck it in Tess’s trembling hands.

“For me? But what—”

Lulie clamped a beefy hand on her shoulder. “Honey, like I told you before, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to look out for yourself in this world. If you got a better idea of how to get out of the mess you’re in besides pointin’ a gun in Jake Harville’s face and tellin’ him if he don’t hand over what’s rightfully yours, you’re gonna blow his head off, I’d like to hear it. Besides, you ain’t gonna have to shoot him, because he’ll shit in his britches thinkin’ you will and hand it over.

“Or,” she concluded with a grim nod, “go tell Lester you’re ready to go to work for him.”

Tess was not about to do that.

Neither was she about to forget her dream of a new life for both herself and Perry.

Therefore, there was only one thing to do.

She picked up the gun with shaking fingers “Well…” She sighed with resolve. “I guess you’d better show me how to use this thing.”

Chapter Four

“Do you remember everything I told you?”

Tess nodded.

“And you think you can do it?”

“If my arms don’t fall off.” The Colt .45 Lulie had put in her purse felt like a big rock.

Lulie snorted. “It ain’t that heavy.”

“I’d never be able to pull the trigger with one hand.” In the day since Tess had been laughed out of the assay office, Lulie had gone over and over again what she was to do. She had even let Tess dry-fire the gun, which meant pulling the trigger with no bullets in the chamber, and it had been very difficult.

“You ain’t gonna have to pull it,” Lulie said. “You ain’t gonna have to do a dad-dim thing ’cept point it at him. I told you—he’ll be so scared he’ll give you anything you want.

“He’ll have cash in his safe,” Lulie went on. “Don’t let him trick you by sayin’ you’ll have to take the silver. You’ll never get it out of there, even with him haulin’ it to the wagon, before somebody comes along. Just get the money, make Jake get in the safe, lock him in, and run.”

Tess felt her stomach roll nervously. Never in her wildest imagination had she dreamed she would one day commit a robbery.

Lulie sensed what she was thinking and snapped, “It ain’t no crime, dammit. I told you over and over—Saul would’ve wanted you to have it. And besides, if you hadn’t shown up, do you think it’s right for that weasel Jake to keep it?”

Tess reasoned, “Maybe the court would’ve given it to charity.”