Do Not Forsake Me(112)
“I don’t see anything particularly out of place, Pa,” Lloyd told him. “Same drunks—same lewd women—same smells of urine in the streets.”
“Check the horses’ rear ends for the Bryant brand. If they’re hiring men, they’ll be riding Bryant horses, or maybe Buckley horses. One just says Buck—the other is a large B with a small t. Jeff, you do the same.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Jake.”
“Sorry. I guess I respect you too much to call you Jake.”
“Jesus,” Jake muttered. “You feeling more confident about using that six-gun?” he said louder.
“A little.” Jeff breathed deeply against jangled nerves. They drew their horses up in front of the Land Rush Saloon and tied them. Jeff noticed that Jake shoved his duster behind one gun as he went inside the one-story building. The saloon was small, but several men were inside at the bar, more playing cards at two different tables. Gaudily dressed women hung on some of them. The bartender nodded at Jake. “What’ll it be, Marshal?”
“One shot,” Jake answered, looking around. “Same for Lloyd here and this other young man with me.”
“He don’t even look old enough to drink.”
“Since when does that matter in this sorry excuse for a town?” Jake bantered with the man.
The bartender grinned as he poured the drinks. “What brings you back to Hellhole?”
“Is that what you’re calling it now?”
“Oh, this place has a lot of names. What do you call it, Jake?”
“Hell’s Nest, so we aren’t too far apart on our opinion of the place.”
The bartender laughed. “Somethin’ you’re needin’ besides whiskey? The best whore in town is standing right over there. Her name is Belinda.”
Jake lit a cigarette. “I’m only interested in information. Any new men hanging around here? Any talk of a man named Marty Bryant—or Hash Bryant? Maybe talk of taking down Jake Harkner?”
“Oh, hell, lots of men talk about taking you down, Jake, but I haven’t seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. Just talk. You ought to ask Belinda. She’s reasonably honest.” He called out to her. “Get on over here, Belinda.”
The blond, blue-eyed woman sauntered their way, her breasts nearly spilling out of a bright red dress. She reeked of cheap perfume, and her thickly powdered face was an obvious attempt to hide a bad complexion. “You men in need?” she asked, eyeing Lloyd especially. “It’s not often somebody as good-looking as you comes to a place like this. Lloyd, isn’t it?”
“How would you know?”
“Everybody knows the Harkner men.” She eyed Jake. “You two come to town and seconds later everybody knows it, and they all start shaking in their boots. And now you stand there just filling up this place. Either one of you can fill me up if you want.”
“I just want to know if Marty Bryant has been through here,” Jake told her. He took his cigarette from his lips and drank down the shot of whiskey.
The woman walked closer, moving her arms around Jake. “What’s it worth?”
“How much are you asking?”
“Five bucks…or you in my bed.”
Jake reached into his pocket and handed her five dollars. “No time for the other, Belinda, and you’d better have something good for me.”
She ran her hands over his chest. “Put that money right here,” she told him, pointing to her generous cleavage.
Jeff’s eyes widened when Jake obliged her, shoving the money deep between her breasts. “Make it worth it, Belinda.”
“I thought just getting a feel might be worth five bucks to you.”
“Tell me something I want to hear, or I’ll reach back in there and take my five dollars back.”
“Well now, that might be worth not telling you.”
“Could be, but when I take that money back, my cigarette will be between my fingers when I reach down there. I don’t think you want that now, do you?”
She stiffened. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“Try me. I’m not a patient man, Belinda.”
She pouted and stepped back. “All I know is that a whore named Trudy Griffith up the street at the Dusty Hollow said something to me about a man named Marty bragging about taking down Jake Harkner for killing half his relatives and sending him to prison.”
Jake took another five dollars from his pocket and shoved that between her breasts also. “That’s for your promise to keep your mouth shut about this.”
She shrugged. “Sure. What else can I promise just to feel Jake Harkner’s hands between my breasts?”