“I ain’t got my money’s worth yet,” the man told her.
“You have as far as I’m concerned.” Gretta reached under a handkerchief on her dressing table, where she always kept a pistol hidden. When her customer came at her again, she quickly grabbed the gun and held it straight out. “Leave!” she ordered.
The man froze in place. “You wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t I? I have an agreement with someone very important in this town, mister. I can shoot anyone who abuses me, and I’ll get away with it, so if I were you, I’d get out of here!”
“I don’t believe you.”
The bite on her breast made Gretta wince again. She didn’t doubt she’d have quite a bruise there by morning, which would hurt her business. “Believe it,” she answered, her voice still raspy. She cocked the pistol. “And I want your name. I usually don’t bother with names, because it’s easier not knowing, but I intend to warn the other prostitutes around Denver about you. Once I tell them about that odd scar on your chin, you’ll be recognized by all of them, and you won’t be sticking that thing into any of them!”
He backed away more. Gretta wanted to smile at the way his penis began to wilt. “You’re real lucky, lady. I spent three years in prison for rape!”
“And that’s exactly what you’ve just done to me!”
“Whores can’t be raped!”
“Can’t they?” Gretta had a strong urge to pull the trigger. “What’s your name?” she demanded again.
“Mike Holt.” He raised his chin, bragging the name proudly. “Maybe you’ve heard it in the news. I’m one of the few men who’ve gone up against Jake Harkner and lived to tell about it.”
Gretta kept the gun pointed straight at him. “Seems I read something about that in the newspaper not long ago.”
Mike grinned. “Sure you did. I’m practically as famous as Harkner is.”
“For all the wrong reasons. The way I heard it, the woman you raped was his daughter, a fine woman and the wife of a physician.”
“You heard? Or you know?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Harkner has a reputation for bein’ favorable toward women like you. Maybe he’s paid you a visit, and you got all the details straight from him.”
“I’ve never met the man,” Gretta answered. She kept the gun on Mike through the conversation, suspecting he’d try having at her all over again if she didn’t. She grinned slyly, wanting to mock Holt. “I did see Harkner in town last summer, and from what I saw, I’d pay him for a roll in the hay. God knows he’d be better at it than you are with that little pecker of yours.”
Mike glowered at her. “You bitch!”
Gretta laughed, enjoying his embarrassment. “Get dressed and get out of here!”
Mike walked over to the bed to grab his long johns.
“‘The handsome outlaw,’ I’ve heard he’s been called,” Gretta added. “What are you called? Little Pecker?”
Mike pulled on his underwear. “I ought to kill you.”
“Try. Please. Then I can have the satisfaction of shooting you.”
Mike finished dressing. “I think Harkner has been here, and you know more than you’re lettin’ on. He likes women like you.”
“The man has a beautiful wife and a big family and runs a ranch four or five days from here, or so I’m told. I’ve seen the wife when she didn’t know I was looking, and if you had a wife like that, you wouldn’t be visiting whores either. Those two look at each other like the world would come to an end if they lost sight of each other.”
Mike broke into more laughter. “Ole Jake pretends to be the family man, but don’t you underestimate that sonofabitch. He’s mean as they come and fuckin’ ruthless. I seen the article in the Denver Post about him killin’ seven or eight rustlers not long ago. He about got himself arrested, but the article said as how he had a right. I’m thinkin’ the law ain’t too happy about it.”
Gretta lowered her pistol slightly, frowning. “What’s your interest in the man?”
Mike buttoned up the front of his long johns. “Can’t you figure it out?”
“You’re after him?”
Mike grunted with more laughter, pulling on his boots. “I’m after his son. That kid shot my brother in a shoot-out back in Oklahoma…shot him in the back. I aim to repay him in the same way.” He looked her over. “Have you ever met the son?”
“Lloyd Harkner? Sure, I’ve seen him and his wife, too—same time I saw Jake and his wife. They were all shopping and walking up the street together. They didn’t notice me, because I was watching out a window as they walked by, but I got a good look, and the son is even better-looking than the father, if that’s possible.”