“Why don’t you ask your brother?”
“Because I’m askin’ you.”
Baker scowled and said, “Okay, come on in.”
He backed away from the door to let James enter. Baker lived in one large room, and in the corner was a bed with a naked blond woman asleep. She was lying with her back to the men, and James caught himself admiring her shapely backside before he caught himself and looked away.
“I won’t keep you long,” he said to Baker, trying to hide the fact that he was flustered.
“That’s just one of the girls,” Baker said, scratching his head. He was wearing a pair of soiled long johns, and the room itself matched him. James wondered if the man ever cleaned it, but from the smell, he doubted it. He didn’t know how any woman could stand it. “Does she bother you? I can cover her up.”
“I just want you to tell me what happened last night.”
Briefly, Baker told James about Thomas’s run-in with one man, and how the other man had stepped in to defuse the situation.
“I tried to tell them your brother was a deputy, but he stopped me,” Baker said.
“He wasn’t wearin’ his badge?”
“No,” Baker said, “he never wears it when he comes in.”
James tried to remember if his brother was wearing his badge when he saw him, but couldn’t.
“Al…” the woman called plaintively from the bed.
James looked over as the woman rolled onto her back, revealing her large breasts. She reached down between her thighs and started to scratch herself.
“I’m comin’, sweetie,” Baker said. “Are we done, Deputy?”
James averted his eyes once again, but could hear the woman’s nails on her skin. He started for the door.
“What did the two men do after Thomas and I were gone?” he asked Baker, standing outside with the door open.
“They just had a few more beers and then left,” Baker said with a shrug. “See? Nothin’ really happened.”
“Okay, Mr. Baker,” James said, then thought of one more question. “How many times a week does my brother come into your place, without his badge?”
Baker shrugged and said, “A couple, sometimes three. Not more than that.”
“Had there ever been trouble before?”
“No,” Baker said. “Mostly he nurses one beer and then leaves.”
“Okay, thanks.”
From inside they both heard the woman called, “Alllllll!”
“Gotta go,” Baker said, and closed the door.
James hurried down the stairs because he didn’t want to hear what was going on in that room.
10
Thomas was out doing morning rounds when James returned to the office.
“What did you find out?” Shaye asked.
James took a moment to pour a cup of coffee, then relayed everything he’d learned to his father while seated with his feet up on the desk.
“Doesn’t sound like much,” Shaye said.
“I guess not,” James said. “Coulda been more, though, if that other man hadn’t stepped in.”
“Cardwell and Davis,” his father said. “We don’t know if that’s their real names.”
“What about posters?”
“Thomas checked,” Shaye said. “He didn’t recognize their likeness on any of them.”
“So what do we do?”
“Nothing,” Shaye said. “They haven’t broken any laws here. Let’s just keep an eye on them.”
“Me?”
“Yes,” Shaye said, “you.”
“What about Thomas?”
“I’ll talk to Thomas,” Shaye said. “Maybe we should just all stay on the job at the same time while they’re in town.”
“Okay with me.”
“Then get your boots off my desk and get out there.”
James dropped his feet to the floor and said, “Yes, sir.”
Ben Cardwell kicked the bed and shouted at his partner, “Time to get up, goddamn it!”
Davis leaped into a sitting position, staring around him wildly. He went for his gun, but Cardwell had wisely removed it from the holster hanging on the bed post.
“Lookin’ for this?” he asked, holding the gun out. “I coulda put a bullet in you while you slept. Might as well have, you sleep like the dead, anyway.”
Davis looked around, then asked, “We bring any whores back here with us last night?”
“Not a one.”
“Damn!”
He rubbed his hands over his face, and suddenly his eyes focused and he was awake.
“Whatsamatter?” he asked.
Cardwell tossed his gun onto the bed and said, “Time to get up, is all.”
“Breakfast?”
“I had breakfast,” Cardwell said. “More like lunch, for you.”
“You been out, already?” Davis swung his feet to the floor, let his hands hang between his knees for a moment. He was wearing off-white long johns which at one time had been white. His legs were long and skinny, his knees knobby.
“Out and back,” Cardwell said. “Had me a conversation with the law.”
“The sheriff?” Davis looked surprised.
“The deputy,” Cardwell said.
“The one from last night?”
“Yeah.”
“What did that bastard want?”
“Just some questions about what we’re doin’ in town.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Not much,” Cardwell said, “but they’re probably gonna be watchin’ us.”
“So are we callin’ off the job?”
“No,” Cardwell said, “we’re goin’ ahead with the job. In fact, them watchin’ us is probably gonna help us with the job.”
“Howzat gonna help?” Davis asked.
“Get yourself dressed and meet me downstairs,” Cardwell said, heading for the door, “and I’ll tell you.”
11
Cardwell and Davis spent the day sitting out in front of the hotel. James spent the day across the street watching them. Other strangers rode into town, but James didn’t pay them any mind. His job was to keep an eye on these two men. The fact that they hardly moved all afternoon was boring to him, but hardly significant.
Later in the afternoon, Thomas came to join him.
