Shoot Him On Sight

Then she stood back, drawing the door wider, saying in Spanish, 'Enter your house, Senor.' And there was a nervous little laugh that started my blood coursing hotly. Words wouldn't come. I stepped inside and she closed the door. In a brief glance I caught sight of the kitchen beyond, where an oil lamp burned. Here, where we stood facing each other, it was in semi-gloom. I caught sight of a bed with a white covering at one side, a chest of drawers. I sort of mumbled, 'Nice little place you have here…' And then I could resist no longer.

We were standing so close I could hear her soft breath, feel it on my face. If she'd moved back, I'd have kept my head, but she didn't. My arms whipped hungrily around her, drawing her close, and I felt her soft lips under mine. I was sure acting crazy, but I'd gone beyond the point of caring whether this was some sort of frame-up or not.

I felt her arms start to move up about my shoulders, then stop, and her head jerked away. I heard her say with a soft nervous laugh, 'You certainly are impulsive, Johnny Cardinal,' as she moved back. 'Remember, I promised a cup of coffee, nothing more.' And then in a steadier voice, 'Come on through to the kitchen. This is my bedroom, and I think you'd better come to your senses.'

I followed her to the other room, where a fire flamed in an iron stove and a kettle of water was slowly steaming. I glanced around, trying to think of something to say. At one side was a deal table, with a straight- backed wooden chair at either end. The stove was across the room. At the rear was a closed door with a key in the lock, and to the left of the door was a double window, nearly head high. There were curtains at the window, made of some heavy flowered material.

I finally found my voice. 'Topaz, I hope you'll accept my apologies. I just sort of lost my head for a moment. I—'

'Maybe I did too,' she said shortly. She laughed, but it sounded rather forced. 'I'd just hate to think what a fight I'd have on my hands if anybody else in this town had got that far—'

'Including Shel Webster?'

Her face hardened. 'Johnny, you ask too many questions.' Then she showed her dimples again. 'But you're the safe sort, courteous, a regular Sir Walter Raleigh. Bad man? I can't believe it. Why, I'll bet if a lady dropped her handkerchief, you'd hurry to pick it up.'

'Why not?'

'Could you really act fast if I dropped my handkerchief?'

'Try me.'

Topaz laughed softly. 'All right, I'll remember that. You remember it too.'

She turned to a small cupboard against the wall near the stove and procured a coffeepot and cups. A sack of coffee appeared next. She sifted coffee into the pot, poured water from the kettle, then set the pot on the stove. 'That will take a spell before it's ready,' she said, placing cups, saucers and spoons on the table. She added a sack of gingersnaps, then paused, as though suddenly remembering something.

'Now that I've a man to help maybe you can help me,' I said sure, and she continued, 'I've a mirror I want placed on this wall. Sometimes I eat alone here, and if there's a mirror directly opposite where I sit, I'll feel as though I wasn't quite alone.'

She went to the bedroom and came back lugging a Big plate-glass mirror, about five feet long, indicating a place on the inner wall, next to the door to the bedroom, where she wanted it hung. There was a nail already there but when I placed the mirror by its hanging-wire, it wasn't right to suit her. She got a hammer and I yanked out the nail and tried again where she told me to put it. There were a few more tries until we got it right. Then she had me sit at the end of the table, my back to the rear wall of the house. It all sounded sort of crazy to me, but I was at the stage where I'd done anything she asked, even to picking up handkerchiefs in a hurry.

She surveyed the mirror, and then me. 'Can you see yourself in the glass?'

I eyed my reflection. 'Sure, I can even see the end of the table. It's just like there are two of me here. Trouble is, I can't see you—'

'That'll do, Johnny Cardinal,' she said tartly. Maybe she was speaking in time too. I'll swear I just wanted to hold her in my arms again and—and—well, anyway, I decided I'd better shut up.

She kept glancing at an old clock ticking on the wall. There was something nervous in her manner that puzzled me. She moved on past me and locked the back door, then drew the curtains until they were almost closed, probably within six inches of coming together, maybe a mite more. I'd settled back in my chair, the back of my head just below the window ledge.

She glanced at the clock again, lifted the coffeepot and filled the cups, placed a bowl of sugar on the table. 'Sit in,' she invited and took a seat at my left hand. We sugared the coffee and I accepted a cookie. She didn't seem to hear me, but kept glancing up at the clock. I followed her glance and saw it was close to nine-thirty.

Presently she drew a small lace handkerchief from within her dress and I caught a subtle aroma of some faint scent. 'Getting ready to play drop-the-handkerchief?' I asked, grinning.

'Quien sabe—who knows?' she replied in Spanish.

She didn't put the handkerchief away again, but kept fussing with it in her hand. I noticed her fingers trembled slightly, and wondered what was bothering her. Was she afraid Webster would learn of my visit? Perhaps I'd better leave and set her mind at rest. I mentioned as much, but she protested, 'No, stay. Don't go—out there.'

Something damnably funny was going on. I was commencing to feel nervous too. Involuntarily, my right hand slipped down to gun-butt, then I remembered where I was and relaxed momentarily. I took another drink of coffee and tried to make conversation about Tawney and Webster, but it was no use. She only gave a short nod, still fumbling with her handkerchief, eyes lifting to the clock about once every minute. What in the devil was she expecting? The hands of the clock were almost on nine-thirty, I noticed. Then her voice came faster'n I expected:

'Johnny, my handkerchief. Quick!'

Things happened fast then. I saw her toss her handkerchief to the floor at my feet. It flashed through my mind that I'd told her how fast I could pick it up if she happened to drop it. This was like some sort of game—I stooped down to get the handkerchief.

Then all hell broke loose in the thundering detonations of six-shooters, and broken glass from the shattered pane above my head crashed down. I heard the thud! thud! thud! of slugs as they found a resting place across from where I'd been sitting a moment before.

I remember coming up with the handkerchief in my hand, tossing it on the table. Topaz's chair crashed backward as she came to her feet. She was pale as death, one hand to her mouth as though smothering a scream. Then I wheeled, pulling my .44 Colt, and grabbed the knob of the back door.

XVI

'Don't go out there!' And then Topaz' scream really came.

I was too mad to pay attention, struggling as I was to get the door open. I tugged and jerked, but it resisted my efforts. Then I remembered the key. It turned easily in my hand, and I flung the door wide, fool that I was, in my haste. There were trees around, but in the light through them from the moon, I caught sight of three shadowy forms making a getaway, running hard.

I lifted my Colt, felt the .44 jerk in my hand, the orange flash of the detonated shell throwing a brief hard light. I cocked again, released a second slug. I saw one of the shadowy forms throw up his arms and then pitch down, out of sight in the long grass. I fired a third shot and missed. Two men were still running, but in a moment they were lost in the shadows.

I started to follow, then used my head. I could have run right into an ambush. I swung back into the house to see if Topaz was all right, plugging out empty shells and reloading as I moved. I slammed the door and relocked it. Topaz was standing as I'd left her, all color drained from her face. She stared at me, trying to speak, eyes wide.

She finally found her voice. 'Oh, Johnny'—it was almost a sob—'it worked, it worked.'

I said dumbly, 'What worked?'

'The—the mirror. They shot at your reflection, through the window. I assumed they wouldn't come too close