“Why are you here, Mr. Meacham? Am I to gather by your presence that you have dealt with Matt Jensen?” Denbigh asked.
Meacham rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. “Uh, no, not exactly,” he answered.
“What do you mean, not exactly? You have either taken care of the matter, or you have not,” Denbigh said. “Which is it?”
“I have not,” Meacham replied.
“Then I will ask you again. Why are you here?”
“Mr. Denbigh, do you know this man Jensen?”
“You will address me as Lord Denbigh.”
“What? Oh, yeah, Lord Denbigh. I’m sorry, I forgot.”
“To answer your question, no, I do not know anything about him.”
“Yes, sir, well, you said you had never heard of him, so I guess you don’t know, but he is one of the best known pistoleers in the West. His name is practically legend, and he is one hard son of a bitch to kill.”
“Why? Won’t a bullet kill him, just as it would any other human being?”
“Yes, sir, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was, getting that bullet into him. It’s like he has nine lives or something. And like I said, he is damn good with a gun.”
“I thought you were good with a gun,” Denbigh said. “Isn’t that why I hired you?”
“Yes, sir, I am good with a gun, but this man, Jensen, well, sir, he’s about as good as they come. I don’t reckon there’s more’n two or three people in the country who are as good as he is.”
“Would you be one of those two or three?”
“As a matter of fact I am,” Meacham said.
“Then, what is the problem?”
“The problem is, we ain’t talked about money.”
“Of course we have. In the telegram I sent you, I clearly said that you would be compensated as before,” Denbigh said.
“Yes, sir, but what I want to know is, how much money are we talking about? Because the, uh, compensation you give me last time, well, that was for someone who barely knew which end of the gun a bullet come out of. It’s different with Jensen, and what you paid last time ain’t enough for this job.”
“How much do you think this job is worth?” Denbigh asked.
“Three thousand dollars,” Meacham said.
“Three thousand dollars?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s twice as much as I gave you for your last job.”
“Yes, sir. But like I said, Jensen is twice as hard to kill.”
“All right. If you get the job done, I will pay you your price.”
“Good,” Meacham said.
“Unless Mr. Butrum kills him first.”
“Wait a minute. You have hired someone else to kill Matt Jensen?”
“Not specifically,” Denbigh said. “But I have hired someone who is quite skilled in the use of firearms, and has demonstrated to me a willingness, no, I daresay an eagerness, to ply his trade. If he encounters Matt Jensen before you do, then he may kill him. That would save me the three thousand dollars I just promised you.”
“Who is this Butler person anyway?”
“Oliver Butrum.”
Meacham snorted.
“You have a comment?”
“Yeah, I ain’t worried, ’cause he ain’t goin’ to kill Matt Jensen.”
“How do you know he won’t?”
“’Cause I’ve never heard of him. And if I’ve never heard of him, he damn sure ain’t goin’ to be good enough to kill Matt Jensen.”
“We will just have to see, won’t we?” Denbigh said.
By way of dismissal, Denbigh picked up an oiled cloth and began cleaning his pistol again. When he saw that Meacham had not yet left, he looked up.
“You have something else?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What?”
“I, uh, don’t know where Matt Jensen is. I mean, I found him, but before I could do anything, I sort of lost track
