“Just take my dollar and keep your mouth shut,” Meacham said.
“Mister, I don’t know who you are,” Bleeker began, but he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw how quickly Meacham drew his pistol.
“You’ve got two choices, mister,” Meacham said. “You can take my dollar and keep your mouth shut, or you can…” Meacham swung his pistol toward Carver when he saw Carver trying to sneak out his own gun. “I wouldn’t,” he said.
Carver moved his hand away from his gun.
“What do I have to do to make you take my dollar?” Meacham asked.
“Don’t go gettin’ a burr under your saddle, mister, I didn’t mean nothin’ by it,” Bleeker said. He took the dollar proffered by Meacham. “Open the gate, Carver, let this gentleman through.”
“Just be glad Butrum ain’t here,” Carver said. “He ain’t as nice as we are.”
“Butrum is dead,” Meacham said as he rode through the open gate.
“What? How? When?”
Carver’s shouted question was ignored.
“Is Lord Denbigh expecting you, sir?” Tolliver asked when he answered the door pull ring.
“No.”
“Wait here, I will see if he will grant you an audience.”
“Tell him Butrum is dead,” Meacham said.
“Oh, dear, that is news,” Tolliver said.
Meacham chuckled. “I must say, you don’t seem all broke up over it.”
“I cannot lie, sir,” Tolliver replied. “I cannot work up any degree of distress over his demise. Wait here, please.”
“How did it happen?” Denbigh asked a moment later, when Meacham was shown into his study.
“Jensen killed him.”
“Was the contest fair?”
“It wasn’t fair at all.”
“I didn’t think so. Butrum was exceptionally skilled in the use of his pistol, could withdraw it from its holster quite quickly, and discharge it with extreme accuracy. I can understand how someone would have to take unfair advantage in order to best him.”
Meacham shook his head. “You got it all wrong. It wasn’t fair because Butrum already had his gun out and fired first. He missed, and before he could fire a second time, Jensen drew his gun and killed him.”
“That is hard to believe,” Denbigh said.
“It’s not hard to believe at all. Matt Jensen is known all over the West. Nobody outside of Dakota Territory ever heard of that little turd you hired.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if you had done your job,” Denbigh said. “I hired you to kill Jensen and you haven’t done it. Now I am out my best man.”
“He wasn’t your best man,” Meacham said.
“Oh? And who is?”
“I am.”
“But you don’t work for me. I have contracted with you to do one thing, and you have not done that.”
“I’m going to do it, but the conditions have changed,” Meacham said.
“You have already changed the conditions once,” Denbigh said, obviously irritated by the way the conversation was going. “I will not raise the agreed-upon amount.”
“No need to,” Meacham replied. “I’ll still kill him for three thousand dollars, just like we agreed. But I also want to work for you full time. I want to take Butrum’s place.”
“I thought you were quite the paladin, roaming the West in pursuit of desperadoes for the reward money.”
“I’m tired of that,” Meacham said. “Most of the time, you don’t get more’n a couple hundred dollars for it, and sometimes you don’t get nothin’ at all. I’m lookin’ for a job that can use my particular skills and will let me settle down.”
“I see. And how good are your particular skills?” Denbigh asked.
“They are good enough.”
“So you say. Suppose we arrange a demonstration?”
“All right. Want me to shoot a flower, the way you did?”
“Not quite,” Denbigh said. “I will come up with a way for you to display your prowess.”
“Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.”
Five minutes later Denbigh, Meacham, Tolliver, and several others from the household were out on the well-kept lawn, standing next to the exquisite flower garden of Denbigh Manor. Tolliver’s face was pale with fright. His right arm was extended to his side, and he was holding a whiskey glass.
“Now, when I say drop it, you drop it,” Meacham said. “I will shoot the glass before it hits the ground.”
