George said, “Dadgummit, Miss Bella, I
For several hectic minutes, Bo, Scratch, and George waded through the thick mass of struggling men. Their fists shot out to the right and left, delivering punches that landed solidly and sent men sprawling on the floor. One of the fighters started trying to kick a man who had fallen, but he had landed only one kick when George grabbed him from behind by the belt and the shirt collar and lifted him off his feet. The man let out an alarmed yell that cut off abruptly as George rammed him face-first into a wall.
One of the men jumped on Bo’s back from behind. Bo staggered a couple of steps before he caught his balance. He bent over, reached up, and grabbed the startled man by the hair. With a heave, Bo threw the man over his shoulder. The man came crashing down on his back, and Bo was left with a couple of handfuls of hair with bits of bloody scalp attached to them. He had pulled the hair out by its roots.
Scratch stood toe-to-toe with a husky miner and traded punches, each man giving as good as he got for several moments. Scratch’s opponent had the advantage in just about everything: height, weight, reach, and age.
But Scratch had the wiliness that came from years of brawling. He feinted so skillfully that the man fell for it and left himself wide open for the hard left that Scratch planted on his nose. He bit on the next feint as well and let Scratch get close enough to lift a knee into his groin. It was a low blow, but effective. The man groaned and doubled over as he clutched at himself. Scratch clubbed his hands together and brought them down on the back of the man’s neck. The impact hammered the man to the floor.
George grabbed two more men by their necks and banged their heads together. Their skulls met with a loud thud. When George let go of them, they collapsed bonelessly.
“That looks like all of them,” Bo said.
It was true. Some of the men had knocked each other out, and the Texans and George had taken care of the others. A few of the men on the floor were moaning and semiconscious, but most of them were out cold. Bo checked for pulses and found that they were all still alive. He was grateful for that, anyway.
The three men weren’t hurt except for some bumps, bruises, and scrapes. Bo and Scratch found their hats, which had come off during the fracas, and put them back on. Then Bo turned to Bella and asked, “What started this?”
“I don’t know,” the redheaded madam said helplessly. “About half a dozen of those men just came in and started fighting with some of my customers. There was no reason for it I could see unless they were carrying a grudge because of something that happened somewhere else.”
That was possible, Bo thought. The two bunches could have been enemies, and one could have followed the other here to the brothel.
Bella’s green eyes suddenly widened. “Unless…” she began.
“Unless what?” Bo asked when she paused.
“Can you come with me, Deputy? There’s something in my office I want to tell you.”
Bo looked over at Scratch and George. “Can you keep an eye on those varmints in case they start to wake up?”
Scratch grunted and drew his Colt. “If they start to wake up, I’m liable to give ’em a little love tap with my gun butt.”
“Just don’t bust any skulls permanent-like,” Bo said.
He followed Bella back to her office in the rear of the building. It was a small but comfortably furnished room. She motioned Bo into a leather armchair and went behind the desk.
“Jackson Devery came to see me this afternoon, Deputy,” she said as she sat down.
“Devery?” Bo repeated with a frown. “What did he want? I mean—”
Bella smiled and shook her head. “Devery’s a lot of things, none of ’em good, but he’s not a man who patronizes a whorehouse. No, he acted all friendly-like and asked a favor of me.”
“A favor?”
“He said he wanted me and my girls to tell every man who comes in here to vote for him and the other Deverys in the election. Said we ought to tell them that if that bunch on the other side is elected, they’ll shut down all the saloons and gambling dens and houses like this one.”
“I doubt if that would happen,” Bo said. “I haven’t heard them say anything like that, and Lyle Rushford, the owner of the Colorado Palace, is a member of the group.”
Bella nodded. “I know. It doesn’t seem likely to me, either, and I said as much to Devery. I told him I wasn’t going to mess with politics. When a man’s here visiting one of my girls, the last thing he wants to hear is some damned political speech.”
Bo figured that was probably true. He asked, “How did Devery react to that?”
“The same way he reacts to just about everything. He got mad.” Bella leaned forward. “And he said that if I didn’t go along with what he wanted, I’d be sorry, Deputy. Mighty sorry.”
CHAPTER 26
Bo looked across the desk at Bella for a long moment, then said, “You think Devery had something to do with what happened here tonight?”
“He threatened me, Deputy. There’s no other way to look at it. It can’t be a coincidence that he came to see me today, and this fight broke out tonight after I wouldn’t go along with what he wanted.”
Bo scraped a thumbnail along his jaw. “You might be right. You said those miners came in and started the fight for no reason. Maybe Devery paid them to do it, or forced them in some other way.”
Bella nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. You know he owns all the claims around here and demands a share
