Thoroughly cowed by himself, he put his head down on the desk and tried to will himself dead, but it didn’t work. Instead, he suddenly sat bolt upright.
He knew where Sampson Davis was.
He’d thought Davis would be back at the boardinghouse, shut up in his room with no one the wiser, but he was wrong. Not only did Mrs. Kendall say she hadn’t seen him, but when she let him up to check the room, it was so empty of Davis that the place practically echoed.
He had run into the final wall, and hard.
But when he went back outside after that humiliating little hunt, Abe Todd practically ran smack into him on the sidewalk.
“Where’ve you been?” he asked, a little more huffily than he would have liked.
“Out lookin’ for you,” Abe replied. “Where
“Outside, siftin’ through the wagons, lookin’ for Davis.”
“No luck?”
“Nope.”
Abe shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Well, come with me, then.”
He started on down the walk, with Jason tagging at his heels like a pet dog.
He reminded himself of the dog, Hannibal, who, most of the time, had been given free rein of the town these past few days. He didn’t like it, and he made himself catch up with Abe, then matched him, stride for stride.
“Where we goin’?” he asked.
“Saloon.”
Jason put on the brakes and Abe stopped, too, looking curiously at him. He said, “What?”
“I’m not off duty, yet.”
Abe laughed. “Hell, Jason, I ain’t askin’ you there for a drink! We’re just takin’ a look-see.”
“I was in there earlier. He’s not there,” Jason insisted.
“People move around.”
“Oh, all right,” Jason said in disgust, and started walking again.
Davis was in the saloon, all right, sitting at a back corner table all alone, and slogging down whiskeys like they were sarsaparillas. A glance up to the second-floor balcony showed Rafe’s door was closed, which Jason profoundly hoped meant that Rafe was locked up inside it.
“Don’t worry,” said Abe when he followed Jason’s line of vision. “I told him to stay put in there.”
“Like you think he’ll listen.”
“He listened.” And then he steered Jason back to an empty table. “I’m gonna go have a few words with your friend, Davis.” He quirked his mouth while he checked Jason’s position. “You got a clear line’a fire from that chair?”
Jason checked, and nodded.
“Keep an eye peeled.” Abe took off for Davis’s table.
Jason watched while Abe approached and pulled out a chair across from Davis, his back to the room, as if he owned the place in general and Davis’s table in particular. He couldn’t make out Davis’s face, but something told him that Davis wasn’t too happy with the situation.
Abe leaned forward and started to talk, and the words, while Jason couldn’t hear them, appeared to be delivered in a sharp, no-nonsense manner.
Davis said something, then Abe, then Davis again, and then Abe pushed back from the table and stood up. He said a few more words to Davis, then turned his back on him and made his way back over to Jason.
“Wish I could’ve heard that,” Jason said.
“No, you don’t.” Abe pulled out a chair. “The man’s bulldog-stubborn and bear-nasty. He’s gonna stay if he has to move here, permanent.”
Jason sighed. “Not quite what I wanted to hear.”
“Didn’t thrill me none, either.” Abe waved a hand, and a pretty girl showed up, as if by magic.
“Order, sir?” she said.
“Couple shots of bourbon.”
“Got you.” She left.
Jason started to tell him again. “Look, I’m still on the—”
“No, you ain’t. Look at your pocket watch.”
Jason did. It was five past the hour. “Oh,” he said, annoyed, and put it away. “So, now what?”
Abe shrugged. “I guess we wait.” He shoved some change toward the serving girl who’d just brought the drinks. “Same thing again.”
Jason scowled. “Must’a been thirsty work, talkin’ to him.”
Abe picked up his drink and tossed it back in one gulp. Jason hadn’t touched his yet, and he’d only taken a sip
