Preacher nodded. “You must be a mighty smart man, then.”
“I like to think so. What were you doing at Jessie’s Place?”
“I heard tell it was the best whorehouse in town,” Preacher said with a shrug. “It’s been a long, lonely trip from Pennsylvania.”
“That’s where you’re from?”
“My family’s had a farm there for a long time. I ain’t cut out for farmin’, though.” Preacher took another sip of the brandy. “So I left and come west. Figured I’d make my fortune out here.”
“How are you doing on that?”
Preacher let a little bitterness creep into the laugh he gave. “Not too good so far. I spent the day shovelin’ shit out of livery stable stalls in return for somethin’ to eat and a place to sleep.”
“Well, your luck has changed this evening.” Beaumont reached inside his coat.
Preacher said quickly, “If you’re about to give me a reward or somethin’ like that, then no offense, Mr. Beaumont, but you can keep it. I was raised not to ever take charity, and even if I don’t pay much attention to what my folks taught me, that’s one thing I still abide by.”
“A reward isn’t charity, Jim. It’s something you’ve earned.”
Beaumont brought out a purse and took a five-dollar gold piece from it. Preacher let his eyes widen at the sight of the coin, as if he couldn’t help it. Beaumont put the coin on the table but didn’t take his finger off of it.
“Tell me about what happened at Jessie’s,” he said.
Preacher shrugged. “I reckon that was just one more case of me pushin’ in where my kind ain’t wanted. The big darky who come to the door took me for some sort of delivery fella and tried to run me off. We got in a little squabble.”
“The way I heard it, you knocked Brutus senseless.”
“You know him?”
“Like I told you, I know people all over town . . . and they know me.”
“Then that Miss Jessie’s a friend of yours?”
“She is.”
Preacher took a deep breath. “I sure was sorry for the trouble I caused her. She struck me as a mighty fine lady.”
“She is,” Beaumont said again.
“But I wasn’t gonna let that fella Brutus push me around, neither,” Preacher went on, his voice hardening. “When the Good Lord made me, he didn’t put much backup in me. That’s just the way it is.”
“I understand,” Beaumont said, nodding. “I’m the same way myself. And it’s quite impressive that you were able to handle Brutus like that. He’s practically broken men in half on a number of occasions, whenever there was trouble at the house.”
“Well . . . I didn’t exactly fight fair. After I’d walloped him in the belly and the jaw and he didn’t even blink, I figured I’d best kick him in the balls as fast as I could.”
Beaumont laughed loudly and reached for the bottle of brandy. “By God, Jim, I like the way you think.” He used his other hand to push the coin across the table to Preacher. “Here.”
Preacher frowned. “I told you—”
“It’s not a reward,” Beaumont said as he poured more brandy in their glasses. “It’s an advance on your wages.”
“Wages?”
“That’s right. You said I needed a man to keep an eye on my back trail, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“I have a feeling you’re the man for the job.” Beaumont raised his glass again. “Unless, of course, you’d rather go back to mucking out that stable.”
Preacher hesitated, but only for a second. Then he grinned, reached for his glass, and said, “I reckon you’ve just hired yourself a new hand, boss.”
Chapter 14
They polished off the bottle of brandy before they left Dupree’s. Preacher was a little drunker than he’d intended to be, but he was still thinking clearly enough. The plan had worked perfectly. He had established himself as a tough man who needed a job, and then he’d provided an excuse for Beaumont to give him one.
He was on the inside now, in a position where he could do the most damage.
Beaumont led Preacher outside, with all the employees and many of the customers smiling and bidding them good night as they left. Preacher had known that Beaumont wielded a lot of power in this town, but even he was a little surprised at the apparent extent of it. Nobody wanted to get on Shad Beaumont’s bad side. Everyone wanted to stay in his good graces.
As they emerged onto the boardwalk, Beaumont said, “Since you decided not to take me up on my offer to have Margaret spend some time with you, Jim, why don’t we go to Jessie’s? I’m sure you can find something to your liking there.”
