He slammed the door, turned to face Lily. She was a tall, busty brunette who had convinced Sutherland he was the best man she’d ever been to bed with. Of course, she’d convinced a lot of other men of the same thing. The only difference was, Sutherland knew she was lying, but he didn’t care.
“Comin’ back to bed, sweetie?”
“Afraid not,” Sutherland said. “I’ve got to get dressed.”
If it was a lawman downstairs, he didn’t want to get in a shootout with him. If it was Luke Short or Butler, this wasn’t the place to face them.
“Does this place have a back way?” he asked Lily.
“I think it’s blocked.”
He pulled on his pants, and then his boots. When he strapped on his gun, he walked to the window and looked out. He was on the second floor, but it wasn’t a long drop. He was a tall man and figured it shouldn’t be too bad.
“Are you goin’ out the window?” Lily asked.
“There’s somebody downstairs I’m not ready to see,” he said.
“Well, I hope you were intendin’ to pay before you leave,” Lily said. “Rosie don’t like to be stiffed.”
Hurriedly, Sutherland took some money from his pocket and dropped it on the dresser, then opened the window and climbed out. He dangled there for a moment, then dropped. The landing jarred him, but didn’t break or sprain anything.
He was in the alley next to the building. He moved to a window he knew looked in on the parlor. The drapes were parted just enough for him to see Butler on the sofa with some of the girls. They had him tangled up good in their arms and legs. For a moment he considered busting in and taking him, but there was too much that could go wrong in a room full of people.
He hated not taking a shot when he was so close, but he was more concerned at that moment with how Butler had found him. If the gambler could do it, so could the sheriff.
He decided to go back to the Bloody Spur and have a little chat with Zeke.
CHAPTER 37
By chatting with the girls, Butler was able to determine that Lily was not in the parlor with them. With just a little more encouragement one of the girls said Lily was upstairs with her best customer.
“Not her favorite customer,” one of the other girls was quick to point out, “but her best.”
She was a blonde named Kimmie, while the girl on his left was a redhead named Ruby.
“Oh,” Butler said, “that would probably be my friend Sutherland.”
“You know Sutherland?” Ruby asked.
“You’re friends with him?” Kimmie asked, clearly disappointed.
“Well,” Butler said, “not exactly friends. I’ve just heard him talk about this place, and Lily.”
“Lily’s not so special,” Ruby said, sniffing.
“You’d be a lot better off with one of us,” Kimmie said, stroking his right thigh.
“That’s the truth,” Ruby said, stroking his left.
Butler felt he had two ways to go. Take one of the girls upstairs and try to find Sutherland, or wait outside for the man to leave.
“So, do you girls have a price for all night?” he asked.
“Oh, Rosie don’t like a man to stay all night,” Ruby said. “She says we can make more money with more men.”
“I see.”
Both girl’s hands were becoming insistent, so he sprang to his feet.
“I guess I’ll come back, then.”
“When?” Ruby asked, with big cow eyes, which meant to make her look disappointed.
“Why?” Kimmie asked. “For Lily?”
“No,” he said, “I have to decide between the two of you, and I can’t make that decision now. It’s just too hard.”
Coyly, Ruby said, “You could take us both.”
“Oh God,” he said, clutching his chest, “I think that would give me a heart attack. No, I think I’ll make my decision and then come back.”
“If you go red, you won’t go back,” Ruby said.
“That don’t even rhyme,” Kimmie told her.
“I don’t care—”
“I’ll see you girls soon.”
He had to get past Rosie on the way to the door. She couldn’t believe he was leaving.
“You can take your time and decide here,” she told him.
“Too much pressure,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back.”
He hurriedly went out the door, despite her protests. The same man opened it to let him out, and he got a bad feeling from him.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Walt.” The man’s eyes slid away.
“Okay, Walt, thanks.”
“Sure.”
Butler left. It was getting dark by this time. He decided to look for a likely place to stand and watch and wait. First, he checked out the alley next to the building, but that was no good. He finally decided on a doorway across the street.
He watched as men who had gone in before him came out, and still no Sutherland. More and more he had a bad feeling about the door man, Walt. Lo and behold, while he was thinking of him, the man appeared at the door. Apparently, he was through for the day. Walt stepped down, looked both ways, and began to walk in a direction that took him away from the docks.
Butler quickly crossed the street. Instead of simply intercepting the man he slammed into him and pulled him into a wall.
“Hey, wha—”
“Hello, Walt,” Butler said.
“Who are y—Hey? What’re ya doin’?”
“Sutherland was upstairs the whole time, wasn’t he?” Butler asked. “You went up and told him I was looking for him. What’d he do, go out a back door? Or a window?”
“Hey, I don’t know—”
“Yeah, you do.” Butler pulled him away from the wall, then slammed him back into it. The man tried to get away, but he was smaller and Butler was stronger.
“All you’ve got to do is tell me the truth, Walt,” Butler said.
“H-he’ll kill me.”
Butler took his gun out and pressed it to the side of Walt’s head.
“Why don’t I just kill you now, and get it over with?” he suggested.
“No, no!” Walt said. “Wait. Yeah, okay, he was upstairs with Lily. I—I tipped him off that you was downstairs.”
“He go out the back?”
“The back door’s sealed,” Walt said. “He musta gone out a window down to the alley.”
“Can you see the parlor from the alley?”
“Yeah, yeah, I think you can.”
So all Sutherland had to do was look in the window to see him. Apparently, he wasn’t prepared to take another try at killing him.
