hands on the bastard who done this.”
Sarah found her own hands were clenched with fury. “There’s some salve on the shelf over the stove, Lucius. Fetch it for me.” She did her best to bathe and cool the wounds. As Alice’s eyes fluttered open and she moaned, Sarah soothed her in a low, calming voice. “Try not to move, Alice. We’re going to take care of you. You’re safe now. I promise you you’re safe.”
“Hurts.”
“I know. Oh, I know.” There were tears stinging her eyes as she took the salve from Lucius and began to stroke it over the puffy welts.
It was a slow, painful process. Though Sarah’s fingers were light and gentle, Alice whimpered each time she touched her. Her back was striped to the waist with angry red lines, some of which had broken open and were bleeding. With sweat trickling down her face, Sarah tended and bandaged, talking, always talking. “Would you like another sip of water?”
“Please.” With Sarah’s hand cradling her head, Alice drank from the cup. “I’m sorry, Miss Conway.”
She lay back weakly as Sarah held a cool cloth to her swollen eye. “I know I shouldn’t have come here. It ain’t right, but I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You did quite right by coming.”
“You was-were-so nice to me before. And I was afraid if I didn’t get away…”
“You aren’t to worry.” Sarah applied salve to her facial scratches. “In a few days you’ll be feeling much better. Then we can think about what’s to be done. For now, you’ll stay right here.”
“I can’t-”
“You can and you will.” Setting the salve aside, Sarah took her hand. “Do you feel strong enough to tell us what happened? Did a man-one of your customers do this to you?”
“No, ma’am.” Alice moistened her swollen lips.
“It was Carlotta.”
“Carlotta?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Are you saying that Carlotta beat you like this?”
“I ain’t never seen her so mad. Sometimes she gets mean if something don’t go her way, or if she’s been drinking too much you get a slap or two. She went crazy. I think she might’ve killed me if the other girls hadn’t broke in the door and started screaming.” “Why? Why would she hurt you like this?”
“I can’t say for sure. I done something wrong.” Her voice slurred, and her eyes dropped shut. “She was mad, powerful mad, after Jake came by. They had words. Nancy, she’s one of the other girls, listened outside of Carlotta’s office. He said something to set her off, I expect. Nancy said she was yelling. Said something about you, Miss Conway, I don’t rightly know what. When he left she went crazy. Started smashing things. I went on up to my room. She came after me, beat me worse’n Pa ever did. Eli, he brought me out.”
“Eli’s the big black Carlotta has working for her,” Lucius explained.
“He drove me out as far as he could. She finds out, she’ll make him sorry. Took a belt to me,” she murmured as sleep took her under. “Kept hitting me and hitting me, saying it was my fault Jake don’t come around no more.”
“Bitch,” Lucius said viciously. Then he wiped his mouth. ‘”Scuse me, Miss Sarah.”
“No excuse necessary. I couldn’t agree more.”
There was a rage running through her, hotter and huger than anything she’d ever experienced. She stared at the girl asleep in her bed, her small, pretty face bruised and swollen. She remembered each welt she’d tended. “Hitch up the wagon, Lucius.”
“Yes’m. You want me to go somewheres?”
“No, I’m going. I want you to stay with Alice.” “I’ll hitch it up, Miss Sarah, but if you’re thinking about talking to the sheriff, it won’t do much good. Alice here ain’t going to talk to him like she done with you. She’d be too scared.”
“I’m not going to the sheriff, Lucius. Just hitch up the wagon.”
She pushed the horses hard, pleased that the fury didn’t subside as she approached town. She wanted the fury. Since she’d come west she’d learned to accept many things-the grief, the violence, the labor. Perhaps the land was lawless, but there were times and reasons, even here, for justice.
Johnny raced out of the dry goods as Sarah rode by, then raced back in again to complain to Liza that Sarah hadn’t waved at him. She hadn’t even seen him. There was only one face in her mind now. She drew up in front of the Silver Star.
Three women lounged in what might have been called a parlor. The late-morning heat had them half dozing in their petticoats and their feathered wraps. The room itself was dim and almost airless. Vivid red drapes hung limp at the windows. Gold leaf glowed dull and dusty on the frames of the mirrors.
As Sarah entered, a heavy-eyed redhead popped up from her sprawled position on a settee. She plopped back again with a howling laugh. “Well, look here, girls, we got ourselves some company. Get out the teacups.”
The others looked over. One of them hitched her wrap up around her shoulders. Her hands folded, Sarah stood in the doorway and took it all in.
So this was a bordello. She couldn’t say she saw anything remotely exciting. It looked more like a badly furnished parlor in need of a good dusting. There was a heavy floral scent of mixed perfumes that merged, none too appealingly, with plain sweat. Carefully, finger by finger, Sarah drew off her driving gloves.
“I’d like to speak with Carlotta, please. Will someone tell her I’m here?”
No one moved. The women merely exchanged looks. The redhead went back to examining her nails. After a long breath, Sarah tried another tactic. “I’m here to speak with her about Alice.” That caught their attention. Every one of the women looked over at her. “She’ll be staying with me until she’s well.”
Now the redhead rose. Her flowered wrap slid down her shoulders with the movement. “You took Alice in?”
“Yes. She needs care, Miss-”
“I’m Nancy.” She took a quick look behind her.
“How come somebody like you’s going to see to Alice?” “Because she needs it. I’d be grateful to you if you would tell Carlotta I’d like to speak with her.” “I reckon I could do that.” The redhead pulled her wrap up. “You tell Alice we was asking about her.” “I’ll be glad to.”
While Nancy disappeared up the stairs, Sarah tried to ignore the other women’s stares. She had changed to one of her best day dresses. Sarah thought the dove gray very distinguished, particularly with its black trim. Her matching hat had been purchased just before her trip west and was the latest Paris fashion. Apparently it wasn’t proper attire for a bordello, she thought as she watched Carlotta descend the stairs.
The owner of the Silver Star was resplendent in her trademark red. The silk slithered down her tall, curvaceous body, clinging, shifting, swaying. Her high white breasts rose like offerings from the scalloped bodice, which was threaded with silver threads. In her hand she carried a matching fan. As she flicked it in front of her face, the heavy scent of roses filled the room.
Despite her feelings, Sarah couldn’t deny that the woman was stunning. In another place, another time, she could have been a queen.
“My, my, this is a rare honor, Miss Conway.”
She’d been drinking. Sarah caught the scent of whiskey under the perfume. “This is hardly a social call.”
“Now you disappoint me.” Her painted mouth curved. “I can always use a new girl around here. Isn’t that right…ladies?”
The other women shifted uncomfortably and remained tactfully silent.
“I thought maybe you’d come in looking for work.” Still waving the fan, she strolled around Sarah, sizing her up. “Little scrawny,” she said. “But some men like that. Could use some fixing up, right, girls? Little more here.” She patted Sarah’s unrouged cheek.
“Little less there.” She flicked a hand at the neckline of Sarah dress. “You might make a tolerable living.” “I don’t believe I’d care to…work for you, Carlotta” “That so?” Her eyes, already hardened by the whiskey, iced over. “Too much of a lady to take pay for it, but not too much of a lady to give it away.” Sarah curled her fingers into a fist, then forced them to relax again. She would not resort to violence, or be driven to it. “No. I wouldn’t care to work for anyone who beats their employees. Alice is with me now, Carlotta, and she’ll stay with me. If you ever
