He didn’t seem to be bothered by his losses, because the next night he would buy drinks for everyone, lose more money, then return to the whorehouse where, even though he lived there full-time, he paid the going rate for whichever whore he selected for the night. It didn’t seem as if he would ever run out of money.
If Wanda and her girls wondered how he came by so much money, they never bothered to question him.
There was, however, one man in town who did wonder where Shamrock got all his money, and a few weeks after Shamrock showed in town, he knew.
T. J. Carmichael, who was sheriff of Swisher County, was also sheriff of Elam, since Elam was the only town in the county. At the moment, he was holding a wanted poster.
WANTED FOR ROBBERY
of the BANK OF SULPHUR SPRINGS
$2,000 REWARD
TWO MEN, identities unknown
First man is about 5’10” tall, long blond hair, approximately 165 pounds, with a purple scar running from his left eyebrow, down through his left eye, ending at the top of his cheek.
Second man has brown hair and blue eyes. He is about 5’8”, 155 pounds, with no identifiable marks.
Sheriff Carmichael had no idea who the second man might be, but he was certain that the big spender who was calling himself Sid Shamrock was the first man.
Carmichael went over to the Silver Bell Saloon, where Shamrock was playing cards. Carmichael watched until the game broke up, then he called out to him.
“How was your game, Mr. Shamrock?”
Shamrock smiled. “Well, I won a little today, but not enough to make up for all the losin’ I been doin’. How ’bout lettin’ me buy you a drink?”
“Oh, you could do that, I suppose. Or you could come over to my office and let me give you a drink. I have some good Kentucky bourbon, which is much better than anything you’ll find in this place.”
“Yeah? I don’t think I’ve ever drank me no real Kentucky bourbon.”
“Well, my boy, you are in for a treat,” the sheriff said.
The two men walked down to the sheriff’s office and Carmichael stood back to let Shamrock go in first. Then, as Shamrock stepped in through the door, Carmichael jammed his pistol into Shamrock’s back.
“Just keep going on back and step into that open cell,” Carmichael said.
“Here, what’s this about?” Shamrock asked.
Carmichael slammed the cell door behind him.
“You got no call to do this!”
Carmichael picked up the wanted poster and showed it to Shamrock.
“This is you, isn’t it?”
“No, that ain’t me.”
“You’ve got the scar, you’ve got a lot of money that you can’t account for. I can take you back to Sulphur Springs and have you identified, or . . .”
There was an implied escape in the sheriff’s “or” and Shamrock leaped at it.
“Or what?”
“There is a two-thousand-dollar reward out for you.”
“I didn’t think the law could collect on rewards,” Shamrock said.
“Oh, we can’t, unless . . .”
“Unless what?”
“Unless we collect it from the wanted man himself.”
“I ain’t a-followin’ whatever it is that you’re a-gettin’ at,” Shamrock said.
“I’m going to give you a choice, Mr. Shamrock. You can let me take you back to Sulphur Springs, where you will be tried for armed bank robbery and most likely serve from fifteen to twenty years in prison. But of course if I do that, I will be doing it as a matter of civic duty, only, because, as you correctly pointed out, I can’t collect the reward. We both lose if I do that.”
Sheriff Carmichael smiled and held up a finger. “On the other hand, there is a way where we can both win. You pay me the two-thousand-dollar reward, and I’ll let you go, but with the stipulation that you leave town, and never come back.”
“I don’t have much over two thousand dollars left,” Shamrock said.
“But you do have two thousand dollars?”
“Yeah, I’ve got it.”
“It’s your choice, Mr. Shamrock. You can choose prison or freedom. Which will it be?”
“Let me out. I’ll go get the money and bring it to you.”
Carmichael chuckled and shook his head. “No, sir, Mr. Shamrock. We will both go get the money, then you’ll leave town.”
“All right,” Shamrock agreed. “Come on, I’ll take you to the money.”
Sulphur Springs
Shamrock had less than twenty dollars left when he rode into Sulphur Springs. He knew he was taking a chance, not so much that the banker might see and recognize him, but that someone else might identify him from the description. And the description had gotten out, because it was on the wanted poster Sheriff Carmichael had shown him.
Despite the danger, Shamrock had returned to Sulphur Springs because he didn’t think he had any other choice. He knew that Brad Houser had gotten a lot more money from the bank robbery than he had, and he knew that if he asked for some more, his brother would give it to him. Actually, his brother had no other choice, because if he didn’t give him the money, it could get out that he, too, was involved in the bank robbery.
Shamrock laughed at the prospect. His brother always lorded everything over him—he was smarter, richer, and better-looking. But this time, Shamrock was holding the ace.
Shamrock rode up to the Saddle and Stirrup Saloon, tied his horse off out front, then went inside. He saw the girl he was looking for leaning against the piano, perusing the girls who were working the saloon. Although he had never actually met her, he knew that this was Rosemary Woods, and he knew that Rosemary had a thing for his brother.
He walked up to her.
“Hello, Miss Woods,” he said.
“Do I know you?” she asked.
“No, we ain’t never met. I need me a lawyer, so I come here
