Bringing her thoughts back to focus on the jaded woman sitting alone at the table, she expressed a bored sigh and descended the stairs to join her. Bonnie looked up when Lacey pulled a chair out. She gave her young friend a tired smile and asked, “You finally decide to give up the righteous life and jump back into the muck with the rest of us?”
“I don't know,” Lacey replied as she plopped down in the chair, oblivious of the malevolent leering of a half-drunken miner at the next table. “I've still got most of the twenty dollars Jake's brother gave me.”
“Yeah, well, that ain't gonna last very long,” Bonnie said. She looked around at the evening crowd in the Miner's Choice and commented, “It's a little early yet to be picking up any business.” She glanced back at Lacey and raised her eyebrows enviously. “You don't seem to be having any trouble sparking interest, though.”
Forgetting her own situation for a moment, Lacey felt a wave of sympathy for her older friend. “It's just lookers,” she consoled, “probably think I remind them of their sisterâor their daughter. You're right, it's still too early in the evening. They want to party for a while first.”
Bonnie favored her with a knowing smile. “Oh, I know what the score is. Believe it or not, I was as young as you once, but you won't catch me crying about that now. I get by. Long about one or two o'clock, I'll drag some dirty ol' drunk upstairs for a ride. If he's drunk enough not to know the difference, I'll skin him of any extra money he's got left in his pockets and shove him out the door. He won't know how much money he had, anyway.”
Bonnie's dreary description of her anticipated evening caused a numbing feeling in Lacey's body, for she knew Bonnie had just described her future if nothing happened to get her off the path she felt forced to walk. At this point, it would have to be some form of miracleâand miracles, as she had thought Jake to be, were few and far between.
As if reading her thoughts, Bonnie sought to advise the young girl. “Honey, it's best if you don't put too much stock in what some young stud tells you about how much he respects you and wants to make things better for you. Some of 'em really mean it at the time, when their temperature and everything else is up. But after they're sober and get back to the mine, or their claim, or to the ranch, it don't seem like such a good idea in the light of day.”
“Oh, you don't have to tell me that,” Lacey responded. “I don't believe a word half of 'em say.” She said it strictly for Bonnie's benefit, for in fact, she had believed Jake when he said he was coming back for her. And she was convinced that his failure to return was only because he had met with some tragedy. As for his brother, Adam, she wasn't sure what to think about him. He had given her money, but was that only to make up for what Jake had promised, and now would that be the end of his concern for her?
“Uh-oh,” Bonnie said, interrupting her thoughts. She nodded toward the front door and warned, “Here come some of your other boyfriends.”
Lacey turned to see Lon Bridges and Junior Brown in the doorway. They stood for a few moments, scanning the barroom, until Lon spotted the two women sitting at the table. Lacey immediately regretted her decision to join Bonnie, but it was too late to avoid Lon now, so she decided to pretend it was the wrong time of the month to accommodate any urges he might have. She found out, however, that he had other things on his mind this evening.
“Where the hell is that bastard that broke my nose?” Lon demanded when he approached the table.
“I don't know,” Lacey replied.
“Don't lie to me,” Lon threatened. “I'll beat the hell outta you.”
Bonnie stepped in to defend the young girl then. “She doesn't know where he is. He left here after he fixed your yellow ass and he ain't been back. Leave her alone.”
“Who asked you anythin'?” Lon snapped. “You can mind your own business, or I'll teach you to keep your nose outta mine.” He fixed her with a threatening glare for a moment before adding, “I ain't Billy Crabtree. You try somethin' like that with me and I'll break your neck for you.” Turning his attention back to Lacey, he demanded again, “Where's that big son of a bitch?”
“Right behind you.”
The entire saloon went dead quiet. Lon's heart seemed to come to a sudden stop, gripped by a numbing fear that destroyed the boastful air he had walked in with. The deep emotionless voice that had issued the statement carried an unspoken threat of death. After what seemed an eternity, he turned to face the man whom he thought he was stalking, realizing at that instant that he was the prey, and not the hunter. The Henry rifle that he had met before was looking at him again, and the look in the eye of the man who held it was as cold and hard as the steel of the barrel. “You're makin' a big mistake, mister,” he managed to stammer.
“I found Jake's body in that ravine,” Adam stated softly.
“I don't know nothin' about no body,” Lon blurted, looking nervously at Junior Brown for his support, but Junior was hesitant to make any sudden moves with Adam's rifle already cocked and leveled at Lon. Realizing that he had no choice, Lon made the fatal move. “Get him, Junior!” he yelled, and reached for his pistol.
The report of the Henry rifle ripped the thick, smoke-filled saloon and Lon winced in pain as the .44 slug tore through his gut, causing him to drop his pistol to the floor. In one quick motion, Adam cocked the rifle and swung it around to cover Junior while Lon staggered backward and doubled over, clutching his stomach while sliding down the wall to a sitting position. Still trying to make up his mind, Junior hesitated when Adam's somber gaze locked on his. He immediately held his hands out in front of him, palms out, his eyes pleading until Adam gestured toward the door with his head, and the frightened man quickly took the opportunity to escape. Satisfied that Lon was in no condition to strike back, Adam turned to face the empty doorway where Junior had just fled, his rifle leveled to fire. As he anticipated, after a few short moments, Junior suddenly reappeared, his revolver out ready to fire. Adam dropped him as he was pulling the trigger, sending a wild shot that smashed the lamp hanging in the middle of the room. A brief look confirmed that his shot had been a kill shot in the man's chest, for Junior lay still, sprawled in the doorway. Adam turned back to Lon, who remained propped against the wall, his face twisted in pain as his torn insides bled out. “The two of you ain't worth a hair on my brother's head,” Adam lamented as he watched Lon's final moments draining away. “A damn waste of cartridges.”
Cocking the Henry again, Adam looked around him at the speechless spectators to the brutal execution, ready to react to any threat. When no one showed any notion to raise a hand against him, he turned his attention toward the two women still seated at the table, frozen in their chairs. “Are you still whorin'?” he asked Lacey.
“Not since you gave me that money,” she answered fearfully.
“Well, that ain't gonna last you very long,” he said, echoing Bonnie's earlier comment. “Take whatever you can find on him,” he directed, nodding toward Lon's body. “Maybe there's a little to keep you up for a while, and I'll try to get back to see if I can help you. Right now I've gotta get outta here. I expect the sheriff's already on his way.” He started to leave, then hesitated, realizing he had not explained the reason for his actions. “I don't know if you heard me say it, but in case you didn't, I found Jake's body in a deep ravine between here and the south hills. That's the reason he didn't keep his word to you.”
There was no attempt to hide the sorrow in her face when hearing the final evidence of what she feared had actually happened. She made no reply, but it was obvious that the young girl was devastated. Deep in her mind, she acknowledged the fact that she was not truly in love with Jake, but she was certain that she could have learned to love him in time. Her distress was primarily triggered by knowing that she was doomed to life as a prostitute with Jake gone.
“Where's your horse?” Bonnie exclaimed to Adam when Lacey showed no sign of reacting. “I'll bring it around back!”
“He's already there,” Adam replied. “That's the way I came in.”
“Well, you'd better get gone before Ainsworth and his outlaws show up,” she advised excitedly, “or you're gonna be sitting on the same train to hell with Lon and Junior.” He wasted no further time, striding quickly toward the rear of the saloon. A wide path was cleared for him by the spectators, and Bonnie watched him until he disappeared through the door. Shaking her head in wonder, she commented to anyone listening, “That man is determined to bring all hell down upon himself.”
Outside, Adam took a cautious moment to scan the darkened alley before he untied his horse and climbed in the saddle, in case the sheriff's response might have been quicker than he anticipated. The noise from inside the saloon told him that the patrons had recovered their voices sufficiently to resume their evening pleasure, now with the added excitement of a couple of killings. Nudging the bay sharply with his heels, he galloped up the alley toward the south end of the town, since the sheriff's office was at the north end. With no sign of pursuit when he reached the end of the alley, he swung his horse to the east and disappeared into the night. Once he had climbed the ridge, he slowed the horse until he reached the common trail, making an effort not to leave sign of his flight. He had a horse and his supplies back in the gully where Finn made his camp, and he wanted to make sure he didn't lead a posse to call on the little Irishman.
Back inside the saloon, Lacey and Bonnie stood amid the other spectators as everyone crowded around to get a look at the bodies. Among the curious, a tall, thin man with thinning gray hair edged his way up beside Bonnie and peered down at the late Lon Bridges. “Hello, Clyde,” Bonnie said. “Haven't seen you in a while.”
“Somebody said you went to Virginia City,” Clyde Allen replied.
“I decided to come back. You been busy down at the claims office?”
“Not so much anymore,” he answered. “Who was that fellow that did this? He seemed to know you and Lacey. Is he the same fellow that shot those road agents that jumped Mutt Jeffries a day or two ago?”
“Same man,” Bonnie replied.
“I figured as much,” Clyde said. “He's a regular grizzly bear, ain't he?”
“He just doesn't stand for anybody treading on his toes,” Bonnie said. “He ain't a man you wanna make mad at you.”
“No, I can see that,” Clyde replied, his mind on other things. As one of the members of a secret organization of vigilantes, he was more than a little interested in a man who had rid the town of eight known outlaws in two days' time. In the three months since the formation of the vigilance committee, it had taken them that long to hunt down and hang six blatant outlaws. “I don't suppose you know where I could find him,” he said. “I'd like to talk to him.”
“I have no idea,” Bonnie replied. Turning to Lacey, she asked, “Did he tell you where he was going?”
Lacey slowly shook her head. “No, just that he'd try to come back to see me if he could.”
Clyde nodded and said, “Well, if he does, tell him I'd like to talk to him.”
Â
Michael Finn looked up quickly from his campfire, not sure if he had heard something out there in the dark. As a precaution, he moved away from the fire and retreated into the shadows. He had seen no sign of the one or two riders who showed up from time to time to check on him, but that didn't mean they were not still keeping a steady watch on his movements. One thing he was sure of was, if they finally decided to move on him, he was going to make it extremely costly for them. There it was again! He was sure this time that it was the sound made by a horse's hooves on the rocky trail leading down from the side of the ravine. A moment later, Adam's packhorse whinnied to confirm Finn's suspicions. Reaching for the rifle he always kept handy, he prepared to welcome visitors. In a few seconds, he heard a now familiar voice.
“Hello, Finn, it's me, Adam Blaine! I'm comin' in.”
“Come on in, Adam,” Finn called back, and relaxed his grip on his rifle. He walked back out to the fire and waited for Adam to ride in before asking, “Did you find anything in town?”
Adam stepped down and took the coffee cup extended toward him. “No, I didn'tâspent most of the day lookin' around. I ran into Lon Bridges in that saloon where I had a run-in with him before.” He paused to take a sip of the boiling hot coffee.
“Well, since you've come riding back to my camp, I guess I can figure that it didn't go so well for Lon.”
“No,” Adam replied in his usual stoic manner, “I guess you could say that.”
“So I reckon we can say Lon Bridges' days of waylaying innocent folk on the trails around Bannack are over.”
“I reckon,” Adam said.
“My God, man,” Finn finally exclaimed in frustration, “are you gonna tell me what happened? Or should I wait to get the story in the newspaper?”
Still drained of emotion, Adam shrugged and replied, “I shot Lon and the fellow he had with him. That's all there is to tell. What else do you wanna know?”
“Sweet Jesus, but you're an emotional man,” Finn responded facetiously. “Tell me what happened when you found him. Was it a blazin' shoot-out between you and the two of them? What about that joke of a sheriff? Is he chasin' you now?”
“I wouldn't be surprised,” Adam replied, still puzzled over why Finn needed a detailed accounting of the execution. “There ain't nothin' more to tell. Lon drew on me and I had to shoot him. He didn't give me no other choice. Now I expect I'd best get my gear and move on before I bring Ainsworth and his boys down on you.”