Роберт Паркер - Robert B. Parker's Revelation

I closed the bars and the old jailer locked the door as Dobbin moved closer to the bars separating his cell from Skillman’s cell.

“You are a murdering piece of shit,” Dobbin said.

Skillman glared at him.

“I’m no squealing pig,” he said.

“Fuck you.”

“You was the one that fucked up, kid,” Skillman said.

“Looks like I was not the only one,” Dobbin said.

“Two is dead ’cause of you.”

“And two more is soon to be dead ’cause of you,” Dobbin said. “Me and the no-good fucking dumb-ass murdering asshole I’m this moment looking directly at.”

“You two are sure two peas in a pod,” the old jailer said. “Might want to give it a rest, otherwise I might have to knock you both around some so you have something to really rant and rave about.”

I glanced at Virgil and we moved off and shut the hall door to the cells, leaving the two wounded escapees to their discording banter.

“What now?” Deputy Hart said to Virgil.

“First order is to check with the wire office and find out if the telegraph line to Cibola has been fixed.”

The rain continued to fall. It was steady and solid, and the streets of Yaqui were turning into one big puddle. From boardwalk to boardwalk Virgil and I made our way over to one of Yaqui’s best and most popular eating establishments, the Altamont Steak House.

We hung our hats and slickers at the entrance, took a seat, and ordered us each a steak and fried potatoes. The waiter was pouring us each a second glass of wine when Deputies Flower and Hart entered. We looked up as they removed their soaked hats and came walking over to our table.

“Still nothing from Wingate or Cibola regarding the wire, sir,” Hart said.

Virgil looked at me and shook his head.

“Damn,” I said. “You think that it would be back up by now.”

Virgil nodded.

“But there was something that happened to a couple of prospectors this afternoon that you should know about,” Flower said.

“Which is?” Virgil said.

“They reported to one of the deputies on duty while we were gone that they were held up by a gang,” Flower said.

“A gang?” I said.

“They say what kind of gang?” Virgil said.

“Not that we know of,” Flower said.

“What else did they allow?” Virgil said.

“We’ve not talked to them, not personally,” Flower said. “Figured we’d let the two of you know.”

“You know when this was?” I said.

“No, sir,” Flower said.

“All we know is what we heard,” Hart said. “They came to the office and reported that they were robbed.”

“And where are these prospectors?” Virgil said.

“Deputy said they are staying over at the livery stables,” Hart said.

“You want us to find them and bring them to talk with you,” Flower said.

Virgil shook his head.

“No,” he said. “We’ll have a talk with them after we have our supper here.”

The deputies nodded.

“What would you like for us to do now?” Hart said.

“You fellas had anything to eat yet?”

They looked to each other and shook their heads from side to side in tandem.

“No, sir,” they said.

Virgil looked to the waiter and pointed to Hart and Flower.

“Bring these boys same as us,” he said, then looked back to the deputies. “Hang your slickers and get a seat.”

The two nodded, said thank you, then did as Virgil asked.

After supper the four of us walked over to the livery and found the prospectors camped out in one of the back stalls with their mules.

They were drinking whiskey from a jug and playing cards on top of a crate when we walked up. Both of them looked as if they’d never had a bath in their lives. They were missing teeth, chewed huge wads of tobacco, and looked nearly identical except one had whiter hair than the other.

“You the boys that got held up?” I said.

They looked up, squinting at us.

“Who wants to know?” the younger one said.

I showed them my badge.

The four of us moved into the stall and spread out in front of them as they looked up at us.

“Too little, too late,” the older one said.

“For?” I said.

“Him and me,” he said, “was robbed.”

“We heard,” I said.

“By who?” Virgil said.

“Mean sumbitches,” the younger man said. “We don’t know who or where they come from.”

“We never seen them around here before,” the older man said.

“We pretty much know everybody around these parts. When we first laid eyes on them I told Dudley — I’m Theodore, this here is my brother Dudley — I told him shit howdy, get fucking ready, and sure enough I was right.”

Dudley nodded.

“How many?”

“There was two of them at first,” Dudley said.

“Then one more come up behind us,” his brother said. “And fucking robbed us.”

Virgil looked to me.

“So there was three of them?” I said.

“That’s right,” Theodore said. “And I damn near shot their asses, too.”

“Oh, bullshit, Theodore,” Dudley said.

“I did,” his brother said.

“You did no such thing.”

“I did.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Dudley said.

“Well, I told him,” Theodore said. “I should have shot the sonsabitches as they was riding off.”

“Damn good thing he didn’t try,” Dudley said. “You old fool. You’d gone for that carbine, we’d be fucking dead.”

“Bullshit.” Theodore said as he pointed to his skinny white-eared mule. “I had it right there in the scabbard tucked under the off side of Lily’s pannier. They did not see it. Otherwise, they would have took it. I could have got to it.”

“Where this happen?” Virgil said.

“’Bout twenty mile this side of Montezuma,” Dudley said. “We’d just come down earlier this morning when we ran into them.”

“From where?” I said.

“I can’t tell you that,” Theodore said. “We have our places that we can’t let just anybody know about.”

“Our places, shit,” Dudley said. “They are the goddamn law.”

“So.”

“You seriously think these lawmen are gonna go out there and pan us out?”

“You’re the one that always tells me to keep my mouth shut,” Theodore said.

“For good goddamn reason,” Dudley said.

“Well, listen to you,” Theodore said.

“You say near Montezuma,” I said.

“Yes, sir,” Dudley said. “Give or take.”

“Were they headed that way?” I said. “Toward Montezuma?”

The brothers looked at each other and shook their heads from side to side like puppets.

“Could be,” Dudley said.

“Do you think for any reason that was their destination?” I said.

The brothers looked at each other again.

“No idea about that,” Dudley said.

“What’d they take you for?” Virgil said.

“Shit, not much,” Dudley said.

“Not much, hell,” Theodore said. “All the money we had. Sixteen dollars. I should have shot ’em.”

“Them boys had that look,” Dudley said. “Like they’d cut you down just for the hell of it but they just wanted money. They didn’t go through our shit or nothing.”

“And we got nothing of value in our belongings,” Theodore said, shaking his head completely unconvincingly. “Nothing at all, not one thing, no gold or nothing, only thing of value is that carbine of mine and they left it alone.”

“Tell us about the men,” Virgil said.

The brothers looked at each other.

“They were mounted?” I said.

“Oh, yeah,” Dudley said. “They were.”

“And they had guns?” Virgil said.