Роберт Паркер - Robert B. Parker's Revelation

“Does,” I said.

“Hell, Everett, you might ought to be a salesman. I’m sure Allie would be thrilled to have you work with her.”

“I’d make a good one.”

Allie came out of the shop and stepped out into the street a bit and looked back to the sign.

“Why, that looks simply wonderful,” Allie said to the painter atop the ladder.

He looked down and smiled.

“I’m pleased you like it.”

“Oh, I do!”

“I should be done here in a few hours.”

“Please take your time, we have all the time in the world for you to get that to your perfection.”

“She has her way,” I said.

“She does.”

“Mrs. French,” I called to Allie.

Allie turned, shielding her eyes, and looked across the street to Virgil and me standing on the boardwalk.

“Does have a ring to it,” I said.

“What are you two doing over there?”

“Staying out of the line of fire,” Virgil said.

Allie checked to make sure she could cross safely and walked across to where we were standing.

“Do you like it?”

“I do.”

“Me, too,” Virgil said.

Allie stepped up on the boardwalk next to us and looked back to the shop.

“You like the colors?”

“I do,” I said.

“Virgil?”

“Sure, Allie.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. Don’t you?”

“I do,” she said.

“Well, that is all that matters,” he said.

“No, it’s not. I value your opinion.”

“Everett’s better at opinions than me, and he thinks the colors are just right.”

She smiled at me and said, “And the name?”

“He likes the name. Don’t you, Everett?”

“And you?”

“It’s your name.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Everett thinks it sounds sophisticated.”

“But you?”

“I told you when you decided on the name that I thought it was a good name.”

“Liking it and thinking it is good are two different things, Virgil.”

“Well, what do you want me to say?”

“If you don’t know the answer to that, I can’t help you, Virgil Cole,” she said.

An Appaloosa deputy came hurrying up the street riding a little roan and pulled to a hard stop in front of us, kicking up some dirt. It was Skeeter, a small Mexican fella with a bright smile and twinkling eyes who the other deputies called Skeeter on account of his size and pesky disposition.

“Hey, Marshal Cole,” Skeeter said in his heavy accent as his roan turned to the left and then, with Skeeter’s nudging, turned in the other direction. “You are wanted at the office of the Western Union, ahora .”

“What for?” Virgil said.

Skeeter shook his head as the roan shifted nervously underneath him.

“I don’t know, but Sheriff Chastain told us to find you, and I find you first.”

“Tell him we’re on our way,” Virgil said.

Skeeter turned the roan and galloped off up the street and Virgil looked to Allie.

“Allie,” he said. “I like the name.”

Allie smiled a little, the kind of smile that was more of a frown than a smile.

“Oh, Virgil,” she said. “You are impossible.”

“That better than possible?”

I looked across the street to see a young woman poke her head into Allie’s shop.

“Looks like you have a customer,” I said.

“Over here,” Allie said.

The woman turned and looked in our direction.

“Oh, hello,” she said and started walking toward us. She waited for some traffic to clear, then lifted the front of her dress and scampered swiftly to us.

“That’s Margie,” Allie said. “She’s a new friend. Mrs. Vandervoort introduced us.”

Margie was smiling as she approached. She had an enthusiastic and glowing exuberance about her. She was a petite blonde with delicate features and a smile that was as pretty as any smile I’d ever seen on a woman.

“I was just checking in on you,” she said.

“Well, I’m glad you did,” Allie said.

When she stepped up on the boardwalk she smiled with even greater warmth as she looked at Allie.

“Your shop, it looks to be coming along nicely,” she said.

“It is,” Allie said, beaming. “Look at the sign.”

Margie pirouetted with a bounce to look back to the sign.

“Oh,” she said with a slight squeal, “I love it.”

“You do?”

“I do,” she said, looking back to Allie. Then she looked to me and blushed a little.

“Oh, Margie, this is Everett Hitch and... Virgil Cole.”

“ The Virgil?” she said.

“Yes,” Allie said with a smile. “The Virgil.”

“I have heard about you, Mr. Cole.”

Virgil nodded a bit.

“What’d she tell you?” he said.

“That you are a lawman,” she said. “A United States Territorial Marshal.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Virgil said with a tip of his hat. “Miss...?”

“Witherspoon,” she said. “Margie Witherspoon.”

“Miss Witherspoon,” Virgil said with a nod.

“What about me?” I said. “Say anything about me?”

She laughed.

“I’m sorry... Mr. Hitch, is it?”

“Obviously she didn’t,” I said. “And it’s Everett. Everett Hitch.”

“Everett,” she said with a smile. “I am afraid Allie has not mentioned you, but we are new friends, so I’m certain in due time she would have expounded on you.”

I looked to Allie.

“Allie?”

“I certainly would have,” Allie said. “I always talk about Everett, don’t I, Virgil?”

“You do,” Virgil said.

“See, Everett,” Allie said. “Everett and Virgil work together, they are both lawmen.”

“Deputy Marshal Everett Hitch,” I said and removed my hat and bowed a little.

“Well, it is a pleasure,” she said.

I looked to Allie, then back to Margie.

“New friends, you say?”

“We are,” Allie said. “I told Margie that if my business got going good, maybe I could use some help running things.”

“My father was a tailor,” she said. “Runs in my family.”

“And just look at her,” Allie said. “She’s a young woman with style and sophistication.”

“Oh, Allie,” she said, blushing.

“You are,” Allie said. “Every time I’ve seen you, you look like one of the beauties from the catalogs.”

“You are too sweet,” she said.

“Where do you hail from, Miss Witherspoon?” I said.

“Margie,” she said. “Please.”

“Margie,” I said with my best smile.

“Nebraska,” she said. “Lincoln.”

“Oh... Lincoln,” I said.

“You say that like you know Lincoln.”

“I do,” I said. “I was stationed there for a short time during my time with the Army.”

“Everett’s traveled all over this country,” Allie said. “He knows more than any man I’ve ever met.”

“Not more than Virgil,” I said.

“Well,” Allie said affectionately as she looked to Virgil. “Virgil has his own particular smarts.”

“What brings you to Appaloosa?” I said.

“My uncle passed away here and I came to sort out his affairs.”

“Sorry to hear,” I said.

“Thank you. He’d been ill for a while, and though it was hard on the family, it was expected.”

“My condolences,” I said.

She smiled.

“Anyway,” she said. “I was saying to Allie that I like the place enough that I just might have to stay for a while. I have been enjoying my visit and it seems every day brings a new surprise.”

“That so?” I said with another one of my best smiles.

“She has money to invest,” Allie said.

“Oh,” Margie said. “My family’s money, not much, of course, but I thought it smart to be forward-thinking. Mrs. Vandervoort has been guiding me on what to do. Perhaps I will invest in her husband’s growing empire. He obviously knows what he is doing.”