Роберт Паркер - Robert B. Parker's Revelation

Felix dropped his head a bit and sauntered off through the door to the rear of the café. Hal watched the door work back and forth on the hinges before he looked to us.

“I got a problem,” he said.

“Go,” Virgil said.

Hal looked out the window nervously.

“Someone is trying to take over my business.”

“What do you mean?” Virgil said.

“I can see the writing on the shit house wall,” he said. “I was not born yesterday.”

Virgil looked to me.

“What are you saying, Hal,” I said.

“Some boys a’been coming by here,” he said.

“Boys?” Virgil said.

“Men is what they are, one young, one old... They is goddamn mean, though, both big overgrown fuckers, too. Offering me protection.”

Virgil sipped his coffee, glanced to me, then looked back to Hal.

“Protection from what?” he said.

“They said someone was here to do me harm.”

“Who?”

Hal looked back and forth between Virgil and me.

“From them?” I said, before Hal spoke. “They were the ‘someones’ that meant to do you harm?”

“Seems so,” Hal said.

“They wanting money?” Virgil said.

“They is.”

Virgil looked to me.

“They told me to give them money or they’d make sure they’d close me down.”

Virgil looked to me, then looked to Hal.

“They say how they was planning to close you down?”

“They threatened to burn me down.”

“You talk to Sheriff Chastain about this?”

Hal shook his head some.

“They told me if I said anything, if I go to Sheriff Chastain or any of his deputies they’d say that I lied. They said to me, who Sheriff Chastain gonna believe, white man or a nigger man... They said they’d burn my place down.”

“What’d you do?”

“I gave them some money,” he said.

“How much?”

“At first it was not a lot.”

“At first?” Virgil said. “How long have you been paying them?”

“Three months.”

Virgil glanced to me, then looked back to Hal.

“Do you know who these men are?” he said.

“Not by name I don’t.”

“You seen them around?” I said.

He shook his head.

“Only when they come in here.”

“Do you know or got an idea where they are?” I said.

“I do now,” he said, looking back and forth between Virgil and me. “That’s why I sent for you.”

“Where?” Virgil said.

Hal got to his feet and paced a few times.

“Here’s the deal,” he said. “I come to y’all cause y’all ain’t necessarily who they told me not to talk to. They said Sheriff Chastain and his deputies, don’t say nothing to them, but they never said nothing about no marshals, don’t know they even know you live here in Appaloosa.”

“We been in here four or five times since this has been going on,” I said. “Why haven’t you said nothing to us before now?”

“I figured this would go away, plumb blow over. What I was hoping for, anyway.”

“But it ain’t,” Virgil said.

“Nope. They come tonight, and they’d been drinking, I could tell. They demanded double what I gave them before.”

“You pay ’em?”

He frowned.

“I did.”

“Where are they?” Virgil said.

Hal twisted his big hands together.

“They down at a gambling place, over on the north end of town.”

“There’s more than one,” I said.

“I know which one and they there now,” he said. “I had Felix follow them. That’s what he was talking ’bout. He said they looked to be holed up there just doing what white men do.”

Virgil and I got our horses saddled in case something went afoul and we needed to give chase. We quickly got them ready to ride in the dry of my barn. I did not have a house yet in Appaloosa, but I managed to have a place to keep our animals. It was a nice big barn I rented from the widow of a farrier who passed away a few years back, and currently she had no use for it other than to rent it to me.

I figured since Virgil had Allie to take care of and I really didn’t have anybody I needed to look after, I’d take care of our horses. We had a good lot to choose from, too. Virgil still had his stud Cortez and I had big Ajax, but I had found some good horses of late, and with the exception of doctoring a few problem areas here and there, they were all in good shape to ride. We had twelve in all, and depending on the various tasks at hand, distance, weather, terrain, and surefootedness, it was normally an easy decision which horses we saddled up.

I had two fleet bay horses I’d bought from a rancher I knew who was a good horseman. We had ridden them a lot and they both had a solid step and were easy to maintain, but mainly we felt comfortable with them in rainy weather and the dark.

“How we going to go about this?” I said.

Virgil tightened his cinch and looked over the top of his saddle to me and shook his head.

“Well,” he said. “Don’t make sense two toughs here in Appaloosa set out to collect from a local business.”

I nodded.

“Don’t really,” I said.

“They’re just the collectors,” Virgil said.

I thought about that for a moment.

“For who?” I said.

“Hard to figure.”

I nodded.

“So many shits in this town these days,” I said. “Could be any of ’em.”

“Figure the main thing is we get to the root.”

“Most likely they’re not gun hands,” I said. “More than likely they are just hired hands, acting big.”

“Leave your eight-gauge,” Virgil said. “See if we can take a friendly approach.”

It was raining even harder than it was when we departed Hal’s. We left the barn and rode winding through the streets of Appaloosa to Meserole’s, the place Hal told us the two grifters were located. Hal gave us a good account of what each man was wearing and their physical description.

We found a place across from Meserole’s to tie our horses, where they were somewhat sheltered from the rain. We covered the saddles with oilcloths and walked across the street to the gambling establishment.

There were a good number of horses hitched out front as well as a few buggies parked on the side. Most of the horses had a poncho or oilcloth covering the saddle.

Meserole’s was a gambling saloon that catered to silver miners but was also known for having plenty of ladies working there. It was popular with the younger crowd and, like it appeared to be tonight, it was usually busy.

When we entered, the parlor was noisy and crowded. I did not notice the men we were looking for, not right away, anyway, mainly because it was dark. Virgil and I shook the water from our mackintoshes and hung them by the door and waited for our eyes to adjust some. Like most places that sported hustling women, Meserole’s was dimly lit.

Once our eyes adjusted, we walked to the bar. It was an L-shaped bar with the long side facing the main barroom, where a crowd of men and women sat drinking, smoking, and playing cards and grab-ass. We found two empty stools on the short side of the L so we could have a good look at the gathering and ordered some whiskey. As I was watching the bartender pour the whiskey, Virgil nudged me in the ribs.

I looked to see a fella playing cards with two women in the corner under the landing that led to the second floor.

“That look like one of them Hal described?” he said.

“Might be.”

Virgil nodded a little, then turned away from the man so as not to draw attention. But I could look at him as clearly as if I were looking at Virgil.

“He’s big,” Virgil said. “Wearing a bowler. You see a feather in his hat?”

I watched him for a moment or two, and when he turned his head I saw the feather.