“Cardiff?” she repeated. “You’re lookin’ for Cardiff?”
“Actually, I’m looking for three men,” he said. “Adderly, Cardiff, and Sweet.”
“I don’t know anybody named Sweet,” she said, “but I know Cardiff.”
“Not Adderly? Chet Adderly?”
“No, not Adderly. Just Cardiff, Jim Cardiff.”
“I don’t know his first name,” Lancaster said, “but Cardiff’s not a common name, so it must be him. Where is he?”
“He’s gone.” She folded her arms again.
“Gone? Gone where?”
“Just gone. Let’s talk about you. Did the boys tell you about the toll?”
“Toll? What toll? They didn’t mention anything.”
“Anybody who rides through Peach Springs has to pay a toll.”
Lancaster wondered what the hell she was talking about.
“Hermione, we’re getting off the point.”
“No, we’re not,” she said. “The toll is the point. See, you can’t leave town without payin’ the toll.”
“What toll?” Lancaster was getting frustrated. “Nobody said anything about a toll.”
“George!” she suddenly yelled. The door opened and George appeared. “Nobody told Lancaster about the toll?”
“Not yet, Hermione, dear.”
“Why not?”
“We just didn’t get to it yet.”
“What if he don’t have any money?”
“He’s got money,” George said. “I saw it when he paid for his beef stew. He’d got a lot of money.”
Lancaster had kept his money on him, rather than leave it in his room. He still had most of the thousand dollars Andy Black had given him.
So that was it. They were after his money. But how did they expect to get it?
“Look,” he said, “all I’m interested in is where Cardiff or Adderly went when they left here.”
“When they left?” Hermione asked.
“That’s right.”
“You don’t got to worry about that,” she said. “Let’s talk about the toll.”
“Okay,” he said, “let’s get this out of the way. What about the toll? How much is it?”
“Half,” she said.
“Half of what?”
“Half of whatever you have,” she said.
“He’s got a lot,” George said again.
“George,” she said, “go talk to your brothers.”
“Talk to—”
“Go!”
“Oh,” he said, as if he just got it. “Okay.”
“Okay,” she said, after George had gone, “how much have you got?”
“It doesn’t matter how much I’ve got, Hermione,” Lancaster said, “I’m not giving you any of it.”
“In that case,” she said, firming her jaw, “you’ve got a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“If you don’t pay our toll,” she said, “you don’t leave Peach Springs alive.”
Forty
Lancaster stared at her for a few moments, wondering if she was serious.
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes, what?”
“You’re wonderin’ if I’m serious,” she said. “The answer is yes.”
“I’m also wonderin’ how you’re gonna enforce that threat,” he said.
She smiled, and just for a moment she became pretty. He wished he could have seen her when she was in her twenties.
“I’ve got four brothers,” she said.
“With no guns.”
“They have guns,” she said. “You just haven’t seen them yet. And they know how to use them.”
Lancaster studied her. She was dead serious. He’d been taken. Just because he hadn’t seen any guns didn’t mean there weren’t any. Don’t be fooled by the smiles.
“What about your cousin?”
“Dan? What about him? He’s a cousin.”
“He’s a good bartender.”
“That’s about all he is,” she said. “No, it’s me and my brothers you have to worry about.”
“Well,” Lancaster said, “it’s me you have to worry about. You’re in this room with me, and I don’t see a gun on you.”
“You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed woman.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I’ve known a lot of men like you,” she said. “They come here, they pay the toll, or they die.”
“Not me,” he said.
“What makes you so special?”
“I’ve got you,” he said. “You’re gonna get me out of here alive.”
She smiled. “Look out the window.”
She moved away from the window so he could walk to it. He kept one eye on her, just in case she had a gun hidden somewhere.
When he looked out the window, he saw the four brothers standing in the street in front of the hotel. They all wore guns on their hips.
“They know how to use them,” she said.
“You said that already.”
“No, I mean they really know how to use them.”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
“So you’re not gonna pay?”
“Not one penny.”
“You’re gonna walk out there?”
“With you,” he said, “yes. You’re gonna get me my horse and I’m gonna leave your little town. It’s up to you and your brothers who’s still alive when I do.”
She stared at him. “Lancaster? That’s your name?”
“Yes.”
“Should I know that name?”
He could see it in her eyes. She was starting to think that maybe they had made a mistake this time.
“Probably not,” he said. “Not if you’ve spent your whole life here, in this little town.”
“I guess I should stick my head out once in a while,” she admitted.
“Well,” he said, “you’re gonna stick your head out now. Come on, let’s go.”
Forty-one
Lancaster walked Hermione down to the lobby at gunpoint. The desk was deserted, as all the brothers were in the street. He could sense that her mind was racing. She would come up with some kind of offer before they hit the street.
He was starting to think he might have been wrong when she stopped walking just before they got to the door.
“There’s an easier way to do this,” she said.
“How’s that?”
“Pay the toll,” she said. “I’ll reduce it. As long as you pay something, the boys will let you leave.”
“Out of the question,” he said. “I won’t pay anything.”
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
“Let’s just say it’s my nature.”
“What if I could give you what you came here for?” she asked.
“You said you couldn’t.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say it’s my nature.”
“Then why should I believe you now?”
“Because I’m tryin’ to save us both a lot of trouble,” she said.
“You should have thought of that before.”
“Wait, wait,” she said impatiently. She turned to face him. “Flagstaff.”
“What about it?”
“You’re lookin’ for a man named Sweet,” she said. “He’s in Flagstaff. Or at least that’s where Cardiff said he was goin’.”
“And why would he tell you that?”
“Men talk in bed sometimes.”
“You’re telling me that Cardiff came here to have sex with you?”
“He liked it here,” she said.
“And what about Adderly?”
“He didn’t like it here.”
“So they were both here?”
“Yes.”
“But not now?”
“No.”
Lancaster wasn’t sure he could believe her, but there was someone else he could ask.
“Okay,” he said, “let’s go.”
“Back upstairs?”
“No,” he said, “outside.”
“But…you have what you want.”
“Sorry, Hermione, but I don’t believe you,” he said. “Come on. Out.”