The Alhambra was one of the finest-looking buildings in sight. Unlike many of the other structures, this one hadn’t been slapped together from a kit. A fire that had swept through town the previous autumn had taken out a good number of businesses, including the Alhambra’s previous location. In fact, many gamblers said the place was better than ever now that it was in a prime location on the corner of Main and Houston Streets.
Caleb had only just been feeling the bite of having such a competitor so close to his own establishment. That bite sank in a little deeper when he walked into the Alhambra to spot plenty of faces that had only left the Busted Flush less than twenty minutes ago. Rather than find some other place to have this talk, Caleb ignored the smarmy waves thrown to him by the Alhambra’s barkeep and picked out a table in the corner next to the piano. He sat down with his back to the bar and hoped nobody else had seen him walk in.
“Hello there, Caleb,” said a petite waitress with her shoulder-length blonde hair tied back with a black ribbon. “Did you run out of good bourbon at the Flush?”
“Maybe I just came to sample this beer,” he offered. “You ever think of that, Sarah?”
The blonde stared down at him with an amused smile and said, “You must really be in the mood for our special brew since I hear there’s a party being served in your honor down at—”
“Just get me a beer,” Caleb interrupted. “Please.”
Letting him off the hook with a squeeze on the shoulder, Sarah leaned down to plant a quick kiss on Caleb’s forehead. “Anything you say. What about your friends, here?”
Since he’d been more than happy to be distracted by the brush of Sarah’s hair against his face, Caleb was reluctant to acknowledge the “friends” she’d spotted. Even so, there was no mistaking the pungent odor of the humpback’s breath or the loud creak of Kyle’s chair as it squealed for mercy when the fat man sat down upon it.
“Bring them beers, too, I guess,” Caleb said grudgingly.
Sarah nodded, tossed a flirtatious grin at the other three men, and turned to walk away amid the rustle of her bright red skirts.
“Appreciate the drinks,” Orville said. “That’s right friendly, considering the circumstances.”
Caleb smiled amiably. “Great, then why don’t we just consider us squared up?”
Orville shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”
“All right, then. Let’s get this over with as quickly as we can. How about we start off with how you think you’re responsible for me getting out of jail?”
The old man pulled in a breath and steeled himself. “That’s the God’s honest truth, mister.”
“The name’s Caleb Wayfinder.”
Hearing that caused Kyle to chuckle. Under his breath, he muttered, “Goddamn Injun.”
Seeing the glare on Caleb’s face was enough to cause both Kyle and Jim to start reaching for their guns.
“Why don’t I just call you Caleb?” Orville offered. “Like I was going to say, me and my nephews helped get you out of that jail.”
“How do you figure?”
“Because I showed up at the request of Dr. Holliday to offer my version of what happened when Mike Abel was killed.”
“Were you the only one that showed?”
“We was there, too,” Jim said. “And we talked you up real nice.”
Nobody at the table seemed to have even noticed that the humpback had opened his mouth.
“There were others,” Orville said. “Dr. Holliday saw to it that plenty showed up. Some of them didn’t even know Mike was dead. I think it was the first time a few of them had even stepped foot in your saloon.”
“That’d account for most of Dallas,” Sarah said as she stepped up and set mugs of beer down in front of each man. Like most servers who made a decent living at the job, her timing was impeccable.
Caleb waved off the sarcastic comment, but Sarah wasn’t going anywhere. “I can settle the bill later,” he told her.
“I’m to collect it now. Manager’s orders.”
Twisting in his seat, Caleb spotted the well-dressed manager of the Alhambra who was waving at him from across the room. “What ever happened to professional courtesy?” Caleb asked.
Sarah shrugged.
Even though he knew Sarah and the manager were just needling him, it couldn’t have been a worse time to look for a laugh. Caleb slapped some money into Sarah’s waiting hand and quickly turned his back to her. Only then did the blonde study the table with concern.
“Is everything all right with you boys?” she asked.
Kyle had yet to take his eyes off of her. More specifically, he had yet to take his eyes off the plunging neckline of her dress. “We’re just fine, darlin’. Don’t you worry.”
Dealing with the likes of Kyle and his equally leering cousin was just another part of Sarah’s job. She bent down to whisper in Caleb’s ear, ignoring the way Kyle and Jim’s eyes widened at the extra bit of cleavage she showed them.
“You just let us know if there’s going to be trouble,” she said.
“I think you’ll know the moment anything starts,” Caleb replied. “I haven’t been attracting trouble of the quiet variety lately.” He felt a pat on his shoulder, and then Sarah moved away to check on some other tables.
“Ben Mays came by to ask what went on at your saloon,” Orville said as if Sarah hadn’t even stopped by the table. “He listened to plenty of stories and found plenty of witnesses to tell them. That was enough to clear you of them charges.”
“That’s because I didn’t murder Loco Mike. He was going to kill Doc, so I shot him down.”
“And that’s what I told Ben Mays.”
“But you weren’t even there when that part happened,” Caleb pointed out. Orville shrugged. “Even so, I was the only one in that card game that wasn’t directly involved in the shooting. My testimony held plenty of weight, just like Dr. Holliday said it would. The only thing is that I think I deserve some compensation for what I did.”
“Since you weren’t there when the last shot was fired, for all you know, you were lying to a Texas Ranger,” Caleb pointed out. “Putting that aside, what you told Ben Mays was the truth. However you cut it, you don’t deserve much more than my thanks.”
Pulling in another breath, Orville straightened in his chair and looked over to both his nephews. Seeing that fat man and the humpback somehow gave the miner enough courage to put some grit into his voice. “If that’s how you feel, then I can go over right now and tell Ben Mays the truth.
“I can also tell him about how Dr. Holliday set it up so you were shown in a real good light so you could escape. Then I can tell him how Dr. Holliday and that other one meant to cheat me out of my mining claims. That dentist friend of yours is becoming more known for his drinking and gambling than pulling teeth, so I don’t think Mays will have any trouble believing what I tell him. In fact, I think he was disappointed that he didn’t hear as much the first time around.”
Even though Caleb tried to avoid the law when he could, he knew Ben Mays well enough to know that Orville wasn’t just spitting out idle threats. The Texas Ranger might not have had it out for him, but he would have preferred to have a definite culprit to Mike Abel’s shooting rather than admit to locking up the wrong man. Texas Rangers were known for plenty of things. Admitting they were wrong wasn’t exactly one of them.
“So you’re blackmailing me?” Caleb asked. “I mean, we might as well just put all the cards on the table here.”
“It’s a fair exchange. If I didn’t say what I did, you probably wouldn’t be out of that cell.”
“Probably. But you could be wrong.”
“I could. Care to try your luck?”
Caleb fought back the urge to jump across that table and make the old miner sorry for even starting this conversation. Instead, he lifted his mug and took a sip of the Alhambra’s house brew. To add insult to injury, that beer was at least twice as good as the stuff Hank whipped up to serve at the Busted Flush.