Fistful of Feet (11 page)

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   Maybe it was because Sergio had been emotionally distant or perhaps because she was still recovering from her sickness, but June had the urge to see the creature again.

   As she was walking out of her room, her friend and fellow whore Lady Troy walked by.

   “June, you feeling better?”

   “Yes, guess so. I feel sick then I feel better. Then sick again,” June said, slowly walking to the starfish room.

   “So, I saw that man you had. He looked like an interesting one. Was he?”

   “Eh, just your typical son of a bitch but he did give me some extra, though, so I guess he wasn’t all bad. How’s your business going?”

   “I’ll tell you something, June. When I first started, Betty wasn’t sure about hiring someone like me. But I rarely have a free moment. You know how many cowboys are itching to see a girl with a dick? And even the men who think I’m all lady, they’re pleasantly surprised when they see I’m packing a pistol, if you catch my meaning.”

   June laughed. “Your mouth is as dirty as a bedpan.”

   “And that’s the way I like it!”

   June shook her head and smiled. Then she slowly walked forward. “I have things to do, Troy. We’ll have a drink later.”

   “Okay, sweetie,” Lady Troy said, walking away.

   As June entered the room, she saw the starfish on the ceiling. It was covered in pink webbing.

   “Don’t worry, baby, mommy’s here,” June said, climbing onto the bed to reach the starfish. As her fingers touched it, she felt the nausea strike, causing her to collapse on the floor.

   “Why would you want to hurt your mommy? Why…..”

CHAPTER TWENTY

   Kersey didn’t bother to fetch the sheriff when Calamaro walked upstairs. He figured someone would be killed and there was no avoiding it. He still didn’t tell Sheriff Doyle about that purple-bearded bastard Merrick who Calamaro had shot earlier in the day.

   When he heard the explosion out front, Kersey walked to the front porch. He saw Ryan twitching on the ground with his legs all blown to bits. It was a miracle the asshole was still alive. Kersey stood there while the other two men fell to the ground and then he thought it might be a good time to get back to the front desk. He wasn’t surprised. If he had been a betting man, Kersey would’ve put all his money on the stranger.

   Calamaro came down the stairs and said, “A window broke in my room. I’ll pay for it.”

   “Paying for the window is the least of your worries right now. Blowing the legs off one of William Lyons’ boys? That’ll get you dead.”

   “He had it coming.”

   Kersey shook his head. “That may be so but you don’t seem to understand the situation you put yourself in.”

   “I think I do. If it helps any, I’ll leave your hotel.”

   “That might be best,” Kersey said. “I think I helped you enough.”

   “I appreciate it.”

   “If you appreciate it, then do me a favor and don’t mention it to anyone. I don’t need trouble from Lyons.”

   Calamaro nodded his head. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” Then he walked out the back door. He untied his donkey and pulled it along the area behind the buildings to keep out of sight.

   Two minutes after Calamaro left, the sheriff walked into the hotel and shouted at Kersey. “Where the hell is that stranger?” He pulled his gun out.

   Kersey said, “Don’t know, sheriff. I fell asleep here at the front desk and only woke up when I heard the explosion. That boy okay?”

   “Okay? His goddamn legs are blown off, for Christ’s sake. What do you think? Now cut the shit and tell me who’s upstairs.”

   “Just the same handful of people who’ve been here for weeks, sheriff.”

   “What about the stranger? The one that came into town today?”

   Kersey shrugged. “Two strangers came in today. Which one are you talking about?”

   “Whichever one blew the legs off that asshole outside.”

   “I guess either of them might be upstairs. I don’t know but you feel free to check.”

   “I don’t need your fucking permission,” Sheriff Doyle said. He walked up the stairs slowly. He started checking every room. Half of the rooms were empty while a couple of others were being occupied by the familiar faces of men who Doyle knew weren’t suspects.

   He got to the room with the broken window. When he saw it was empty, he swore loudly. Then he went to the room next to it and saw the body of Merrick, his purple beard still twitching slightly.

   “Fucking hell!” Sheriff Doyle walked downstairs and slammed his fists on the counter. He grabbed Kersey’s shirt. “Were you going to tell me about the fucking dead man upstairs?”

   “Dead man? What dead man?”

   “Karl Merrick. Purple beard. Sound familiar?” Sheriff Doyle said, shaking Kersey hard. “Does it have anything to do with Nix and those assholes?”

   “I don’t know, sheriff. Honest.”

   Sheriff Doyle let go of Kersey and ran his hands through his hair. “I am seriously getting sick of this shit.”

   “Me, too.”

   “Shut the fuck up and go fetch Doctor West so he could take care of Karl. Got it?”

   “Yeah, I got it.”

   “And if you see either of those guys, you let me know immediately. Do you understand that?”

   “Sure thing, sheriff. I see the strangers, I’ll let you know.”

   Sheriff Doyle walked out of the hotel and saw that the doctor and his sons were carrying Ryan Hickory to Doctor West’s place. Chaps and Nix were able to walk on their own albeit slowly and painfully.

   Doyle shouted. “Didn’t Lyons tell you dumb assholes to wait?”

   Nix turned and said, “Fuck you.”

   The sheriff shook his head. Those boys would never learn.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

   Calamaro tied his donkey to a wooden cross that stuck out of the ground in the backyard of the brothel. He wondered why the man had been buried all alone back there. He walked across the cemetery with one grave and went through the back door.

   Betty was at a table counting money. She spoke without looking up. “I knew you’d be coming around. Heard the explosion and just knew you had something to do with it.”

   Calamaro said, “That a problem? I can leave.”

   “No, you don’t have to leave.” Betty stopped counting and looked up at him. She smiled. “You’re a good man. Maybe not the smartest but you have a good heart.”

   “I wouldn’t think me a saint if I was you. Not just yet.”

   “What? You come here to rob me?”

   Calamaro laughed. “No, I didn’t come here to rob you. But don’t think me some angel coming here to clean up your town. That’s supposed to be the sheriff’s job.”

   “You haven’t met our sheriff, then, have you?”

   “I haven’t had the pleasure, no.”

   Betty motioned for him to follow her and he did. She brought him down a dimly lit hallway and into a small room that had been painted bright red. “Have a seat,” she said.

   Calamaro sat on a chair across from Betty who sat down on a well-worn Victorian couch. “Nice room,” he said.

   “Thank you. Everything was brought straight from England.” She patted the couch cushion as if to show him how soft it was. “You don’t mind, can I ask you something?”

   Calamaro nodded.

   “What happened to your ear or does everyone ask you that and you’re sick of answering?”

   “Someone shot at it is all. There’s no special story behind it.”

   “Was it in the war?”

   “No, I didn’t take a part in the war.”

   Betty leaned back and crossed her legs. “Most of the men who come through town either fought in the war or lie and say they fought in it. I don’t remember the last time I heard a man from out of town admit he didn’t fight.”

   “I believe it,” he said. “Most men are liars.”

   “How about you? You a liar?”

   “I’m a lot of things but not a liar. If there’s something I don’t want someone to know, I just keep my mouth shut.”

   “How does that work out?”

   Calamaro smiled. “Usually just makes me look mysterious.”

   Betty laughed. “Well, let me ask you a question and if you want, you can stay mysterious. How about that?’

   “Sounds fine.”

   “Where’re you coming from, Calamaro?”

   “Does it matter?”

   “Where’re you going?”

   “Does that matter?”

   Betty smiled and shrugged. “Guess not. Just curious, though. I’ve been here for a long time and so I forget what it’s like in other places.”

   “I came from the east. The eastern coast.”

   “Any special reason why you left?”

   Calamaro took off his hat and set it on the floor next to him. “Just decided to leave. Wasn’t much left for me there.”

   “You don’t have no family or nothing?”

   “Yes,” he said. “I have a family.”

   “You left them?”

   Calamaro hesitated for a few seconds and then said, “Yes, I left them. A wife and a little girl.”

   Betty had been looking him right in the eye during the whole conversation but when he said this, she stared at him with more intensity. “You left your wife and child behind?”

   “Yes.”

   “Guess I should’ve expected that. You know, you being a man and all.”

   Calamaro said, “That’s another story I’ve told too many times.”

   “I’m not forcing you to tell me anything.”

   Calamaro grabbed his hat from the floor. “Do you have somewhere I can stay just for tonight?”

   Betty stood up abruptly and adjusted her dress. “Guess you can stay in this room if you’d like. No one comes back here but me. That is, if you don’t mind sleeping on the couch or the floor.”

   “I don’t mind.”

   “I’ll get you a blanket and some whiskey for the night. I’ll bring in a bedpan, too,” Betty said. “If the sheriff decides to search the place, I really can’t do anything more than maybe warn you a few minutes ahead of time. Just so you know.”

   “A warning is more than enough.”

   “Well then, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Betty walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She angrily walked down the hallway and into the front of the brothel. Stacklee was tending the bar.

   “Betty, you ready to take over?” he said. Stacklee hated playing bartender. Though most of the patrons didn’t do anything outwardly hostile to him, they still didn’t show him the proper respect. Still, at the present moment there weren’t any customers so he was eager to be relieved of his duty before a crowd came in.

   “Just give me a minute, will you?” Betty grabbed a bottle of whiskey and then went into the closet for a blanket. She was angry as hell but didn’t want to show it to Stacklee. He’d ask what was wrong and she’d feel guilty if she didn’t explain. But how could she? How could she tell him that she was disappointed that the kind-hearted stranger in town turned out to be just another lousy man who abandoned his family?

   Stacklee said, “Something bothering you, Betty?”

   “Don’t worry about it, Stacklee.”

   “I always worry, you know that. It’s a curse. I worry about me and I worry about you. I worry about all the girls. I thought that’s why you hired me.”

   “I appreciate it but it’s just something small and stupid.”

   “It about Calamaro?”

   Betty stopped fiddling in the closet. “How’d you know?”

   “One of the girls saw him from a window upstairs. Said he came in through the back door. He here?”

   “Who said he came in?”

   “Lady Troy.”

   Betty frowned. “I have to tell that girl to keep her mouth shut.”

   “So, he here or what?” Stacklee said.

   “Yes, he’s in the back but keep quiet about it.”

   “I will.” Stacklee laughed. “I guess he had something to do with that explosion. Poor old Ryan Hickory lost his legs.”

   “It was Ryan?” Betty smiled. “I wish it were Nix.”

   “Me too. So what’s the problem?”

   “Turns out our little hero is just a typical son of a bitch. Left a wife and daughter back east and here he is in a whorehouse and he’ll probably want a free one. That really sticks in my craw.”

   “You’re angry at him leaving his wife and daughter?” Stacklee laughed.

   “What the hell is so goddamned funny, Stacklee?”

   “Betty, his wife and daughter are dead, killed by Union soldiers who thought they were spies. He didn’t mention that?”

   “No, he didn’t. He said he didn’t want to talk about it. Why’d he tell you?”

   “Because he had too much whiskey, that’s why.”

   Betty felt like a jack-ass but thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t yet taken her anger out on Calamaro. “I might’ve misjudged him, then.”

   “Guess you did, Betty. But if you don’t mind, I’ll take him the whiskey and blanket and you can watch the bar.”

   Betty let him do just that because she was afraid to talk to Calamaro again so soon. She knew that she was in no real position to judge considering she ran a whorehouse but it just bothered her to think someone would just leave their family.

   A few minutes later, Stacklee came back and said, “Calamaro wants to talk to you, Betty.”

   She nodded and walked back to the room. When she entered, he was lying on the couch with his feet up. His dusty boots were on the floor and his hat was over his face.

   Betty said, “You taking a nap?”

   “No, just resting my eyes.”

   “Stacklee said you wanted to talk with me.”

   “That’s right.” Calamaro took the hat off his face and sat up. “He said you got the wrong impression of me. Thought I abandoned my family. I just wanted to explain things better.”

   “There’s no need to explain. It’s your business, not mine.” She didn’t want to make him feel like he needed to justify himself to her. He was a grown man and whatever had happened to him and his family was none of her concern.

   “I usually don’t care what people think but it does bother me that you had the impression I left my wife and daughter. I opened my mouth half way so I might as well go through with it. I’d feel better. I already told Stacklee but that was only because I had too much whiskey and couldn’t keep my trap shut.”