Anna Finch and the Hired Gun by Kathleen Y'Barbo Read Free Book Online Page A

him return it to her. Finally the former dentist stepped away from the buggy and headed back across Eighteenth toward Jeb.
    The possibility Doc might recognize him did not keep Jeb from getting a direct look at the criminal, who’d aged beyond his years. He seemed to wear his troubles in his expression as well as his posture.
    Not that Jeb cared. Even though he’d read of Doc’s supposed battle with illness, to see that Ella’s killer suffered gave him some measure of satisfaction. That the consumption was a slow, cruel death was slightly comforting, as well.
    The Bible said he should let go of any concern over what the Lord did with Holliday. This was an ongoing project at which Jeb failed more than succeeded.
    Jeb slowed his pace to allow a harried mother to herd half a dozen children into the Crutcher Mercantile, all the while watching Doc’s back. The Georgia dentist plying a society matron with money intrigued Jeb as much as it put him on alert. Doc was up to something.
    Jeb glanced behind him to see if Doc’s friend still waited, but the buggy had already disappeared. He turned his attention back to Doc, who made slow but steady progress through the bustling crowd until he disappeared inside the apothecary that was located inside the Windsor Hotel.
Figures
. A man in his health probably spent a considerable amount of time and money buying potions and powders to keep himself upright and moving.
    All the better, for that was a stop Jeb too needed to make.
    Jeb took a deep breath of clear, bracing air and paused to survey the scene around him. Though Holliday mostly traveled alone, only allowing his supposed wife Kate any access to him, there was nonetheless a possibility some of his less law-abiding friends might be lurking about. Jeb saw no one he recognized, but he knew there could still be new hangers-on whose names he might only learn the hard way. By way of habit, he rested his palm on his Colt and gave one last hard look to anyone who might be glancing in his direction.
    Jeb spent the next several minutes staring at the apothecary door, trying to decide just how bad an idea it was to go inside. His stupid side won out. He took two steps forward, then stopped as the woman’s buggy came around the corner and rolled to a stop in front of the Windsor Hotel.
    So they were meeting after all.
    Jeb crossed the street and caught up to the woman as her driver helped her down. She paid Jeb no attention, though from his spot behind her Jeb could see she gave particular interest to the upper floors of the hotel.
    “I’ll be in the dining room,” she said.
    The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Before Jeb could figure out from where, the driver spied him staring and moved toward him.
    “You need something, pal?” the undersized Irishman asked.
    Jeb pulled his hat lower over his eyes and shook his head. He turned and moved a few yards away, then retraced his steps in time to see the pretty lady entering the Windsor’s front doors.
    A glance at the driver, who had already climbed into the seat andslouched his hat over his eyes, and Jeb followed the mysterious female inside.
    The lobby stretched half a block in either direction, and a double staircase led to one of the dining rooms. For a city girl who probably got little in the way of exercise, she took the steps at a decent pace. When a group of men in business suits obscured his view, Jeb watched her hat, a concoction of feathers and ribbon, bob and bounce as she climbed above the crowded lobby. Careful to blend in as best he could despite the fact he still wore a full beard, Jeb crossed the lobby and waited at the bottom of the stairs until the woman disappeared into the main dining room.
    A fellow in a hotel uniform caught sight of him and frowned. Jeb tipped his hat and pretended to leave, then circled around behind the man to wait for his chance to get upstairs undetected. It came a few minutes later in the form of a screeching child who threw herself onto the floor