Blood Duel by David Robbins, Ralph Compton Read Free Book Online Page A

not stop looking at it.
    Toward midnight a brainstorm hit him with the force of a thunderclap. He started to laugh and could not stop. He laughed so long, and so loud, that a skulking coyote, drawn by the scents of his camp, yipped and raced away into the night.
    Since Chester Luce did not own a gavel, he used a hammer, and since he did not want to mark up the counter with dents, he placed a folded blanket on top of the counter before he struck it with the hammer. “All right, everyone,” he said to get their attention. “This meeting of the Coffin Varnish Town Council will officially come to order.”
    Winifred Curry sat next to the stove, sucking on a gumdrop. He had a sweet tooth and gumdrops were his favorite.
    Minimi Giorgio sat on a stool by the dry goods section. He was nervous about being there. He gripped the edge of the stool with both hands as if afraid he would fall off.
    The huge Swede, Dolph Anderson, seldom sat. He stood with his brawny arms folded across his powerful chest, his cornstalk hair and beard neatly trimmed, as always. “What be so important that you call me from my work?” His English was thickly accented, so much so that everyone else had to listen closely to tell what he said, especially Minimi, whose English was not the best.
    Chester came around the counter. He did not like to stand behind it because it made him seem short, even if he was short. “You have heard about the killings?”
    “Ja,” the big Swede said.
    “Then how can you ask a question like that? It isn’t something that happens every day, and it will have an impact on our community.”
    “How will it impact?” Anderson asked.
    Winifred stopped sucking on the gumdrop long enough to say, “Shouldn’t we wait for your wife, Chester?”
    Chester was about to reply that if she was late it was her own fault when steps thumped on the stairs and down she came.
    Adolphina was almost as big as the Swede, and when she came and stood behind the counter, she made the counter seem small. “About ready to start, are we?”
    “Yes, dearest.”
    “Everyone pay attention,” Adolphina said. “I have been doing some thinking and—” She stopped and looked around. “Where are Placido and Arturo?”
    “The Mexicans?” Chester said. “What do we need them for? They aren’t on the council.”
    “Neither is Mr. Giorgio but you invited him,” Adolphina noted. “Go get them. They should be in on this as well.”
    Chester’s ears grew red at being ordered about in front of the other men. “Is it really necessary? What can they contribute? All they do is laze about their livery all day. They hardly ever mingle with the rest of us.”
    “We hardly ever mingle with them,” Adolphina jousted. “No, this is business, and it will affect them, so fetch them and be quick about it. I don’t have all night for this. I have sewing to do.”
    “Very well,” Chester said, resigned to a force of nature he could never refuse. “I will be right back.”
    The tiny bell above the door tinkled as he went out. Winifred promptly opened the gumdrop jar and helped himself to several more, stuffing them in his shirt pocket.
    “You will pay for those,” Adolphina said.
    “Naturally,” Win responded. “Put them on my account, if you please.”
    Adolphina leaned on the counter. “Mr. Anderson, how is that lovely wife of yours?”
    “She be fine,” the Swede answered. “Filippa tell me that if I see you I am to give her regards.”
    “She is a daisy, that one,” Adolphina said. “The only woman I ever met who works harder than I do.”
    Winifred almost swallowed his gumdrop. It was well known that Chester’s wife spent most of her time above the store reading and eating and whatever else it was that occupied her hours. The mention of sewing had surprised him. Chester once told him that she hired her sewing out to Mrs. Giorgio.
    “Filippa is a good woman, ja,” Anderson said proudly. “She be fine wife. I pick well.”
    “She had