Slocum and the Three Fugitives by Jake Logan Read Free Book Online Page B

figured there must be a hotel or boardinghouse.”
    â€œI . . . I have a big enough bed for the two of us.”
    â€œThat’s the second best offer I’ve had all night,” he said.
    â€œSecond? What? Oh my, John, you are such a joker.”
    Slocum led her to the plaza and the gazebo in the center. They sat so he could kiss her, hidden by shadows.
    â€œThis is nice, but my bed is much more private,” Annabelle said.
    Slocum waited a few seconds longer until two men rode past, heading away. He craned his neck to get a better look at them, but they wore their hats low and had pulled up bandannas to cover their face against trail dust.
    â€œLead on,” he said. He hardly listened to everything Annabelle said as they walked to a small adobe house on the outskirts of town because he kept turning over everything that had happened.
    And that the men who had smashed up the Black Hole whiskey likely had ridden from town on horses with X Bar X brands.

5
    Slocum dropped the clawhammer on the bar with a loud bang. Annabelle looked up from the table where she was working on the saloon’s books.
    â€œAll fixed?” she asked.
    â€œNobody’s getting in the rear door without coming through the wall, and it’s two feet thick,” Slocum said. He drew himself a beer, downed it, then drew another.
    She looked at him in disdain.
    He carefully drank another half mug before asking, “You want one?”
    â€œDrinking up the profits is not helping. Water is perfectly good to quench your thirst.”
    â€œBeer tastes better,” he said, finishing the second mug. He dipped it into the water bucket and it came out brimming with water.
    He rounded the bar and sat beside her, looking at the columns of figures.
    â€œYou want me to explain these to you?”
    â€œI know how to cipher,” he said. “We made a decent profit this past week. Must be the new owner.”
    â€œOr his attentive assistant keeping track of how much liquor goes out in every shot and keeping the beer just cool enough so it’ll foam just right and fill the mug but not make the customer think he’s being cheated.”
    â€œWe could use a piano player,” Slocum said. “Might bring in more customers.”
    â€œNot likely we could cover the expense of the piano, the musician, and however much he would steal from us. Any dollar that goes into the piano player’s pocket doesn’t come to ours.”
    â€œWhat about a faro table? You’d look mighty fine dealing faro,” he said, catching the joking tone to her voice. “You’d only have to bend forward a mite—just like you’re doing now—and show off those fine teats of yours. Gamblers would completely forget the odds.”
    â€œThe odds of me doing that are zero,” she said.
    â€œWhat are my odds with you?”
    â€œOne hundred percent,” Annabelle said, bending over to flash more of her fine breasts as she kissed him.
    â€œI’ll sign over the Black Hole to you anytime you want,” Slocum said. “You and your brother built this place. I just happened along at a bad time for him and a good one for me.”
    â€œNo need. Our partnership is working out fine,” she said.
    â€œSo far. One of these days you’re going to kick me out. It’d be to your benefit if you owned the saloon outright.”
    â€œYou mean you’re getting tired of being tied down so long and want to drift on?”
    Slocum laughed, but the sound rang hollow in his ears. There was a touch of truth in what Annabelle said. Just a touch. He enjoyed her company, both in bed and out. Just seeing her made him think about settling down. Running a saloon wasn’t a bad way to make a living. He had found the more he worked there, both behind the bar and out among the patrons, the less he drank. Part of it was that he no longer needed the liquor to dull the pain of spending long lonely