Part 20 (1/2)

”No harm done,” Oscar said. Looking down, away from those frightened eyes, he brushed sawdust from the sleeve of his coat.

”Fine,” whispered Holliday to the giant. Again, fractionally, his head nodded once. ”Be seeing you.”

”Sure, yeah, sure. Come on, Darryl.” He grabbed the other man by his elbow. And without either of them looking back, the two men left the saloon, the giant's head tucked low-clearly to avoid the ceiling beams; but perhaps also, or so Oscar imagined, in shame.

Before Oscar had an opportunity to speak to Holliday, grinning old Larson had scuttled up from the table, bony hand outstretched from his bulky sleeves. ”Howdy, Doc, maybe you remember me, Carl Larson outta Arkansas, we had a drink once, well, not together, I reckon, but over in Leadville at Pap's place-”

Holliday glanced down at the hand, ignored it, nodded, and whispered, ”Mr. Larson.”

”-last year it was,” Larson continued, undaunted as he slipped his hand into the pocket of his coat, ”-round about July. I just wanted to tell you I purely did admire the way you handled old Biff there, he's been lookin' for trouble since he blowed into town-”

Holliday turned to Oscar, and Larson trailed off, ”-and now I reckon he got it.”

Oscar nodded to the gunfighter. ”Dr. Holliday.”

Holliday nodded back. ”Poet.” His eyes were still as black and blank as the outer reaches of s.p.a.ce.

”I suppose I should thank you for your intervention,” Oscar said, ”but you know, I really do believe that I should have acquitted myself quite well.” He brushed a few more bits of sawdust from his coat front.

For a moment Holliday said nothing; he merely stared at Oscar with those bleak, empty eyes. Oscar thought, as his stomach sank floorward, that he had just made a dreadful mistake. And then Holliday's smile flickered briefly. ”Maybe so,” the man whispered.

”I'm rather good at boxing, you see,” Oscar explained.

Holliday nodded. ”Good. Keep an eye opened for your big friend.”

”Ah? You think he'll be back, then?” Oscar's unwonted bloodl.u.s.t was beginning to subside.

Holliday whispered, ”I think he'll be keeping an eye opened for you.”

Oscar shrugged. He and the tour would be gone from Denver by tomorrow. ”Ah well. What will be, will be. Fancy a drink?”

Fractionally, Holliday shook his head. ”Another time.”

”But you've only just arrived.”

”Another time,” Holliday said, and smiled that small frigid smile. He looked once around the room, as though making sure that there were no more giants to be dispatched, and then looked back at Oscar and nodded. ”Be seeing you,” he whispered, and then, his slim back as straight and as supple beneath his coat as a matador's, he turned and glided from the saloon.

RUDd.i.c.k DREW HIMSELF UP and made a face that reminded Grigsby of someone who had just chomped down on a green Rpersimmon. ”Now just a minute, Mr. Marshal,” he said. ”I came here of my own free will, you know. I'm only trying to do my duty. I certainly don't expect to get snapped at.”

Oh Jesus, Grigsby thought. This is one solid gold daffodil we got here.

But having just punched out Greaves (and Brubaker, too, a real bonus) Grisby now discovered within himself a sudden expansive tolerance. And the boy, daffodil or not, was right. No point in hollering. More flies with honey.

He sucked in some air. ”Yeah,” he said. ”Been a rough day. Come on in. Take a seat.” He jerked his thumb at the office's other chair, then shuffled around his desk and eased himself down into his own. The brief fight had left him exhausted and drained. Hanrahan was right-he was getting too old for that s.h.i.+t. His spirits might be a bit higher now, but his knuckles were throbbing and his hand felt like another fifteen minutes would see it the size of a boiled ham.

One thing, though-his hand probably didn't hurt anywhere near as bad as Greaves's jawbone.

Moving lightly, in a kind of leisurely skip, Rudd.i.c.k floated across the room to the chair. He glanced down suspiciously, as though expecting to spot something nasty, and maybe poisonous, perched on the wood, then plucked a pink handkerchief from his jacket pocket and whisked it at the seat. The air was suddenly clotted with the smell of lilacs. He tucked away the handkerchief and sat down, his back straight but tilted a bit forward, his knees together, his hands folded primly in his lap.

Jesus, Grigsby thought. But, looking at Rudd.i.c.k, he moved his mouth in a pleasant, empty smile; he was being tolerant.

The boy was in his early twenties, his eyes gray, his skin clear except for a small scattering of pink pimples along each pale cheek. Good bones, strong nose, a firm jaw. Grigsby decided that if he scrubbed away that stink.u.m, got himself some steady outdoor work, and stopped flouncing around like a dizzy school-marm, he could probably pa.s.s himself off as a normal person. So how come he had to act like such a lulu-belle?

Well, it was a free country. And a big one. Room in it for lulu-belles, even.

”Right,” he said. ”Appreciate you droppin' by. I reckon you know about these hookers that got killed off.”

Rudd.i.c.k's face twisted in its persimmon pucker. ”Mr. Vail told me all about it. I think it's absolutely hideous. I've never heard of such a thing. Mr. Vail said that you believe it must be one of us, but really, Marshal, that's just too incredible to consider.”

”Maybe,” Grigsby told the boy. ”But I got to check out all the possibilities. You can see that, right?”

Rudd.i.c.k shrugged. ”Well. I suppose so.” He glanced around the office, frowning as though he didn't much care for the green walls, the bare wood floors, the drab gray file cabinet.

That was fine with Grigsby. He didn't much care for any of it either.

”Thing of it is,” Grigsby said, ”I got to eliminate the innocent before I can determine the guilty.” To himself, remembering the letter from the Scientific lawman of Leavenworth, Kansas, Grigsby smiled. ”You follow me?”

”Yes, certainly,” Rudd.i.c.k said, and crossed his legs, right knee over left.

”Right. So I reckon you can figure why I got to ask you where you were at last night.”

”Certainly,” said Rudd.i.c.k. He looked down and, mouth thoughtfully pursed, eyebrows thoughtfully raised, admired the sheen of his black patent leather shoe.

Grigsby waited. Rudd.i.c.k said nothing, and then after a moment he looked up and smiled politely, as though he too were waiting. Patiently, Grigsby said, ”So where were you at last night?”

”Oh,” said Rudd.i.c.k. ”I was out.” He smiled brightly then, as pleased with himself as the winner of a spelling bee.

Grigsby grinned, showing Rudd.i.c.k all of his teeth. ”Ya know, Wilbur, I'm startin' to get the feelin' that you're funnin' with me.”

Rudd.i.c.k's left eyebrow arched up his forehead at this curious notion. ”Funning?”

”Tell me somethin',” Grigsby said seriously. ”Haven't I been all nice and considerate while I been askin' you my questions?”

Rudd.i.c.k s.h.i.+fted in his chair. ”I suppose so,” he said, and looked down at his shoe again.

”I haven't hollered at you but the one time, now have I?”

Rudd.i.c.k sighed. ”No.” He glanced around the office with a sulky frown, like a small boy dragged before the princ.i.p.al.

”Appears to me,” Grigsby said, ”that you're tryin' to get some kind of a rise outta me. Now most times I like a bit of funnin' as much as the next fella. But this here is a murder we're talkin' about, and I don't have my normal parcel of patience. So I calculate that this'd probably go along better for the both of us if you put aside the funnin' for a time and just answered the questions. You follow me?”

Rudd.i.c.k shrugged. He nodded, then looked off, toward the window.

And then, as Grigsby was congratulating himself on his tact, he heard footsteps out in the anteroom. After a moment, Carver Peckingham appeared in the doorway, tall and anxious.

”Everything okay, Marshal?” he asked.

”Fine, Carver. Close the door now. We'll talk later.”

Carver looked at Rudd.i.c.k. Rudd.i.c.k brushed his hand back over his black hair and smiled pleasantly. Carver nodded to him and backed out, shutting the door behind him.