Crow Bait by Robert J. Randisi Page B

had gray hair, while his was pitch-black.
    “Welcome to the Peach Springs Saloon, friend,” the bartender said.
    “You’re Dan, right?”
    “Ah, I see you met my cousins already.”
    “I did.”
    “Well, belly up and tell me what your pleasure is.”
    “Beer,” Lancaster said, “cold.”
    “Comin’ up.”
    Lancaster took off his hat, set it on the bar, and ran his hands through his hair.
    “Been ridin’ long?” Dan asked, setting the beer down.
    “Long enough.” Lancaster took two swallows of the cold beer, closed his eyes as the cold ran through him. How easy it would be just to sit and drink, switch to whiskey, and just drift away…
    “You must be passin’ through,” Dan said.
    “Why do you say that?”
    “That’s all anybody ever does, pass through here. Nobody ever stops for more than a day or two.”
    “And if they stop for a day or two, what is there to do?” Lancaster asked.
    “Nothin’,” Dan said, “nothin’ at all.”
    “Your cousin Sam said I could get anything I want here,” Lancaster said.
    “Yeah, well,” Dan said, “that depends on how bad you want it.”
    “Well, the food and the beer are good.”
    “If you like beef stew all the time,” Dan said.
    “Is that all your cousin Harry can make?”
    “No,” Dan said, “he can make bacon and eggs.”
    “Bacon and eggs and stew? That’s it?”
    “Rolls,” Dan said. “He can bake rolls.”
    “Well, that’s food and beer, anyway,” Lancaster said. “What about…other things?”
    “Can’t get no supplies,” Dan said. “I mean, we could probably sell you some cartridges, let you have some coffee and bacon for the trail.”
    “And that’s it?”
    “What else is there?”
    “Women?”
    Dan made a face.
    “You can have a woman if you don’t mind my cousin Hermione,” Dan said.
    “The boys pimp out their sister?”
    “Don’t let them fool you,” Dan said. “Hermione is the one in charge.”
    “Really? I heard she was the baby of the litter.”
    “She’s also the only one with any brains.”
    “What about you?” Lancaster asked. “You seem to have some brains.”
    “I’m only a cousin,” Dan said. “Thank God.”
    “So Hermione whores herself out?”
    “Don’t let the smiles fool you,” Dan said. “Any one of them will do anything to make a dollar.”
    Lancaster took another measured swallow.
    “You want another?”
    “No, this is good. So tell me, why would anyone actually come here? I mean, why would they purposely head here?”
    “Here? To town?” Dan shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe they’d go to one of the ranches, but here?”
    “Maybe,” Lancaster said, “I should meet your cousin Hermione.”
    George turned to see who was coming down the stairs—not that it was any great mystery.
    Hermione Dickson crossed to the desk and stared at her brother, whose smile seemed to freeze.
    “Who’s the man who just rode in?”
    “Henry says his name is Lancaster.”
    “What did he want?”
    “A room.”
    Hermione was not a large person. In fact, all of her brothers were physically larger than her, but they were cowed by her intelligence and the force of her personality.
    “That’s all?”
    “That’s all he asked for.”
    Hermione looked inward and said, “It don’t make sense. He must be here for somethin’.”
    “Well,” her brother said, “we got all night to find out what.”

Thirty-eight
    Lancaster nursed his beer.
    Dan just stood behind the bar and watched.
    “You ever get any other customers?”
    “Sure,” Dan said. “Some of the ranch hands come in once in a while, but there are a couple of saloons in Audley, more in Seligman.”
    “That’s a long ride.”
    “Some of the ranches are halfway between here and Audley. Just as long a ride either way. More beer and women there.”
    That made coming to Peach Springs even more of a mystery. Maybe he was in the wrong place. Maybe there was another town with peach in the name. He posed the question to Dan.
    “Not that I know