recognize you next time.â
âAh.â
âYou might consider getting out of town.â
âI just got in today.â
âLike what youâve seen so far?â asked Marley.
âIâve seen worse.â
âMoving commodities.â
âYou never know where youâll end up.â
âAinât that the truth.â
âThis place weâre goingââ
âAwful Annieâs.â
âRight. Is it much farther?â
âTwo blocks, give or take.â
âItâs a saloon?â
âThey sell a bit of everything.â
âThatâs handy.â
âCan be, if you know the management.â
âAnd you do.â
âPretty well. Itâs like my second home.â
Ryder refrained from asking where his first home was. Too much, too soon.
âAnd here we are,â said Marley, as they neared a three-story ramshackle building with a tavern on its ground floor, music from a trumpet and piano blaring past its bat-wing doors into the street. There was no sign announcing Awful Annieâs, maybe something that you had to know before approaching the anonymous establishment.
Marley pushed through the swinging doors and Ryder followed him inside.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
A nother crowded, smoky room. As
awful
went, it didnât seem much worse than any other place Ryder had visited so far in Galveston. In fact, he might have said the painted women circulating through the room, some perched on knees or hanging over gamblersâ shoulders, were younger and marginally more attractive than those whoâd been working the saloon where he first spotted Bryan Marley.
He was trailing Marley toward the bar when someone shouted, âThereâs the boy himself!â and shouldered through the crush to intercept them. Balding and bearded, flat-nosed. Ryder couldnât see his chest, but he assumed that this was Otto Seitz.
Marley confirmed it when he spoke, saying, âI see youâre nice and comfortable, Otto. I couldâve used your help tonight. More trouble with the Menefees.â
Seitz glowered. âYouâre okay, though?â
âThanks to George, here,â Marley said, cocking a thumb over his shoulder.
Seitz appeared to notice Ryder for the first time, narrowing his eyes. âGeorge, is it? Got another name to go with that?â
âRevere,â Ryder replied. âNo kin to Paul.â
âHuh?â
âNever mind.â
Seitz shifted his attention back to Marley. âSo, what happened?â
âHunsaker and Sloan were waiting for me outside Jennyâs, with a couple others. Thought they might filet me.â
âBut you beat âem.â
â
We
did,â Marley said, tipping a nod toward Ryder. âIf he hadnât happened by, you just might be in charge.â
Seitz turned his gimlet gaze on Ryder once again. âAwright, so heâs a Good Samaritan. Now he canââ
âStay right here and have a drink or three,â said Marley, interrupting his lieutenant. âRight, Otto?â
Before Seitz had a chance to answer, someone shouted Marleyâs name out in a brassy voice and Ryder saw a woman of astounding girth approaching them, plowing ahead and jostling anyone who blocked her path without a semblance of apology. She must have weighed three hundred pounds, confined after a fashion by a larger version of the outfits worn by other women prowling the saloon. Her face was painted garishly, with bright rouge on her cheeks and kohl smugding her eyelids under reddish hair piled high and spiked with feathers.
âAnnie,â Marley said as she embraced him.
Riddle solved.
âYouâve been a stranger lately,â Awful Annie chided, as they disengaged.
âBeen keeping busy,â Marley said, by way of an excuse.
âAnd raising Cain, from what I hear?â
âWho from?â asked Marley.
âOh, the
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