Venom of the Mountain Man Read online

  “You wouldn’t dare do a thing like that,” Hodge said. “It would ruin you. You would have to close your business.”

  “My particular business is always in demand, and I have enough money to go somewhere else and start all over again,” Delilah said. “Do you?”

  Hodge was silent for a moment. “Who do you want to see?”

  “Mrs. Condon.”

  “It is room two-oh-seven.”

  Delilah flashed a smile then reached across the desk to put her fingers on his cheek. “Thank you so much, Mr. Hodge. You’ve been a great help. Come around sometime and I’ll have one of my girls express just how appreciative I am.”

  “If you are going to up to her room, please do so quickly. I wouldn’t want someone to see you and get word back to the wrong people that you were here.”

  “Oh? Tell me, Sylvester, and just who would you say are the wrong people?”

  “Please, go. Just go on up the stairs,” a very agitated Hodge said.

  With a little chuckle, Delilah strolled confidently across the lobby.

  * * *

  When Sara Sue heard the knock on her door, she grew tense. Was it the kidnappers getting in touch with her again or was it Smoke Jensen? “Who is it?” she called.

  “Mrs. Condon, please, I’d like to speak to you. It’s important.” The voice was that of a woman.

  Curious, Sara Sue walked over to open the door. The woman standing in the hall was a very attractive woman, but also a woman who wore more face paint than anyone Sara Sue had ever seen. Even the dress she wore seemed to be . . . the only word Sara Sue could think of was provocative.

  “What do you want to talk about?” Sara Sue asked.

  “I want to talk about the kidnapped children. And please, let me in. It isn’t safe for me to be seen talking to you. I’m in great danger, standing here just outside your door.” The expression on her face and the tone in her voice as she made the declaration of personal danger convinced Sara Sue that the woman was telling the truth.

  “Yes, do come in,” Sara Sue said, stepping aside to allow the woman to enter. She shut the door behind her visitor.

  The woman smiled. “It’s better for you as well. I’m not the kind of woman a good lady like you would want to be seen with.”

  “Oh?”

  “My name is Delilah Dupree, Mrs. Condon. I am what they call a madam. I manage a house of ill repute.”

  “You said something about the kidnapped children,” Sara Sue said.

  “Thank you for not reacting to my, uh, profession.”

  “The children?” Sara Sue repeated.

  “Yes. Last night three of my girls paid a . . . uh, professional visit to a house that is about eight miles west of here on French Creek. While they were there, they discovered that six children were there. The men my girls were visiting told them that the children’s parents knew the children were there, that they were there on a vacation, and the men were just looking out for them.”

  “Six children?” Sara Sue frowned. Jim Harris had told Smoke the number of kidnapped children still unaccounted for would be six, counting Thad, and Smoke had shared that information with her. It was too close to be a mere coincidence. “That’s how many are missing.”

  “I wasn’t aware of the exact number until a short time ago,” Delilah said. “But I knew there was something a little fishy about their story of six kids being on vacation.”

  “And you say they are in a cabin?”

  “Yes, according to my girls there are two buildings there—a small house and an even smaller cabin.”

  “Have you told the sheriff?” Sara Sue asked. Delilah’s chuckle was derisive. “Mrs. Condon, our sheriff never leaves Rawlins. You may as well shout it into the wind as tell him. I did tell Marshal Bodine, but he seemed almost dismissive about it. I’m telling you. Seeing as one of the kidnapped children is yours, you have a bona fide reason to know. Though, to be truthful, I have no idea what you can do about it.”

  Sara Sue smiled at Delilah. “Thank you, Miss Dupree. I very much appreciate your telling me this.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to thank me, ma’am,” Delilah said. “Lord knows, I’m a sinful woman, but even I know that what these men have done—taking kids from their mamas and papas—is wrong. I hope you are able to get your boy back all right.”

  “I pray that I will,” Sara Sue said. “Miss Dupree, there is a gentleman in town, a neighbor. His name is Smoke Jensen, and I would like to see him, but, under the circumstances, it would be ill-advised for me to be seen with him. I wonder if I could prevail upon you to find him and ask him to call on me.”

  “I’ll be happy to do it,” Delilah said. “But now, I wonder if you would do me a favor and look out into the hallway? I don’t want anyone to see me leaving your room.”

  “Of course,” Sara Sue said. Opening the door, she looked both ways down the hallway and saw that it was empty. “There’s nobody here.”

  Delilah stuck out her hand, but Sara Sue ignored the proffered handshake and impulsively embraced her instead. “Thank you,” she said again.

  Delilah stepped out into the hallway, moving quickly because she didn’t want Mrs. Condon to see the tears that had formed in her eyes.

  * * *

  Arnold Fenton had been sent to follow Delilah, and he was standing just behind the turn in the wall at the top of the stairs when he saw the door open, and Mrs. Condon stick her head out. She glanced toward the other end of the hall first, which gave him a chance to pull his head back without being seen.

  A moment later the door to her room opened again, and the woman who ran the whorehouse stepped out into the hallway. His information was accurate. She had met with the Condon woman.

  Fenton pulled back and hurried down the stairs so he wouldn’t be seen. The person who’d sent him would want to know.

  * * *

  When Delilah stepped into the Silver Dollar Saloon a few minutes later, she was met by one of the bar girls who worked there. “What are you doing here, Delilah? I hope you aren’t here to steal any of the girls for your house.”

  “Hello, Belle,” Delilah replied. “No, nothing like that. I’m looking for a man.”

  “Aren’t we all?” Belle replied with a teasing smile.

  Delilah smiled with her. “No, this is a particular man. His name is Smoke Jensen.”

  “Honey, you won’t get nowhere with him,” Belle said. “Believe me, because I have tried. All the girls have tried, but nobody has been able to get him to do nothin’. They say he’s married, ’n if he is, his wife is one lucky woman ’cause he is as straight as an arrow.”

  “I want to try, anyway,” Delilah said. “Is he in here?”

  “Oh, he’s here all right.” Belle pointed to a table near the piano, where two men sat, drinking beer.

  “Thanks,” Delilah said as, with a toss of her head, she started toward the table.

  “Here comes a new girl.” Pearlie smiled. “I have to admit, she’s prettier than the others.”

  “Don’t let me hold you back,” Smoke said.

  “Mr. Jensen?” the girl said as she approached him.

  Smoke was surprised that she had addressed him by name. Also, he noticed, her demeanor was different from that of the other girls. Hers was a direct businesslike approach without the “come on” smile the others employed.

  “Yes, I’m Smoke Jensen. What can I do for you?”

  “My name is Delilah Dupree. Do you know a lady named Mrs. Condon?”

  “Yes, I know her,” Smoke said. “Has something happened to her?”

  “No,” Delilah replied quickly. “I’m sorry if I gave you a start.” She looked around to make certain she could talk to him without being overheard. “I just came from a visit with her, and she asked me to ask you to come see her.”

  “Is she still in the hotel?” Smoke asked.

  “Yes, room . . .”

  “Two-oh-seven,” Smoke said before she could get the number out,

  “Yes,
that’s the room number.”

  “Thank you,” Smoke said. “I . . . was going to offer to buy you a drink, but I have an idea that you don’t work here.”

  “No, I don’t. I have my own place of business, the Delilah House. You and your gentleman friend are welcome at any time, though Belle tells me that you are married and are very loyal to your wife.”

  “That’s true,” Smoke said.

  “I’m not married,” Pearlie said with a broad smile.

  Delilah returned the smile. “Of course the invitation is for you as well.”

  “Come on, Pearlie,” Smoke said, standing. “Mrs. Condon wouldn’t be sending for us unless it was very important.”

  * * *

  “You say she spent some time in the room with the Condon woman, then went from there directly to meet with Smoke Jensen?”

  “Yeah,” Fenton said, “that’s exactly what she done.”

  “I’m afraid Miss Dupree has become a liability.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going to have get someone to take care of her.”

  “How much will you pay?”

  “One hundred dollars.”

  “Not good enough,” Fenton said. “I don’t like killin’ women. I was thinking more along the lines of five hunnert dollars.”

  The two men settled on two hundred and fifty dollars, a sum that satisfied both.

  * * *

  Smoke knocked on the door. “Did you ask for fresh towels, ma’am?” he called.

  The door opened quickly, and Smoke stepped inside, Pearlie having remained downstairs in the hotel lobby.

  “What is it?” Smoke asked.

  “I think I know where they are keeping Thad and the other children,” Sara Sue said.

  “Where?”

  “In a cabin on French Creek, about eight miles west of here. Do you know where French Creek is?”

  “I not only know where it is, the place I’m thinking about has two buildings there. They were abandoned the last time I saw them.”

  “Yes! That’s it!” Sara Sue said excitedly. “Delilah said there was a small house and an even smaller cabin.”

  “Only one way to find out, and that is for me to go out there,” he said.

  “Oh, Smoke, do be careful,” she said. “I want Thad back, safe and sound, but I do feel responsible for Pearlie getting shot and for that dear horse of yours getting killed. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for anything else like that happening.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get Thad back, safe and sound. And the other children, as well,” he promised.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “What are you doing in my office?” Delilah asked. “Can’t you read the signs? There are no gentlemen callers allowed in this part of the house. You have the parlor . . . and the upstairs rooms when you are invited by one of the ladies.”

  “You’ve been opening your big mouth, haven’t you?”

  “Opening my mouth? Opening my mouth about what? Arnold Fenton, what are you talking about?”

  “I seen you goin’ into the Condon woman’s room. Then I seen you goin’ down to the Silver Dollar to talk to Smoke Jensen. What did you tell ’em?”

  “What did I tell them about what?”

  “You know about what. What did you tell them about them kids that’s bein’ held out at French Creek?”

  “It’s true, isn’t it?” Delilah replied. “The children who are being held out there are the kidnap victims! My God, Arnold, are you one of the kidnappers?”

  Fenton took his gun out. “It’s not that you know too much, Delilah. It’s that you know too much and don’t know enough to keep your mouth shut.”

  “Arnold! No!”

  Delilah’s office echoed with the sound of a gun being fired. Delilah’s head flopped back in her chair, blood coming from the bullet hole in her forehead.

  “Delilah!” Joy Love shouted, rushing into the office. When she saw her friend and employer dead in her chair, she turned to Arnold Fenton, who was standing there, the smoking six-gun still in his hand. “Arnold! What did you do?”

  Arnold turned his gun on Joy and pulled the trigger.

  Jasmine was upstairs asleep. Fancy and Candy were in the kitchen when they heard the shots fired. As they rushed out of the kitchen they saw Fenton leaving by the front door. They hurried into Delilah’s office and saw her with her head tossed back and her face covered with blood, and Joy lying dead on the floor.

  “Delilah!” Candy shouted.

  Fancy looked at both of them for a moment. “They’re dead. Both of them are dead.”

  “What will we do?”

  “That was Arnold Fenton, wasn’t it? The man we saw running out the front door

  “Yes, that was Fenton.”

  “He has to be the one who killed them.”

  “But why?” Candy asked. “Why would he kill them? Joy said he has always been nice to her.”

  “I don’t know, but we need to tell the marshal about it.

  The two women hurried down to the marshal’s office.

  “He killed them!” Fancy said breathlessly.

  “He killed both of them!” Candy added.

  The words were shouted simultaneously by both women so that they tumbled over each other in a way that neither could be understood.

  “Here now, here!” Marshal Bodine said. “How do you expect me to hear anything or understand what you’re saying if both of you are talking at once?”

  “He killed Delilah,” Fancy said.

  “And Joy,” Candy added.

  “Who killed them?”

  “Arnold Fenton,” Candy said.

  “We think,” Fancy said.

  “Do you think he killed them or do you know he killed them?”

  “We know,” Candy said.

  “How do you know? Did you actually see him shooting them?”

  “We think it was him, but it has to be. We saw him running out the front door,” Fancy said.

  “But you didn’t actually see him shooting.”

  “No, but who else could it have been?”

  “Perhaps Fenton heard the shot and ran away because he was frightened.”

  “Why was he in the house in the first place?” Fancy asked.

  “Well, you tell me, Miss Bliss. Why would anyone visit the Delilah House? They certainly don’t go there to have a photograph taken.” Bodine chuckled.

  “I can’t believe this. We came here to tell you that Delilah and Joy have been killed, and you make a joke about it?” Candy said.

  “You are right, and I apologize if my reaction seemed inappropriate. I meant no disrespect. But you must also see my point of view. Unless you actually saw Fenton in the act of shooting the two ladies, any connection between him and the murder is circumstantial at best.”

  “Let’s go, Candy,” Fancy said bitterly. “It’s clear that the law doesn’t care about women like us.”

  Bodine made no response as the two left his office.

  By early morning of the next day, news of the double murder had spread quickly through the town, by word, and by the article in the Mule Gap Ledger.

  TERRIBLE MURDER!

  Two Women Shot Dead

  Yesterday, Miss Delilah Dupree and Miss Suzie Fugate were both shot dead. Miss Dupree was the manager of the Delilah House, a business of ill repute, and Miss Fugate, a soiled dove in Miss Dupree’s employ. Miss Fugate was better known to the clients of the house as Joy Love.

  Motive for the shooting isn’t known, but Marshal Bodine has suggested that the killing might be the result of a jilted client who wanted exclusive access to one of the two women.

  As of this writing, the identity of the killer or killers is unknown, though it is believed that someone was seen running from the house immediately after the shots were fired. The identity of that person is being withheld as part of the ongoing investigation.

  Although Miss Dupree was engaged in a business that is best practiced in the shadows, she was
said to be a woman of education and mannerly bearing.

  “I’m not surprised,” a citizen of the town said. “The only thing that surprises me is that someone hasn’t been murdered in that place before now.”

  “I’ve seen Miss Dupree around. She always seemed nice,” another citizen replied.

  “Nice or not, she was a whore, and when you run a whorehouse, you can expect things like that to happen.”

  * * *

  “Oh, Smoke, do you think Miss Dupree’s murder may have something to do with her visiting me?” Sara Sue asked.

  She, Smoke, and Pearlie were sharing a table at breakfast in the hotel dining room. Pearlie ate heartily as he listened to the conversation.

  “I don’t know,” Smoke replied. “But I won’t lie to you. It could have been connected.”

  “I feel so guilty.”

  “There’s nothing for you to feel guilty about. She came to you, you didn’t go to her.”

  “That’s true. But still, it would be very upsetting to me if I thought I’d had anything to do with her death.”

  “Even if her getting killed had something to do with her visiting you, the blame and the guilt belong to the person who actually killed her. Besides, two were killed. Both of them didn’t come to see you.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Sara Sue said, relieved by the thought.

  “On the other hand, if her getting killed does have something to do with her visiting you, that means her story about the kids is true and someone is getting a little concerned about it.”

  “Yes, that’s true, isn’t it?”

  “If that is true, they will also realize that you now know where the children are,” Smoke said. “So I want you to leave.”

  “Smoke, I can’t leave! Not until I get Thad back.”

  “You don’t have to leave town. I just want you to leave the hotel. Too many people know you are here. I don’t want you exposed to that danger.”

  “But this is the only hotel in town,” Sara Sue said. “If I leave here, where will I go?”

  “You’ll be staying with Mrs. Coy.”

  “Who?”