Crow Bait

Forty-seven

Maisie’s was a two-story building that had seen better days. Shutters were either hanging or missing, but all the windows were intact, and they were clean. There were other buildings in the area the same age, but in a more advanced state of disrepair. Lancaster had a feeling the rent was cheaper than somewhere else in town.

Lancaster entered and was immediately approached by the madam.

“Are you Maisie?”

“That’s me, honey,” she said. She had heavy makeup on her face to try to hide her wrinkles, but unsuccessfully. The fact that she was closing in on sixty was obvious. “What kind of girl do you like?”

He decided to play this differently than he had done in Henderson.

“I’m tracking a man. I understand he was in town a couple of weeks ago, and I know he likes prostitutes. Somebody told me you have the best girls in town.”

“Well, that’s true,” she said. “What’s your man look like?”

“Average-lookin’, but his name is Sweet. I’m hoping one of your girls will remember him.”

“Don’t bother,” she said. “He was here—twice. After that I banned him.”

“Why?”

“He hurt one of my girls.”

“Which one?”

“Her name was Carla.”

“Was?”

“She’s gone,” Maisie said. “Left town right after that. Might have left the business, too.”

“When did she leave?” Lancaster asked.

“A few days after the sheriff ran Sweet out of town,” she said.

“Where’d she go?” he asked. “Do you know?”

“Why?”

Lancaster shrugged. “I’m just curious.”

Maisie gave him a long look.

“You’re good at this,” she said. “You think maybe she liked bein’ hurt and followed him?”

“It’s possible.”

She frowned at him.

“Haven’t you ever known women who liked being hit?” he asked.

“Unfortunately,” she said, “yes.”

“What about this one?”

“She wasn’t here long enough for me to get to know her that well,” Maisie said, “so I can’t say.”

“Was Carla her real name?”

“Yeah. She was new to the business, so she used her real name.”

“Did she make any friends?”

“Not one,” Maisie said. “Nobody liked her.”

“All the more reason she might have followed him,” Lancaster said.

“You married?” she asked.

“No.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“Why not?”

“You seem to know women too well for one to want to live with you.”

“Well,” he said, “I’ve never been accused of that before. And I don’t really lead the kind of life a woman would want to share.”

“You like the hunt too much, huh?”

“No,” he said. “This is personal.”

“Got anything to do with the cut over your eye?”

“Definitely. I don’t suppose Sweet said anything while he was here that you might’ve heard, that would tell me where he went?”

“No,” she said, “but Carla did say somethin’.”

“What?”

“She said she thought she might do better for herself someplace like Amarillo.”

Amarillo, he thought.

The Texas panhandle.

He left the whorehouse with a good feeling. All he needed was something from the bartender to confirm that Sweet headed for Texas. The man watched and he listened. If Sweet said anything useful, the bartender would have heard it.

As he was approaching the saloon again, he noticed the sheriff coming from the other direction.

“Lancaster,” he said.

“Sheriff.”

“A minute of your time?”

“Why don’t we go inside—”

“Too noisy,” Sheriff Manning said. “Let’s talk out here.”

“Okay,” Lancaster said. “Okay.”