Resolution

34.

You saved the building,” Wolfson said.

"Collative,” Virgil said.

Wolfson looked at him blankly.

“Collateral,” I said. “Saving the building was collateral to saving Cato and Rose.”

“Oh.”

“Virgil reads a lot,” I said. “He got a bigger vocabulary than he knows how to use.”

Virgil nodded.

We were alone in the Blackfoot, except for Wolfson and Patrick behind the bar.

“Well,” Wolfson said, “whatever. I’ll have the windows fixed over there by tomorrow. I’ll have the sign changed and have it open and running by tomorrow night.”

“Any deeds involved,” Rose said. “Titles, anything?”

“Hell, no,” Wolfson said. “There’s a piece of property standing vacant and decrepit. A blight on the town. I’m going to rescue it, restore it, make it an asset.”

“Maybe there’s heirs,” Virgil said.

“They show up, we’ll deal with them,” Wolfson said.

We all sipped a little of Wolfson’s best whiskey.

“How ’bout the copper mine,” I said. “If it’s still worth anything.”

“If it is I’ll add it to Blackfoot,” Wolfson said.

“What if the miners object?” I said.

Wolfson shrugged.

“How ’bout Stark?” I said. “Think he’ll give you trouble.”

Wolfson grinned, his loose eye wandering as he spoke.

“He won’t like it when I take his lumber business,” Wolfson said.

“Him, too?” I said.

“I’m going to own everything in this town,” Wolfson said. “Simple as that.”

“Ranches, too?” I said.

“Ranches,” Wolfson said, “lumber, mining, bank, general store, saloons, hotel, everything.”

Virgil was looking at Wolfson thoughtfully.

“We just shot hell out of your army,” he said to Wolfson.

“Which means if I hired you four boys to help me with this,” Wolfson said, “we should be pretty successful.”

“What would we be doing when we weren’t shooting ranchers and miners and lumberjacks?” Rose said.

“You could pretty much intimidate all those people,” Wolfson said. “Don’t know you’d have to do much shootin’.”

“Fine,” Rose said. “So what would we do otherwise?”

“Keep order,” Wolfson said. “There’s no law in this town. You boys could be like the law. Like Everett was in here.”

“’Cept we wouldn’t be the law,” Virgil said.

“Be the same,” Wolfson said. “’Fore you boys came here. Everett had this place turned into a damn refuge, you know? People got in trouble anywhere in town, they run here, to Everett.”

“But you wasn’t the law,” Virgil said.

“Just in here,” I said.

“Hell.” Wolfson drank some more whiskey. “We be running things on this whole side of the mountain. You want laws, I’ll write up some laws. You boys want to be lawmen, I’ll make you lawmen.”

“Just you,” Virgil said.

“Boys, a town’s got a right to appoint lawmen,” Wolfson said. “And right now, I’m the town.”

Virgil got up and walked to the saloon door and looked out at the silent street, lit by a full moon.

“Bodies are gone,” he said.

“Chinamen,” Wolfson said. “Take everything valuable and dump what’s left outside of town. Animals eat ’em pretty clean in a couple days.”

Virgil nodded slowly, staring out at the street.

“So we got a deal?” Wolfson said. “Pay you top wages.”

Cato looked at Rose. I looked at both of them. None of us said anything. We all looked at Virgil, who was still staring out into the street.

Then Cato said, “What you think, Virgil?”

Virgil was silent for a moment, then, without looking back, he said, “Gotta think on it,” and walked out into the moonlight.