Texas Bluff

CHAPTER 35

Butler went up to his room and changed from his usual suit to trail clothes he thought would help him blend in more down in the Acre. Then he carefully left the White Elephant by the back way because he didn’t want to run into Short.

He got a cab down to Rusk Street, then decided to walk from there. He took a quick look in the window of the Bloody Spur, saw business as usual. Zeke was behind the bar, and there were only a few men around. He looked at the building across the street, saw Mary Cronin at her window, but she didn’t wave. She didn’t recognize him, which was fine with him.

He thought about going inside to talk to Zeke, but he thought Short had gotten all there was to get out of the man—except for who was running the place now. Still, if he went inside to ask, word would get around and that would defeat the purpose of wearing his trail clothes.

He moved on.

He figured he must have missed the whorehouse he was looking for, so he kept going until he got to the docks, then retraced his steps. He found himself walking along with a group of dock workers who had apparently just gotten off work. He decided to cross the street and follow them discreetly. He bet that at least one of them would lead him to Lily.

Several of them went to saloons, others to a small restaurant, and he was sure some of them went home. Two of them, however, led him to a two-story structure that looked as if it had once been a hotel. They were laughing and slapping each other on the back as they went in.

Butler waited, and sure enough several more men appeared and entered, in the same jovial mood. Finally, he crossed the street, hoping he wouldn’t need some sort of code word to get in.

There were no markings on the building to indicate what kind of business it housed. Butler didn’t know what the law was in Fort Worth when it came to prostitution.

He mounted the three steps and knocked on the door. A small slot in the door slid open. He found himself looking into a pair of brown eyes with dark eyebrows.

“Can I help you?” a man’s voice asked.

“I’d, uh, like to come in.”

“For what?”

“Um…”

“Do you know what kind of a business we run here?” the voice asked.

“Well, of course. This is a…bordello.”

“No,” the voice said, “this is a whorehouse. I’m afraid I’m not going to let you in unless you can tell us who sent you?”

“I’d like to see Lily.”

“Lots of men want to see Lily,” the man said, “and Angie, and Dina, and Babe—”

“Babe?”

“Hey, it’s her name.”

“Okay,” Butler said, “sorry.” If he didn’t think of something fast he wasn’t going to get inside.

“So, if you don’t got a name for me you’re gonna have to move—”

“Sutherland.”

“What?”

“Sutherland told me to come,” Butler said.

“Did he tell you to ask for Lily?”

This sounded like a trick question. He thought a moment before coming up with what he thought was a likely answer.

“No,” he said, “as a matter of fact he said when I came here I should stay away from her.”

Suddenly, he heard the lock on the door and it opened, revealing a sticky man in his forties standing there. He recognized him by his eyebrows.

“That’s Sutherland,” he said. “If he scared off a few more customers, Lily would have to start waitin’ tables some place. Come on in, friend. Welcome to Rosie’s.”

Butler entered, the man closed the door behind them, and locked it.

“Go on into the sitting room,” the man said. “Rosie and the girls are there.”

“Thanks.”

Butler went through a doorway and found himself in the sitting room with more than half a dozen girls. The furnishings were gold and maroon. A woman in her fifties, wearing a dress that matched the furnishings, approached him with a wide smile and deep, powdered, slightly wrinkled cleavage.

“Welcome to Rosie’s, friend,” she said. She placed her hands on her hips and took a step back, looking him up and down. “You’re a handsome one. My girls are gonna like you. Come on and take your pick—or maybe I should just let them bid on you.”