Texas Bluff

CHAPTER 48

“You don’t know me well enough to call me a liar, Butler,” Al Newman said.

“I beg to differ. I’ve spent hours with you at a poker table. I’m fully qualified to call you a liar.”

Newman looked at Short.

“And you?”

“I haven’t played poker with you at all,” Short said, “but I’ll go along with Butler on this.”

“So,” Newman asked, “what happens if I try to walk out of here?”

“We’ll stop you,” Butler said. “We need some answers from you, and you’re not going anywhere until we get them.”

“One way or another,” Short added.

Newman eyed them each for a moment, then said, “You two make a good team.”

“That’s flattering to hear,” Butler said, “but it doesn’t help our situation.”

Newman took a deep breath but with a pleasant look on his face. He’d gotten very lucky at the tables that night. The cards had been running his way, but Butler hoped he’d been a better lawyer than he was a poker player. He couldn’t bluff worth a damn.

“All right,” he said, “I do know Sutherland from my days as a criminal lawyer, but not well.”

“And he came to you?” Butler asked. “Why?”

“Out of desperation, I guess. Apparently Ed Cramer used to tell him what to do, and without that—guidance—he seems lost.”

“So he wants you to tell him what to do?” Butler asked.

“Apparently so.”

“And what did you tell him?” Short asked.

“I said I’d think it over and get in touch with him later.”

“And have you thought it over?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“I was going to talk to Jim Courtwright today.”

“So you know where Sutherland is, then?” Butler asked.

“No,” Newman said, “but he gave me a place to send messages to.”

“Where?” Butler asked.

“A saloon down near the docks.”

“Al, did he say that he’d killed Cramer?” Short asked the lawyer.

“No,” Newman said. “On the contrary, he said he didn’t, but he thought you had.”

Short looked at Butler.

“That’s got to be a lie. I know I didn’t kill Cramer, so who else could it be?”

“There are lots of murderers down there,” Newman said. “Men who will cut down any man for a few dollars. Cramer must’ve got on the wrong side of at least one of them.”

“Maybe…” Short said.

“Okay, Al,” Butler said. “So why lie to me about knowing Sutherland?”

Newman raised his hands helplessly.

“You hit me with that about a half hour after he left my house,” Newman said. “You caught me unaware. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. So I lied. I’m sorry.”

Butler studied Newman, who he felt was contriving to look embarrassed.

“Okay, so you’re supposed to leave him a message at this saloon, and then what?”

“I guess that would depend on what the message was,” Newman said. “I could tell him not to bother me anymore.”

“Or you could tell him to meet you somewhere,” Short said, “and we could be there.”

“I thought I might do that and the law would be there to grab him.”

“If Courtwright thought he could kill Sutherland and still be able to pin the murders on me, he would,” Short said. “We need to be able to catch him and turn him in ourselves.”

“And have somebody from the Evening Mail or some other newspaper present,” Butler suggested.

“Well,” Newman said, “where would you like me to have him meet you?”

“You’ll do it?” Butler asked.

“Why not? If he actually killed the two men your being blamed for, Luke, I’d like to help.”

Butler still wasn’t sure about Newman. This could have been his way of getting rid of Sutherland so the man could not implicate him in anything further.

“Luke?” Butler asked. “You know this town better than I do.”

“Why not the Bloody Spur?” Short asked. “It’s boarded up, now.”

Would that be someplace Al Newman would go, Butler wondered?

“Let’s try and think of someplace else,” Butler suggested. “Someplace Sutherland would think Al would go.”

“It would have to be someplace we’d both go,” Newman said, “so that neither one of us stood out.”

“What about your home again?” Butler asked.

“No,” Newman said, “I already told him I did not want him coming back, he upset Helen.”

“As I did,” Butler said.

“That’s quite different,” Newman said. “He frightened her.”

“Okay,” Butler said, “we can decide on the time and place. What should this message say?”

They all sat silent for a while, and then Newman said, “How about…I’ve figured out what he can do and will explain it to him when he meets me.”

“Good,” Butler said, looking at Luke.

“That’s what he wants to hear,” Short replied.

“Let’s do it now,” Newman suggested.

“Here?” Short asked.

“Why not? I’ll have the waitress bring me a pencil and paper.”

“And who will deliver the message?” Newman asked.

“Can’t be one of us,” Short said. “We’ll be recognized.”

“We’ll find somebody,” Newman said. “A kid will do it for four bits.”

“We appreciate your willingness to cooperate, Al,” Short said.

“Think nothing of it,” he said, waving to the waitress to get her attention.