The Lawman

Chapter Twenty-five

In less that a week Crystal’s Palace was set up and in business.

Moran and Crystal had purchased the rooming house Crystal was staying in and had used some carpenters from the town to fix it up the way they wanted. When they received the cloth they ordered, they’d be able to hang colored draperies and cover the furniture to match.

The first two girls they hired were Carmen and Rosa, who they decided would be their top girls, commanding a higher price than the others. This satisfied the two girls, who no longer held a grudge against either of them.

They also hired some local girls and quickly had a stable of half a dozen girls.

They passed the word to nearby towns that there was a “private” club in San Louisa, and were sure that the word would pass even further.

The first night they opened they got one customer, the town drunk, who thought they were serving liquor.

“Let’s not get discouraged,” Moran told Crystal. “It takes time to build up a clientele.”

They were in the room they had both moved into in the converted rooming house. Since they were business partners, they figured Moran ought to move out of the hotel and move in with Crystal.

“Won’t that look bad?” Crystal had asked beforehand. “I mean, you being the sheriff and all.”

“I can do anything I want in this town, Crystal,” Moran told her. “This is nothing like being a lawman in the States, where they spit on you if something goes wrong.”

Now, sitting up in bed together, Crystal was noticeably upset, although she hadn’t really said anything about it.

“I suppose you’re right,” she told him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I just wanted this to be such a success.”

“It will be.”

A week later Crystal’s was full, with men waiting downstairs for one of the girls to be free. It had become a popular stop for merchants and ranchers from the area, and word was spreading even further.

Moran had also hired three men—one from town, and two who were passing through and had agreed to stay on—as bouncers. They were all big, and they all wore guns and knew how to use them. There was very little trouble at Crystal’s Palace with those men on duty. There was usually one man on duty inside, one off duty and one making rounds on the street.

Moran had deputized all three, so that they were collecting pay from the Palace and from the town.

Crystal told her girls that they didn’t have to do anything they didn’t want to do. If a customer wanted something that they couldn’t deliver, there was sure to be a girl in the building who could. Crystal’s customers always went away satisfied—except, of course, when they asked for Crystal herself. Crystal was warming one bed these days—Moran’s—and it wasn’t for pay.

Well, not exactly, anyway. After all, she did still need some of his money until the Palace really starting making a profit.

As for the town, it was not making a profit from its new attraction at all, and contrary to what Red Moran might have thought, the town fathers didn’t like it much. Starting with the mayor on down, they felt that the town should be getting something from the success of Crystal’s Palace.

On the other hand, they were glad to have him and his money in town. He was still spending money in the town stores, even if he wasn’t dropping any at the hotel.

So they wished that they were sharing in the profits of his cathouse, but were too afraid to ask. Afraid that he might leave town and take his money with him.

Also, he was doing a good job of upholding the law, and the mayor had asked him to keep the job permanently.

San Louisa was starting to look better and better to Moran as a place to settle down.

“We should give up.”

Both Gilberto and Raquel heard the man say it.

Their three men were hunched around the campfire and one of them had just made that comment, talking about the search for Decker.

Gilberto came up behind the man, put his foot on his back and pushed. The man fell chest first into the campfire, yelled and rolled off of it, patting his chest with his hands.

“What—” he shouted.

“If you want to leave, then leave,” Gilberto said, “but don’t try to take the others with you.”

“I was just giving my opinion, Gilberto,” the man said. “We are spending a lot of time looking for this gringo. We are not making any money.”

“Don’t worry,” Gilberto said, thinking about the price on the head of the man Decker was looking for, “there will be plenty of money for all of us—but if you want to leave…”

“I do not want to leave, Gilberto,” the man said, earnestly.

“Then keep your opinions to yourself.”

“Si, I will.”

Gilberto and Raquel had their own campfire.

“You promised them some of our money?”

“I made no promises,” Gilberto said. “I simply said that there would be enough money for all of us, and there will be—but they will not get any.”

“We must find Decker before he finds this man, Red Moran,” Raquel pointed out to her brother, “or we will not get any of the money either.”

“Do not worry” Gilberto said, “we will find him.”

“Where do we go from here?” Raquel asked.

“When we were in the last town I heard about a place called San Louisa. Perhaps we can try there.”

Raquel gave her brother an amused look.

“I also heard about this town. What you heard about San Louisa is that they have a new whorehouse there, with high-class girls. That is what you want to go there and see.”

Gilberto shrugged.

“You must admit, it is as good a place as any to look next.”

“Yes,” Raquel said with a sigh, “I must admit that. How long will it take us to get there?”

“Three days.”

“We had better get some sleep, then,” she said. “We will have to start out early in the morning.” She laid back on her blanket, then propped herself up on her elbows and asked, “How is your leg?”

“My leg is fine,” he said tightly. “Go to sleep.”

He ignored the leg as much as possible, even though it hurt much of the time. When he did think of it, it was only in terms of paying Decker back.

Gilberto put his head down on his saddle and thought about the money Decker was after.

First they would find him, then wait for him to find the man he was looking for. After that they would kill him, take the man and turn him in themselves for the reward.

Gilberto had no qualms about turning the man in. After he all, he was a gringo.