Killer Poker

Chapter 23





Rance McKinney seemed to shrink in his chair, like a balloon with the air leaking out of it. For a split-second, he’d felt a flicker of hope when Conrad said he had only a pair as well. There was only one hand that would beat McKinney’s two kings.

Conrad’s two aces had done it, and McKinney was wiped out.

Cheers went up from many of the men in the room, indicating that McKinney wasn’t well-liked among the group. They were happier to see a relative stranger win. Several of them pounded Conrad on the back in congratulations.

Conrad watched McKinney across the table, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. The hate-filled gaze he gave Conrad was even darker than before.

Conrad pushed the chips to the side. “You’ll take care of this, won’t you, Bat?”

“Of course,” Masterson replied. “Do you prefer a bank draft or cash?”

“A bank draft will be fine. Send it over to Ellery’s office tomorrow, will you?”

“Sure, if that’s the way you want it.”

The casual way Conrad talked about nearly a million dollars impressed the crowd. He went on, “Drinks for everyone, and take it out of my winnings.”

“You heard the man,” Masterson said, raising his voice. The spectators surged out of the private room to head for the bar, leaving Conrad and McKinney alone except for Masterson and a few stragglers.

“I believe you owe me something,” Conrad told the rancher.

“You bastard,” McKinney said. “If I had a gun—”

“You’d be dead,” Masterson cut in, “because if you were armed, Conrad would be, too. Even if he wasn’t, I am. There’ll be no gunplay in here. The Palace may not be my place anymore, but the owner is a friend of mine and I won’t have it shot up.”

“No gunplay,” Conrad agreed. “But you’re going to have to pay off your bet, McKinney. Otherwise you’ll be known from one end of the frontier to the other as a welsher.”

“Fine,” McKinney snapped. “I don’t know what business it is of yours, but Pamela Tarleton had those two kids with her, along with a nurse. A boy and a girl, like I said. They weren’t much more than babies.”

Trying not to let McKinney see how deeply the news affected him, Conrad went on, “Do you remember their names?”

“Yeah. The little boy was Frank. The girl was called Vivian.”

Conrad felt like he had been punched in the gut. Would Pamela really be that cruel? Would she really have named the children after Conrad’s parents?

But she must have, because McKinney had no reason to lie about it. He might know that Conrad’s mother was Vivian Browning, but he wouldn’t have any idea that Conrad’s father was Frank Morgan. That information wasn’t strictly a secret, but it wasn’t known to very many people, and no one who knew would have told McKinney about it.

“What else can you tell me?”

McKinney shook his head. “That’s it. I saw the kids and the nurse one time, and Pamela didn’t explain anything about them. I didn’t figure it was any of my business.”

“They went with her . . . when she left for San Francisco?”

“As far as I know.”

“Were they happy? Well cared for?”

“Happy?” McKinney repeated with a scowl. “How the hell would I know if they were happy? They were little kids. But that nurse seemed to be taking care of them just fine.”

Conrad nodded slowly. “Anything else?”

“I can’t think of a damned thing. Are you satisfied, you son of a bitch?”

“Take it easy,” Masterson warned.

Conrad said, “Why wouldn’t you tell me any of this before?”

“Why the hell would I want to? I don’t owe you anything.” McKinney’s mouth twisted bitterly. “At least I didn’t until now. I can’t believe you beat me with a pair of aces.”

“You were trying to beat me with a pair of kings,” Conrad pointed out. He shoved his chair back.

“Are we done here?” McKinney demanded.

Conrad nodded. “We’re done.”

Masterson said, “Look at it this way, Rance. All you really lost was the ten grand you used to buy into the game. Winnings come and go.”

“Yeah, that makes me feel a hell of a lot better,” McKinney snapped as he got to his feet. He stalked out of the room.

Everyone else had drifted away. Conrad and Masterson were alone in the room. Masterson took out a cigar, clamped it between his teeth, and asked around it, “Do you believe him?”

“I think so.”

“Was it worth it? You spent days playing poker and risked a small fortune, and what did you really learn?”

“That I haven’t reached the end of the trail yet. I didn’t overlook the place where Pamela hid the children. She left here with them and headed on to San Francisco.”

“There’s still lots of rough country between here and there,” Masterson pointed out. He snapped a match to life and set fire to the cigar in his mouth.

Conrad nodded. “I know. And I plan to check at every place along the railroad, just to make sure I don’t overlook anything. But my gut is telling me that I won’t find the twins until I reach the coast.”

“San Francisco is a big town. Lots of places to hide a couple young’uns.”

“That’s true.” Conrad smiled. “But I have nothing but time to look for them.”

Masterson extended a hand. “Good luck.” Conrad shook with him, and the former lawman went on, “What now?”

“As soon as Arturo is in good enough shape to travel, we’ll head west again.”

“You could leave him here,” Masterson suggested.

“I know I could. But he’s come this far with me and risked his life to help me. I reckon he deserves to be in on the finish.”

“That’ll give you a while to rest up after this tournament, I suppose.”

“I could use it,” Conrad admitted. “Playing for such high stakes will wear a man out. I think I’ll go back to the hotel, have a good meal, and then sleep for another twelve hours or so.”

“I’ll walk over to the Lansing House with you.”

Conrad lifted an eyebrow. “Worried about me, Bat?”

“I’m sure the word’s already getting around town that you won almost a million dollars tonight.”

“Which you’re going to have delivered in the form of a bank draft to my lawyer tomorrow.”

“Wrong. I’m not going to have it delivered, I’m going to hand it over to Ellery Hudson myself. I don’t trust that much money to anybody but me.”

“That’s fine. I’m glad to hear it.”

“Not everybody who hears about your big win will know that you don’t have the cash,” Masterson continued. “So we’re not going to take any chances.”

“Fine. I won’t argue with you.” Conrad tried not to yawn. “Anyway, I could use the company. It’ll help keep me awake.”

The two men got their hats and left the Palace. Conrad knew he should be glad he had finally gotten more information from McKinney, but he felt strangely empty inside. Masterson was right; he hadn’t really learned all that much, especially considering the strain of the past few days. And he had no way of knowing that McKinney had told him the truth, even though the rancher hadn’t seemed to be lying.

“You said that McKinney has a pretty good-sized spread?” Conrad asked as he and Masterson walked toward the Lansing House.

“That’s right. The Double Star is northwest of Boulder.”

“Pretty rugged country?”

“Some of it.” Masterson shrugged. “McKinney’s range runs from the plains through the foothills and on up into the mountains. He’s got a mighty tough crew and runs the place like it’s his own little kingdom.”

“In other words, you could hide a couple small children there without much trouble.”

Masterson looked over sharply at him. “What the hell? You think Pamela stashed the kids with him?”

“I can’t rule it out. I know there was a connection between the two of them. Maybe his reluctance to talk was just part of Pamela’s game. Maybe he was trying to fool me all along.”

Masterson frowned and shook his head. “No offense, Conrad, but you’re thinking too blasted much. You talk about Pamela like she was some sort of, I don’t know, evil genius.”

“You’re not far off the mark there, Bat.”

“When you think like that, you wind up just going around and around in circles. You can’t ever trust your instincts, because Pamela might have anticipated that and made allowances for it.”

Conrad rubbed his chin and frowned in thought. “You’re right,” he admitted. “But she’s been two or three steps in front of me the whole way, Bat. How can I not consider every possibility?”

“Well, consider this possibility,” Masterson said as they reached the Lansing House and paused in front of the hotel’s entrance. “If you start poking around McKinney’s ranch, you’re liable to get yourself shot full of holes.”

“That’s a chance I may have to take.”

Masterson looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. “If you decide to take a ride up there, let me know.”

“You want to come with me?”

“Damn right I do. I don’t like McKinney much, either. If he’s got those kids stashed away, then he deserves whatever he’s got coming to him.”

Conrad smiled and clapped a hand on Masterson’s shoulder. “Thanks, Bat. I’ll let you know.”

“You do that.”

Masterson tipped a finger to the brim of his hat as Conrad went into the hotel. He got his key from the clerk and went up to his room. He walked past a gray-haired, stoop-shouldered maid and had his key in the door of his room before he realized a maid probably wouldn’t be working that late at night.

He turned swiftly, but he was too late. Rose Sullivan stared out at him from under the gray wig, and the little pistol in her hand was pointed right between his eyes.