Jasper looked at the clock too as an unsettling feeling came over him.
"Aren't you usually with Crystal around this time?" he asked with a cool tone.
"Yes, and it's mighty important I see her tonight. This isn't like her at all, being late, I mean."
Jasper snorted. "I hope you don't think you're special. One man's the same as another to her."
"Don't be such an ass, Montgomery," Whiskers shot back, shaking his head. "You don't know a damn thing about that girl, do you? Crystal's a real lady."
"I thought so once, too," Jasper replied, "and I was damned disappointed to find out it wasn't so. Turns out being a lady isn't so important anymore. That's what I came back to tell her."
"Fool, I could have told you that," Whiskers snorted, taking a swig.
"Who's up there with her anyway? One of her regulars?"
"No, that's what I'm worried about. We were just getting ready to head upstairs and suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. Said something about a man's voice and she had to take him first. She just up and asked him his name and if he wanted to go upstairs with her. It was the strangest thing."
"What man?" Jasper asked, feeling the blood drain from his face.
"A man named Carl White," Whiskers replied. "Don't know much about him ceptin' me and Henry been minding his mine out of the Culpepper River while he was out of town."
"What's the name of that mine?" Jasper demanded, grasping Whiskers arm.
"C.W. Mining Company or some such. Why?"
"Who owned it before? Quick man, do you know?"
"Some fella named McKay but he died."
"Gabe," Jasper shouted, leaning over the bar and grasping Gabe's shirt. "Clem's up there with her father's murderer. Take the back stairs," he shouted running for the stairs. "Whiskers, see if you can get on the roof outside her window."
All three men took off on a wild tear from the room in opposite directions.
"What going on?" a young man called out as Whiskers shoved past him.
"Crystal's in danger," he yelled over his shoulder. This created a stampede as six men raced up the stairs behind Jasper and several more chased after Whiskers. "Get a ladder," he ordered, "and for God's sake be quiet," he hissed.
Jasper and Gabe stopped, one on each side of the door to Crystal's room. The men behind them seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and were quiet as they strained to listen. The voices from within were indistinct beyond the fact there were two people inside, a man and a woman. Fearful of bursting in and placing Clem in greater danger Jasper signaled them to wait, giving Whiskers time to get to the roof.
***
"I'll take that paper now," Crystal said, transferring the gun to one hand.
"I should never have let you live," White said with a grim laugh as he held out the signed confession. "Serves me right for having a weak moment."
She reached out to take it. It was the first mistake she made all night. White grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. The gun discharged blowing a hole through the top of the door, but he didn't let go of her. Instead he wrestled it from her grasp and pointed it at her head as Jasper, Gabe and the rest of the men burst into the room, weapons drawn.
"Let her go," Jasper growled, noting the wide eyes and pale face of the women he loved.
White laughed. "This is how it's going to be," he said calmly. In no way did his voice match the vicious and deadly gleam in his eye and Jasper suddenly understood her words about never forgetting his voice. "I'm leaving here and taking her with me."
"Over my dead body," Jasper replied in a deadly voice.
"That can be arranged, Montgomery. Yes, I know all about you. In fact, you're the reason I came here tonight. I had to see for myself the woman who had you and everybody else singing her praises. Guess I was a little too curious for my own good." He laughed, a genuine chuckle and it was at that moment Crystal realized how disturbed he was. It wasn't just greed; the man was insane.
"You're not leaving this room alive, White."
"Then neither is she," he said agreeably, poking the gun into her temple so hard she cried out. "You men go ahead and talk it over," he suggested smiling, "but hurry up. I haven't sampled the merchandise yet," he continued, using the hand around her to squeeze her breast painfully.
If possible, she paled even further. Looking at her Jasper caught sight of Whiskers at the window.
"What do you want to do?" he asked the group behind him loudly. A few others had seen the same hand motion and also joined in the conversation, arguing and yelling for all they were worth.
The noise was enough of a distraction for Whiskers to quietly open the window and slip into the room.
"Before we let you take her, I have something to say to her," Jasper said.