Welcome To Red Cloud

Chapter Seven - The Emerald Girls

"Do we have to be here, Jesse? I'm dog tired from travelling all this way."

I caught Eula's arm in the doorway and stepped closer. She was still dressed as Ryan, but her pouty face would give her away in a heartbeat if I let her pass through the doors into the Emerald Saloon.

"It's gotta be Elias now. Forget Jesse, all right? And a travelling man, such as you are right now, might appreciate a drink after a long time on the road. Besides which, Mercy invited us, and I'm keen to be acquainted with the richest man in town, all right?"

The pout faded. She did look awfully tired, but my body was on fire with nerves ever since we'd arrived back in town with the coachman's stage. Eula's luggage had been left with the Barrett family to be installed with mine, along with the promise of an extra cot in my room now that my manservant was in tow. We'd kept but one item with us at my request: a briefcase containing what funds Eula had managed to thieve from her side of the city.

"Here, lemme carry that. Rest your arms a little. Keep that pretence up just a little longer for me, then we'll get you some rest."

Ryan took over Eula's features, a tough little smile back in place. "Well all right."

It warmed me some, but it wasn't enough to take the edge off my nerves. As we headed into the Emerald Saloon, the bright afternoon gave way to a deep haze of humid air laced with smoke and booze. Eula coughed, but kept it in as best she could manage, and she jabbed a finger towards the bar.

"There's your man, Mr Alston."

It was overdone, the way she threw gruffness into her voice, but I figured folks around these parts would assume she was just a young boy trying to be a real man, and nothing more. Sure enough she'd singled Mercy out, where he'd procured a table and set three drinks down. The number gave me pause. As we approached him across the half-empty space, I scanned the room for the other figure I'd expected to see. She was at the bar, all smiles and talking to the man who wiped glasses behind it.

"Grady Nelson don't serve nothing finer than this here whiskey." Mercy took off his hat, fanning smoke away from his face with it. "My gift to you, gentlemen."

I took a seat, tucking the briefcase under the table tight and keeping a foot beside it. Since the incident in my hotel room, I'd given no quarter to let any riches out of my sight. The whiskey glass loomed with its amber temptation, but a corner of my vision was still on the figure at the bar. Until I saw another hand reaching for the last available glass.

"Hey now-" I began, turning to Eula as she took up a whiskey. She cut me off with a raised brow.

"Now Elias, didn't you just say to me that a fella might like a drink after a long journey?"

I shut my mouth tight. Eula sipped at the whiskey with boyish glee, and her smile afterwards was positively wicked. I had to admit I was taken with the fact that she didn't guffaw or burn with the drink. When I took my own sip, the liquid ached against my wounded throat. It brought burning to my eyes for a moment, and I lowered my head to let it pass.

"I had a thought when we were riding back about your business needs, Mr Alston."

Mercy's words brought me round, and I turned to him so I didn't have to watch Eula enjoying her booze quite so much. "Proceed, Sir. I'm keen to have your wisdom."

"Well, you may have spotted the old run-down, empty businesses around town? From the time before the prospectors all gave out and headed up to Frisco?"

A haunting thought echoed from last night, about those prospectors never making it to the big city, but I shook it off. It was hard not to see Blair Bryant at the bar beyond Mercy's head, laughing and throwing her head back as she continued her chatter. Other men had come to speak to her, their hats bowed, moths to her flame. I refocused hard on Mercy and nodded for him to go on.