Luke Jensen, Bounty Hunter (2 page)

Luke had expected the corpse to draw a crowd. Dead bodies usually did whenever he brought them into a town.

When he walked back around the building to the hitch rail where he had left the horses, he saw half a dozen people standing nearby. They didn't get too close, the stink saw to that, but they were near enough to satisfy their curiosity.

Only one man stood right beside the horses, and he had a tin star pinned to his vest.

The local badge-toter blew air through the walrus mustache that drooped over his mouth, jerked a thumb at the blanket-shrouded shape, and asked Luke, “This belong to you?”

“I suppose it does, until I get paid for it.”

“Bounty hunter, eh? That don't surprise me. Who's under that blanket?”

“Monroe Epps,” Luke said.

The lawman frowned. “That name's familiar.”

“I'm sure you've seen it on wanted posters. The State of Texas has put a five thousand dollar bounty on his head.” Luke reached inside the breast pocket of his black shirt that a layer of trail dust had turned gray and brought out a folded piece of paper. He held it out to the lawman and went on. “Here's one of the dodgers. You can compare the picture on it to the body.”

He reached for a corner of the blanket to pull it back.

The lawman grimaced. “Not here. Let's at least take him around back.” He inclined his head toward the bystanders, indicating that he didn't want to give them a show.

That was a little unusual, Luke thought. A lot of lawmen he had run across liked to put the corpses of dead outlaws on display for the public. Sometimes the undertakers even charged for taking a look. In those cases, though, it was usually the bodies of freshly slain owlhoots, which Monroe Epps definitely wasn't.

Luke untied the reins of Epps's horse from the hitch rail and led the animal to the rear yard.

The undertaker had resumed hammering on the fancy coffin. He stopped again as Luke and the lawman appeared. “Marshal Dunbar.”

“Howdy, Calvin,” the marshal replied. He waved a stubby-fingered hand at the coffin sitting on the sawhorses. “That the box for old Lucius Vanderslice?”

“That's right. He called me in and gave me instructions for what he wanted about six weeks ago, after the doctor told him he didn't have much time left.”

“Lucius was always one for bein' prepared, all right.” Dunbar turned to Luke. “All right, let's have a look at that carcass.”

Luke pulled the blanket back enough to reveal the bank robber's slack, pale face, even more unlovely to look at in death than it had been in life. He unfolded the reward poster he had taken from his pocket and held it up next to the dead man.

“Well, hell, it's hard to tell anything that way,” Marshal Dunbar said. “The way he's loaded on that saddle, his head's hangin' upside down.”

“Why don't you catch hold of his hair and lift his head up?” the undertaker suggested.

Luke sighed and turned the reward poster upside down, so that the picture of the man's face on it was oriented the same as the corpse's face.

“Oh,” Dunbar said. “Yeah, that's him, all right. No doubt about it. Epps was the name, you said?”

“Monroe Epps.” Luke handed the poster to the lawman. “All the particulars are on there, including the charges and the place you need to wire to authorize the reward being paid to me.”

“And just who might you be? I reckon I'll need to know that.”

“The name is Luke Jensen.”

Dunbar's eyes narrowed. “I think I've heard of you. Used to go by Luke Smith, didn't you?”

“That's right,” Luke admitted.

“Why would you change your name?”

“It's a long story, Marshal, and one that has no bearing on our dealings here. So no offense, but if it's all the same to you, I'll leave both of you to your respective tasks. I want a bath and a shave and a place to stay, then a good meal.”

“Bath house is down the block on your right. The Rio Rojo Hotel is across the street. It's the best place in town. It don't have a dinin' room, but Slade's Restaurant is in the next block and the food there is good. I reckon you'll need a livery stable for your horse.”

“Yes, please.”

“Dunbar's Livery.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow.

“It belongs to my brother,” the marshal went on, “and it's the only stable in town, so me bein' the law don't give it any sort of unfair advantage. What about Epps's horse?”

“Think your brother would pay enough for it to cover the expense of its late owner's burial?”

Dunbar studied the animal with a critical eye for a moment, then nodded. “More than likely. I'll see that Calvin gets paid.”

“Thank you.” Luke touched a finger to the brim of his black, flat-crowned hat. “That goes for both of you gentlemen.”

“I'll send that wire right away,” Dunbar said.

“I'm obliged to you, Marshal.”

“Might get that bounty as soon as tomorrow,” Dunbar went on. “Once you've been paid, won't be no reason for you to hang around Rio Rojo, will there?”

The question didn't surprise Luke. Most lawmen didn't like having a bounty hunter around. Neither did most of the other honest citizens, for that matter. Luke supposed he didn't blame them. He might be legally sanctioned, but he was still a killer.

“That's right, Marshal,” he said, keeping his tone mild. “There won't be any reason for me not to move on.”

 

 

Luke's first stop was the livery stable, where Marshal Dunbar's brother was more than happy to lead Luke's horse into a stall and promise to take good care of him. The marshal had failed to mention that he and his brother were twins, right down to the shaggy mustache each man sported.

“I reckon Cyrus sent you,” the man said.

“That would be the marshal?”

“Yep. I'm Cyril.”

“Cyrus and Cyril Dunbar.”

“Yep.”

“He mentioned a hotel and a bath house, too. Are they also owned by Dunbars?”

Cyril looked confused. He frowned and said, “What? No, old Mr. Vanderslice owned the hotel. Reckon his widow does now, since he passed away earlier today. And Felipe Ortiz runs the bath house and barber shop. Next closest one is all the way over in El Paso.”

“I'm sure it'll be fine.” Luke paid for his horse's keep for a night and left his saddle there, but took his saddlebags and Winchester with him. Behind him, Dunbar yelled for somebody named Hobie to rattle his hocks and fork down some more hay from the loft.

The usual red-and-white-striped pole led Luke to the bath house and barber shop, where the rotund and ebullient Felipe Ortiz welcomed his business, too. He had a fire burning under a huge pot of water big enough to cook a meal for a whole tribe of South Seas cannibals, Luke noted.

A hall that led from the back of the barber shop area had two cubicles partitioned off on either side of it, each with a tub in it. None of them were occupied at the moment, so Luke could have his pick, Felipe informed him. Luke replied that any of them would be all right, and with a spate of rapid Spanish directed at his sons, Felipe set them to filling the tub in the first room on the left. The little boys used buckets and had the tub almost full within minutes. Tendrils of steam rose wispily from the water's surface.

“I need a shave, too,” Luke said.

“It will be attended to, señor,” Felipe assured him. “You should bathe first.”

Luke nodded and drew the curtain across the opening at the front of the little room. In addition to the tub, the room contained a bench and a stool. He leaned the Winchester in a corner, pulled the bench over next to the tub, took off his gun belt, and coiled it so the butts of the Remingtons were within easy reach when he placed it on the bench. His saddlebags went on the bench, too. One of the pouches held clean shirt, socks, and the bottom half of a pair of long underwear he intended to put on when he was finished with his bath, but he would have to don the dusty black trousers again.

When he was naked, he stepped into the tub. A chunk of soap and a brush sat on a shelf beside the tub, but Luke left them where they were for the moment. He was content to lie back and let the hot water soak away the aches and pains of long days on the trail.

He closed his eyes and let his mind drift, although a part of him remained alert. He had made too many enemies over the years to allow himself to relax completely unless he was in a place where he knew for sure he was safe. In the circles in which he traveled, men tended to settle old grudges with powder smoke and lead.

His thoughts went back to what Marshal Dunbar had said about him changing his name. That wasn't strictly true. When he had started calling himself Luke Jensen again, he had merely reclaimed his real name. Luke Smith had never been anything but an alias designed to conceal his true identity because of what he considered some shameful events during the closing days of the War of Northern Aggression. Those days were long past and Luke had put them behind him, but he had continued to use the Luke Smith name out of habit, if nothing else.

Then he had run into his younger brother Kirby, who had another name, too—Smoke Jensen. Luke suspected that his brother had grown up to be the famous gunfighter known from one frontier to the other as probably the fastest man who had ever lived, but he had avoided a meeting until fate brought them back together.

Getting to know Smoke—fighting side by side with him—had convinced Luke that he ought to take the Jensen name again, but he didn't go out of his way to let folks know that he and Smoke were related. Smoke was a successful rancher in Colorado, a widely respected citizen. He didn't need people knowing that his brother followed a profession as sordid as bounty hunting.

Luke could have drifted off to sleep in the bathtub. The hot water felt that good. He didn't let himself do that, of course, and the part of his brain that remained vigilant knew right away when a soft footstep sounded just outside the curtained-off cubicle.

By the time someone pushed the curtain aside, Luke's eyes were open and one of the Remingtons was clutched in his right fist as he aimed it at the opening.

The young woman who stood there gasped in surprise. Her eyes widened as she took an involuntary step back. “Please, señor, do not shoot.”

She didn't look like a threat. She was about eighteen, with smooth, honey-colored skin and masses of thick dark hair around a pretty face. The white blouse she wore rode low on bare shoulders and revealed the upper swells of her full breasts. She carried a basin in her hands.

“Who are you?” Luke asked. “What do you want?”

“I . . . I am Philomena,” she said. “I have come to shave you. My papa—”

“You're Ortiz's daughter?”

“So he has more than sons.” Luke lowered the hammer on the Remington and slid the revolver back into its holster. “You can leave the basin and the razor. I'll take care of the shaving.”

“But you have no mirror. You cannot see.”

“Won't be the first time I've shaved without a mirror.”

A stubborn look came over Philomena's face. “I am excellent at shaving a man, señor. And my father sent me to do this. I must do as he says.”

Luke had to wonder what sort of father would send his beautiful daughter into a small room with a naked man.

On the other hand, Philomena would be holding a razor to that man's throat, which would be enough to make most hombres behave themselves. If a fellow got out of line, all she had to do was press a little harder.

“I suppose it'll be all right,” Luke said. “Where's the razor, anyway?”

Philomena set the basin of hot, soapy water on the bench and used a bare foot to drag the stool over closer to the tub. She smiled, reached into the top of her blouse, and took out a closed razor. “I like to warm it before I begin.”

“I'll just bet you do,” Luke muttered.

“Señor?”

“Nothing,” he told her. “Go ahead.”

She sat down, got a handful of soapsuds from the basin, and spread them on his face. Her slender, supple fingers worked the lather into his beard stubble with surprising strength.

“Lean your head back, señor,” she said quietly. “It will be easier that way.”

Luke did as she said. In that position, his eyes naturally closed again. What she was doing to him felt good. It wiped away all the stress of the long days he had spent trailing Monroe Epps.

She smelled good, too. A clean, healthy female scent. Not the perfume of the ladies he dallied with in San Francisco, to be sure, but just as appealing, especially since Philomena was right there and those ladies were hundreds of miles away.

He felt something brush his face and slit his eyes open to see that several thick strands of her raven-dark hair hung next to his cheek as she leaned over him. The blouse sagged enough to give him an unobstructed view of the valley between her golden breasts. He closed his eyes again and steeled himself not to react. He was old enough to be the girl's father, after all . . . but he was also human.

She began humming softly to herself as she took the razor and started scraping the stubble from his cheeks and throat. Her touch was smooth and sure. She hadn't been lying when she'd boasted that she was good at it.

Luke had a hunch she was good at other things, too, but he was determined not to find out about that. It just wouldn't be right. Even a bounty hunter had
some
scruples.

“Señor?” she whispered, so close that he felt the warmth of her breath on his ear. “Señor, you are a very handsome
hombre.
I wish—”