Tuesday, June 04, 2019

Final excerpt -- The Queen of Paradise Valley

From chapter 46





He arrived in town well after sundown. The air was rife with the scent of bloodlust and greed. Packs of hunters patrolled the roads, individuals loitered along the wooden walkways. A platoon of gunslingers guarded the hotel, a restless crowd milled outside the jail. Abner Doyle's cottage was under surveillance, as was every South Street saloon.
Del prowled the back lanes, found a certain building. An unlocked window slid open without a creak. The dim chamber he entered reeked of death, embalming fluid, and something unpleasantly familiar.
He lit one of the candles the undertaker provided for his customers. A closed casket sat on a raised platform. When he pushed up the lid, Del knew at once why the aroma in the room was so familiar. It was her perfume, the scent of wilting flowers that suited her so well.
Yeah. Cinnamon curls arranged on a satin cushion, claw-tipped fingers folded upon her white-sheathed breast.
"Come to pay your final respects, Injun Boy?"
Before Del could turn, something hard slammed against the side of his head, propelling him toward the casket. The last thing he saw before he slid to the floor was Lonnie's plum-colored mouth, as lush in death as it had been in life.
When he came to, he felt something wet trickle down the side of his face. Propped in a chair, his wrists handcuffed in front of him, a rough sisal rope cinched around his neck, he couldn't see Stevy. But as the roaring in his ears abated he heard the man's breathing like he heard his own thundering heart. He reached for his boot.
“Looking for this?" Stevy stepped forward, Del's knife in one hand, the end of the rope in the other, a rifle balanced in the crook of his arm. "I figured you'd come here, and now I'm gonna get five thousand dollars for you." His grin convoluted the scars on his cheeks. "You don't need to worry none 'bout your Missus, not with Mr. Lord taking care of things. He was a mite upset when she was brung in and didn't want to see him, but he'll wear her down. He always gets what he wants. Now what he wants most is you dead."
As he spoke, Stevy wrapped the rope around his hand, tightening the noose until it bit into Del's neck. The gunslinger touched the tip of the knife to a spot beneath Del's ear. "I got an urge to test this knife. What part of you should I cut off and send to Mr. Lord?" The knife tip grazed skin. "Your ear? A finger? How about the part Miss Loretta liked best?"
He shook with silent laughter, seized Del’s braid, and with a sawing movement severed it. "You sure are quiet, Injun Boy. Well, get up now. We're going for a ride." He poked the rifle barrel between Del's shoulder blades. "Slow and easy. Horses is outside." He stopped beside the casket, dropped the black braid atop Lonnie's breast and lowered the lid. "Hell of a shame."


--Cat

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