This is a work of fiction any similarities between the characters, events, or locations in this story and actual locations, events, or people are purely coincidental.
© 2004 Warlord
At the bottom of the stairs, I was directed to a small dining room. I entered, finding Krista, Jan and Dan starting a late breakfast. I hung up my jacket, taking a seat next to Krista. I was rewarded with a kiss. Jan was saying, “Emma took us on a tour this morning.”
Sotto voce I, said, “Around the world?”
Dan, turning bright red, began coughing. Jan took on a lovely pink hue, while Krista laughed delightedly, clapping her hands. Finally J and D were laughing along with K and I.
Jan said, “Yes and no, W. The tour I’m talking about was of the house.”
Krista asked, “William. What about your wake up from Gabrielle?”
That had J and D undivided attention. I replied, “Uneventful. Gabrielle had instructions from someone about ‘work’ needing to be done.”
Krista’s eyes were sparkling as she said, “That’s true. We can’t have you in bed all day.”
Jan said, “W wouldn’t need all day.”
That got the giggles started again. Jan finally continued her house tour. “The layout is very different. There is a narrow servant stair by the kitchen, going up three stories. We have no idea where that is in the B&B. This is ‘private’ space along with the stairs you came down. The clients use a stairs from the front room by the bar, going only to a section of the second floor. The girls use twelve rooms, split between the first and second floor in that isolated section, for their trysts. We don’t know what happened to that stairway either.”
Two kitchen girls, bringing in our meals on more silver trays, interrupted us. It was an excellent meal, followed by two more kitchen girls, one with a silver coffee service and the other with a silver tea service. Dan and Krista had tea while Jan and I had coffee.
I asked, “What’s on the agenda, my lovely K?”
She answered, “Emma told us she had land, a quarter section. Where is it and what’s it look like?”
I answered, “A quarter is one hundred sixty acres. Do you want to take Francis out for a drive?”
She answered, “Not yet. We have to move in first. I want you to look over the bar and ‘guest’ rooms. We need strategy. We all know that tonight might be the night!”
I nodded. She turned to Dan. “Can you move us in?”
He said, ”Yes, for now. We should decide if either of those two pieces of land is suitable for us.”
I asked, “And you, my lovely delegating damsel. What will you be doing?”
Krista smiled as she said, “Delegating damsel, is that like bossy bitch?”
I nodded and she, laughing, threw a sugar cube at me. She continued, “Jan and I have exams and safe sex instructions for all the staff here at Miss Emma’s.”
I asked, “And if you find a ‘problem?’”
Now Nurse Krista looked very serious. “I have several different drugs that would be effective. Especially given that all these people are chemical virgins where antibiotics are concerned. Remember penicillin is 75 years in the future. They have free access to every kind of narcotic drug with opium freely available in so called laudanum elixirs mixed with liquor. I would guess some of the ladies here are feeding an opium addiction. There might even be a Chinese connection for the really good stuff.”
Jan continued, “Then we need to prevent a recurrence of the ‘problem.’ Talking to Gabrielle it sounds like a good quality condom would be welcomed. We just need a cover story to explain our supply.”
I offered, “The French rubber plantations on Tahiti.”
Dan started to say, “There aren’t any…”
Jan shushed him, “Who knows that? Plus it just reeks of sex – French and half naked Tahitians. They’ll forget the whole fucking question.”
We were soon laughing at the image of naked Tahitians making up box after box of condoms.
Exquisite Miss Emma joined us. She was wearing a thin silk robe that displayed her charms to great effect. She was apologetic as she said, “Douglas Gansevoort, manager of the stage line to Fort Cheyenne is in the bar. He would like to talk to William.”
We were all talking at once. K said, “How could he possibly know you’re here?”
Dan said, “In a town this size. Simple really. The solitaire-playing gambler and the four miners would be enough.”
Emma pinked up slightly. I touched her hand lightly and she said, “A bit closer than that, I’m afraid. Some of my girls were shopping and described your exploits.”
I said, “That would be Dan.”
She shook her head. “Not entirely. We are all quite taken with your display of marksmanship out in the road.”
I asked, “Marksmanship?”
Dan pantomimed cycling the action and aiming my Winchester. I nodded in some surprise. I said, “Emma, that was far less than Dan’s contribution. Dan got them out of the house in the first place.”
Emma smiled and her eyes went completely soft when I mentioned Dan. She replied, “Yes, all true. Dan is my special hero. William you demonstrated great skill. Your shot grazed him on the heel a very painful wound but not particularly dangerous. It was the talk of Main Street after the doctor treated him. It was even more so when the truth of how he sustained the wound came out.”
Jan asked, “The truth?”
Emma said, “After my girls let it be known that the wound was not the result of an Indian attack, but the result of their own cowardly attack on defenseless women, the story traveled from Deadwood to Lead and back.”
Krista asked, “And?”
Now Emma colored up. She answered, “William’s name was mentioned. The incident with four people at The Orient was also making the rounds on Main Street. Our girls ‘may’ have helped make the connection between those two incidents.”
We all looked completely taken aback as Emma continued in a tiny voice, ‘That ‘might’ be why Douglas Gansevoort is here to see William.”
I looked at my three compatriots as I asked simply, “Well?”
They made eye contact without speaking. Jan and Dan nodded. Krista answered, “You simply have to, William. No question. You have to go. I will be devastated if something happened. You’ll be unsatisfied forever if you don’t find out the answer.”
She came around the table to kiss me. Then Jan came over with her own deep kiss. Dan surprised me when he demanded a hug.
I stood quietly. I said, “I need to do, this don’t I?”
Three emphatic nods followed.
I said, “Thank you.”
Emma quickly adjusted my string tie. She helped me to don my jacket. She kissed my cheek softly. Emma led me out the door and down a corridor to a sliding door. She slid open half the door revealing the bar.
You notice the oddest things at such times. I saw that the sliding door was faced with wood to match each room it divided. It was finished with walnut on one side, oak on the other. I looked up to see Douglas Gansevoort, manager of the beleaguered Deadwood to Fort Cheyenne stagecoach line, sitting at a table