House of the Rising Sun: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

dull-witted resentful expressions of men for whom life had always been a trap, no matter whose interests they served.
    “ ¡Bejan las armas! ” Hackberry said.
    They stared at him, their lips parted, their teeth exposed, generations of anger sealed in their faces.
    “ Suben los brazos, ” he said.
    “ No entiendo, ” one said, and smiled sardonically.
    Hackberry shot and killed them both, the two reports as hard as a slap on his right ear, his palm stinging with the recoil.
    H E WALKED TO the front of the house, the pistol hanging from his hand. There was no movement inside. Someone had released the white horses from their harnesses, and they were eating from a trough hollowed out of a log not far away. He crossed the veranda and opened the door. Beatrice DeMolay was standing with her girls in the parlor. The girls’ faces contained the empty look of people who believe the revelation of their thoughts can bring catastrophe upon them. He pushed the revolver down in his belt. “Why are y’all so afraid of me?” he said.
    None of them would speak.
    “Answer me,” he said.
    “You killed them all?” the woman said.
    “My selections were limited.”
    “The general, too?”
    “I’d say he’s pretty dead. Tell these girls I won’t hurt them.”
    “You tell them.”
    “They won’t believe me. They’ll believe you. That’s the way they’ve been taught to think. That’s not of my doing.”
    “You’ve interfered in the Austrian’s business affairs. You’ve made a mistake.”
    “What time is the Austrian due here?”
    “He comes when he comes,” she replied.
    “Does the hearse contain firearms?”
    “Of course.”
    “I cain’t figure you. How long have you been running a hot-pillow joint?”
    “Don’t refer to me in that fashion.”
    “Excuse me.”
    “The general stole the weapons and ammunition from Villa. He was going to sell them to the Austrian. The Austrian’s name is Arnold Beckman. He will probably sell the guns back to Villa. Do not be here when he arrives.”
    “I wouldn’t challenge your estimation of your clientele, Miz DeMolay. Give me food and let me take a bath. I’ll leave.”
    “You have ears that do not hear and eyes that do not see.”
    “I know I have my shortcomings, but I’ll be damned if I can explain how I wandered into an asylum that masquerades as a cathouse run by a crazy woman. Maybe I’m being punished for my misdeeds in a previous life, something on a level with original sin.”
    “You’re as irreverent as you are arrogant. You need to shut your mouth, Mr. Holland.”
    “You’re a handsome woman, but half a dozen like you could have men taking vows of celibacy all over the Western Hemisphere.”
    “Go out to the bathhouse and take off your clothes. The girls will heat water. I’ll tell them not to look at you. No one deserves a fate like that.”
    “I thought my first wife might be the Antichrist. Shows how wrong a man can be.”
    “What did you say?”
    “Not a thing. I’m done. I don’t want no more trouble.”
    “You don’t think you’re in trouble now?”
    “I’ve seen worse. Wes Hardin killed forty-five men. He said he was going to make me number forty-six when he got out of Huntsville.”
    “Why didn’t he?”
    “A lawman named John Selman put a ball through his eye at the Acme Saloon in El Paso. Hardin had just rolled the poker dice out of the cup. He said, ‘You got four sixes to beat.’ That’s when Selman came up behind him and busted a cap on him. That was the only way he could get him.”
    “You wouldn’t have done it that way?” she said.
    “No, ma’am, I surely wouldn’t.” He let his eyes hold on hers.
    “Go out back and get in the tub,” she said. “We’ll burn your clothes. I have other clothes you can take with you.”
    “Who unharnessed the white horses?”
    “They were hungry and thirsty.”
    “You did?” She didn’t answer. “I didn’t mean that about the Antichrist,” he said.
    “Don’t