Shoot Angel! Read Online Free PDF Page A

stood at the hitching rail. Calmly he
loosened the reins and led the horse away from the front of Jinty’s
Palace. He was working on the assumption that it was going to take
a couple of minutes for the men up in Louella’s room to got
themselves organized and to follow him. They would probably decide
against following him through the window and across the roof in
case he happened to be waiting for them in the alley. So they would
have to retrace their steps back through the saloon, making their
way through the crowd of customers. And by that time …
    ~*~
    Angel walked his horse on by
the restaurant. He would have liked to stop off for another talk
with Jess but he didn ’t think the time was right. He needed to find a
place where he could sit and think things out. He hadn’t forgotten
about the two deputies either. From what he’d seen of them and the
way Jess had spoken of the local sheriff, Angel ruled out enlisting
any kind of help from Liberty’s law.
    He found a dingy, run-down
hotel up at the north end of town. It was close to the complex of
cattle-pens that had been built during the early years of Liberty’s
existence. A toothless old Mexican waited with inborn patience
while Angel unstrapped his gear and took his rifle. As Angel kicked
dust from his boots on his way inside the old man led the horse
away to the stable at the rear of the building. Wrinkling his nose
at the stale air inside the stuffy lobby Angel banged his rifle
butt against the scarred top of the desk. A listless figure levered
itself from the shadows in back and shuffled into the dim
light.
    ‘ You
want a room?’
    ‘ They
do tell me that’s what these places are for,’ Angel
said.
    The desk clerk sneered, the closest he could
get to a smile, and fished a key off the board behind him.
    ‘ You
stayin’ long?’
    ‘ Maybe.’
    ‘ Two
dollars a day.’
    Angel paid for a couple of days.
    ‘ You
let me know when that runs out,’ he said.
    The clerk nodded. ‘Up the stairs.
First door on the left.’
    Inside the shabby room Angel dumped his
belongings on the bed. He turned and locked the door. He crossed
the room and spent a couple of minutes fighting the warped window,
eventually getting it to open.
    There was a washstand leaning
against one dirt-streaked wall, with a chipped mirror hanging above
it. The water in the big jug had a film of dust on its surface. Angel poured
some into the basin and rinsed his face. He peered at himself
through the mirror, stroking his face. He turned to his saddlebags
and pulled out a rolled towel. Inside the towel was his razor and a
cake of soap. He spent long minutes working up a lather with the
cold water, then carefully shaved. When he’d finished he took off
his dirty shirt and pulled on the remaining clean one from his
saddlebag. He unbuckled his gun belt and draped it from the corner
of the tarnished brass bed head. Then he stretched his long frame
out on the worn blankets. Somewhere in this town was the answer to
his question: what had happened to Harry Culp? Angel had
established beyond doubt that Culp had stopped off in Liberty. He
wasn’t so certain now that the man had ridden on. If that was true
then where was Harry Culp? And where was the $75,000 the man had
been carrying with him? Had somebody found out about Culp’s money?
It could be a reason for his apparent disappearance. Men had
vanished for a lot less than $75,000. Even killed for less. Angel
didn’t rule out the possibility. He decided to wait until it was
dark and then make another try at getting Louella Brill to talk. He
was sure she knew more than she was prepared to admit. He wanted to
know what she’d done to earn the fifty dollars Jess had overheard
her mention. Angel wanted another chance to talk to Jess too. There
were things he wanted to find out about Liberty and its
law.
    He let himself relax. He had a
few hours before nightfall. A chance to catch up on some of the
sleep he ’d
missed over the past few nights. He