Read Online Longarm in Hell's Half Acre by Tabor Evans - Free Book Online

book around on its swiveling stand. “Please sign here, Mr. Long. I’m sure the El Paso can accommodate your every need and desire during your stay.”
    Longarm took up the pen, dipped it, then signed his name. He laid the pen aside, then said, “Well, Mr. Hunter, what I need right now is a bath and one of your valets to take my suit to a laundry. Have it brushed and pressed. What I might desire later could prove problematic. But we’ll hold off on that for the present.”
    Allred waved a uniformed hotel employee aside and insisted on carrying the heavy bag all the way to Longarm’s room. He knew exactly where to go as soon as the room number came from the desk clerk’s mouth, and led the way as though the sumptuous lodgings were his own.
    He ushered Longram around the elegantly appointed room, bragged about the help, the in-house bar, the billiards room, and the restaurant, then doffed his hat and headed for the door. “Been my pleasure, Marshal Long. Hope you enjoy your stay. And, oh, thanks for allowin’ me to pull one over on Mr. Hunter. Hotel pays me two dollars for every guest I appear to guide their direction.”
    Longarm gazed at the bed, polished walnut furnishings, metal bath in the corner, and back to Allred. “Tell me, Tater, how much do you make on an average day a-haulin’ folks back and forth from the depot?”
    Allred scratched his chin. “Oh, at twenty-five cents a trip, best I ever done was four dollars. But that were durin’ the busiest part of the cattle season. ’Course, if’n I can git a feller like you, the El Paso’s added income fer bringin’ you in helps considerable. Guess you could say three to four dollars in a day’s a damn good’un. But I’ve been known to take a siesta, here and there. Rarely work all day at a single spurt.”
    â€œHere’s what I’ll do. You make yourself available for me, kind of semi-exclusively, while I’m in town, and I’ll give you ten dollars cash money right now, and ten more the day you take me to the depot when I leave. All you have to do is check in with the desk two or three times a day to find out if I need you.”
    Allred’s rheumy eyes lit up. “Damn, didn’t realize lawmen made that kinda money. Ever’ one of ’em as I’ve knowed was poor as church mice.”
    Longarm waved the old soldier’s concern away. “Well, I’ve been savin’ for more years than I care to remember for this trip. Money is not a problem. There’s plenty. Trust me when I say I’ve not had an opportunity to spend much of my salary for some years now. Stuff’s just been sittin’ in a bank in Denver, gatherin’ interest.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œDoes my proposition have any appeal for you?”
    Allred stuffed his hat on, came to military attention, and saluted. “Mr. Long, you’ve got yourself a private guide to all the wonders, carnal and otherwise, of Fort Worth in general and Hell’s Half Acre in particular. You just tell me what you’re lookin’ for, or what you want, and by God, we’ll find it. If’n Tater Allred cain’t find it, then a man sure as hell don’t need it.”
    Longarm placed the ten-dollar gold piece in Allred’s palsied hand, then clapped the man on the back. “Pick yourself a spot in the shade and take a load off for a spell. Soon’s I get cleaned up, we’ll get out amongst ’em and see what we can get into.”
    Allred rolled the coin around in his fingers, then stuffed it into the pocket of his raggedy vest. “Be waitin’ fer you. Don’t worry, I’ll spot you soon’s you hit the street again, Mr. Long.”
    â€œI’d feel a lot more comfortable if you called me Custis, Tater.”
    â€œSee you downstairs—Custis.”

    Two hours later, Longarm, bathed and shaved, stepped onto the El Paso Hotel’s