Night of the White Buffalo: A Wind River Mystery by Coel Margaret

Author:Coel, Margaret [Coel, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dpgroup.org, Fluffer Nutter
ISBN: 9781101607978
Amazon: B00IOE3NG2
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2014-09-11T04:00:00+00:00

18

THEY WERE THE Indians from the back booth. He recognized them the minute he turned around. The overhead light flickered off their brown faces. “What’s your problem?”

“What’re you doing here?” A big Indian with a pockmarked face seemed in charge, the spokesman, the boss. The chief, Reg thought, and he stifled a laugh that he knew was from nerves rumbling deep inside. The chief had thick shoulders and thick brown forearms with the tattoo of an eagle that seemed to be flying up his right arm. This wasn’t the first time he’d had to face off a gang of tough guys in a two-bit town nobody ever heard of, dust blowing off the asphalt. It was like he was walking around with a billboard on his back: Stranger. Beat me up. The local entertainment for the week.

“Minding my own business.”

“My friend here says he heard you talking about the Broken Buffalo.” The chief shifted sideways, and Reg feinted toward the opening. The chief moved back. “What business you got there?”

“I’m not looking for trouble.”

“You come all the way from Colorado and you’re not looking for trouble? You think we don’t have enough cowboys for the work here? You think you can nuzzle in?”

“I’m looking for a friend.” A blur of brown faces striped by yellow light hovered behind the chief’s shoulders. “Josh Barker. Last I heard, he’d hired on at the Broken Buffalo. He took off, and I’m trying to learn where he went.”

“That’s not how we put it together. You’re just another Colorado dirtbag looking to take a job ought to be ours. You heard the Broken Buffalo’s hiring, and you think you can take over your buddy’s job.”

“Soon as I locate Josh, I’ll be on my way back to Colorado.”

“Your buddy was smart. Lot smarter than you. He took the hint and got out of here. You should do the same. Highway out there”—he nodded toward the stream of headlights passing on Federal—“goes straight to Colorado. Start driving.”

“Look,” Reg said. “His mother’s dying. If something happened to him, she wants to know so she can die in peace.” Had he imagined it, or had something softened behind the black eyes watching him? “Just between you and me, I’m not going to any cops. I just want information.”

The chief took his time, jaw muscles working as if he were chewing over the words before he spit them out. “Your buddy drove out of here just like he drove in. On his own.”

A truck had pulled around them into the parking lot. Doors swung open. A couple of white cowboys jumped out and sauntered over, as if they had sized up the situation. They stopped on either side of the Indians and dipped their heads toward Reg. “Raps giving you trouble?”

“No trouble. I was just going to my truck.” This time the space opened between the chief and another Indian, and Reg walked through. He got into the truck, turned the ignition, and drove past the Indians—Raps, the cowboys had called them.

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