The Great West Detective Agency by Jackson Lowry

Author:Jackson Lowry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

13

Lucas slid from the saddle. His legs caved for a moment. It had been a while since he’d ridden so long, but he strode off, pulling the reluctant horse behind him through a prairie dog town. The starlight gave enough illumination for him to walk without breaking his own ankle. Guiding the horse took more effort since it tried to bolt and run often.

He didn’t blame the animal one bit. The sound of barking dogs neared, but they were still along the road. He cut off at an angle, found an arroyo, and led the horse down a place where the wall had collapsed. The bottom of the dried bed was rocky and made riding difficult, but he urged the horse on until they found another break in the sandy bank. Another prairie dog town would cover the scent well. If the wolfhounds blundered into it, the smell from the small rodents would mask any passage and might even rouse some of the sleeping prairie dogs to pop up and give voice to warnings. That would further confuse the wolfhounds.

By the stars, Lucas read that he rode more northeast. This took him to the north of Denver. Only when he had successfully avoided the howling pack of slavering dogs and the quiet of the rocky plains settled around him to soothe his agitation did he turn to the town. It was well past dawn when he hitched the horse to the iron ring mounted on the wall of the Emerald City and he dragged himself in.

“Do you live here?” Lucas asked the barkeep. He collapsed into a chair and hiked his feet up to a table top as Lefty stared at him.

“You look like you was drug through a knothole backwards.”

“Give me a shot of whiskey, will you?” Lucas began emptying his pockets. He had lost some of the chips he had won, but the greenbacks were all there from the game where he had walked away thinking he was sitting on top of the world.

“Good that you can pay for it. Your deadbeat friends all try to stiff me.”

“I don’t have any friends.”

Lefty snorted and dropped a half bottle in front of Lucas, then pointed.

“What about him?”

Lucas craned around and saw Little Otto coming down the steps at the side of the stage. Nothing had gone well for Lucas, being abandoned by Good somewhere out on the road to town while chased by a pack of vicious dogs, and now he had to give mute witness to Otto’s continued happiness.

“Are you sleeping here now?” Lucas continued to rummage through his pockets. He touched the book he had taken from Vera Zasulich and dropped it onto the table.

“I’m not sleeping,” Little Otto said. He started to walk past, then slowed and stared at the book. “You remembered.”

“I want information,” Lucas said. “You wanted a copy of Tom Sawyer.”

“Where did you get it? No book dealer in town has a copy.”

“You don’t tell me where you get your information.”

Little Otto pursed his lips, ran his fingers around the tattered edge of the book, then pulled back reluctantly.

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