Calamity Jane 3 by J.T. Edson

Author:J.T. Edson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: new orleans, us civil war, calamity jane, the old west, piccadilly publishing, the floating outfit, westerns ebooks, j t edson, western lawman, westerns fiction general
Publisher: Piccadilly

Chapter Nine

Miss Canary Acts as Bait

Dobe Killem saw the flashily-dressed blonde girl standing before the open door of Maw Packer’s apartment house and felt surprised. While the Rue de la Paix could not be classed on the same social level as Bourbon or Toulouse Streets, it was not an area frequented by young ladies of that type.

While walking towards the blonde, Killem studied her, deciding she looked vaguely familiar. She had a nice figure that a cheap, gaudy blue dress revealed rather than concealed, sported the usual parasol and reticule of her kind and wore a large-brimmed hat on her blonde hair. Figuring she might be one of the girls his party entertained at the Cheval D’Or the previous evening, Killem nodded as he went by her. Killem decided he would find out which of the outfit invited her over and request that the one involved refrained from bringing calico cats to the house.

“You getting too rich and high-toned to talk with the hired help, Cecil?” asked Calamity’s voice.

Although Killem had a well-deserved reputation for being a real good poker player who rarely showed his emotions, he came to a halt as if running into an invisible wall. His mouth dropped open as he turned to stare at the flashily-dressed blonde. For a moment he thought his ears had played a trick on him, then slowly Calamity’s face formed out of the blonde curls and make up.

“What—!” he croaked. “How—”

“Shut your mouth afore you get flies in it,” grinned the delighted Calamity and looked towards the door of the building. “I’d say it works, Sherry.”

Seeing a couple of thin, pinched, sanctimonious faces peeking from behind the curtains of a house across the street, Killem gave a low angry grunt. His eyes took in the girl’s appearance again, noting that the heavy make-up she wore all but hid the mouse she carried under her left eye. However, standing in front of a house on the respectable Rue de la Paix was hardly the place to start asking questions about his employee’s appearance.

“Let’s get off the street!” he growled.

“Scared I’ll ruin you socially, Cecil?” inquired Calamity with a mischievous and merry grin.

“I’ll ruin you!” the freighter spat out.

Bobbing a curtsy to the watching women, and causing a hurried disappearance behind the curtains, Calamity grabbed hold of Killem’s arm. Giving an annoyed grunt, Killem tried to pull himself free of the girl’s grip, but she hung on all the more as they headed towards the door of the Packer house.

“What’s wrong, Cecil?” she grinned. “Ashamed of being seen with me?”

“Damn your ornery, fool hide, Calam!” Killem snarled back. “I’ll take a switch to your butt!”

“Which same I wouldn’t feel it through this bustle,” answered the girl, hauling him into the hall of the house. “I bet old Nosey and her pard over yonder are getting some right smart ideas of what’s going to happen now.”

“And me!” snapped Killem.

While Killem enjoyed a piece of rough-and-tumble good fun as much as the next man, he felt that Calamity had gone a whole heap too far this time.

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