Demon's Pass Read Online Free

now?”
    â€œOver in my hotel room.”
    â€œThis here was immigrants, and they was just the one wagon, travelin’ by itself?” Marcus asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI know there’s not as much Indian trouble as there once was, but, still, I don’t think that was any too smart. What kind of Indians? Crow? Cheyenne?”
    â€œMore’n likely Cheyenne, though probably a bunch of renegades. The boy says there was a white man with the Indians.”
    â€œDamn, that would take some kind of particular mean son of a bitch to do something like that,” Marcus said. “What are you going to do with the boy?”
    â€œI don’t know. I know there’s an orphanage in town. I thought I might leave him there.”
    Two women came over to the table then, and looked down at the men.
    â€œYou might want to check on that orphanage before you leave the boy there,” Marcus said.
    â€œCheck on it? What for?”
    â€œI’ve heard a little talk about it. Seems like it’s more of a jail than an orphanage. ’Course, the boy ain’t your responsibility. And you sure don’t owe him nothin’.”
    â€œMaybe not,” Clay said. “On the other hand, I don’t think I’d like the idea of leaving him in a jail.”
    One of the two women standing by their table cleared her throat, and Clay and Marcus looked up at them.
    â€œHello, darlin’s,” Marcus said.
    â€œHello, Marcus Pearson. I’m glad to see that we hadn’t turned to clear glass. I swear, if I wasn’t beginning to think you couldn’t even see us,” the older of the two women said. She was attractive, though in a garish way, with dyed-red hair that added to her gaudiness.
    Marcus chuckled. “Oh, no, we can see you just fine,” he said. “Sit down and join us.”
    The two women took their seats and, almost immediately, the bartender brought them drinks, doing so without asking. When Marcus made no effort to pay for the drinks, Clay gave the bartender some money.
    â€œThank you,” both women said.
    â€œLadies, this here is Clay Springer. He’s a freighter, my boss, and my friend. Clay, I don’t believe you’ve had the privilege of meeting two of our town’s loveliest citizens, have you?”
    â€œI haven’t had the pleasure,” Clay admitted.
    â€œThen allow me. The young woman to your right is Belle. Ain’t she lovely?”
    Belle, who was the more attractive of the two, beamed under Marcus’s praise.
    â€œBelle allows as how she is practically a virgin, since she is some particular as to who she goes to bed with,” Marcus explained.
    Clay laughed.
    Belle was a soiled dove, but she couldn’t have been in the business very long, for she hadn’t yet taken on that dissipated look which was so common to women of her profession. The other woman, Clay noticed, did have that look.
    â€œNow, Suzie, our redheaded friend, is considerably more democratic than her younger sister,” Marcus said. “She will hop in bed with anyone who has the price.”
    â€œMe and Belle ain’t sisters,” Suzie said quickly.
    â€œDidn’t mean actual sisters,” Marcus explained. “I was usin’ the term in the Christian sense.” Then, to Clay he added, “Suzie, you see, believes that when the Bible says, ‘Love thy neighbor,’ it is tellin’ her to go out and love as many of her neighbors as she can. Of course, she will only love those neighbors who pay.”
    Suzie laughed good-naturedly. “You are really a card, you know that, Mr. Pearson?”
    â€œCome to think of it, I’m also a neighbor, and I’ve got money,” Marcus said. He stood up, then extended his hand. “Mayhaps you would like to relieve me of some of it.”
    â€œWhy, I would be very pleased to do just that, Mr. Pearson,” Suzie replied, standing to join him.
    After Marcus