TWENTY-FIVE
Percy walked into the Silver Dollar saloon and glanced around. There, sitting in the corner nursing a beer was the man who owed him money-hundreds of dollars. Percy walked over and the man looked up. He didn't know why he was afraid of the thin, short Englishman who didn't even carry a gun, but he was. The man was evil and Orton wished he hadn't lost so much money to him. Orton had started the game with no intention of losing more than the thirty-five dollars which was all he had but somehow, this Percy Cartwright had managed to maneuver him to keep playing and then Cartwright extended him credit, let him win a few hands and then he lost again and before Orton knew it, he had over three hundred dollars in losses. Everyone else had long since left the game and Percy asked for the money.
"I ain't got it," Orton said, "but I'll get it for you."
"When?" Percy asked, pulling out one of his cigarettes and lighting up. He blew the smoke toward Orton who waved it aside. The bartender was drying glasses and looked at the two men. He rarely had customers this early and there were only two saloon girls sitting in a corner, talking and drinking coffee.
"Give me a few days. I got to think of a way to get that much money."
"I don't have a few days. My family is very powerful in this area and Daddy won't take too kindly to my playing with such a deadbeat. When can you pay?"
"I told you, I need a few days." Orton's hand rested on his holster. If he had to shoot this man, he would but he had only killed one man before in his life and that had been an accident. Usually, as big as Orton was, he didn't have to shoot- he could just beat someone into submission and he enjoyed using his fists; they had never failed him.
"I have a proposition where you can pay me back by performing a small favor for me. I'm certain that you can handle it." Percy continued to draw on the cigarette that smelled a bit like cherries.
"What do I have to do?" Orton looked askance at the man; he was seeming to become excited at the prospect of the proposition being accepted. The Englishman's face was now flushed and he sat forward, dropping the rest of the cigarette to the floor and stepping on it.
"Beat a woman."
Orton sat back, unsure of this. It wasn't what he had expected.
"Don't tell me that you've never beat a woman!" Percy said in mock surprise. "I'm sure that you have."
"I've beat a woman before-more'n one, but who's this woman you want me to beat up? She someone who turned you down? Cause if it is-well, can't say as how I blame 'er and she don't deserve no beating for that."
"No," Percy said, "and if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your opinions to yourself. You owe me and I'll have the constable of this city arrest you for an outstanding gambling debt. As they say in these parts, 'We don't cotton to deadbeats.' So listen carefully: She is a woman who needs to be beaten and beaten badly. I also want her disfigured."
"Disfigured? What d'you mean? You want some teeth knocked out? Her nose broken?"
"I want her nose cut off, her face slashed, her lips sliced off, her tongue cut out. I want her so horrible that when you're finished, no man would be able to bear looking at her. I want her to be a walking horror, for small children to scream and run when they see her, for women to faint when they catch a glance at her, and for all men to shun her. And as a bonus, you can take her before you slash her up. She's beautiful and you'll enjoy having her. Imagine it—you'll be the last man to enjoy her beauty." Percy's breath came in short, fast pants. He would be there to watch and just thinking about what Orton would do to Piper Jeffers excited him and aroused him. And then there was Adam. Oh, how Adam would cry and grieve over the loss of his beautiful love, Piper, his youthful wife who had been so achingly beautiful. This was going to be even greater than Percy had originally envisioned.
"She live alone?" Orton asked.
"No, but this is even more wonderful-her husband is blind and they live on a piece of property that is miles from Virginia City." Percy giggled. "And if my plan works, well, they will both be indisposed and unable to defend themselves. Can you imagine anything better? He's blind, probably dead in a day or two and she'll be horrid-looking and mute. She'll be shunned by society. See, there is justice in the world. I'll take my revenge against all those who tried to intimidate me, to ruin me." Percy took a deep breath; he noticed that Orton was looking at him oddly. "To sweeten the pot, I'll give you a hundred dollars and you can take off for wherever your please. We will be even-you and I and you'll owe me nothing more. Is it a deal?"
Orton sat for a few moments in thought, weighing the odds of his being caught. "Even if her tongue's cut out, she could still write," Orton said. "She could describe me and I been hanging around Virginia City for the past few days. Someone would recognize me from what she could write. I could cut off her hands."
"No," Percy said, thinking, "she'd bleed to death and I want her alive." Percy hadn't considered Piper's writing who had hurt her and she would be sure to mention that he had watched. "Just chop off her thumbs; she couldn't very well hold a pen and write our descriptions then. Eventually maybe she would be able to handle a pen and crudely write but we'd both be long gone by then-or it wouldn't matter."
Orton had spent time in jail before and didn't want to return, and he had slapped around more than one woman but he had never slashed up a woman and didn't know that he could, especially a pretty one. He didn't really like this. "How come you don't do this yourself?" Orton asked Percy.
"I just prefer not to."
"I think that you just like to watch someone else do the dirty work for you. You ain't got the guts." Orton had met men like this young man before. He didn't understand them but they were always ready to hire someone to do their ugly business. But as long as the money was enough, he'd do it. And thinking about enjoying a woman began to give him the itch. That she would probably fight him only made the prospect more exciting. "But I'll do it. Now let's get this straight. I do what you want when it comes to this woman. I take her, cut her up good and then you'll give me another hundred and I get to leave-that it?"
"That's it. Oh, except that I get to watch. I want to see and hear her...I hope she screams."
"I'll make sure she does if that's what you want."
'Yes, yes, that's what I want. I want to hear her scream hopelessly in pain."
"When and where?" Orton was planning ahead. Maybe he could rob Percy as well. What could Percy do? He couldn't very well finger Orton as the perpetrator without revealing his own guilt in the matter.
"In about two hours; we'll meet in front of the bank across from The Silver Dollar. Then I'll leave first and five minutes later, you leave following me, but from a safe distance so that no one will connect us. I'll lead to the house where the people are and we'll pull up a way. Then, when the time is right, you'll do it. Just knock on the door and when she answers, shove her back and I'll follow behind you. Then you can take your time enjoying her before you do…the other things."
"Mr. Cartwright?" A woman's voice was behind him and Percy turned. It was Mrs. Delaney.
Percy stood up and smiled gently. "Orton, don't you know to stand in the presence of a lady?"
"She ain't no lady. I know where she works."
"For the past few days, she's been working for me. Now stand up and offer her a seat."
Orton begrudgingly stood up and pulled out a chair for her.
"And why are you here and not at the Ponderosa? Shouldn't you be washing up their breakfast dishes by now?" Percy tried to seem calm but he was nervous; this was not how things were planned.
"I got fired," she answered. "That Chinaman came back and Adam Cartwright fired me. Told me to pack and leave. I ain't never got my money you promised."
"Are they dead?"
"No. I told you, I got fired. It would've only taken another day or two. Here." Mrs. Delaney handed a brown paper packet to Percy. "You finish it up but I want my money."
"Hell, Cartwright, you get someone to do all your dirty work, don't you?" Orton sat back, a wide grin on his face.
Percy pointed at Orton. "You shut your mouth and fulfill your bargain." Then he turned back to the woman. "I will pay you but not the amount I promised because you haven't completed the job."
"You'll pay me the full amount or I'll go straight to the Cartwrights and tell them what you 'forced' me to do. I'll say that you were blackmailing me-they'll believe me. So you need to pay me-in full-or I'll be at the Ponderosa tomorrow and then to the sheriff's next."
Percy sighed. "I suppose that I have no choice. All Right, Mrs. Delaney. I'll have to get cash from the bank. It hasn't opened yet. You'll get your money in a few hours. Now go back to your place of business, and I'll have it delivered."
Mrs. Delaney smiled, thanked Percy and then sashayed out. She was pleased with herself; her plan to extort money from Percy Cartwright had worked.
"Kill her," Percy said as he tucked the brown paper packet in his pocket. "Follow her and kill her. With your big hands you can strangle her. No one will be overly concerned with the death of a whore. I'll pay you an extra two hundred."
"Okay, but one thing," Orton added, leaning in.
"What?" Percy's mind raced trying to think of what he may have forgotten.
"You give me an extra hundred before I go after that whore. It's daylight, you know." Orton breathed heavily, waiting.
"Fine," Percy said. "Fine." Fortunately he had more money on him than the mere fifty dollars that Adam had given him from the strongbox. He had hoped to leave before Orton claimed his money but now he saw that he would have to hand it over. He sighed. "I'll give you the money before you kill her-here." Percy gave him the fifty dollars he had received from Adam and then peeled off fifty more. "Now leave and then come back in an hour and we'll continue as we already discussed."
Orton pushed his chair back, picked up his beer mug and drained it. Then he walked away, thinking of how he was going to spend his money after the job. And if he did his job on Mrs. Jeffers properly and with enough enthusiasm, he wouldn't even have to spend any of it on a whore tonight, being able to take out his sexual appetite on Mrs. Jeffers; she had better be as pretty as that snake, Cartwright, had said.
Percy sat back and steepled his fingers, grinning to himself. This would be the day that he would destroy Adam. Adam who thought he was so clever. Percy would show him who the cleverest Cartwright was. One of the saloon girls came over to him now that he was sitting alone. Something had told her that he and the man were in a private conversation and for her not to interrupt.
"Can I get you something?" the girl asked.
"No, no. I'm off for breakfast. But, you lovely thing-here." Percy reached in his pocket and pulled out a coin which he dropped down the woman's cleavage.
"Thanks," she said and walked away.
Percy laughed and went out to find a decent restaurant that would serve his food as he liked it.
