Red Redemption

Chapter 1

Funny thing about life. Things you thought were behind you – things you'd put so far out of your mind that they might have happened to someone else and not you – could come up for a revisit before you even realized they were doing it.

That moment hit Nick Barkley when he was in Carson City on family business. It was to finalize the sale of the Barkley interest in a silver mine, something that Jarrod would normally tend to but he was tied up at a trial in Stockton. Nick didn't really want to go, but he lost the coin toss with Heath, and now he was stepping off the train at the exact moment a rainstorm was hitting Carson City. He made a dash for the terminal, making it there without getting too wet.

He didn't want to be in the terminal, though. There was no place to get a drink in the terminal, and he could really use a shot of whiskey. The hotel he was going to check into had a bar, but it was several blocks away and he didn't want to make his way there in a storm. "Where's a good saloon nearby?" he asked the porter who was bringing in luggage. Nick handed him his claim check at the same time.

The porter took the check and handed him the proper bag. "Red's, just outside the front door and to the right."

Red's. It didn't prompt anything in Nick's mind at first, not until he dashed over there, his suitcase in his hand, and went inside. He grabbed the first empty table he saw, put his bag down and shook a little water off his clothes. A saloon girl came to him, smiling, and said, "Any port in a storm, huh, Mister?"

"You could say that," Nick said, smiling back at her, "but this was the port nearest the train station, so it's not any old port. The owner made a shrewd decision opening up here."

"The owner knew what she was doing," the girl said.

"She?" Nick said.

"A woman owns this place," the girl said. She nodded toward the bar. Nick looked.

And thought he was going to fall down. The owner was standing behind the bar. "Red" was the woman he had known as Barbary Red.

The woman who had helped shanghai him only three years ago from her saloon in Stockton. The woman Jarrod had earlier defended on a shanghaiing charge in San Francisco, until he dropped her for reasons Nick was never let in on. He knew that Jarrod had become romantically involved with her in Stockton, trying to find out where he, Nick, had been taken. That was all he really knew about her relationship with his older brother. He never really wanted to know any more.

Except for Jarrod who called her Barbara, everyone called her Red. She had been acquitted of shanghaiing Nick and a couple ranch hands. Jarrod had killed her "handler" Jack Thatcher. Red's lawyer – a very good one – had managed to make her a sympathetic pawn in all Thatcher's illegal doings. After her acquittal Red sold that bar in Stockton and disappeared. Now Nick knew where she had disappeared to.

Nick wondered if she would remember him. The moment she looked up at him from behind the bar, Nick knew she did remember. She suddenly looked more green than Red. She couldn't take her eyes off him, and he couldn't take his eyes off her.

Nick never did decide how he felt about her acquittal and only decided he didn't need to decide. Even now, he didn't need to decide, because the first thing he felt after realizing it was her was that old anger. She had shanghaied him, but she was acquitted and set free. Her lawyer was that good and the picture he painted of Red was that compelling. Even Nick kind of believed she was essentially set up when he saw the trial and heard the verdict. Now, though, he wasn't so sure, because here she was running another saloon.

Was she going to shanghai him again?

He realized that was not very likely. Carson City was no port city, and Jack Thatcher was dead. Nick stared at Red and she stared at him. They were both left wondering what to do with this unexpected meeting. Nick almost left the place.

But Red came around the bar and toward him. She was even more beautiful than before, he thought. There was a softness about her that hadn't been there the only time he'd really been with her before – for less than five minutes before she had him drugged and abducted. There was no joy in her eyes, but no deception either. She wasn't smiling. She just came toward Nick and said, "Hello, Mr. Barkley."

"I wasn't sure you'd remember me," Nick said.

Red turned toward the girl who had greeted Nick. "Sheila, bring Mr. Barkley a shot of whiskey – " She looked at Nick again when she said, "On the house."

Nick nodded a thank you as the girl went to the bar – even though his face reflected the feeling that maybe he shouldn't trust that whiskey.

Red said, quietly, "You can sit down and relax. I'm not going to do anything to you other than serve you a free unadulterated drink. I run a legitimate business now. I'm not about to drug you and make off with you. A few people know my history, but most who come in here don't. Believe it or not, I'm a pillar of the community here."

"Oh, I believe it," Nick said, actually convinced. "Regardless of your side business in Stockton, you ran a pretty good bar."

Red said, "Sit down," again, and she sat down with him. The girl brought his drink and then left them alone.

"Well," Nick said. "I really don't know what to say, but here's to what looks like a better life you've found." He raised his glass and drank a little of the whiskey.

"I'm doing fine," Red said. "I bought this place with the proceeds I got for the sale of the place in Stockton – after I paid my lawyer, of course."

"He did a first class job for you," Nick said.

"Yes, he did," Red said. "Now – let me ask what you're really expecting me to ask. How is your brother?"

"Brother Jarrod is fine," Nick said. "It would be him here, but he's busy with a trial in Stockton, so he sent me. Family business."

Red nodded, but then she didn't seem to know what to say.

There was something vulnerable about her that Nick found interesting, even enticing in a way. He had to remind himself again that she had drugged him and shanghaied him. He drank a little more of his whiskey and was about to say something.

But Red said something startling first. "Are you here to settle the mine sale, then?"

Nick was startled. "You know about that?"

"You're selling to a group of local businessmen," Red said. "Mr. Dwight Tolman heads the group. Three other business owners are in it with him, and I'm one of them."

That was more startling. "You knew it was a Barkley holding you were buying," Nick said rather than asked. "Is that why you're buying in?"

"I'm buying in because it's a really good deal, and perhaps a little because it was a deal with the Barkleys."

Now Nick was even more startled that she actually admitted it – and he realized something. "You were expecting Jarrod to come, weren't you?"

Red hesitated, but nodded. "I was only hoping to show him that I'd turned out better than he expected. Like I said, I'm legitimate, Mr. Barkley. The sheriff here knows my history and so do Dwight Tolman and the other men I'm partnering with. They can all vouch for me now."

Nick believed her – but thought he might check with sheriff about her before he completed the deal on the mine tomorrow. "Will you be attending the meeting tomorrow?"

Red shook her head. "Dwight will be representing all of us. He has the proper powers. I'm sure things will go very smoothly, and I'll be part owner of what used to be a Barkley silver mine. How's that for irony?"

She finally smiled a little, a genuine smile, nothing nasty about it. Nick still felt uncomfortable around her, but that was easing off. If the sheriff verified that she was that pillar of the community she said she was – and he expected he probably would verify it –

"How would it be if I stopped back in here tomorrow after my meeting with Tolman and had another drink – I'd buy one this time."

Red laughed a little. "I'd like that. I want you to be able to give me a favorable report when you get home. I really do want Jarrod to know that things have changed for me, and with me."

"I don't think he'd be surprised about that," Nick said.

He decided not to ask yet if Red had forgiven Jarrod for his deception. Nick realized then, and it was obvious now too, that she had fallen for his big brother. She had been devastated to find out he was leading her on and lying about his feelings about her, but now, maybe she had forgiven him. Nick wasn't sure yet. If he was going to ask at all, it would wait until tomorrow.

Red got up. "Enjoy your drink, and the next one is free too, if you'd like another. I need to get back to the bar now. My regular bartender is filling in at my other place tonight."

Nick was startled yet again, and it showed.

Red smiled, a proud smile. "Yes, I have another place further in town, closer to the governmental offices. I'm doing quite well for myself."

Nick gave her another nod and said, "Believe it or not, I'm glad."