HELL HATH NO FURY (A Jess Williams western novel) (10 page)

             
After Annie was finished crying, she looked up at Jess with bloodshot eyes. The strange darkness was gone from Jess’ eyes now, replaced by a look that Annie could only describe as contentment and relief. “Thank you Jess for doing what I couldn’t bring myself to do, but it needed to be done just the same.”

             
“It was my pleasure, Annie, now put away those tears and have a drink with me,” replied Jess, as he poured her a glass of whiskey. She took a sip and almost chocked on it since she was not used to drinking whiskey much, but she needed it for sure.

             
“By the way, I think you might want to rethink this gun fighting thing. I mean, not removing your hammer strap would have cost you your life if I hadn’t of been here to see it,” said Jess, now smiling.

             
Annie shot Jess a glare. “Do you mean to tell me that you knew it and didn’t warn me about it?”

             
“I figured you needed to learn the lesson the hard way,” replied Jess. “Like I told you, you have a lot to learn about gun fighting.”

             
“And you still have a lot to learn about women,” retorted Annie.

             
“Well, I’ve been learning an awful lot lately,” replied Jess, with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

CHAPTER TEN

                            Annie and Jess sat there for a few hours, sipping fine whiskey and not talking very much. A few of the local men came in and started to head back out when they saw Annie sitting at a table with a man who looked like either a gunslinger or a bounty hunter. Jess offered to pay for all their drinks while Annie was in there. They all smiled and sat down a started drinking as fast as they could. Annie watched the undertaker come in and remove Clemmon’s lifeless corpse out of the saloon. Jess threw the undertaker a twenty dollar gold piece and told the undertaker not to use a pine box, but to just bury him in the ground so the maggots and worms could start feeding on his corpse right off.

             
Jess looked at Annie, who seemed much more relaxed now. “Annie, why don’t you go out back and take a nice hot bath. Samuel will boil whatever water you need and I’ll make sure no one bothers you, okay?”

             
Annie sniffled a little and finally a smile came across her face. “A nice hot bath sure would feel good. You promise that you won’t let anyone bother me?”

             
“You have my word on it. As a matter of fact, I’ll bring in the hot water to you myself,” replied Jess.

             
Annie laughed. “You just want to see me naked as a jaybird again, don’t you?”

             
“No, that’s not my meaning. I promise not to look, honest. I’ll bring the water in with my back turned to you and sit outside until you’re done,” replied Jess.

             
“Alright, as long as you promise, I guess I will take that bath.”

             
Samuel boiled a huge pot of water and Jess went out back and poured it into the tub and checked it and even though it wasn’t hot enough, it was warm enough to start a bath. He went back inside and asked Samuel to start another pot of water to add to the tub once it began to cool down. He walked Annie out to the little building where the tub was and she went inside and closed the door. Jess found an old rocking chair and sat there standing guard. A little later, Samuel brought Jess the other pot of hot water.

             
Jess knocked on the door. “Annie, I have the other pot of hot water to add to your tub for you. Can I come in and leave it by the tub?”

             
“Yes, but you come in backward like you promised,” demanded Annie.

             
Jess opened the door just enough so that he could use his back to open it up and he walked slowly backward until his boots hit the tub and then sat the huge pot down. He then walked back out and never looked back once, although he did in fact think about for a moment.

             
“Thank you Jess,” said Annie as he closed the door. Annie stood up and grabbed the huge pot and slowly poured it into the now cooling water and the warmth felt wonderful. When the water started to cool off again, she dried off, got dressed and walked outside to find Jess sitting in an old rickety rocking chair.

             
“Well, I have to say, I sure feel better now after that hot bath, but I am getting mighty hungry. I say we go and get some supper,” said Annie.

             
Jess got up from the old chair and rubbed his back. “I thought my behind was going to fall asleep in that thing. I asked Samuel about food and he said there is a little eatery at the end of the street and we can get something there if you want.”

             
“That sounds just fine to me,” replied Annie.

             
“I also had Samuel get someone to clean up the two rooms he has upstairs so we can get a good night’s sleep since I didn’t get much of it last night,” said Jess.

             
The two of them found the little eatery and while it was just a little dumpy looking place, it was clean and the food smelled pretty good. There was only one meal served, but it happened to be steaks and potatoes and that suited Jess just fine. They both filled up and sat there relaxing for a while and shared a pot of coffee and a piece of homemade apple pie, which was delicious.

             
“Whew,” exclaimed Annie, as she finished the last bite of the apple pie. “I think if I ate one more bite my pants would bust wide open.”

             
“I know how you feel. I’m mighty full myself,” replied Jess and he took his two hands and thumped his stomach like a watermelon.

             
“It sure is fun riding along with you,” said Annie. “Free food, free drinks, free rooms and one hell of a protector, too. How did you get to be so wealthy anyway?”

             
“Well, it all started out by hunting down men who had a bounty on their head and I’ve made a whole lot of money doing it. Then my banker back in Black Creek, Kansas, starting investing some of my money and it just grew and grew. Also, I’m a part owner of a business in New York City with two friends I met out on the trail a few years back. Then, I gave on old prospector some money so he could keep working his mine for gold and damn if he didn’t strike it rich. He sent a pretty nice share of his money to my banker. I also invested in another business in New York City recently, but I haven’t heard anything about how it’s doing yet,” replied Jess.

             
“Just how much money do you have if you don’t mind me asking?” asked Annie.

             
“I don’t rightly know right now, but the last time I checked, it was over one hundred thousand dollars,” replied Jess.

             
Annie sat back in her chair, with a surprised look on her face. “Oh my, that’s a whole lot of money and you’re still a young man.”

             
“I’ll tell you what, Annie, when this is all over; I’ll treat you to a real nice room over in Abilene, Kansas. There is a very nice hotel there called the Moorehouse Inn Hotel. They have a café in the hotel that serves some really great food. They’ve got these extra-large rooms with the cleanest and nicest linens and the most comfortable beds you’ve ever slept in, I guarantee it. And it’s all on me if you want to go there,” said Jess.

             
“Why, I just might take you up on your offer. I’ve never stayed in one of those fancy hotels before. I’m so broke now that I can’t even pay for my own food. If it wasn’t for running into you, I’d probably be working to make just enough money to get by on,” replied Annie, somewhat embarrassed by it.

             
Annie noticed that Jess didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her and she finally figured out why. Jess’ demeanor had changed in an instant and he was staring intently outside of the window at two men who were riding into town. “What’s the matter, Jess?”

             
“That’s John Tatum and Lefty Waltham and they are both wanted for murder and each one of them has bounty on their head in the amount of two hundred dollars.” Jess threw a five dollar gold piece on the table. “Annie, you wait here for me. I’ve got to go and make some more money,” said Jess, as he put his hat on and walked out. He stood on the boardwalk and watched the two men tie their horses up in front of the saloon and walk inside.

             
Jess walked down to the saloon and peeked inside and saw that the two men were both standing at the bar. Jess walked through the swinging doors and as soon as he did, the two men quickly turned around and spotted him. They could tell that he was probably a gunslinger or bounty hunter and they knew that meant trouble, but they didn’t know who Jess was. They had heard of the name, but they had never actually laid eyes on him before. They watched Jess carefully as he walked up to the other end of the bar and ordered a glass of good whiskey from Samuel. Jess took a drink of it with his left hand, which was not by accident. He watched Tatum and Lefty closely and noticed that both of them had already removed their hammer straps from their pistols. Lefty was a left-hander with a pistol, which is how he got the name Lefty. Jess put his drink down on the bar and stared at the two men.

             
Tatum, who had been watching Jess very closely, glared at him. “Mister, what the hell are you looking at?”

             
“I know exactly who I’m looking at. I know you two men. You’re John Tatum and you’re Lefty Waltham. You’re both wanted for murder and you both have a bounty on your head and I aim to collect on it,” replied Jess.

             
“Well, if you’re a bounty hunter you should’ve brought some help since there are two of us and you seem to be alone unless someone else in this saloon is working with you,” replied Tatum, smartly.

             
“Nope, it’s just me. I usually work alone most of the time,” replied Jess.

             
“Maybe you should come back when you have some more help,” retorted Lefty.

             
“I have all the help I need right here,” replied Jess, as he slightly tapped the butt of his pistol with his right index finger.

             
“You know what, Mister, two other bounty hunters have already tried to collect that money on our heads and they’re both buried in the ground right now with maggots and worms eating through ‘em,” said Tatum.

             
“I can’t speak to that, but I don’t plan on getting planted anytime soon,” replied Jess.

             
“And neither are we and if you know anything about us, you should know that both of us are pretty damn quick with these pistols we’re wearing,” said Tatum.

             
“Good. That means it will be a fair fight,” replied Jess.

             
“Since when is two against one a fair fight?” asked Tatum.

             
“Since it’s you two against one of me,” replied Jess, cocking his head slightly and smiling, which was something that was becoming a pretty regular thing he did.

             
“Well, if you want to go up against us, we ain’t going to try to stop you, so go ahead and grab that fancy looking pistol of yours,” replied Tatum, as he and Lefty spread apart a few feet.

             
Jess waited for the tell-tale look and he saw it a split-second before John Tatum and Lefty Waltham went for their guns at the same time. The next look he saw in both of the men’s eyes was the total look of surprise as the two slugs from Jess’ pistol tore through their chests before either of them even cleared leather. Lefty fell straight back and Tatum dropped to his knees and fell forward, both dead.

             
Samuel sent one of the local men over to get the undertaker. When the undertaker walked into the saloon, Jess paid him twenty dollars to take their bodies and strap them over their horses so he could haul the bodies to the closest town and turn them in for the bounty on their heads. Jess had one more drink and thanked Samuel for agreeing to keep the bodies behind the saloon since he also agreed to guard them for the night. Jess threw a twenty dollar gold piece on the bar, which Samuel gladly took.

             
Jess walked out of the saloon and headed back to the café where Annie was still waiting. She heard gunshots, but as much as she wanted to run over to the saloon to see if Jess was okay, she knew better than to do so. Jess walked in and sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee. Annie just stared at him for a whole minute before she finally asked the question.

             
“Well, what happened at the saloon? I suppose those two men who just rode into town are dead,” said Annie.

             
“Yes they are, and I’m going to be four hundred dollars richer when I turn their corpses in and file a claim for the bounty on their heads. That four hundred dollars will pay for our entire stay at the Moorehouse Inn over in Abilene,” replied Jess. When Jess finished his cup of coffee, they retired to their rooms above the saloon and fell quickly off to sleep.