The Circuit Rider Read Free

jawline.
    “I’m a woman, not a lady. Which means I don’t mind
drinking alone,” she said. “In fact, I prefer it.”
    A smirk briefly appeared on Van Osdol’s face.
    “In that case, may I ask for the opportunity to sit
at your table and have a drink with you?”
    “You buying?” Bird said.
    “Of course.”
    She gave the chair across from her a nudge with her
boot. Van Osdol pulled the chair out, sat down, and motioned for the bartender,
who brought a new bottle and took the one on the table away.
    “Better whiskey, courtesy of yours truly,” Van
Osdol said.
    She tossed off the rest of her drink, poured a
fresh one, and took a sip of whiskey from the new bottle.
    “It might be an improvement,” she said.  “But I’ll
need a few more drinks before I can give you my final opinion,”
    Bird watched Van Osdol pour himself a drink and
hold up his glass.
    “To the legendary Bird Hitchcock,” he said with a
wink.
    A couple of the men from the nearby table glanced up
at the sound of the name.
    “I’ll drink to her,” Bird said. “Heard she’s a
beauty.”
    Van Osdol chuckled.
    “I quite agree,” he said. “Beneath the trail dust
and the smoke of a few saloons, you are very, very beautiful.”
    Bird set her drink down. “I know you said your name,
but who are you, really?” She gestured toward the bottle. “Free booze always
comes with a price.”
    “You sound a bit cynical,” he said.
    “I believe the adjective you’re looking for is perceptive .”
    Van Osdol smiled. He had lovely white teeth, and she
was sure the women in town found him quite handsome. To her, Van Osdol carried
the same expression as the hundreds of rattlesnakes she’d used as target
practice over the years, blowing off their heads from fifty feet.
    “I’m an attorney,” he said. “Or should I say, the
one and only attorney of Green Spring.”
    “No competition, huh?” Bird said.
    “I prefer to think of it as a very open market,” he
said.
    Bird downed her drink and poured herself another. The
liquor cut through the dust in her throat like nobody’s business. She loved it.
    “Tell me, Van,” she said. “You happen to know if
there are two men in town? One goes by the name of Toby Raines. The other one’s
name is Ike.”
    Van Osdol looked at her with wry amusement on his
face.
    “So I bought you the drink, but I’m doing you the
favor?” he said.
    “Take your bottle and go to hell, then.”
    Van Osdol raised an eyebrow and a hand,
simultaneously.
    “I meant no offense,” he said. “I have not heard of
the first man.”
    “Go on,” she said.
    “And believe me, I know just about everyone, even
strangers. I spotted you immediately, didn’t I?”
    “What about Ike?”
    “That one is easy,” the attorney said. “While there
may be more than one Ike in Green Spring, there is only one I know about, and
to be perfectly blunt, the only one that actually matters.”
    “You attorneys use a lot of words, yet none of them
resemble an actual answer.”
    “You are most likely inquiring about Ike Daniels,”
Van Osdol said. “His father owns the Rockin’ D, the largest ranch in the
territory.”
    “I assume he’s one of your clients, then, seeing as
how you’re the only barrister in town.”
    “Oh no, his attorneys are all from Chicago. They
come out by train every month or so. I am quite insignificant in the eyes of
Mr. Garrett Daniels.”
    He smiled. “The only person in town in the employ
of Daniels is our very own Sheriff Dundee.”
    Bird wasn’t surprised, but local gossip held no
interest for her.
    “Where can I find this ranch?” she said.
    “Pretty much ride due west out of town and you’ll
be on the ranch for hundreds of miles.”
    The bartender appeared with two cigars.
    “Compliments of the house,” he said.
    Van Osdol selected one and Bird took the other. The
attorney put his into his mouth, Bird put hers in her shirt pocket.
    “For later,” she said.
    Van Osdol nodded and fired up his