CHAPTER THREE
Leaning against the bar, Pearl glanced around the Diamond’s floor and pretended her glance were idle. The Diamond’s bars and table were as full as usual, and the Diamond’s Girls glided about the room, offering smiles and conversations, some even dealing the cards. When they weren’t performing in the Spectacular, those in the Diamond’s chorus who remained in Ironwood supplemented their income by becoming hostesses at the saloon. There was no whoring at the Diamond, and the women knew they would be protected if any of the patrons took it into their heads to demand such.
Jubilant shouting erupted as a man won at the roulette table, those around him congratulating and toasting his success. The band started a jig, the music almost drowned by the conversation and the laughter. Amongst all of this, the raucousness of the crowd, the shouts, the music, the laughter, it were absurd she would notice the absence of one.
And yet, Garrett weren’t among them.
Tapping her fingers against her biceps, Pearl stared at the wall Garrett usually occupied. She couldn’t remember a run of nights strung together when Garrett weren’t in attendance. Most times, she couldn’t move without tripping over his steady gaze, but now it had been four evenings he had not been against the wall he took upon himself to hold up, an always full and never drunk glass in his hand.
She hadn’t seen him about town, neither. Usually, she would encounter him at the store or the bank or just traversing the boardwalk, his tall, lean frame moving gracefully through town. It were true it were getting colder and colder, the snow threatening at every turn, and maybe it was he was staying close to his cabin, but she couldn’t remember a time since he’d moved to Ironwood she hadn’t seen a glimpse of him at least every second day, and most especially since Alice had travelled to Paris.
“Miss Pearl, here you are looking all lonesome and in want of company. I’m more than happy to offer myself as distraction for you.” Jake Wade grinned at her as he propped his boot on the bar’s foot rail.
Though Garrett had been absent, Jake Wade had not been. He’d sought her out each night with a devilish grin and a honeyed tongue. She knew the marshal wished her in his bed, and it were part of her business to make him think he could have her once she’d decided against it, but it had been a struggle these last nights to let him believe he had a chance.
Her gaze again strayed to the wall before she jerked it back and, arranging a smile she didn’t much feel on her face, she replied, “I’m always welcoming of company.”
He leaned closer. “But mine in particular, I warrant.”
Only through long practice did she prevent herself from leaning away, even as she knew she were being unfair. Wade were a handsome man, and while he were sometimes arrogant, he weren’t too arrogant. She should be able to enjoy his company as she had in the past. She should be able to keep her attention on him. She should not be noticing the lack of a man who barely said anything at all and infuriated her besides.
But that spot on the wall were so empty.
He followed her gaze before flicking back to her. “Now, don’t tell me I’m not keeping your attention.” A wicked grin curved his lips “I’ll just have to exert myself to ensure those pretty eyes remain on me.”
Marina stood at the opposite end of the bar, her elbows braced behind and unoccupied. Deflection was key here. “While I would love nothing more, I have business to attend.” She beckoned Marina forward. “Marina, would you spend some time with Mr Wade here? I am needed elsewhere.”
“Of course,” Marina said, offering Wade a professional-looking smile.
Pearl turned to make her escape but, before she could, he caught her arm lightly. “No one can entertain me as you do, Miss Pearl,” he whispered in her ear, suggestion in every syllable.
She knew it to be a seductive thing he said, and perhaps at one time she might have shivered. But her attention weren’t on Wade, and the discontent that churned within her made it so she could not focus on what she should do, only on what she wanted. And that was to find out why Garrett weren’t here.
She smiled at him polite-like and he let her go, though his gaze burned between her shoulder blades as she made her way across the floor.
Polly stood afore the hallway leading to the theatre, her avid gaze watching all before her. Another of the Diamond Girls, Polly always seemed to know everything, and more than once her knowledge had steered Pearl from disaster. If anyone knew anything about why Garrett weren’t here, ti would be her.
Biding the woman follow her, she made her way to the hall. Mostly empty of people, she turned to see the Diamond Girl had done as she asked, her expression knowing as they isolated themselves in the hallway. “Polly, all is well with you this eve?”
“Nothing wrong at all, Miss Pearl.” The corner of her mouth tugged up. “Marina looks like she’s enjoying her company.”
Marina was smiling, but Pearl knew better than anyone that didn’t spell one’s enjoyment. “I hope she is. Do you have any news for me?”
Polly’s eyes lit up. “I do indeed, Miz Pearl. The latest dime novel by that Stark fella is flying off the shelves of McKinnons. No one will admit they’re reading, and yet everyone is.”
Though it weren’t the knowledge she sought, Pearl filed it away for further thought. If people were enjoying that tale, maybe it was she could structure the next Spectacular around something similar.
“The new schoolteacher is stepping out with the Wilkinson’s accountant. Sarah saw them at church Sunday last.”
While Pearl loved a love story as much as the next woman, Polly weren’t offering the information she sought. She didn’t want to flat out ask her and have Polly wonder why she even cared.
“That coal concern what bought Mrs Llewellyn’s claim is expanding. Anna Mewes had it from Frederica Grimley that houses are being built on the other side of town for families what are coming following their men, miners and deskmen both.”
Everything inside her perked, though she kept her expression even.
Polly tapped her lips. “Speaking of coal, Ethan Garrett’s been squiring some fancy woman around town.”
Something pierced her breast. A fancy woman? She ain’t never seen Garrett with any woman before, let alone a fancy one.
Polly’s brows drew. “Actually, that ain’t quite right. She don’t much leave St Stephens Hotel and rumour is she brought in furnishings to upgrade her room. I have it from Sarah Dunn what cleans them rooms, and she can’t believe the finery the woman brought with her.”
Casual as you like, Pearl said, “But she is a fancy woman?”
From Polly’s expression, maybe it weren’t as casual as she hoped. “Yeah. Don’t much know what he relation between them is, but he ain’t’ spending the night there in any event.”
“That don’t mean anything.”
“Yeah, but Sarah does the cleaning and there ain’t no evidence, if you catch my meaning.”
Pearl could have sworn she’d left embarrassment behind her long ago, and yet the thought of the proof of Ethan Garrett’s activities had heat rising in her cheeks like she were an innocent.
“The woman’s old enough to be his mother,” Polly continued. “Not that that ever stopped a fancy lady from finding a man to warm her bed.”
And it didn’t stop the reverse either. Again, Pearl knew that all too well.
Brow furrowed, her gaze again strayed to the empty spot on the wall. He were entertaining a woman instead of coming to the Diamond. Why? Who was she to him? And why did it disturb her both that he did so and that he weren’t here? She should be thanking the heavens that she did not have to endure his judgemental stare. “Do you think this fancy woman has anything to do with the coal concern?”
“Nah, there’s rich men coming in the spring. She’s brought nothing with her besides her own self, a servant or two, and what appears to be a roomful of furniture. She’s paid up until the end of next week, and Sarah saw a train ticket back to Cheyenne for the very same day.”
Pearl made a non-committal sound, one that seemed to fool Polly. “Anything else I should know?”
“Not that I can think of, but I’ll keep my ears open.”
“Thank you, Polly,” she murmured.
The woman nodded and made her way back to the floor.
Leaning against the wall, Pearl found her gaze again on the place Garrett usually occupied. She’d never in her days thought Garrett would be a mystery, and definitely not one she would want to solve. But she did, and she would…and then maybe this pain in her breast would subside.
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