Chapter 18
Posted: July 18, 2007 - 12:54:40 am

When I mentioned favors, Gordon eyed me suspiciously.

"There will be a reward for you McGuinn, but I would hope you were motivated by civic duty to help me."

I waved away his mention of a reward.

"I'm not after any money, Agent Gordon, I didn't do much anyway. What I'd like is for you to visit the courthouse tomorrow morning, to look at Mister Toliver's land transactions. If you think about it, he might have used some of the counterfeit money to pay for land and pocketed the railroad's real money. If that's so, we need to make it right for the sellers."

Gordon's ears perked up at that.

"Your idea could have merit, son, and if he did do that, I can run him back in for a totally unrelated crime. What's the second favor?"

"I would appreciate your recommendation for an appointment as a deputy US Marshall for West Texas. I plan to take the train to Santa Fe soon and apply to the New Mexico Marshall for a deputyship."

The United States Marshall in Santa Fe had federal authority in New Mexico, the Arizona Territory and West Texas, a huge geographical area. The Marshall had the authority to hire new deputies as needed, and there was a Federal District Judge in Santa Fe to swear the deputies in. I thought that a federal presence in El Paso might help in heading off the Salt War. Being a Deputy U.S. Marshall was mostly a part time job that paid two dollars a day when you were out tracking a fugitive or riding on a posse. In Texas, that wasn't called for that often, because the Texas Rangers filled the same function with a lot more manpower.

"What's in something like that for a young man like you?" Gordon wanted to know.

It was a fair question, and one I could honestly answer.

"I'm trained in the law, Mister Gordon, and have an abiding love for it. As you said a few minutes ago, I feel a duty to help enforce it. I can't go into it full time, but as I did with you, I'd like to help when I can."

I guess my sincerity won Gordon over, because he said he'd have a letter for me the following day. He knew the Marshall in Santa Fe well enough, because of a case involving counterfeit twenty dollar gold pieces they had worked together a few years ago.

After dinner, I helped Molly with the dishes and we took a walk to watch the sun set across the desert. She was slightly scandalized that I put my arm around her shoulder and displayed affection to her out of doors, but with a little urging, she finally snuggled up against my side.

"You are a very romantic man to be so young, Tyler McGuinn," she said.

I hugged her a little closer and kissed her forehead.

"My soul would have to be made of stone not to feel romantic with a woman like you, Molly Dean," I answered.

I meant every word I told her, because I thought Molly Dean was a treasure. We stayed outside as the air cooled and a big hazy moon replaced the recently departed sun. When we went back to my room, we brought all that romance with us. We made some of the sweetest love imaginable until late into the night. Molly fell asleep on top of me, my flaccid dick still inside her.

Either Molly woke up before the alarm went off, or I slept through it, because the next thing I knew it was a bright eight in the morning. I felt as sunny as the weather after I brushed my teeth and splashed some cold water on my face. When I reached the kitchen, I found I wasn't the only one in a good mood. Molly was all smiles when I sat at the table. She brought me a cup of coffee and sat down beside me. When she was seated, she pulled an envelope from her apron pocket.

"This is for you from Mister Gordon. He said you'd know what it was."

She smiled again when I took the envelope out of her hand and stuck it in my vest pocket.

"Thank you for last night, Tyler. It was the most wonderfully romantic night of my life."

Her praise made me blush; I could actually feel my ears turning red.

"The pleasure was all mine Miss Molly, you are an amazingly beautiful and desirable woman."

It was her turn to blush, something that she did often. With her fair complexion, when Molly blushed, she turned pink from the roots of her hair to where her neck disappeared in her dress collar.

"You are also very bold. I feel as if I'm a young girl when I'm with you and you seem a much older man."

I had to smile at that observation because of how close to the truth it really was. Looking at her, I had a thought.

"Why don't you dress up tonight and let me escort you to the Toro so you can see where I work. I'd like to introduce you to some of my friends and show you off. It will probably be a quiet night, so I could spend time with you."

Molly appeared shocked at my offer.

"I'm a decent and proper woman, Tyler, I could never do that!" she exclaimed.

Her outrage was standard fare for this era. Women in the saloons were tolerated by the more traditional women as a necessary evil, but were still looked down on. I did not like that attitude a bit.

"And I'm a decent and respectable man. Do you think I'd work in a place I'd be ashamed of showing you, or work with people I was embarrassed to introduce to you?" I said sternly.

Molly looked at me for a second and reached for my hand.

"Of course not, Sweetheart, I know you are a good man or I wouldn't be with you. I guess it wouldn't hurt me to visit there, as long as you'll bring me home if I grow uncomfortable."

I was happy that she changed her mind, and told her I'd come pick her up around nine and have her home by ten or earlier if she wanted.

I took my laundry to Clem's, got a shave and listened to the latest gossip. Clem was in rare form that morning, because he'd picked up some juicy tidbits at church the day before. Clem was a Baptist and attended the same church as Charles Howard. Clem had overheard Howard talking to another man about Toliver the railroad man. Howard said that he had known all along that Toliver was helping the government crackdown on the counterfeiting ring. From the tone of the conversation, Howard was acting as if he'd come up with the whole idea.

The thought of Howard doing damage control to cover his ass from the dealings of his partner Toliver made me smile. I thought it might make the meeting I planned on having with the judge go smoother.

When I left Clem's shop, I dropped off a note with the clerk of the court and asked him to pass it on to Judge Howard. In the note, I asked for a half hour of the judge's time to discuss a possible ethical problem I was facing in defending Carlos Trujillo.

I arrived at the saloon at about ten in the morning. When I walked through the door, the first person I saw was Pen, sitting at a table with Liz and Manuel the bartender/janitor. Pen wasn't back to normal by a long shot, but judging from the grin he gave me, he felt much improved.

"Here's our young marvel now. We were just talking about how you've managed to take over and actually grow my business. You are making me look like a genius for hiring you."

I blushed again and mumbled a denial as Pen and Liz beamed me smiles. I walked behind the bar and grabbed the coffee pot off the two burner wood stove that sat in a small alcove. I poured myself a cup of java and joined them at the table. Pen handed Manuel his and his wife's wages, and the barman went back to work.

When it was just the three of us at the table, I floated the ideas about changing the saloon that I'd thought of yesterday. Pen listened carefully and agreed that my ideas had potential, except he thought that the ideas would work best in an entirely new establishment. Liz agreed with Pen, and there at the table the seeds were planted that grew into the El Paso Gentlemen's Club. I was concerned about finding the money to start up a completely new venture, but Pen didn't seem to consider it a problem. He said for me to give the matter some more thought, and we'd present the idea to his friends on Wednesday night.

I took a few moments in my office to read the letter Agent Gordon had written for me. The letter was all I could ask for in a reference and then some. Gordon's handwriting was regal and flowing, and his choice of words made it seem as if I walked on water. When I read his flourished signature, I finally learned his first name. The letter was signed, Artemus Gordon, Special Agent. I had heard that name somewhere before in the twentieth century, but I couldn't figure out where. I shrugged, I guess Agent Gordon must have been in one of the western history books I'd read.

Starting at noon, Pen had me sit through his meetings with the staff. I was happy that Pen passed out some extra money because of the good week we'd had. When everyone had been paid and were all set for the coming week, Penn handed me three twenty dollar gold pieces.

"I know you've not had a chance to make any money playing cards, young Ty, so I sweetened your pay a tad. You made me lots of money last week, and took on all my duties, so it was well earned."

I thanked Pen and didn't protest the extra money. Truth is, I had run a negative balance last week because of the new guns and holsters. In addition, the only money I'd earned was the ten dollars Señor Trujillo had paid me. The money from Pen put me fifteen dollars up for the week.

At two o'clock a deputy from the courthouse brought me a note from Judge Howard. Howard said he'd meet with me in his chambers at four-thirty that afternoon. With that information, I went to my office and wrote out what I would say to the judge. I wanted to make sure that I didn't fall off the tightrope I was planning to walk.

I was at the courthouse and sitting in Judge Howard's anteroom fifteen minutes early. I wasn't taking any chances of starting off on the wrong foot by being even a minute late. Howard's clerk announced my arrival, and I was surprised that the clerk immediately ushered me into the judge's impressive inner office. I took a seat and we exchanged greetings before Howard went right to the point.

"What kind of ethical dilemma are you facing, Counselor? This is only your second case, isn't it?"

"Yes sir," I agreed. "I was given the case on Wednesday because Trujillo asked for a Spanish speaking attorney. I met with him and the DA that same day. Mister Davenport told me that because of the violent nature of the crime, he wouldn't consider any form of a plea for a reduced sentence. Based on information Trujillo gave me, I rode out to speak with his father yesterday.

"The senior Trujillo was very angry about his son's incarceration, and he is a savvy and crafty man. After he paid me to represent his family in his son's defense, he asked me as his attorney to file charges against the two men his son fought with, along with two other men unknown to him."

I paused then and Howard broke into my monologue.

"I don't look favorably on nuisance litigation, Counselor," he said darkly.

I nodded glumly and picked my narrative back up.

"And I don't want to be a part of one your honor. The problem is that I knew who one of the other men was from Trujillo's description. It was Burton Toliver, the railroad man arrested about a week ago by that Federal Agent. I suspect the fourth man was your son George.

"Their involvement wouldn't be a problem because they were enforcing a no trespass notice, although some might say shooting the dog and beating up the old man were unnecessarily violent acts. No, your honor, the trouble comes in because Mister Toliver was arrested for possession and passing of counterfeit United States Gold Certificates. The man who arrested him is a Secret Service Agent named Artemus Gordon. Agent Gordon resides in the same boardinghouse I do. After a conversation one evening, he deputized me because I spoke Spanish, and he wanted me to make some inquires for him south of the border.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, last night Gordon told me he'd freed Toliver because the man had turned states evidence. He also told me that today he was going to research all Toliver's land purchases to see if the man passed forged notes and kept the railroad's legitimate money.

"There is where my dilemma lies, because if Gordon causes any of the land purchases to be called in question, it might void all of them. If that's the case, Mister Trujillo will have a case. I would hate to think that only my second case might end up jeopardizing my relationship to the court by dragging Your Honor's family into it. But with the way the Sixth Amendment is being pursued, I don't have a choice. That's when I decided to immediately seek your advice before I did anything else."

I sat back in my chair when I finished talking, trying to look confused and apprehensive. In reality, I was studying Howard intently. The judge did not have much of a poker face, as I could read one emotion after another run across his mug. Finally, his features settled into a fatherly benign expression.

"Your concern for the integrity of the court is noted and appreciated, Counselor. This is one of those cases where, even though there is no ethical issues for us whatsoever, it could give that appearance. I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will immediately sever any dealing my family has with Mister Toliver, and I will speak to my son about his men's overenthusiastic enforcement of the law. As a show of good faith, I'll ask him to speak to his men about dropping the criminal charges, but some compensation is surely due them for their injuries. In exchange, I ask that you advise your client against opening this can of worms."

I gave an exaggerated sigh of relieve and started thanking him profusely. I made it appear as if he had struck upon the perfect solution on his own, as I bowed and scraped my way out of his chambers.

"Thank you so much Your Honor! You've done me a great service. I'll ride out there tomorrow morning and tell Mister Trujillo about what we discussed. I'll make him see that his son's assault on the men was justice enough, and I'll see that he pays restitution for his son's overzealousness with his knife."

Of course I was going to do no such thing, because the senior Mister Trujillo and I had discussed all of this yesterday. I even had two hundred dollars of his money with which to pay off the cowboys, just in case. I felt sleazy dealing with Howard like that, but I guess in the end, justice of a sort was being served.

I did a lot of thinking as I walked back to Molly's from the courthouse. I was not sure that a career as an attorney, at least a criminal defense attorney, was really for me. I mostly felt that way when I thought about losing a case like Carlos Trujillo's. Yes, Carlos was technically guilty and should have been punished, but seven years, considering the circumstances, was vindictive. That's one of the reasons I required his father to put up the two hundred dollars, that way they had to pay at least some price for his actions.

Later that night, my mood improved considerably as I escorted a radiant Molly into the Toro. Molly was big eyed in wonder at the saloon dancers and the number of men in the place, even though it was a slow night. One thing about all the dancers coming to the Toro during the night was that they ended up bringing in more men with them.

Earlier in the day, I'd had a little powwow with the Hombres. I ran them through the tune for a song for Molly. I then discussed putting on a little show from ten until eleven, because during that hour the other saloons' women took their break and visited us. I decided we'd pass out a few free drinks to the women and call it ladies happy hour.

So that night, I was sitting at a table with Molly, Pen and Liz when a horde of women descended on the Toro. There were easily twice as many as on Saturday. I guess it was slow at their places too. I stood up and started greeting the women, getting them seated and making them comfortable. I announced the new happy hour policy of two for one drinks for women and made sure that they were undisturbed by the men in the place.

The hombres whipped into a couple of their best love songs and the women applauded in appreciation. After the second song, I excused myself from the table and walked up to the small stage where the Hombres stood. I picked up my guitar, strapped it on and strummed it a couple of times as the women all hooted and hollered.

When I thought I was in the semblance of being in tune, I looked up at the women and gave them my best Elvis lip-curling sneer.

"Thank you... thank you ah very much," I emoted.

Then I launched into 'Ring of Fire' as the women all clapped in time. When I looked over at Molly and winked, she was goggle-eyed in amazement. Hell, even Liz's mouth was hanging open, as neither of them had ever seen my act. I have to admit that I put on the dog for them as I out Elvised Elvis. After my first number, I led the Hombres off the stage and we did 'Walk the Line' as we strolled around.

I don't know what possessed me next, but when I saw a table with an extra chair at it, I hopped up on the chair then stood on the table. I held up my hands until everyone was quiet.

"Okay, this next song requires your participation. Here's what you have to do..."

Then I ran through it once alone and once with everyone joining in. The crowd was getting into it, so I started off.

"Alley oop oop oop-oop..."

Everyone sang the lines back and clapped their hands at the last 'oop'.

The place was rocking by the time I finished the first verse. Even the Hombres were getting into it as they harmonized on the backup vocals. The only thing missing was Melosa, she would have loved it.

After 'Alley Oop', the Hombres tenor did a very good job on 'Love Me Tender'. He was a handsome young man, so I imagined his chances of getting lucky really went up after that song. After the tenor took his bows, I walked us over to the table where Molly was sitting and sang her a song we'd worked on that afternoon. It was my version of 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling' only I substituted Molly for Irish in a few places.

"When Molly's eyes are smiling,

the whole world smiles with you.'
Joe J & Wet Dream-Girl
Chapter 19