In the back, she said. The only way you could kill this one. She looked at Diego Luz. Who shot him? I didnt hear anything.
A tree, Diego Luz said. Listen, get something to clean him and talk after.
Valdez heard the woman close the door. He was comfortable and he knew he would be asleep again in a moment. He said, Hey, bringing Diego Luz close to the side of the bed. Im going to leave you everything I have when I die.
Youre not going to die. You got a little cut.
I know Im not going to die now. I mean when I die.
Dont talk about it, Diego Luz said.
I leave you everything I have if you do one more thing for me, all right?
Go to sleep, Diego Luz said, and shut up for a while.
If you get me something from my room at the boardinghouse.
You want me to go now?
No, this time of night that old ladyll shoot you. During the day. Tomorrow.
What is it you want?
In the bottom drawer of the dresser, Valdez said. Everything thats there.
Goddam, he wished he could tell somebody about it.
R. L. Davis stood at the bar in the Republic Hotel drinking whiskey. He didnt have anything to do. Hed been fired for not being where he was supposed to be, riding fence and not riding all over the goddam country, Mr. Malson had said. Hed told Mr. Malson hed gone to see Diego Luz about a new horse, but Mr. Malson didnt believe him, the tight-butt son of a bitch. Sure he had gone off to Tanners place to see about working for him, figuring the chance of getting caught and fired was worth it. What surprised him was Tanner not hiring him. Christ, he could shoot. Probably good or better than any man Tanner had. He saw himself riding along with Tanners bunch, riding into Lanoria, stampeding in and swinging down in front of the Republic or De Spains.
He could go over to De Spains. At least hed been paid off. Maybe there was somebody over there he could tell. God, it was hard to keep something that good inside you. But he wasnt sure how everybody would take it, telling how hed pushed Valdez over like a goddam turtle in the sun. The segundo had mentioned the turtle and it had given him the idea, though he thought one of Tanners men would do it first.
Maybe if he told Tanner what he did-
No, Tanner would look at him and say, You come all the way out here to tell me that?
He was a hard man to talk to. He looked right through you without any expression. But it would be something to ride for him, down into old Mexico with guns and beef and shoot up the federals.
R. L. Davis finished his whiskey and had another and said to himself all right, hed go over to De Spains. Maybe there was a way of telling it that it wouldnt sound like hed done it to him deliberately. Hell, he hadnt killed him, hed pushed him over, and there were seven hundred miles between pushing and killing. If the son of a bitch was still out there it was his own fault.
Outside, he mounted the sorrel and moved up the street. He came to the corner and looked around, seeing who was about, not for any reason, just looking. He saw Diego Luz coming out of the boardinghouse two doors from the corner: Diego Luz coming toward him, carrying something wrapped up in newspaper, a big bundle that could be his wash. Except a Mexican horsebreaker wasnt going to have any wash done in there. He had his own woman for that.
He waited for him to reach the corner. Hey, Diego, what you got there, your laundry?
The Mexican looked funny, surprised, like hed been caught stealing chickens. Then he gave a big smile and waved, like R. L. Davis was his best friend and he was really glad to see him.
Dumb Mexican. He was all right; just a dumb chilipicker. Christ, R. L. Davis thought, itd be good to tell him what hed done to Bob Valdez. And then he thought, Hey, thats the boardinghouse Bob Valdez lives in, isnt it?
Each of the seven doors in the upstairs hall bore the name of a girl in a flowery pink and blue scroll Anastacia, Rosaria, Evita, Elisaida, Maria, Tranquilina, and Edith. The names were a nice touch and Inez liked them, though only one of the original seven girls was still here. Because of the turnover during the past two years, and because the Mexican sign painter had moved away, Inez had not bothered to have the doors relettered. Maybe she would sometime, though none of her customers seemed to mind that the name on the door didnt match the girl. They didnt care what the girls names were, long as they were there.
Inez tiptoed down the hall, but the floor still creaked beneath her weight. It was semidark, with one lamp lit at the end of the hall and a faint light coming from the stairway landing. Polly followed her, carrying a tray of ham and greens and fried potatoes and coffee: Bob Valdezs supper if he was awake and felt like eating. He had been here since yesterday morning: two days and going on the second night, sleeping most of the time and sitting up drinking water out of the pitcher when he wasnt sleeping. She had never seen a man drink so much water. Diego Luz had come yesterday afternoon with a bundle of clothes at least what looked to be clothing and hadnt been back since then. Diego Luz never came here ordinarily, unless he was looking for someone for Mr. Malson, so it would seem strange if he were seen coming in and out. This was why Bob Valdez told him to stay away. No one was to know he was here. As far as anybody thinks, I have disappeared, Bob Valdez had said. He had told Inez what happened to him, but she had the feeling he didnt tell her everything. That was all right;