Valdez hadnt been here; at least nobody remembered seeing him. So where would he have been the past three days? Not at his boardinghouse.
But, goddam, Diego Luz had been to his boardinghouse! He could see Diego again coming out of it and the funny look on the mans face when he realized hed been spotted.
What would Frank Tanner say about that? R. L. Davis said to himself. If you could hand him Bob Valdez hed hire you the same minute, wouldnt he?
Go up to Tanner and cock the Walker in his face and say, All right, give me the money, Valdez was thinking. Not asking him, telling him this time. A hundred dollars or five hundred or whatever he had. Take it and get out and dont think about later until later. He would have to leave Lanoria and go someplace else and maybe worry about Tanner the rest of his life because he had wanted to help the woman; because he had started it and gotten into it and now was so far in he couldnt turn around and walk out. You must be crazy, Valdez thought. Like Inez had said. Or an idiot. But he was here and was going through with it and he wasnt going to think about why he was here.
He was behind the church, bringing the buckskin along close to the wall, then into the alley that led to the yard of the church. At the far end of the yard was the building with the loading platform. Past the low wall of the churchyard he could see the square and the water pump and stone trough. There was no one in the square now. Farther down the street, in the dusk, he could make out people in front of the adobes, a few of the women sitting outside to talk; he could hear voices and laughter, the sound clear in the silence.
Valdez left the buckskin in the yard. He went over the wall and through the narrow space between the platform and two freight wagons that stood ready for loading. He mounted the steps at the far end. On the platform he looked out at the square
again and at the church doorway and the fence across the opening. There were a few horses inside; he wondered if one of them was his claybank. Maybe after, he would have time to look. He crossed the platform and went into the building, into the room crowded with wooden cases and sacks of grain. Maybe this wasnt Tanners place. Maybe he would have to work his way down the street, hurrying before it was full dark and they gave up looking for him. It was already dark in the room. He had to feel his way at first, moving between the cases to the stairway. The boards creaked and his boots on the stairs made a hard, sharp sound that Tanner would hear if he was upstairs; he would be ready or he would think it was one of his men. Valdez reached the hall and opened the door in front of him.
The room was still and seemed empty, until the woman moved and he saw her profile and the soft curve of her hair against the window. She watched him cross the room and open the door to the bedroom, waiting for him to look toward her again.
Hes not here.
Valdez walked toward her. He stopped to look out the window at the square below. He went with them?
I guess he did, the woman said. He didnt say.
Are you his wife?
She didnt answer for a moment, and Valdez looked at her.
I will be his wife, soon.
Do you know him?
Thats a strange question. I guess I know him if Im going to marry him.
Well, its up to you.
There was a silence between them until she said, Are you going to wait for him?
I dont know yet wait or come back another time.
He wont give you another time. You killed one of his men.
He died. I thought he would die, Valdez said. Unless you had a doctor.
She watched him look out the window again. Did you come here to kill Frank?
It would be up to him, Valdez said.
Then what do you want?
The same thing as before. Something for the woman.
Why? I mean why do you bother?
Listen, Valdez said. He hesitated. If I tell you what I think, it doesnt sound right. Its something I know. You understand that?
Maybe youll kill him, the woman said, but you wont get anything out of him.
Valdez nodded slowly. Ive been thinking of that. If he doesnt want to give me anything, how do I make him? I push a gun into him and tell him, but if I have to shoot him, then I dont get anything.
If he doesnt kill you first, the woman said.
Ive been thinking, Valdez said. If I have something he wants, then maybe we make a trade. If he wants it bad enough.
She watched him and said nothing. He was looking at her now.
Like I say to him, You give me the money and I give you your woman.
She continued to look at him, studying him. And if he doesnt give you the money? she said finally.
Then he doesnt get his woman, Valdez said.
Youd kill me?
No, the question would be how much does he like you?
Hell outwait you. Hell put his men around the building and sooner or later youll have to go out.
Not if Im already out, Valdez said. His face went to the window before he looked at her again. Listen, if you want to take something with you, get it now.
A woman who belonged to one of Tanners men saw them leave. She had gone to the water pump in the square and stood looking at them as they came out to the loading platform: the woman of Mr. Tanner with a blanket roll and the man carrying a grain pack with something in it and an empty water skin. She looked at them and they looked at her, but she didnt call out. She told Mr. Tanner she was afraid the man would do something to her or to the woman of Mr. Tanner.