Chapter 51: Loyalty for Hire
However, the awkward atmosphere didn't linger. The woman calmly accepted the glass and, without the slightest hesitation, introduced herself.
'Good day, Mr. ODriscoll. I'm the one who wrote to you—Valerie Philip.
Let's speak plainly: have you thought over the pistol we discussed in Blackwater Town?
Fifty dollars for a side-arm like that is a bargain you'd scarcely find even in bustling Saint Denis.'
With that, she lifted the tumbler of whisky and drained it in a single, unflinching swallow.
Such boldness left the surrounding drunks slack-jawed.
Moments earlier, Johnny had taken her for a mute; her silence had been absolute.
Now it was clear she was anything but.
The face, though, was identical to the Little Mute he remembered—no doubt the same woman.
He silently cursed the developers for their laziness, grumbling that they hadn't even bothered to give so key a character a proper voice.
Collecting himself, Johnny laid out his terms: before she could claim the pistol, she would first have to fulfil several contracts for him.
Ten dollars a day, and all he required was the temporary use of her credentials as a Bounty Hunter.
Everyone knew Little Mute would tackle any job if the coin was good.
Unsurprisingly, she agreed at once.
Necessity had driven her to it.
She had been living quietly between Rhodes and Saint Denis, earning good coin as a capable Bounty Hunter.
Those takings had funded a little moonshine shack of her own.
Then, without warning, her Rhodes contact vanished.
In this line of work, a go-between is the lifeline for leads and information.
Stripped of that, she felt like a headless fly, buzzing in circles.
Worse, droves of hunters had flocked to Blackwater Town for the fat new bounties, leaving the territory almost empty.
Working solo doubles the danger.
The real world is no simple game; outlaws don't stand idle, waiting to be collected.
A crew is needed—some to gather intelligence, others to tail the target.
Compounding her woes, the shack employed only one brewer, one sales-hand, and two guards.
Too few hands meant meagre output.
Then the Braithwaite family began squeezing her operation, and both production and profits plummeted.
Battered by one setback after another, she shuttered the liquor trade and rode for Blackwater Town with a few companions, hoping for new opportunities.
Instead, they found a powerful clique of hunters already entrenched.
The organisation monopolised the wanted boards and refused to share a single poster.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, they started the long ride back to Rhodes, picking up odd jobs on the way—shopping in Blackwater Town, meeting Johnny in Valentine.
Since she had accepted so readily, Johnny wasted no time detailing the commission.
She was to travel, under private hire, to Strawberry and spring a prisoner—Micah Bell—from the local jail. He placed a hundred dollars in her hand for the bail.
Whatever she could save from that sum she could keep.
All travel, food, and lodging en route would be covered, but she must guarantee the employer's safety.
Back in Valentine she would remain Micah's custodian until the job was closed.
Failure to honour the terms would cost her five hundred dollars in forfeit.
One point he stressed: Micah was locked up for murder, a fact that would complicate her task.
To succeed, she would need every ounce of her acting skill.
Her goal: convince the sheriff that releasing the prisoner would solve more problems than it caused—and line her pockets in the process.
With no middle-man involved, no contract was signed.
Once the particulars were settled, they prepared to leave.
Johnny told her to Stable her own horse in Valentine;
on the return she would ride Micah Bell's sprightly fox trotter horse.
For the outbound leg she would take the train, the faster to reach Strawberry.
He handed her five dollars—enough to board the animal and buy two passenger tickets plus one horse ticket—and told her to wait for him on the platform.
He then stepped into the nearby general store and spent a dollar on a pen, a sheaf of writing paper, an envelope, and a bottle of ink.
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