Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

R E D E E M I N G L O V E
parts. Town’s dying, in case you hadn’t noticed. The gold that’s left in these
parts is too hard to get out. Another month or two and Pair-a-Dice is going
to be stone-cold dead. I’ll have to move with the strikes or go broke like
some have already done. Hochschild saw what was coming and tore his
mercantile down weeks ago. He’s in Sacramento now, raking in the dust.”
She tried to still her impatience and raise her waning hope. “Where’s the
Duchess?”
“Duchess? Oh, she’s gone. Left right after the fire. Sacramento, San
Francisco. Don’t rightly know where. Someplace bigger than this, you can bet.”
Angel’s heart sank as all her plans disintegrated. Max gave her a blanket,
and she wrapped it around herself to ward off the growing chill. Murphy
kept on talking. “She didn’t have a thimble to spit in after Magowan burned
the place down around her. Fire killed two of her girls.”
She glanced up sharply. “Which girls?”
“Mai Ling, that little Celestial flower. I’m going to miss her.”
“Who was the other girl?”
“The drunk. What was her name? Can’t remember. Anyway, both of them
were trapped upstairs when the blaze started. Nobody could get them out.
You could hear them screaming. Gave me nightmares for days afterward.”
Oh, Lucky. What am I going to do without you?
“Magowan tried to get away,” Murphy said. “Made it about five miles
before we caught up with him. Brought him back and hanged him right out
there on Main Street. Raised him like a flag. Took him a long time to die. He
was the meanest—”
Angel left the bar and sat down at a table. She needed to be alone and get
control of her emotions.
Murphy came over with a bottle and two glasses. He stayed and poured
her a whiskey. “You look down on your luck, honey.” He poured another
drink for himself. His eyes were dark and bright as he looked her over. “You
got nothing to worry about, Angel. I’ve got a spare room upstairs.” He
glanced around at the men. “You could be back in business in five minutes
on a simple say-so.” He leaned closer. “All we got to work out is the split.
How about sixty for me, forty for you? You’ll get room, board, clothes, whatever
you want. I’ll take good care of you.”
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