Page 10 of Dead Man's Hand

“Back to Judy?”

She nodded. “She knew someone who wanted a baby.” Luella began shaking her head even before he asked who. “I didn’t want to know. I’d involved people I cared about already. I knew not to push it.”

He tried to hide his disappointment. “You must have some idea. You were Judy’s best friend. You knew some of the same people.”

She looked away for a moment and he felt hope resurface.

ASDJTURNEDoff the interstate and headed toward uptown Butte, Sadie took in the city sprawled across the side of the mountain—except for the right side, where much of the mountain was missing. “They still mine here?” she asked in surprise.

“Butte is a hard-core mining town,” DJ said. “It started as a mining camp back in the 1860s and quickly grew to become Montana’s first industrial city.” They passed large abandoned old brick buildings, the windows either missing or covered in dust. “It’s fallen on hard times since then, but the Continental pit is still active as an open-pit copper and molybdenum mining operation. Mining still pays better than any other industry in the state.”

“Which is why we’re here,” Sadie said. “Aren’t miners...a bit rough to deal with if things go south, though?”

“We aren’t taking the miners’ money. We’re after the people above them who make the big money.”

She was relieved to hear that. With her godfather, he handpicked the players in the games she and DJ relieved of their cash. Even so, there were some who often made her nervous. She’d learned that you could never tell what a person might do—especially if you’d just spent hours taking his money.

DJ headed up the mountainside, passing more old brick buildings in what was obviously the historic district. She couldn’t help being fascinated just thinking of the history here as he pulled down an alley behind a large old brick hotel. The sign on the top floor read Hotel Finlen.

Sadie shot him a look as he stopped at the hotel’s service entrance off the alley, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Butte has an amazing history—and so does this hotel. Charles Lindbergh, Harry S. Truman and even JFK visited the Finlen,” he said with an enthusiasm that was catching. “I love this hotel and this town. Butte was once the largest city between Chicago and San Francisco. You’ll like this place. The Finlen was architecturally inspired by the Hotel Astor in New York and was built to impress in 1924.”

She couldn’t help smiling at him. Clearly this old mining town meant a lot to him. “How do you know all this?” she asked, hoping he would talk about his childhood here.

“The Finlen was my uncle’s favorite hotel. He often paid the bill so we could come back. That wasn’t true of most other hotels we stayed in.”

She laughed. “Do you always use the back door off the alley?”

“Used to a lot. But today?” He shrugged. “I know people here.” Of course he did. He knew people all over Montana and the northwest after growing up with a conman uncle. Not that DJ had ever offered anything about himself or his past. Just as she hadn’t. But her godfather had told her a few things about the man before he’d asked her to work with him.

“I want to keep our partnership quiet. I hate to ask you to walk around to the front of the building through the snow and slush, but we can’t be connected,” DJ said. “I need you to hang out here for a day or so. Like I said, buy expensive meals, shop, whatever. Throw money around. I’ll contact you when I’m ready, but for this one you’re a high roller.”

“I think I’m going to enjoy being the mark,” she said as he reached into the glove box and took out a thick envelope of money. She waved it away. “Thanks, but no. You don’t get to be the only one to take the high road.”

He looked as if he wanted to argue, before stuffing the envelope into his inside jacket pocket. “You’ll get every penny back.” He pointed up the street behind them. “It’s easier to go that way. In this part of the older city, the streets and sidewalks are steep since they built the original city on the side of a mountain. I know how steep because I was the one who had to make the run for it so the employees chased me—and not my uncle.”

His words hit her at heart level. She knew he’d had a rough childhood, but she hadn’t known any details and now didn’t know what to say. A cold silence seemed to surround the cab of the pickup for a moment. “It was a game for me,” he said as if seeing her sympathy even though she tried hard to hide it. He grinned. “When we were flush, we ate lobster tail and steak from china plates on white linen tablecloths with real silver at the best places in town. True, when we were between scores, we ate whatever I could scrounge up—often from food trays left out in hotel hallways. But you’d be amazed what people leave. Like I said, as a kid it was a game. A scavenger hunt.” He shrugged and she could tell that he wished he hadn’t told her any of this. So why had he?

“Bet you could run fast.” She smiled even though she felt more like crying as she thought about DJ as a boy outrunning hotel employees so his uncle didn’t have to. “I can’t wait to see this hotel that meant so much to you and your uncle.” She met his gaze. “I like seeing this place through your eyes. Thanks for sharing. And don’t worry about me. I’ll do my part.”

“I never doubt it. Thanks again, Sadie.”

She hesitated, surprised how much she wanted to reassure him. He seemed so vulnerable here in this place that had been such an important part of his younger life.

But she was the one who’d kept their relationship strictly business. While she couldn’tnothave regrets, it was almost over. The thought made a lump rise in her throat as she climbed out, closed the door and headed back down the alley. As she walked she couldn’t help comparing his life to her own. Hers had been a fairy-tale princess’s existence compared to his. There was no way she couldn’t help him get the money for his sister. But she still felt uneasy. She didn’t know this place or these people. Nor did she and DJ have the protection of her godfather. They were on their own.

At the front of the hotel, she pushed open the door, lifted her chin and strode in as if she owned the place. It was time to go to work.

Chapter Six

Buck watched Luella turn away to rinse out a cup in the sink. Stalling. He held his tongue although it was killing him. He could tell that she knew something he desperately needed. He thought of Ansley, his love for her, their upcoming wedding.Please.

“I honestly don’t know for certain,” Luella said. “I swear.”

“I believe you, Luella,” Buck said. “But anything you can tell me will help. My fiancée is desperate to have her missing twin brother give her away at our wedding.”

The woman sighed as she turned back to face him. “That is so sweet.” She hesitated, but only a moment longer. “There was this young woman that Judy had befriended when she worked at that old folks’ home down in Missoula. Her name was Sheila. I saw her a few times when she came up to visit.” Luella shook her head, lips pursed in disapproval. “I didn’t like the look of her, but Judy was a sucker for anyone less off than she was. Sheila had had a hard life apparently and looked up to Judy.”

He could see where that would have pleased Judy, who’d had a tough life herself. “Are you telling me Judy gave this young woman the baby?”

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