Co-effort of Fritz & Scarlet
“You know you are some kinda woman but Fritz is right. I prefer Scarlet too.” He said with a blush.
“I do too Wireman.” She replied with a chuckle.
Ruby climbed the stairs to the rooms and unlocked the door. It had been a rather long day and a hot bath sounded very inviting. It seemed like it took her forever to take off the make up and take down her hair. She then separated the money and notes that had been given to her.
Glancing at the papers she made a mental note of telling Tinker somebody was using Jim Hoss’s name, the man had been dead for a long spell now. He’d died by her hand and somebody was using his reputation. She had already thanked him for sending information to Patches earlier.
Scarlet hung up the outfit she had been wearing and closed the false wall between the rooms that connected hers with Becca’s, then glanced in the mirror. Ruby was gone except for the stockings that she tossed on her bed.
Scarlet picked up her pistol and towel, went into the private bath, which connected the two rooms, and neatly placed them within reach of the bath tub before sliding into the hot water.
She leaned back and let the hot water attempt to relax her muscles. She had her doubts about Houston but Tinker was a different story. They had learned over the years to trust each other with more than their lives. She had wondered why Tinker had called on Ruby instead of Scarlet, but now knowing what she was finding out about Phillips made him more than just a pain in the butt. He was an enemy, one she would not underestimate.
Her mind went back to the men in Houston. Why she just didn’t stuff that badge down someone’s throat was beginning to play with her mind. She figured between the ranch, the Ace and bounty hunting she could probably make a better income than taking orders from Houston and wondering who was going to stab her in the back next.
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He hadn’t been dressed down in awhile, particularly not by a person who was younger than he was by several years. But like a good Soldier, he stood there and took it. He stared at a spot just above Marshal Phillips’s head, rigidly at attention.
“How long have you been Marshalling, King?”
“On and off for the last three years, sir.”
Phillips looked up from the dime novel he was reading. “So you’re not very experienced, are you?”
“I have a great deal of experience, sir…but not as a Marshal.”
“Your arrest of those two men shows me just how inexperienced you are.”
Fritz sighed. “As I indicated, sir, I did not arrest those men. I detained them until I could determine who and what they were.”
“Based upon what…your hunch?”
“No sir. I had information based on eyewitness testimony…”
Phillips cut him off. “From who?”
“An employee of the Ace named Ruby.”
“A bar whore? You made a judgment call based on the word of a bar whore?”
Fritz was getting angry, and chose his words carefully. “I have no knowledge or information indicating that Miss Ruby is a whore, sir”
“They’re all whores,” Phillips replied. “They should find a proper man and make babies.”
Phillips turned back to his novel. “You’ve got a lot to learn, King. It’s a good thing I’m here. That’s all.”
Realizing he’d been dismissed, Fritz took a step back, executed an about face, and left the office.
He fumed as he walked back to the Ace. All he wanted was a bourbon, a bath, and a cigar; not necessarily in that order. He walked past the bar and headed for the stairs.
Hank yelled after him. “You might want to wait until…”
“Unless the building is on fire, don’t bother me Hank. I’m having a very bad day.”
Hank just shook his head and laughed wondering what would take place once inside the room.
Fritz unlocked the door to the room he and Scarlet shared while in town. He went straight to the bedside table and poured a glass of the good stuff. As the first hint of warmth passed his throat, he noticed Ruby’s stockings on his bed. Nearly gagging, he put the glass down.
“Oh God…Oh no. NoNoNoNo…”
This wasn’t good. Did he send the wrong signals? Did Ruby get the wrong idea about him? This did not bode well, particularly after losing the bet with Bo. He went to the bathroom and knocked on the door.
“Miss Ruby? Are you in there?”
Scarlet’s head jerked up. “What…ah, yes. What do you want?”
“Ah…ma’am? I think you’ve got the wrong idea about me.” Fritz held his slouch in his hands, turning it by the brim. “I’m married…happily married. Have been for a couple of years now. Don’t get me wrong; you’re a beautiful lady. Any man would be proud to have you on his arm. Bo maybe…?”
“Damn,” Fritz thought. This was getting worse all the time.
Scarlet listened for a minute. She was pretty sure Fritz had come in alone, she grinned, it was so wrong but she just couldn’t help herself.
“Yer so very sweet and Ruby doesn’t have the wrong idea about you lawman.” She responded in the sweet drawl she’d been using all day. “Ruby knows you’re a married man and she knows yer wife tells you at least once a day she loves you.”
Fritz let out a sigh of relief thinking perhaps she did understand and would leave without saying much more.
“Ruby likes Bo very much, but she likes you sooo much better. There’s things Ruby would like to do with you she has no interest in doing with Bo.” She said standing up as quietly as she could and wrapping the towel around herself wondering if Fritz was blushing or making a hasty retreat for the door. Perhaps he was looking for the key to lock the door, but it was with her.
It was getting worse, much much worse Fritz thought as he contemplated his next move, her next statement caught his attention.
“Ruby wonders if yer wife ever lets you know how very lucky she thinks she is to have you.”
Scarlet stepped quickly and lightly to the door. She knew he was standing on the other side, she could feel his presence and from the sound of his voice she knew he was trying to figure out how to politely get rid of her or if he should just leave.
“Ruby thinks yer wife was a very naughty girl not telling you about Ruby, but hopes you will not be to mad at Scarlet.”
Scarlet grabbed the door knob and yanked the door open.
“I am so very lucky Fritz.” She said standing in the doorway looking at him.
Fritz had heard the word before, but really had no opportunity to use it. It fit the circumstances now. The word was, 'flabbergasted.'
"Sc-scarlet???"
She smiled sweetly at her husband, the towel beginning to slip.
"You're not mad at me, are you darlin'?"
"Ah...no...confused is more like it."
The towel dropped away, revealing her all. She reached forward and grabbed him by the lapels.
"Then come on in here and I'll explain it to ya," Scarlet whispered huskily, pulling him in the bathroom.
Fritz looked suspiciously around the room as he slipped out of his clothes. Maybe Ruby had just slipped out the door into Becca’s room and Scarlet was still teasing him.
“I’d show you but it takes a bit to slip back into Ruby’s clothes.” Scarlet said. “but trust me when I tell you lawman lil ol’ Ruby’s sittin’ right her.” She said using Ruby’s voice making Fritz’s head spin as he looked over his shoulder making sure it was just Scarlet in the room.
Frit looked at her. Scarlet gave him an innocent look and motioned for him to join her back in the bath.
Fritz slid in and leaned against her. Scarlet rubbed his neck and shoulders as she spoke.
“When I started bounty hunting and got a reputation only certain people would talk to me, but a working girl Sugar. You would be surprised what people tell the working girls the more alcohol they drink and the more they think you want them, the more most of them will talk. Then there was trying to stay ahead of the law, getting information I didn’t want him knowing I had and keeping my friends out of trouble.”
Fritz was quiet. Scarlet knew just how to work the tension out of him and he enjoyed it, but he was thinking back; he’d not really watched Ruby that close, but she had avoided men well and when she landed in Bo’s lap, the movement was something that had been practiced. There were a lot of things about her past he’d never asked, he didn’t care then and he didn’t care now. He knew where her heart lied; he laced his fingers between hers and kissed the back of her hand.
“There’s a lady down in Louisiana that was very sad when Travis took a wife that didn’t turn her head when her husband wanted to wander, but she’s got a good heart.” She began as if knowing he was wondering where a girl would learn such things. ‘When I wanted to get information from places that would turn quiet when I showed up, I figured I needed to learn a new way of getting that information. She taught me a whole lot on working the floor of a saloon. Becca has helped fine tune some of that from time to time. The makeup and the fake hair and ah…enhancements, well my mother is very sweet, but she has taught me about more than just cooking and horses. What I didn’t learn from them I learned from some of the servants when I was young. Mom would have her proper parties but the fun dancing was down behind the servant’s quarters” Scarlet chuckled thinking of some of those times.
“Ruby has only ever been seen going upstairs with Bo, Tinker, Ricky and sometimes Hank, men who know who she really is, who I trust won’t pass on any information, that I can count on to get me out of a mess if I need help, men who don’t expect anything when the door closes behind us. My mother and father know about her, Becca knows and now you.”
“There were a handful of men from the Starr and some from our place in here tonight. They don’t know?” Fritz asked.
“No, and as far as I know they never will. It won’t come from the people that do.
While I’m on the subject let me show you something.”
Scarlet got up, wrapped the towel back around her and picked up her pistol. “Come with me Sugar.” She said going into their room.
Fritz dried off and followed her. Scarlet handed him the glass from the table, laid down her pistol then went to closet. She pushed on the wall next to it and it gave way revealing a room.
He inspected it closely, the decorative mounding on the walls hid the seams of the opening cleverly. It would explain why Scarlet looked at rooms closer than some others. The house she grew up in had similar hidden passages and one had to know the right pressure points to open them; if you didn’t the walls felt very solid and stood fast.
She had stepped in and was telling him the information Tinker had passed to her earlier that evening about Phillips.
“Tinker also found out Phillips is the youngest of six children and the only boy, two of his sisters are married to doctors, one to a lawyer, and one to an accountant. Then there’s the one married to the current marshal of Houston.” Scarlet rolled her eyes at the last statement. “He attended a fancy boys' boarding school in New York, and then Columbia University. He didn't get a college degree, but did get enough education to enter the Navy as an Ensign. He did not re-enlist.”
“He thinks a great deal of himself.” Fritz replied also including the incident from earlier that evening while he looked around the inside of the room. It had to be the back have of the bathroom judging from the placement and size. There was enough room for clothing and a dresser.
There were clothes that were obviously Ruby’s, including the long auburn hair. Clothes he didn’t think went with Ruby’s character; they could have been Scarlet’s though.
Fritz stopped short there was something more interesting than clothes in this room. He looked at Scarlet like a someone who had just found a pretty wrapped gift with their name on it and back at the wall.
“Go ahead Darlin’.” She said with a smile.
Fritz ran his fingers along the chocolate brown leather then took the pistol bandoleer and matching belt from its spot to inspect it. It showed some wear but was well cared for. A fighting knife hung high on the back were it could be easily reached.
“I can’t envision Ruby serving drinks in this. Is it from your bounty hunting days?” he asked.
Scarlet grinned “yes, it belongs to Carmen, the woman that used to ride strictly with my brother Jimmy or my father. She’s got brown black hair, right over there.” She said pointing at another wig as a wicked thought bounced through her mind.
“How many different looks have you had?” Fritz half teased hanging the leather back in its place.
“Mostly those two and then the real me.” She said following Fritz from the room.
She closed the entrance behind them. “The one you’ve known up until tonight is the real me Fritz. The sweet, the bad temper, all the good all the bad, just things of mine I enhance when one of them makes an appearance. But I assure you the one that wants to be with you” she said letting the towel drop to the floor “is the real person.”
“That would be why none of them hold a candle to my wife.” he said sweeping her up and carrying her to the bed.