The Copper City - Chris Scott Wilson [55]
“Upton?”
“He’s dead, but he had it coming. He was trying his damnedest to kill me at the time.”
“What about the others?”
“Upton killed them all. He was getting greedy. He figured it all belonged to him. Had us a job getting it back.”
“You got it all?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Outside. On the packhorses.”
Harley jerked his head at the doorman, who immediately went out into the rain.
“It’s all there…”
“But what?” Harley’s gaze suddenly became intense.
“Later.” Quantro swallowed the last of the whiskey, appreciating the warmth that spread through his stomach. He motioned to the glass. While Harley poured from the decanter, he took the opportunity to look around. “Nice place you got here.” He paused then added, “Yes, it’ll be considerably comfortable when you get it finished.”
“Finished?” Harley’s eyes flickered to the doorman, who was ferrying in the wet saddlebags and taking them into the next room.
Quantro smiled. “The stock for the paying customers.” He waggled a forefinger at the ceiling.
Harley understood and his expression thawed a little.
Quantro waited until he had the whiskey glass in his hand, then looked the other man in the eye.
“You used me, Harley.” The tone of his voice was so harsh that Harley sat back. “Once I found the silver I figured it all out. Then everything made sense. Why you got the doctor to me and let us have a company house when I didn’t even work for the company. Why you got me out of jail with a flash of your white teeth and why you gave me a job. You knew it was going to happen. You knew Upton was working up to taking off with that silver. Why? Because Upton knew it wasn’t an ordinary payroll job. This one was earmarked special, so you put me and Pete in to protect your interests “
The corner of Harley’s mouth twitched. “Why was this payroll special?”
Quantro laughed. “Who’re you kidding? Since when did a miners’ payroll amount to $20,000? Yes, I counted it. You must have the richest miners in the territory.” He swallowed the last of the whiskey. “I don’t give a damn what the money was for, whether it was genuine or whether you intended to salt it away for yourself.” He glanced around the room. “Who knows, maybe it was to finance this place. Is it Green’s, or is this one yours? Don’t bother to tell me, I’m not interested. What does is that you put me and Pete in there without warning. And Buck Hulbert? He ended up with a knife sticking in his ribs in some hole of a cantina in Santa Cruz. And for what? For you, so you could get your money.”
Harley stared at him, eyes steely. “But you fulfilled my expectations of you.”
“That I would use my gun, even though I said I wouldn’t, that day you got me out of jail?”
Harley’s smile was thin. “So you used it? You did the job you were paid to do…” He paused as the doorman came to stand next to his chair. “What?”
The doorman hesitated, his gaze moving from his employer to Quantro and back again. “It’s not all there.”
Harley’s head snapped around. “This is the bit I think you said you were going to explain later.”
Quantro’s mouth maneuvered into a slow smile. “The silver’s all there except for expenses I took out. I had to buy fresh horses, Upton’s were dead on their feet. I put back what I got in trade for them. There was a couple of railroad tickets as well.”
Harley glanced at the doorman. “That right?”
“There’s less than $18,000.”
“That so, Quantro?”
“Slipped my mind for a moment. There was $2,000 that was my commission.”
“Commission?” Harley barked.
“Ten per cent. That’s what an investigator would have claimed. And he would have had to catch Upton to claim it. Upton had already made it to the railroad. By today he could have been in New York.”
“$2,000?”
“Cheap at the price. $18,000 is a whole lot better than nothing at all. We could have walked away with all of it.”
“You think I’m going to let you walk out of here with $2,000?”
Quantro smiled again. “I already have. The money’s clear out of town by now. Probably over the border.”
Harley’s eyes narrowed, searching for a loophole. “Don’t forget I know all about