Barbary Coast (A Searcher Western Book 12) Read online

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  The burning quest that drives John Stone leads him to San Francisco—a crime-ridden city where he’ll need more than his famed quick draw to keep himself alive. The trail of his long-lost Marie is hotter than ever—in more ways than one. What Stone learns about his woman sears through his soul like hot lead—and in the moment of Stone’s weakness, a cold-hearted assassin pops up in his shadow. Stone’s quest may end forever … in the silence of the grave …

  THE SEARCHER 12: BARBARY COAST

  By Len Levinson writing as Josh Edwards

  Copyright © 1993, 2016 by Len Levinson

  First Smashwords Edition: September 2016

  Names, characters and incidents in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  Cover image © 2016 by Tony Masero

  This is a Piccadilly Publishing Book

  Text © Piccadilly Publishing

  Series Editor: Mike Stotter

  Published by Arrangement with the Author’s Agent.

  Chapter One

  The Central Pacific train shook and rattled across a gold California meadow. In a private car, former Confederate cavalry officer John Stone dozed upright on his seat. He dreamed about a party he attended long ago, in a great flawed paradise disappeared from the world forever.

  The gala affair was held at the Wade Hampton estate in South Carolina. The cream of local society had been invited, plus dignitaries from across the South, a sprinkling of distinguished guests from the North, and Europeans with titles and strange exotic accents. A younger, more idealistic John Stone arrived on horseback beside the carriage carrying his mother and father. He wore his West Point cadet uniform, leather and brass gleaming in the sunlight.

  The Hampton mansion, an immense neo-Grecian structure with white columns and porticos, sat in a wreath of magnolia trees. A band played on the veranda, where gentlemen and ladies discussed poetry, philosophy, theology, the price of cotton in Boston and London. Stone dismounted, a uniformed Negro servant took his reins.

  Stone was anxious to see his sweetheart, Marie. He searched for her pale blond hair and graceful figure among the guests. Lately everything between them had become serious and desperate. They’d approached the point of no return many times.

  Wade Hampton, wealthiest planter in the South, drank whiskey with family and associates in his library. Stone paid his respects to the great man, whose favorite pastime was bear hunting. His dogs cornered the beasts, and Hampton delivered the coup de grace with a short sword.

  ‘Like to speak with you alone later, Johnny, if you don’t mind.’

  Stone inched toward the door and surreptitiously departed. He made his way to the south veranda, saw her sitting with a group of friends. Her eyes studied him calmly as he neared. A uniformed Negro servant pulled up a chair. The gathering discussed Ralph Waldo Emerson.

  ‘ “Nature seems to exist for the excellent. The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome”,’ read Ashley Tredegar, yellow hair, aquiline nose.

  Across the table, saturnine Beauregard Talbott said, ‘Beautiful rubbish, that’s all it is. Emerson is a damn Yankee. What’s excellent and good depends on which side of the Mason-Dixon Line you’re sitting on.’

  A discussion ensued, which Stone took no part in. He glanced at Marie, even more enigmatic than usual.

  Beau Talbott said, ‘Have you ever read Emerson’s essay on Napoleon, Johnny?’

  ‘I’d like to take a walk. Marie, care to come along?’

  Attentive Negro servants pulled back their chairs. Stone and Marie walked toward the lawn.

  ‘Have you spoken with your father yet?’ she asked.

  ‘He’s been busy, but we’ll meet tomorrow afternoon. I’m sure he won’t be an obstacle.’

  ‘He thinks I’m flighty and spoiled.’

  ‘Your father says I’m worthless. But if they stand in our way, we’ll elope.’

  ‘My father’ll shoot you. And he’ll send me to a convent.’

  ‘He’ll never find us.’

  They entered a grove of trees. Little children played hide and seek in the bushes. Stone felt perspiration beneath his tunic. Her body brushed his, sending shivers up his back. They came to a glen carpeted with flowers. A brook bubbled merrily beside a huge grandfather maple tree. A canopy of leaves shielded them from view.

  Awkwardly he said, ‘I love you, Marie.’

  She gazed into his eyes and replied, ‘I’ll be yours forever.’

  They paused a moment, then stepped into each other’s arms. Her breasts surged against his tunic, her tears wet his cheek. They kissed each other’s dewdrops as they sank to their knees on the bed of flowers. The wind bore faint traces of the orchestra playing in the distance.

  ‘San Francisco—one hour!’

  The stout, red-mustachioed conductor walked through the private car. Stone opened his eyes, scenery whizzed past his window. He unbuttoned his shirt pocket and removed an old daguerreotype picture of Marie in a silver frame. When he returned home from the war, she was gone. They said she went west with a Union officer.

  He’d searched for her ever since, crisscrossing the frontier, showing the picture in every sheriff’s office and saloon. Some mistakenly thought they’d seen her, others lied shamelessly, but now at last he knew where she was.

  Little more than a month ago, at Fort Hays, Kansas, she’d been married to the provost marshal, Major Scanlon, and ran off with a gambler named Derek Canfield. According to witnesses, she and Canfield headed for San Francisco.

  Stone pulled down his saddlebags, made sure his meager cowboy’s belongings were together. Then he checked his guns, two Colts on crisscrossed gunbelts, holsters slung low and tied down.

  Stone was employed as a bodyguard for Tobias Moffitt, a vice president of the Central Pacific Railroad, traveling to San Francisco with a group of friends, relatives, and business associates. The private car had brocade curtains, mahogany furniture, oil paintings. Stone placed his old Confederate cavalry hat on his head and sauntered toward the lounge.

  Moffitt sat at a round table, wearing a gray suit with red paisley cravat, cigar in hand, the frog king holding court. His fellow travelers listened intently as he spoke. A Negro servant placed a silver tray of tiny sandwiches onto the table.

  ‘San Francisco has the finest harbor in the world!’ Moffitt declared. ‘Ninth largest city in America. Population one hundred fifty thousand. In San Francisco, if you can pay for it, you can have it. Going somewhere, Johnny?’

  ‘The parlor car.’

  ‘Could I have a word with you in private when you get back?’

  Stone passed to the next car, embarrassed by their awe and exaggerated courtesy. They’d seen him gun down Randy LaFollette in a Colorado mining town last week, and many believed LaFollette the fastest gun alive.

  ~*~

  The deceased gunfighter lay cold and still in a Denver cemetery. His wife, Amanda LaFollette, wearing black coat, dress, and hat, knelt beside his freshly covered grave. She couldn’t leave the cemetery.

  A freak accident of monumental tragedy killed Randy LaFollette. Their friends were in shock. Some wild-eyed cowboy nobody heard of beat him to the draw. Impossible, incredible, but it happened.

  Her first and only love, gone. The most elegant gentleman in
the world, out of existence. How could she live without him?

  Her eyes haggard and red, she’d barely slept since the fateful telegram arrived. Randy LaFollette was the only man she had ever loved. She felt numb inside, as if part of her died too. Whoever killed my husband will pay with his life. I’ll track him down and have him executed, so help me God.

  ~*~

  Ray Slipchuck sat at a table in the parlor car, surrounded by miners, bankers, cattle kings, and cardsharps. One filled the glass in front of the old historian of the West.

  ‘What happened then?’

  Slipchuck, gray-bearded, wiry, three teeth in his head, slurped off half the whiskey, wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

  ‘Wa’al, nobody knowed who Randy LaFollette was at first. They thought he was just another drunk a-lookin’ fer a fight. Johnny did everythin’ he could to get out of it, but Randy LaFollette spit in his face, and Johnny went plumb loco. That’s when he called him out. On their way to the door, a galoot reckernized LaFollette and passed the word around. But Johnny didn’t blink an eyelash. He was so mad I thought he’d tear the floorboards out’n the sidewalk.’

  ‘Anybody try to stop it?’ asked a lawyer from Baltimore.

  ‘The lady what owned the saloon got in the middle, but a few fellers carried her away like she was nawthin’,’

  ‘Then what happened?’ asked stovepipe hat, refilling Slipchuck’s glass.

  ‘Yes, get to the shootout,’ said a farmer from Minnesota. Slipchuck took another swig. ‘They faced off in the street. Nobody give Johnny a chance, but I seen him chaw before. He moves real fast, and got good eyes, I knowed Johnny’d give ’im a real fight.’

  A cowboy from Texas said, ‘Why’d Randy LaFollette want to kill John Stone?’

  ‘Fer dinero. Randy LaFollette don’t kill fer free.’

  ‘The shooting,’ sputtered the farmer from Minnesota. ‘Who drew first?’

  ‘Cleared their holsters about the same time. Somehow Johnny got off the first shot, right on the button.’ Slipchuck paused as the memory filled his mind. ‘The renowned gunfighter shuddered in the middle of the street, people couldn’t believe their eyes.’

  Somebody coughed. Everyone turned to the far door. A tall cowboy advanced toward them, wearing a Confederate cavalry hat and twin Colts slung low. Slipchuck grinned drunkenly. ‘We was just talkin’ ’bout you, Johnny.’

  Stone helped Slipchuck to his feet. Passengers gazed transfixed at the man who shot Randy LaFollette. The unlikely duo headed toward Mr. Moffitt’s private car.

  ‘I thought we agreed,’ Stone said barely above a whisper, ‘to keep our mouths shut about Lodestone.’

  ‘We ain’t the only ones who was there, Johnny. Word’s gittin’ around. Thought I’d make sure they heard the story straight. Was a-doin’ you a favor.’

  ~*~

  Amanda LaFollette packed her clothing into a valise as her maid prepared a bath in the next room. Three black dresses, one black coat, underthings. She gathered her hairbrush and comb, bar of soap in tin container, washcloth, tucked them into the opening between a chemise and a pair of Mack stockings.

  She struggled to prevent herself from failing on the floor and crying until her sorrow drained away. Her flesh cried for Randy’s warmth and strength. She opened the top drawer in her dresser. A gold-plated Smith & Wesson lay on purple velvet, twin to the gun her husband carried the night he died.

  She thumbed in five cartridges, leaving the sixth chamber empty, hammer resting easily. She wrapped her long, slender finger around the trigger. A naïve country girl when she met him, now she knew about guns, wine, world events, fashion, and the ways of love.

  A tear rolled down her cheek, her heart ached, impulsively she raised the gun to her head. Her finger tightened, her hand shook, a quarter of an inch to oblivion. But she couldn’t betray Randy, even in death.

  She placed the Smith & Wesson in her purse. No expense will be spared, no hardship too much to bear: You don't kill my husband and get away with it I’ll find you if it's the last thing I do.

  ~*~

  John Stone dreamed of Wade Hampton sitting behind his massive mahogany desk. Faint sounds of the orchestra drifted through the door of Hampton’s office.

  ‘Have a seat, Johnny.’

  Stone just returned from the glen. Marie’s perfume clung to his body. He wondered what the great man wanted of him.

  Hampton, nearly as tall as Stone, wore a black beard, his eyes piercing. ‘What’re the young men at West Point thinking, Johnny? Are you are aware there’ll be war soon between us and the Yankees, do you pretend it won’t happen?’

  ‘We hope the politicians’ll prevent it, sir.’

  ‘Politicians follow the will of the people, and we’re mad. Yankees tell us what to charge for cotton, when we could earn more in London. They condemn our treatment of slaves, when their factory workers lead much harsher lives. When war comes, trained officers’ll be worth their weight in gold. I hope you’ll ride with the Hampton Legion.’

  Wade Hampton planned to raise his own private army out of plantation funds, to defend the homeland against the Yankee invader. Officers would be selected from the first families of the Palmetto State. ‘I’m honored that you considered me, sir.’

  ‘I’ve known you since you were a boy, watched you grow straight as an arrow. I know about your carousing, and you can’t stay away from a certain young lady, but you’re solid all the way down. I promise your own cavalry troop in the Hampton Legion. With young officers like you, the South cannot fail.’

  ~*~

  Amanda removed her last garment of underclothing, a tub of hot water steaming nearby. She had black hair to her shoulders, emerald eyes, and gazed at herself in the mirror. No man had ever seen her adult naked body except Randy.

  She recalled good times they had together. Often they stayed in bed for days. I'll never taste that ecstasy again. She critically appraised her body in the mirror. That's one weapon I have, and I'll use it if necessary.

  She imagined the filthy cowboy who somehow defeated her husband. Was Randy distracted by a memory of me? Once he said too much love dulled his senses.

  She slipped into the bathtub. Warm water closed over her. A tear came to her eyes as she yearned for a man resting in his grave.

  ~*~

  Stone’s father, an acerbic gray-haired gentleman, sat behind the desk in his office. ‘Hope you don’t need more money,’ he said to his son.

  ‘I want to get married, Dad.’

  ‘Marie Higgins?’

  Stone nodded hopefully.

  ‘Pretty, but a wife must help her husband, not just spend his money.’

  ‘She has a serious side most people aren’t aware of. I’m confident she’ll be a fine wife and mother.’

  ‘It’s your decision.’ The elder Stone contemplated a beautiful daughter-in-law to feast his eyes upon at family functions. ‘You could do much worse, but she’s terribly spoiled, and her bad temper is legendary. I wonder what her father’ll say. You know all the latest philosophies and military theories, so the most opinionated man in the county should be no match for you.’

  ‘I thought you were the most opinionated man in the county, Dad.’

  ‘I’m the paragon of reason compared to Amos Higgins.’

  ~*~

  Stone wore his West Point uniform, hat under his arm. He’d rather charge the Prussian Army single-handedly than perform the function now required by the customs of his people.

  ‘Sir?’

  Marie’s father, a potbellied man with long brown chin whiskers, looked up from the newspaper. ‘What can I do for you, Johnny?’

  Something caught in Stone’s throat. It felt like a rock. He couldn’t speak through it. His spine became paralyzed.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Mr. Higgins snapped his fingers. A Negro servant stepped from the shadows. ‘Bring Mr. Stone some punch, and a fresh glass for me, too.’

  Stone coughed, cleared his throat. ‘Sir, this is ... well ... I�
�m in love with your daughter, and I’d like your permission to marry her.’

  Mr. Higgins didn’t appear surprised. ‘Can you support her?’

  ‘We’ll marry after I’m a graduate. Two more years.’

  ‘Lieutenants earn practically nothing.’

  ‘The main thing is we love each other.’

  ‘Finances are extremely important.’

  ‘Other married officers get by. I’ll take good care of your daughter and cherish her all my life.’

  ‘Junior officers usually are subsidized by their families.’

  ‘We’ll be at war soon. I’ll be promoted quickly. Wade Hampton offered me my own cavalry troop in his legion.’

  Marie’s father knew Wade Hampton’s importance in South Carolina’s political and economic life. And John Stone was the man Marie wanted. Amos Higgins could never say no to his only daughter. ‘If I give my consent, you must promise never to leave her, and never dishonor her, as long as you live, so help you God.’

  Without hesitation, Stone raised his right hand and repeated the vow.

  A good boy, Mr. Higgins thought, but he’ll never amount to anything.

  ~*~

  Tobias Moffitt cleared his throat ostentatiously. Stone opened his eyes and saw the railroad magnate sitting beside him, fat cigar sticking out of his teeth. ‘Ever thought of a career in business, Johnny?’

  ‘Don’t know anything about it.’

  ‘Should come easy to a man with military training, but when you win in business you don’t get a medal. Instead, you become rich. Wouldn’t you like to have money for a change?’

  ‘My plan is to start my own ranch in Texas. If you cared to invest ...’

  ‘Have you ever managed a ranch?’

  ‘No, sir, but ...’

  ‘Couldn’t invest in a business that didn’t have an experienced manager, but we could start you in sales. You’ll have to move to New York.’

  ‘Ranching is the only proposition that interests me, sir.’

  ‘Change your mind, I’ll be at the Bedford Arms. Come over anytime and have a drink. Anything I can do for you, let me know.’