Night in the heart of the earth comes neither early nor late, and only takes away the last ray of sunset in the west when the hour hand points to eight o'clock.
The bustle of Valentine's Smithfield Tavern comes neither too early nor too late, and only strikes the first note of joy when the first stars begin to shine in the sky.
At this time, the Smithfield Tavern will become bustling with people and excitement, and cheerful tunes will jump out from the pianist's fingertips. Even the barber who opened his shop in the Tavern can't help but follow along. dance. Gentlemen, cowboys, ladies, prostitutes, all these people who were busy with their own affairs during the day, almost all gathered here at this moment, some to find happiness in alcohol and women, and some just to have fun on their own terms. They just want to eat, and some of them just want to play Texas Hold'em here and experience the feeling of spending a lot of money. Of course, it's just a feeling.
Tonight, everyone in the tavern focused their attention on the gaming table on the right side of the tavern door, because on this table, a high-end gambling game that Valentine had never experienced was taking place.
There were two people sitting on both sides of the gaming table. Apart from that, there were no other butts stuck to the seats beside the gaming table. The only things that could prove that the owners of those butts had been on the table were the chips left on the gaming table. and covered playing cards.
The man sitting by the window is wearing an old cowboy hat, a dusty black dustproof windbreaker, a green scarf tied randomly around his neck, a short and unkempt beard on his face, and a pair of small eyes like an eagle. He looked at his own cards for a while, and then looked at his opponent sitting opposite him. Sweat was pouring from his forehead like rain.
Sitting opposite him was a young man with light blond hair, bright green eyes, and a sophisticated new suit. There was a confident smile on the young man's face, and he almost had the word "win" written on his face. While flipping his newly maintained hair, he asked: "How is it? Do you still want to bet?" ?”
"The bet has been raised to forty dollars." A fat man in slovenly clothes whispered to his companions.
"I have been in this town for several years, and I have never seen such a big gambling game." His companion sighed.
"Who says it isn't? Oh, by the way, do you know where the two people on the table are from?"
"Where the hell can I go? There are so many people coming here every day to get drunk, and I don't know everyone."
"Hey, I know that young man." At this time, a woman in scantily clad clothes joined the discussion, "Valentine, who just arrived today, was dirtier and smellier than a fat man like you when he arrived, and he was dragging a cart full of corpses. .”
"How dare he drag a cart of corpses down the street?" The fat man was a little surprised.
"I saw it with my own eyes," the woman said, rolling her eyes at this man whom she had never taken a liking to, "and ah, our distinguished Lord Sheriff was very polite to him. Oh, I just didn't expect that, he is really awesome. The clothes are on the saddle, and he looks so handsome after being well groomed and groomed. If I can have an in-depth communication with him for one night, I will be happy for free~"
At this time, the young man at the gambling table asked again: "Do you want to raise the bet or not? There is only one card left. There is no point in delaying it."
The man in the green scarf seemed to be driven to anger, but also seemed to have made up his mind. He took out the last crumpled ten-dollar bill from his pocket and slapped it on the table, as if to cheer himself up. Shouted: "I'll follow."
"Very good," the young man nodded, and as if by magic, he took out a brand new ten-dollar bill from his suit pants pocket and said, "I'll follow, too."
The bet was raised from forty dollars to fifty dollars, and everyone around was in an uproar.
In Texas Hold'em, the winner takes all. No matter who wins the bet, the winner can directly walk away with a huge sum of more than one hundred US dollars. In this era when more than twenty dollars can be exchanged for an ounce of gold, there are so many things that can be done with one hundred dollars.
Neither party made any further bets at this time, so the other player chosen by the two to act as the dealer played the last card.
At this time, the public cards on the table are A of Clubs, 10 of Diamonds, 8 of Hearts, Q of Diamonds, and K of Spades.
Just as the man in green scarf was about to deal his cards, the young man suddenly raised his right hand and said, "Wait a minute."
All eyes were on him.
The young man smiled slightly, looked at the man in the green scarf, and said, "How about we add another size at the end, what do you think?"
Although the man in the green scarf was extremely worried about the outcome of this bet, he did not want to make himself inferior to others, so he replied: "What else do you want to bet on?"
The young man reached for his waist and slapped a revolver on the table. The gun was exquisitely made, and the gun body was engraved with a rare skull pattern. At a glance, it was clear that the price was not comparable to ordinary firearms.
"How about we just bet on our respective guns?" the young man said.
The man in the green scarf touched the handle of his gun with a hesitant look on his face.
"You have to think carefully," the young man pressed again, "If you don't follow, according to the rules, everything on the table will be mine."
Upon hearing this, the man in the green scarf looked at the cards in his hand, rubbed the handle of the gun with his fingers for a while, then took out the gun ruthlessly and slapped it on the table hard, making the table jump.
"I'll follow!" he shouted.
"Then please open the cards." The young man made a gesture of invitation.
The man in the green scarf smiled contemptuously and turned over his cards casually. There were two gorgeous Aces, which caused a small commotion among the people around him.
"Three aces, this hand is really good, no wonder you dare to gamble like this." Most people said so.
The young man looked at the opponent's hand and smiled, seemingly disdainfully. He slowly opened a card in his hand, the 9 of hearts.
The young man raised his head, looked at his opponent with a smile, and said, "Would you like to guess, what is the suit and number of the last card in my hand? If you guess it right, I will buy you a bottle of whiskey later."
"I don't want to guess." The man in the green scarf was a little angry.
The young man nodded, with an extremely exaggerated expression of regret, and said, "That's such a pity, sir, you lost the opportunity to drink away your sorrows for free." After saying that, he turned over the last card in his hand. , J of diamonds.
Cheers and applause rang out, because the winner was already decided. The handsome young man defeated the rough man in the green scarf with a gorgeous straight. This result was exactly what everyone hoped for, especially the women, who cheered happily. The roof was lifted.
The man in the green scarf looked gloomy. His hand was on the handle of the gun that no longer belonged to him, sometimes tightening the handle and sometimes loosening it.
At this time, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. He lost consciousness and the gun was snatched from his hand.
The handsome and arrogant young man played with his pistol and said: "Brother, listen to my advice. Gambling is harmful to your health, especially the health of your wallet. My advice is, you, either stay away from the gambling table in the future. , or you should fold your cards in the future and stop your losses in time."
After saying that, the young man took another bottle of whiskey from the bar, put it in front of him, and said, "Here, it's yours, you're welcome."
The man in the green scarf glanced at the whiskey and then at the young man with a smile on his face, feeling that he had been greatly insulted. He slammed the table hard, left an angry "hum", and walked away.
The young man looked a little confused, but he quickly integrated himself into the lively atmosphere of the pub: "Huh? Don't drink? Then if he doesn't drink, I will invite everyone to drink. Everyone present now, everyone I'll pay for the next bottle of wine! Then play music, then dance!"
People in the whole pub were excited, not because of how wealthy this handsome young man was, nor because of the joy of buying whiskey for free. This is just a reason, a reason to take tonight's carnival to a higher level, and they are just intoxicated and unwilling to wake up.
But passion will always burn out, leaving only the ashes of fatigue. By the time the moon reached the zenith, although the tavern was still brightly lit, the singing and dancing no longer existed a few hours ago. It was as if the man with the graceful woman lying beside him lit a cigarette and fell into deep contemplation.
Brandy pushed open the door of the pub while drunkenly saying goodbye to the drinkers and bartender. He walked out of the tavern, leaned on the colonnade in front of the tavern, lit a cigar, and looked up at the bright starry sky above Valentine like an idle gentleman.
He was not actually very drunk, just a little tired from the carnival in the American West. Brandy originally thought that in such a backward era, even going to the bar would be no fun, but he did not expect that this unique bar culture that only belongs to this era, where primitiveness and civilization collide, deeply attracted him. He even felt that compared to this 19th century tavern, the 21st century's feasting and revelry were simply inferior.
Brandy took a deep drag on the cigarette, habitually inserted her right hand into the pocket of her suit pants, and rubbed the revolver that originally belonged to Flaco Hernandez.
He now feels that fate does like to joke sometimes. He finally had the opportunity to temporarily leave the team and go on his own, hoping to experience the charm of the Wild West. As a result, after a truly puzzling and nauseating adventure, the property he now owns is enough. He retired and went to the west to buy a piece of land to live out his life.
Brandi is not a person who likes to run around. On the contrary, he was a very standard homebody in his previous life. The longest distance he walked every day was from home to work. Therefore, although he is more demanding in this life than in his previous life, He likes to take risks everywhere, but the desire for a stable life that remains in his soul still trembles occasionally.
But the Western life of gunfire and adventure was equally attractive to him, and it was big.
After smoking a cigarette, Brandi left the cigarette butt on the ground. While stamping out the cigarette butt, he also succeeded in temporarily suppressing the inertia that seemed to be deep-rooted in his soul.
"I haven't done what I should do, and I haven't experienced the adventure I want to experience. How can I stop here?" Brandy thought.
At this time, Brandi suddenly heard a woman's voice: "Hey! Sir!"
He was a little confused. He followed the sound and saw a woman with heavy makeup and scantily clad clothes looking at him, her face full of eagerness mixed with a third of fear. When the woman saw that he noticed this, she immediately shouted with some joy: "Yes, it's you, sir, come here quickly, I need your help!"
Brandy straightened up and walked over to the woman. The woman said incoherently: "I'm blind. That guy, he's a total bad guy, you have to help me and I'll pay you!"
"Okay, okay, calm down first, ma'am," Brandy reached down and tried to guide the woman to calm down, "Where is the bad guy you mentioned?"
"He's inside, upstairs. Come with me, I'll take you there." After the woman finished speaking, she turned around and took Brandy to the second floor of the pub.
In American taverns in the 19th century, there were always women who either wanted to make a living or simply pursue excitement. There were also many men with different purposes who were willing to become their customers, and the taverns were also happy to provide convenience for these men and women. For example, in this tavern in Valentine, the two rooms upstairs are negotiation rooms specially set up for this kind of business. A man and a woman make a deal, where, after a long and friendly exchange, one gets satisfaction, the other gets money—perhaps both at the same time, and the tavern owner, as the middleman, gets an associated sum. A huge share of the profits, a win-win business for all three parties. From the perspective of that era, why not do it?
Brandi and the woman climbed to the second floor of the pub within a few minutes. When the woman opened the door, Brandy saw a naked man lying on the bed. There was a dagger stuck in the man's chest, and the coagulated blood dyed the white sheets red.
The woman vowed: "I promise you, if you don't kill him, I will be the one who dies."
"Oh?" Brandy glanced at the woman suspiciously, then at the body. On the surface, he was hesitant, but in fact, he already had concerns in his heart.
"Really! You have to believe me! He almost strangled me to death!" the woman continued to assure, while looking around in panic, as if looking for something, "I...I have to clean this room. , can you help me get rid of his body? Please! I am willing to give you all the money I have!"
"All the money?" Brandi smiled slightly, pulled a chair aside and pressed it against the door, then sat down and sealed the door. Then he crossed his legs and said, "Then let me see all the money you have. How many are there?"
The woman didn't react for a while. In her impression, a normal person shouldn't react this way when faced with a woman who panicked and killed someone by mistake. She was a little at a loss and asked: "Sir, you... what are you doing?"
"Let me tell you in advance, my prices are very high," Brandy lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said, "You want me to help, yes, but I have to see if you can afford the price. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
The woman was confused. In her mind, she should be the one in charge of the whole thing. When did she inexplicably lose the control to this human-looking guy in front of her?
She didn't know what to do, so she had to start looking for money on her body, because this seemed to be the only promising way to break the situation.
The woman searched everywhere on her body where money could be hidden, and finally took out a few crumpled banknotes and coins, and handed them to Brandi.
Brandi slightly nodded, sneered, and said, "You don't even have twenty dollars, how can you fool this beggar?"
The woman was a little anxious. Her top priority now is to clean up the scene so that no one can tell that a murder has occurred here, but the bastard in front of her who deserves a thousand cuts insists on fighting her to the end. She had no choice but to use her trump card.
"If you are not satisfied, I will leave it to you to deal with it later." A little shy, a little timid, combined with her hot and sexy appearance, the woman believes that as long as he is a man, no one can resist this kind of free gift. good thing.
Brandy saw the woman's coy attitude and didn't know what expression to make. "It's really interesting. A new plot has been unlocked." He thought.
Brandi sorted out her thoughts for a while and said to the woman: "Well, I have a few questions. As long as your answers satisfy me, I will help you. Of course, I still want the remuneration you mentioned before. What do you think?" ?”
The woman didn't think much and nodded quickly.
"First of all, how did you and this man meet?"
"How...how else can we meet him," the woman said with a little more hesitation, "Sir, you should also know the work I do. I am just soliciting customers normally, and I just met him by chance."
"Oh ~ chance encounter," Brandy nodded, "Then tell me, why did you kill him?"
"I've said it before, if I don't do that, I will be the one who dies," the woman quickly defended, "I discussed the price with him, but when we didn't reach an agreement, he was going to hit me hard, and he almost strangled him to death. I, I, I couldn't breathe, so I touched the knife on the bedside table, and then...that's what happened now."
"You said he wanted to strangle you to death," Brandy said calmly, "Then why are there no traces of strangulation on your neck?"
"This..." The woman's eyes were frightened and she was speechless for a moment.
"Perhaps you haven't noticed that a lot of dust has fallen on the bedside table here. If something has been placed on it, it will always leave traces. However, you have also seen that there is nothing but dust on the bedside table." Brandi continued to reason.
"But... maybe I remembered it wrong. I seemed... to have found the knife from under the pillow..." The woman's defensive voice became weaker and weaker.
"How could a normal person hide a knife under the pillow in a room like this?" Brandy showed a confident smile. He could see that the woman's heart was already in confusion. "You don't need to explain, no matter where the knife came from No matter what you take out, you can't get rid of the fact that you prepared the knife in advance for the purpose of killing people."
"You...you are so slanderous!" The woman became furious, "You said I killed someone intentionally, what evidence do you have?"
"Evidence?" Brandy sneered, took out the police badge given to him by the police chief from his pocket, and said, "Come and see, what is this?"
When the woman saw the police badge, she seemed to lose all her strength and fell to her knees.
"I don't need any evidence, I just need suspicion, and I have the power to arrest you," Brandi said while putting away his police badge and sighing inwardly at the American police's case-handling style that hardly relied on evidence during this period, " Moreover, your guilty conscience is too obvious."
Brandy stood up, moved the chair, and said: "To sum up, I suspect that this is an intentional homicide. You used your position to lure men to the bait, and then brutally killed them. I believe this is not your first time. You’ve done this kind of thing, after all, you’re really good at dragging people into the water.”
Brandi moved out of the way and said to the woman: "What do you think? Do you want to go by yourself, or should I tie you up and carry you away?"
"I...I'm walking by myself, sir, ah no, officer," the woman stammered, "I...my feet are numb and I can't stand up. Can you help me?"
"Of course, ma'am," Brandi said, reaching out to take the woman's offered hand for help.
A fierce look suddenly flashed in the woman's eyes, and the hand hidden under her skirt held a steel knife and stabbed Brandy's abdomen like lightning.
Brandi had already expected it, and took a step back to avoid the gleaming sharp knife. His other hand took the opportunity to hold the wrist of the woman's other hand. With a strong force, the woman screamed and the sharp knife fell away.
Brandi cut off the woman's hands, pushed her directly to the ground, and said viciously: "You know what? If you let me compile the legal provisions, your punishment will not be as simple as hanging."
"You're just a bastard! You're just like those men, you're no good! You're more disgusting than them!" The woman stopped acting at this moment and started cursing hysterically.
Brandi casually pulled a piece of sheet as a rope and tied the woman's hands and feet tightly. He put the woman on his shoulders and walked directly down the main staircase in the tavern without shying away from anything.
The bartender was shocked when he saw Brandy carrying a woman who looked like a madman and asked: "Mr. Munny, what is going on?"
"Oh, this bitch killed someone above your store, and she wanted to kill me just now. I'm going to take her to the Sheriff now." Brandi said calmly.
"Oh my God," the bartender said, "What's wrong with these bitches? Are you okay, Mr. Munny?"
"I'm fine, but this bitch is going to be in bad luck." Brandi adjusted the position of the woman on her back. She was really full of energy. If she didn't adjust, she was afraid she would fall.
Valentine, Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Malloy, who had been asleep for a long time, suddenly heard a rapid knock on the door from outside. He rubbed his eyes and got up from the bed, tied his gun belt around his waist, took out his pistol and asked: "Who is outside?" ?”
"Sheriff, I've got business for you."
It was a voice Malloy knew all too well. He put away the gun, opened the door, and said with a smile: "It's Brandy, haha, come in quickly, come in if you have anything to say." With that, he let Brandy into the house.
Only then did Malloy notice the woman on Brandi's shoulder who was sometimes yelling and sometimes struggling to beg for mercy, and asked, "What's going on with this woman?"
Brandi immediately told the truth about her experience of meeting this woman tonight.
After listening to this, Malloy said happily: "Okay, we have been seeing prostitute murder cases here recently. The method of committing the crime is exactly the same as what you said. We have arrested many times without any results. It seems that this bitch is lucky today. It's not good."
"Then it's time for her to go where she should go?" Brandi asked.
"Of course," Sheriff Malloy pointed to the cell next to him, "just open the door there and put her in. Madam, although the bed here is not as comfortable as the tavern, at least there is no blood on it. That's the point. .”
Brandi opened the door of the prison and threw the woman into the prison. The woman seemed tireless and kept yelling, making others feel thirsty for her.
"Thank you, Brandy," Sheriff Malloy said, "Killer prostitutes are exactly the problem Valentine needs to solve now. He is indeed a student of Major Warren. Experts will know if they are there as soon as they take action."
"That's ridiculous, Sheriff," Brandi smiled, "Since the matter is done, I won't stay any longer. This woman should be able to spend this long night with you."
"Ha, I still want to live for a few more decades," Chief Malloy smiled as he took out a few banknotes from his desk. "Honestly, if there were a few more people like you who had the For young people who are capable and have a sense of justice, this place may be a good place to live and work in peace and contentment. Come on, take the money, it's not much, but you deserve it."
Brandy took the money, nodded roughly, said goodbye to the Sheriff, and left the Sheriff's Office.
Behind him, the conversation between Chief Malloy and the woman could be clearly heard.
"That bastard made a mistake, Sheriff, it's that guy who wants to kill me!"
"You want to say that you acted in self-defense, right? Then were the previous times also self-defense? You have a lot of blood on your hands, woman."
"Fuck you! You're just like everyone else!"
"Ha, you actually said that, so I'll take it as a compliment."
Valentine's night has become quiet since then, leaving only the stars still shining, spreading a little starlight on the roof of every house.
