Chapter 11

I stayed at the Lopez’s until four in the afternoon, before heading back to my room. After dinner I had walked Drina, Maria and Anna down to the river, while Juanita helped her mother. On this Sunday, Anna did not wander away from where I sat talking to Maria and Drina, so there wasn’t any fooling around.

Sunday supper at the boardinghouse was an hour later than during the week, so I didn’t see Molly until seven that evening. After supper, I helped with the dishes as usual, then wandered into Molly’s formal parlor. I loved that room with its heavy overstuffed furniture and gleaming wood tables. However, the rooms biggest attraction to me was the bookcase built into one wall and the hundred or so books that lined the shelves.

Mister Gordon, the government man, was sitting in one of the two large comfortable chairs that were placed on either side of the fireplace. He was reading a two day old Austin paper that one of the railroad men must have brought in. He folded up the newspaper when he noticed me and leaned forward in his chair.

“I saw your new sign outside the El Toro Cantina, Mister McGuinn; I didn’t know you were an officer of the court.”

“Yep, since Thursday,” I replied.

He nodded as if I were confirming something he already knew.

“Your sign is also in Spanish; does that mean you speak the language?”

I was getting a little perturbed by Gordon’s circular way of coming to the point.

“Like a native. Why all the questions Mister Gordon? You don’t think I’m a counterfeiter, do you?”

That question finally got a rise out of the implacable agent. He started to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him.

“Listen, you are a federal agent wandering around the border with Mexico, right after the release of the new United States Currency. What else could you be but Secret Service looking for counterfeiters? I don’t know anything about counterfeiting, other than it’s against the law, but if you have questions for me, fire away.”

Gordon surprised me then by walking to the bookcase and taking down Molly’s family Bible. Before I knew it, he had deputized me as an adjunct federal agent (without pay of course). He put the Bible back and handed me a brand new ten dollar bank note. The note was a gold certificate, which was redeemable for ten dollars in gold coinage, when presented to a bank. The note was impressive, green on the front and orange on the back. The person portrayed on the front of the note was Michael Hillegas, our nation’s first treasurer. He was such an obscure person in history, his title was actually printed below his name on the bill.

“These started showing up in Austin about three months ago. We traced them back to El Paso, they are being printed somewhere near here, Mister McGuinn, probably somewhere on the other side of the river. As you can tell, they are a fairly good forgery.”

I could tell no such thing, so I just nodded my head.

“How can I help you, Mister Gordon? I am just getting used to using currency instead of coins myself.”

Turns out that Gordon did have a way I could help, and for a guy who wasn’t even on the payroll, it might even involve some danger on my part. The first order of business was Gordon giving me a short class on how to tell a real gold certificate from the fake. After sitting down with me and telling me what he knew so far of the counterfeit ring, Gordon went to bed. His first job for me was simple enough, as all I had to do was be on the lookout for anyone passing the fakes. Later, if I thought it at all possible, I was to try to become part of the counterfeiting ring myself.

I was still sitting there sort of dumbfounded by the steamrolling Gordon had administered on me, when Molly walked into the parlor. After a quick glance at the doorway to make sure we were alone, she plopped down in my lap. She snuggled up into my arms and put her little cupid bow lips next to my ear.

“Care for some company tonight, Attorney McGuinn?” she purred.

Oh, hell yeah, I did! I was up in a flash with her still in my arms. She was so small and light, I was able to almost sprint through the dining room, and out the kitchen door with her. She was giggling as badly as little Anna when I threw her onto my bed and started ripping off my clothes.

Molly and I had lots of fun on my bed that night. Our only break after three solid hours, was when she threw her dress over her naked body and fetched her Seth Thomas alarm clock from her room. She carefully wound both the main spring and the alarm spring with a big brass key, before slipping off her dress and pouncing back on the bed. She was an energetic little elf when making love, and a cuddly little doll while we slept.

The alarm went off with a loud jangle at five in the morning. I gallantly volunteered to get up with her, but she shushed me with a kiss and slipped out of bed.

I rolled out of the rack three hours later, feeling so good it was probably illegal. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and dressed in my usual black pants and white shirt. I was in the kitchen by eight-fifteen, drinking coffee as Molly whipped me up some grub. By ten till nine, I was at Clem’s Barbershop, lowering myself into a tub of tepid water. Bathed, shaved and looking good, I went to my office and waited for Feleena.

She was fashionably late of course, waltzing in at ten-twenty. I didn’t whine about that though, once I saw how good she looked. I sat her down in front of my desk and we exchanged pleasantries, until I finally asked her the nature of her legal problem.

“I checked up on you Tyler McGuinn,” she said. “I asked some of the dancers here about you. They all said you were always a gentleman and seemed trustworthy. So I will have to take a chance and trust you. A man owes me money, Mister McGuinn. It is a substantial amount, and I wish your help in collecting it.”

I looked at her for a moment, trying to find a delicate way to phrase the question of what he owed her money for. She saw my discomfort and her chin came up a little higher.

“He used me under false pretenses, Señor, promising to marry me to get for free that for which other men pay dearly. He gave me jewelry and baubles which all turned out to be worthless fakes. I eventually found out he has a wife back in Santa Fe, and had no intention of ever marrying me. In short, he made a fool of me.”

It was hard to keep a grin off my face at someone being good enough a conman to flimflam Feleena, but I did just that, by concentrating on her case. The man turned out to be the railroad agent that I’d played cards with on my first night in El Paso. I agreed to approach the man on Feleena’s behalf, and seek restitution for her. I took the case on a contingency basis. I would take a percentage of anything I recovered. Feleena agreed with the deal and paid me my standard one dollar retainer.

I think Feleena was disappointed when I told her I’d see her after I met with the railroad man. No doubt after being exposed to her twice in the last two days, she thought that I’d run right over to Rosa’s tonight to see her again.

As soon as I walked Feleena to the door, I hustled to the stable and saddled up Melosa for another trip across the river. Once in Mexican El Paso, I found a haberdashery with some nice suits in the window. I walked in and had the tailor measure me for a traditional Mexican charro suit. A charro is another word for cowboy in Mexican Spanish.

A charro suit has a short tight jacket and peg legged pants, both trimmed in fancy rickrack on the sleeves, lapels and down the trouser legs. I knew the suit would have to be custom made because of my height, but I also knew that it would look way good on my lanky frame. I also picked out a fancy white shirt and black silk tie to polish off the ensemble. The tailor said he’d have it for me Wednesday morning without fail.

As part of my deal with Agent Gordon, I attempted to pay the tailor’s deposit with one of the counterfeit ten dollar bills. The tailor gave it the fish eye and said he only took gold or silver coins. I pressed him on it, citing the pledge that it was redeemable in gold, but he wouldn’t budge. I finally paid him in silver dollars. His refusal to take the currency wasn’t conclusive proof that he’d seen one of the forgeries before, but his demeanor made it seem likely. If that were the case, it was interesting that he didn’t tell me the money was counterfeit.

I chewed on that as Melosa and I meandered down the dusty main street of El Paso del Norte, headed toward the river crossing.

That night I slipped away from work for a few minutes to visit the Gold Nugget. I went into the Nugget’s dance hall, bought a ticket and waited a turn with Liz. When I took her in my arms to dance, she gave me a shy smile and asked how I was. I teased her that I was heartbroken since she’d run off with my best friend, but other than that, I was just fine. She looked startled for a second, until she caught on that I was joshing her. When she did figure it out, she laughed and said, yes, she’d heard I was pining away in the arms of at least two other women.