Stephen Stoddard stood in the open doorway. Guild pushed him out of the way and went straight across the room to the couch where John T. Stoddard sat so baronially.
Stoddard saw what was about to happen. He tried to climb backward up the couch, but it didn’t work.
Guild shoved the barrel of the .44 directly into his face. From his shirt pocket he took a receipt and shoved this in Stoddard’s face, too.
“What’s this?” Stoddard said.
“What the doctor charged to look me over, you son of a bitch.”
“You’ve got a temper, cowboy.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Guild hit Stoddard hard enough in the mouth to cut his lip pretty badly. Thick red blood flowed from a pink wound on Stoddard’s lower lip. He made the sort of mewling sound Guild had made earlier.
Peripherally Guild saw Stephen Stoddard move toward him. He had made a fist of his hand. It wasn’t much of a hand to begin with and it sure as hell wasn’t much of a fist.
“Please, kid,” Guild said. “You’re a nice boy. Let this be between your old man and me.”
John T. Stoddard said, “He’s right, Stephen. You go on down to the restaurant and have some dinner.”
“But—”
“You go on now.”
Guild had never heard Stoddard speak so softly or courteously to the young man.
Stephen Stoddard sighed and nodded. “You aren’t going to hurt him anymore, are you, Mr. Guild?”
“Not unless he forces me to.”
“He isn’t so bad. He really isn’t.”
Guild’s jaw set. “Kid, don’t try and sell him to me, all right? You’ve got your opinions and I’ve got mine.”
“You go on now, Stephen,” John T. Stoddard said.
Stephen sighed again and left the room.
“You want a drink, Leo?”
“Don’t call me Leo.”
“It’s all right if you call me John.”
“I don’t want to call you John, and I don’t want you to call me Leo.”
“You’re one pissed-off man.”
“He told me it was a game.”
“Who told you what was a game?”
“Sovich told me that you and he do this sort of thing all the time. You hire somebody to get him back here, and sometimes he beats them up.”
“Let me reassure you, this is no game. There’s twenty thousand dollars at stake here on Saturday.”
“Twenty thousand dollars?”
“You figure up all the wagers and that’s just what you get.” “And how much do you make?”
“Are you going to put that goddamn gun away or what?”
Guild sighed. “You two deserve each other. You and Sovich. He tells me he killed some colored boys in the ring.”
“Those things happen.”
Guild wanted to hit him again, but he knew how Stoddard’s son would get. The kid had plenty of grief already.
Guild waved the receipt at him again. “I want you to reimburse me for this right now, and then I never want you to bother me again. For anything. You understand that?”
“You’re a strange man, Guild. No offense.” Stoddard reached in his pocket. He paid in greenbacks.
A minute later Guild walked out. He slammed the door as hard as he could.