Page 68 of Return to Telegraph Creek

“All right, all right.You have your fun.When we get back, I’m goin’ upstairs with Jimmy, and you better not bother us.”

My ears perked up, and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.Trick’s laughter increased.

“Oh, hell,” she sputtered.“Jimmy looks like he plum won the lottery or somethin’.”

“Hell, I feel like I did.My injury’s healin’ up, so maybe I can take care of my good boy proper now.”

Oscar grinned, Miss June laughed and Trick nodded.

“Well, well, well.Maybe I got some tools in my bag of tricks you can use,” she said, with a glint in her eye.

“Uh-uh,” Oscar said.“We don’t want company.”

“I don’t mean that,” she said, making a face.“I mean, I got some things up in my room that you might find…useful and entertainin’.”

“Oh yes,” Miss June said.“Trick is a bit of a collector, you see.She has some very…interesting devices and tools you might find rather intriguing.”

“Oh shit,” Oscar said, his gaze flashing to mine.“I cannot even imagine.Though I’m sure I could if you give me some time…”

Trick grinned.“You ain’t gotta imagine anythin’.You can come have a look at what all I got—then pick and choose what you want to try.”

Miss June and Trick exchanged a knowing glance.

“Well,” I said and cleared my throat.“I suppose we can have a gander.”

* * * *

Once we’d given the horses into William’s care, we followed Trick upstairs.I’d never been in Trick’s room—or any of the other girls’ rooms, neither—and I was surprised by the way ’twas decorated.

There were fancy red silk cloths everywhere—draped from the ceiling and on the walls—combined with black ones, to give the space a unique and a, frankly, sensual appearance.Her bed was covered with a red silk spread and piled with black cushions of all shapes and sizes.She had a wardrobe at one end of the room and a wood chest below the window, where the black drapes were pulled aside to let in the daylight.

Trick lifted the corner of her mattress and pulled a small key from under it.She used the key to unlock the iron padlock on the chest.

“If I don’t keep the damn thing locked, things start to disappear,” she said.“I don’t mind the other girls borrowin’ things now and then, but they need to ask me first and bring them back when they’re done.”

“Seems reasonable,” Oscar said, licking his lips and chomping at the bit to see what might be in there.He elbowed me.“See, Jimmy?There’s the treasure.”

Trick took off the lock and lifted the top of the chest.It creaked as it opened, and I could see ’twas full of all sorts of things that I couldn’t identify just yet.

Oscar lunged forward, reaching inside and pulling out a long piece of polished wood about three feet wide, with buckled leather straps at each end.

“Oooh.I don’t know what this is for, but my mind is spinnin’!”He turned it o’er in his hands, touching the buckles and flashing me a mischievous glance.

“What on earth?”I said, completely flummoxed.

Trick sat on the edge of the mattress, folding her arms across her chest.“That there is a spreader bar.”

“Hell,” Oscar said, his cheeks flushed and his eyes sparkling.“What?”

“Uh,” I said, “so what do you do with a spreader bar?”

I was almost scared to ask, except I was awful curious, and by the reaction the device had gotten from Oscar, well, I needed to know how to use it.

Trick held her hand out and Oscar passed her the device.

“Get on the bed,” she said to him, and Oscar’s eyes flew wide.

“You best do as she says,” I muttered.