The Long Branch was a favorite hangout of the Gulch Gang when they weren’t partying at their clubhouse. Although Lawton wasn’t a regular customer, the bartender knew him.
“Evening, Lawton. What’ll you have?”
He propped an elbow on the glassy surface of the mahogany bar.
“Evening, Zeke. Guess I’ll have a beer; make it a Coors. What’s goin’ on?”
The bartender filled a glass and slid it over to him. “Not a hell of a lot. You know how it is, midweek.”
A man in the small group at the opposite end of the bar hailed Zeke and he moved down their way. Lawton didn’t mind. He wasn’t in the mood for small talk. A baseball game appeared on the big screen TV, but he didn’t even recognize the teams. Sports had never been his thing, anyway.
Before he’d taken his second swallow of the cold beer, he h
