Cassidy Red Page #3

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you and I

are gonna have words.

What the hell are you doing out

here pointing rifles at cans?

You're gonna get black powder

all over that frock, you know.

I'll spray powder

all over that red smirking...

You should be thanking me, Joe Cassidy.

You're far too dignified a specimen

to be denting cans in public.

No wonder they pay good money to

pick your people off this land.

Oh! Your dad took

that job very seriously.

The man took pleasure

in his work.

You don't know nothin'

about my daddy.

You're probably right.

But just think, if Tommy's

daddy hadn't paid so much

good money to your daddy,

to use this thing on my daddy.

You'd be missing out

on the pleasure

of my company right now.

If that story's supposed

to make me feel sorry for you...

I don't need your pity,

Mrs. Hayes.

It ain't Mrs. Hayes yet.

Pardon me,

Miss Cassidy.

I won't make

that mistake again.

Promise.

( thunder rumbling )

Damn it to hell!

( Jakob growls )

Oh, oh, cottonfrickin'

son of a...

What's all

the singing about?

Ain't it a little late

to be doing a rain dance?

Can't get the goddamn nail

in, unless I get my face

underneath

the goddamn hole.

Do I have to get up on

the ladder and do it for you?

I wouldn't want you

to rip your corset.

( groaning )

Oh, don't you dare hit me

with that thing.

Hold this.

Well, come on up here.

This would be a lot easier

to do from on top of the roof.

It's raining

on top of the roof.

( hammer thumping )

Give me that.

Reckon it won't be too long before you

start complaining about being hungry.

- What's that one?

- What one?

That one? That big black

sumbitch who keeps

- circling the same spot over and over again.

- Oh, that one.

We call that one, Angel that

Draws Salt from the Earth.

Really?

No.

You ass.

( both laughing )

Why do you assume I know what every

bird, snake, and rodent is called?

I don't know. Don't your

people have some sacred bond

with the land, sky, and

every animal in-between?

My people? You were

born here, too, you know?

I've spent a hell of a lot more

time with your people than my own.

You really don't know

what that thing is?

Of course not.

That's why I asked.

It's a turkey vulture.

What are you,

thick or something?

Oh, the hell with you.

Hell with you.

( Joe laughing )

What's he circling?

Food.

I know that.

What kind?

Hell if I know.

Something that

ain't dead yet.

Do you remember when I pulled

a gun on Tom for you?

What?

We were kids.

Tom was beating you senseless

and I got the drop on him.

Reckon you're confusing

dreams from memories.

Yeah, I do that sometimes.

You comfortable in that?

How do you mean?

You're soaked in sweat twice

through and your hands are swollen

from those frilly manacles.

Does that dress

make you happy?

He gave it to me.

Looks like

it's dinner time.

( birds squawking )

If a man arrives home

early from his journey,

he may very well find his house

empty and his bed cold.

Tom Hayes made such haste

riding home from Bisbee

that he was rewarded

with the kind of welcome

that no man

ever recovers from.

( coyote howling )

How did they meet?

She was a pro.

He was a customer.

Ain't hard to make friends

on the second floor

of the Belle Vue.

Does he still visit her?

Once a week, every week

for the last twenty years.

- Does she charge him?

- ( Joe giggles )

That's not a conversation that I'm especially

interested in having with my mother.

Why are you so curious

about Harley and Cort?

I'm curious about you.

And Tom mentioned you

didn't want people knowing

that Harley and Cort

were your folks.

Tom doesn't want people

knowing they're my folks.

I could give a sh*t.

But he can't have people

knowing that his in-laws

are a whore

and her steady drunk.

Do you love him?

Of course not.

( trigger clicks )

Then why are you

marrying him?

I thought he could

take me away from all this.

Away from this town.

Does that make me

a horrible person

to use someone

like that?

Not necessarily.

I'm relieved

you think that.

Why?

Because I'm not

marrying him, Jake.

I don't know if I can take you

away from this place, Joe.

I know.

But here I am.

How did that bastard

become sheriff anyway?

There were rumors

that when Tom Hayes

realized his fiance

was fixin' to leave him

for his adopted brother,

that he used his daddy's fortune

to buy himself a badge.

Who'd vote for

a monster like that?

The mines

had dried up,

the railroad hadn't

passed through here yet.

Tom Hayes was the only person

in town with any seed.

And he planted it

in all the right pockets.

Why didn't

people just leave?

Lot of them did.

Before Hank Hayes passed on,

this town was fixin' to be

another Bisbee.

Plenty of farms, homesteads,

ranches, promise.

But when his son

became sheriff,

this palatial establishment

we're currently residing in,

as well as Harley O'Houlihan's

pleasure parlor upstairs,

became the center

of this town.

And the only profitable

business left in it.

With the engagement

called off,

rumors began to swirl

as to why Tom Hayes

hadn't just gunned down

his fiance and brother.

But he never

threatened the lovers,

nor involved himself

in their affairs.

Instead, he took up

residence in the Belle Vue.

Using his father's money

and political influence,

he set about rewriting

the rule of law in Ruby.

Still, Joe and Jakob

behaved cautiously

around Tom at all times.

Uneasy about the new

sheriff's intentions,

they made quiet preparations

for their escape.

But shortly after Tom had

taken control of the saloon,

Harley's consumption reared

up with a fierce vengeance.

So, at Rowena's pleading,

Joe decided she couldn't leave her

mother to die alone in a brothel.

When Harley passed and the lovers

were finally free to run away,

they decided to do so

separately.

Worried they might be spotted

by Hayes or his deputies,

Joe left first

and Jakob stayed behind

to collect on

his poker winnings.

Once he had the money,

he would ride out to meet her

and they would

head west together.

That was the plan.

Tom Hayes could have

killed the lovers,

and that would have been

the end of this here story.

But in the glow

of that campfire,

he decided death

was too good for 'em.

He wanted them to hurt

the way that he had hurt.

And the best way

to hurt a person

ain't to hurt

that person,

it's to hurt

the person they love.

How did he do it?

He shot him.

In the street?

Harley's room.

Did you see it?

I didn't have to.

Then how do you know?

He's dead, Joe.

I'm going back to Ruby.

You can't do that.

They'll be on you the moment

you set foot onto Main Street.

There's no place in that town

he doesn't have eyes.

If you go back to Ruby

and get yourself shot,

- then what did he die for?

- What did he die for?

If he were still alive, he'd beg

you not to do anything foolish.

He'd want you to stay away.

You best take that little whore's

advice to heart, Josephine.

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