The Albert Pike was a four-story brick affair with a big marble lobby and indoor plumbing. Some of the rooms even had built-in bathtubs. Longarm had been told that the place had been modeled by the builder and owner after the Grand Hotel in Saint Louis. He was glad of the comfort, but he thought it looked a little strange in the shoddy city. Fortunately, it boasted a good dining room and a bar that was quiet and had good brands of whiskey, even the special Maryland blend that he preferred. He was up early the next morning, dressed and shaved and ready to go about finding a door that would open into the illegal whiskey business. He sauntered through the resplendent lobby, his boots echoing off the marble floor. There were throw rugs here and there and big overstuffed chairs occupied by men in business suits who were reading newspapers and dropping cigar ashes down their fronts. He found the dining room and went in to the pleasant smell of ham and eggs and baking-soda biscuits. As he stood in the door, he spotted a man from the poker game of the previous day, the one who had been sitting to the left of Morton Colton and who had dealt the hand from the cold deck.
What do You think about Longarm And The Whiskey Woman?
