“Maybe, after I’ve heard a little more than I know now.”
“More, meaning what?”
“If you don’t see that, Floyd, you’re not as smart as I took you to be. Tell you what. Right now, I’m as hungry as a bitch wolf right after cubbing. Let’s you and Steed and the boy and me set down and jaw with Belle after supper. If I like what I hear, I’ll tell you then whether I’m in or out.”
There were too many at supper for the table to accommodate. Belle put Longarm, Dolly, Floyd, Steed, and Bobby at the table, and held a place for herself. Sam and Yazoo ate, bending forward uncomfortably in their Chairs, over one of the benches that had been brought in from the porch and placed near the stove. Sam pieced out a meal in quick gulps between jumping up in response to Belle’s frequent calls for him to replenish the dishes on the table.
Longarm was sure that Belle knew of the talk he’d had with Floyd; the outlaw had held a whispered session with her in one corner of the room before they’d sat down. He’d looked for the air to be cleared by his grudging half-decision to join the gang in their job, wherever and whatever it was, but the atmosphere still stayed taut.
There was very little conversation during the meal, in spite of the tongue-loosing that might have been expected from the drinks poured by Floyd and Steed from the fresh bottles of corn liquor Yazoo had brought with him from the stillhouse. Longarm filled a glass out of politeness, but took only the smallest sips possible. Despite the whiskey they consumed, though, Floyd and Steed were unusually silent.
What talk did pass around the table was dominated by Belle. She had been cheerful until she saw Dolly doing as Longarm had requested, clinging to him and lifting her face to him with admiring glances, then she had frozen up. She chattered at length about her children, Ed and Pearl and their problems with the schools they were attending in Missouri. As though by al consent, unhappy subjects such as the deaths of Mckee and Taylor weren’t mentioned.
Longarm grew more and more disgusted as the meal progressed. He’d thought that, with Floyd’s unexpected thawing-out, there would be enough table talk to give him a pretty good idea of the kind of outlawry that was in the offing.
“We’ll go out on the porch,” Belle announced when she saw that everyone had finished eating. “Sam’s going to need to clean up in here and wash the dishes. Yazoo, you’d better help him, since there’s such a pile of them.”
Outside, the air was cool in the early, moonless night. Lamplight from the door spilled out as they found places. Belle and Floyd took the remaining bench; Longarm, with Dolly doing her duty by clinging to him, stood in a corner of the porch, where he could see the other four in the best light. He wasn’t looking for trouble, but knew by instinct that getting a good position in a chancy situation could be the difference between winning and losing. Steed and Bobby settled down on the step; their faces were the only ones that caught the lamplight. Those of the others were vague, whitish blurs in the dark.
Belle said, “I’m glad you finally made up your mind, Windy. Of course, if you hadn’t decided to come in, Sam and I would have gone along. But now that-“
“Wait a minute,” Steed broke in. “If we’re going to talk about the job, what about the girl there?”
“What about her?” Longarm asked. “She’s with me.”
“I’m sure all of us noticed that,” Belle said acidly.
“You know what we decided,” Steed went on. “No talking except amongst us, Belle. No outsiders.”
“I’m not an outsider,” Dolly said. “Lonnie was coming here to join up with you, and he wouldn’t have brought me if he hadn’t thought it was all right.”
“Taylor’s one thing,” Steed insisted. “Me and Floyd knew him. We don’t know a damn thing about Windy.”
Longarm didn’t see much point in setting everybody’s temper on edge with an argument at the very beginning. He said, “All right. She’s not going to be here long, anyhow, but if you don’t want her around while we’re talking, I guess she won’t mind going back to the cabin.”
“I’ll go if you say so, Windy.” There was sugar in Dolly’s voice, and she leaned back to look sweetly at Longarm.
“If Floyd and Steed don’t want her around, she’d better go,” Belle said. “What we’ve got to talk about won’t take long.”
“Go on, then, Dolly,” Longarm nodded. “I’ll be along after while.”
“Now, then,” Belle began when Dolly had flounced off, “I guess we’re all glad that Windy’s going to ride with us.”
“He is?” Bobby asked. “I didn’t know that.”
“I just hadn’t had time to pass the word to you,” Floyd told him. “Go on, Belle. Windy still ain’t sure. Says he wants to know more about how much we figure the take’s going to be and where we’re expecting to get it.” Longarm said curtly, “I don’t buy a pig in a poke, Belle. I made that plain to Floyd when we talked before supper.”
“Don’t worry,” Belle replied confidently. “There’ll be a good split. Crops are coming in at this time of the year, you know, and all the banks keep a lot of cash on hand. Farmers pay back what they’ve borrowed, and the factors that buy the big crops need money to operate with. There’s not a bank across the Arkansas line that won’t be good for ten to fifteen thousand if it’s hit inside of the next month.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Longarm said, “provided you know which bank to pick out. And if you’re damn sure which one’s going to be the easiest to take.”
“I told you not to worry,” Belle retorted. “I know which of the banks in Fort Smith-“
“Fort Smith?” Longarm interrupted. “That sounds awful damned risky. A lot of town marshals there.
