Sheriff’s deputies too, and a whole big bunch of federal marshals. At least that’s the way I heard it.”
“I explained to him how you’ve got strings out on a lot of the law, Belle,” Floyd said quickly. “But Windy still ain’t satisfied. Maybe you can tell him more than I could.”
“I’m sure I could, but I don’t intend to,” Belle said tartly. She swiveled on the bench to face Longarm. “I just wanted to see what you’d say when I mentioned Fort Smith, Windy, but I’m like you—I wouldn’t look at that place twice. No, we won’t be taking one of the banks there, not with just four men. We’ll go to one of the little places. There’s three or four towns a little way over the Arkansas line where there’s only one bank, but it’ll have close to twenty thousand in the safe for the next month. And it’s in the little towns where I’ve got the marshals hogtied.”
“I like that better,” Longarm told her. “Now, when will we be riding?”
“Not for a few days.” Belle frowned. “Maybe a week. I’ve got to hear from my friends across the line before I’ll know when the right time will be.”
Longarm nodded. “That suits me fine. I’ve got a little business of my own that I need to take care of. I can tend to it and get back in plenty of time.”
“What kind of business?” Floyd asked; suspicion dripped from his words.
“Not anything real important. I promised Dolly I’d take her to the train so she can go home.” He dropped into a deprecating tone and added, “She’s getting to bother me. I can’t afford to have a woman like her hanging on me, you men know that.”
“Yeah,” Floyd replied. He seemed relieved. “well, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Do you, Belle?”
“No. I’ll be as glad as Windy will be to get her away from here. Taylor made a mistake in bringing her along with him in the first place.” Steed asked Longarm, “It’s all settled, then?”
“If you men and Belle are satisfied, so am I.” He turned to Belle. “We’ll be coming back here to Younger’s Bend to hole up after the job, I expect? I don’t feel like I want to go back on the prod right away.”
“That’s something else you won’t have to worry about, Windy,” Belle said. “You make a clean getaway without any federal marshals chasing you into the Nation, and you’ll be safe from the law here as long as you feel like staying.”
“All right. It’s settled as far as I’m concerned, then.” Longarm stood up. “Now I’ll go down to the cabin and tell the girl to get ready to ride into Fort Smith tomorrow. And as soon as I get her on the train to Kansas, I’ll be back.”
“You guarantee we can count on that?” Floyd asked.
“You damn sure can, Floyd,” Longarm said feelingly. “This is one job I don’t intend to miss out on!”
An excited, sparkling-eyed Dolly greeted Longarm at the door of the cabin. She said, her words tumbling out all over each other, “Come look what I’ve found, Windy!”
She took Longarm’s hand and led him to the table. A pile of currency rose from its center. Around the edges were a half-dozen items: a sheath knife, a pile of pistol cartridges, two pairs of socks, several bandannas, a tin cup, three battered cigars with split wrappers, a block of matches, a bag of ground coffee, and some scraggy scraps of jerky. The heap of greenbacks dominated everything, however.
“Looks like there’s quite a wad there,” Longarm said.
“Nearly a thousand dollars. I counted it.”
“It’s out of Taylor’s saddlebags, ain’t it?” Longarm asked.
“Yes. I wanted to bathe, and looked in them for some soap. And there it was, all that money.”
“Must be what he got when he left you in that cave.”
“Of course. I’m sure it is. He held up a bank, I guess. I don’t know where, or anything about it. Lonnie didn’t tell me. But that doesn’t matter, Windy. I want you to have it. You’ve been so good to me.”
Longarm looked at the money thoughtfully. If he took it, he’d see that it got back somehow to the place Taylor had stolen it from. He’d just hand it over to Gower and let him see to returning it. But he couldn’t tell Dolly that, and felt he ought to press her to keep it. A false step now might endanger the image he’d created with Belle and the outlaws.
He said, “I don’t need a dead man’s money, Dolly. You’re entitled to it. You’ll need it. We’re going out tomorrow to Fort Smith, and I’ll see you on a train for wherever you feel like heading.”
“No. It’d remind me of Lonnie and Susanna Mudgett. I want to forget both of them.”
“All right. If you’re sure you don’t want it, I’ll keep it, and I thank you most kindly.”
“You said we were going out tomorrow? That’s something else I have to thank you for.”
Dolly threw her arms around Longarm and raised herself on tiptoe to kiss him. He bent to meet her, expecting the kiss to be only a friendly one. It turned into something more. Dolly’s tongue pushed his lips apart, and Longarm responded as any man would. He caught Dolly up in his arms and pulled her to him. Her hips pushed against his groin and he felt himself getting hard.
Dolly broke the kiss to whisper, “It’s getting late, and if we’re going to start traveling tomorrow, we’ll need to rest tonight, Windy. Don’t you think it’s about time you blew out the lamp so we can go to bed?”
“If you want to,” Longarm replied. Then, as an afterthought, he asked, “This ain’t something more like the money, is it? You ain’t asking me just because you feel like you owe me something?”
“No. I wanted you to come to bed with me when I woke up this morning and saw you looking at me. I’ve wanted all day for you to grab me up and hold me and kiss me, but you never did make a move to.”
Longarm blew out the lamp before he said, “I guess I figured it was too soon after-“
“After Lonnie?” she finished for him. “I guess it would be, for Susanna. But I’m Dolly now,
