“Damn it, she didn’t talk about any murders. She told me about you and her, in Bitter Creek.”
“Well, I know I can hang the sniping in Bitter Creek on her. I was hoping she’d let her hair down to another woman on the details of her life of crime.”
“Don’t pussyfoot with me, you animal! She says you had your way with her in-in a fold-up bed. She said that’s why her poor little husband tried to kill you. He was defending her honor.”
Longarm fished a cheroot from his vest pocket and lit it without comment.
After a time, Kim asked, “Well?”
“Well what, ma’am?”
“Aren’t you going to deny it?”
“You reckon you’d believe me, if I did?”
“Of course not. Her description was, well, vivid.”
“Funny, ain’t it? Ten aldermen of the church could swear a man was tuning the organ of a Sunday, and if one woman told his wife he’d been at a parlor house instead…”
“Then you do deny it!”
“Ain’t sure. Maybe I better study on it before I say one thing or t’other. I don’t aim to have you think I’m all that wicked. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want you to put me down as a sissy.”
Despite herself, the redhead laughed. Then she recovered and said, “I don’t think she could have made that up about you folding her up in the wall when her husband busted in on you.”
“By golly, that’s a good touch I’d never have come up with! Next time the boys are bragging in the pool hall, I’ll see if I can get them to buy such an interesting yarn.”
He puffed some smoke ahead of him, and addressing an invisible audience, pontificated, “That story about the one-legged gal in Dodge was right interesting, Tex. But did I ever tell you about the time in Bitter Creek I made mad gypsy love to this gal married to a midget?”
“It does sound sort of wild. Are you suggesting she told me a lie? Why would any woman lie about such a thing?”
“Don’t know. Why do men swap stories about Mexican spitfires and hotblooded landladies? Old Mabel’s likely practicing up for when we carry her before the federal district judge, up ahead. Wait’ll she gets to where you helped hold her down while Timberline and all them other riders behind us took turns with me at whatsoever.”
“Oh! Do women play such tricks on you when you arrest them?”
“Not all. Only three out of four. Some ladies who shoot folks are sort of modest.”
“She is a murderess and the wife of a gunslick, isn’t she? I hadn’t considered that angle.”
“I know. Most folks are more partial to dirty stories.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve wronged you, but damn it, she made it sound so real!”
“Do tell? Who’d she say was better at it, me or the midget?”
This time her laughter was less forced. She recovered and grinned, “I daren’t repeat what she told me. As a woman who’s been married, I’m not sure all the… details were possible.”
Longarm didn’t answer.
After a while, Kim said, “Yes, I see it all now. She’s been trying to drive a wedge between us. I’d forgotten she was facing the rope. Tell me, do you think they’ll really hang her?”
“If she’s found guilty.”
“Brrr. It seems so… so awful to think of a woman hanging.”
“Ain’t much fun for anybody. Mary Surratt was a woman, and they hung her for conspiring to kill Abe Lincoln. Some folks figured she was innocent, too.”
“Oh, my what an awful thought! Doesn’t it bother you to think of innocent people getting hung?”
“A mite. But since I’ve never hung nobody, it ain’t MY worry.”
“I can’t believe you have no pity for her. Even after what he did.”
“I feel pity for everybody, ma’am. Mostly, I feel pity for the victims more’n I do the killers. Deputy Kincaid and likely that other feller had families. They’d likely expect me to do the right thing.”
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, eh? Isn’t there something else about mercy in the good book?”
“Sure there is. I’ve read things written by philosophers. They say two wrongs don’t make a right. They say the death penalty don’t really stop the killings out our way. They say all sorts of things. But when it’s their own son or daughter, husband or wife who’s the victim you’d be surprised how fast they get back to that old ‘an eye for an eye!’”
“Someday, we may be more civilized.”
“Maybe. Meanwhile, we don’t hang folks because they’ve killed someone. We hang ‘em in order that someone else won’t get killed. Ever read what Emerson and them have to say about reform? Maybe some killers can be reformed. I don’t know what makes a man or woman a killer. But I do know one thing. Not one killer has ever done it again, after a good hanging!”
It was a long time before she broke the silence once more to say, “I think I understand you better, Longarm. I’m afraid I had some cruel thoughts about you. I thought maybe you were bringing Mabel Hanks in for those killings just to, you know, wipe the slate. I can see you’re a proud man, and a man sent on a mission that fell
