'Blake knows all about that train wreck.'
'So?'
'So he was part of it!'
'Nonsense. Milly, he probably just read the papers. I saw the Cheyenne paper down in the lobby. It was all over the front page, and I'm sure that some of the local citizenry have been up there gawking at the wreckage.'
'Oh, yeah? Well how many people knew that you were on that train with Eli Wheat?'
'It was no secret.'
'And that Wheat escaped?'
'Still no secret.'
'Well,' Milly said, her lips starting to nibble at Longarm's earlobe again even as her fingers played with his big rod, 'Blake Huntington was staying at this hotel during the train wreck. It would have been very easy for him to have joined the robbers and then derailed the train and returned that same evening.'
'Yes, that would have been possible. How did you learn that Blake was staying here then?'
'Clarence told me that they had spent four days together out hunting elk in a tent camp just before arriving in Laramie late last week.'
'And there can be no mistake about that?'
'No,' Milly said, spreading her legs and climbing onto Longarm as she worked his swelling manhood into a stiff pole. 'Old Clarence might be out of shape and a little piggish when it comes to satisfying women, but there is nothing wrong with his memory. The top end of that old Englishman is still in fine working order.'
Longarm grinned as he felt Milly ease down on his swollen rod. He laced his hands behind his head and watched as she began to work over him in slow, tight circles. The way she moved caused her big breasts to swing enticingly, and when Longarm could stand it no longer he pulled them down to his mouth.
'Oh, yes,' Milly said, 'with you I can make it, Longarm. With the others, it's just pretending.'
'No pretending now,' he said, his own hips beginning to move in slick unison to her motion.
Milly was a well-lubricated lovemaking machine. All you had to do was fire her engine. After that, she was capable of running forever. Longarm concentrated on the ceiling, and forced his mind to detach from the building heat in his crotch. Milly liked it to go a long, long time. Maybe even, he thought, glancing out at the window and thinking he saw a hint of light, maybe even until dawn.
'Oh, baby,' she purred, 'you got what Mama needs!'
Longarm growled, and soon he and Milly were lost in a swirling cloud of passion.
Longarm slept until nine o'clock, then left Milly sleeping and went downstairs for breakfast feeling a little sore in the pants. Milly could do that to a man, and Longarm hoped that he wasn't walking bowlegged. He ate a big breakfast and bought a local newspaper. The Laramie Gazette wasn't much of a paper, but what news there was focused on the train wreck. Longarm read every column of print and there wasn't a thing about him and his escaped prisoner, Eli Wheat.
Longarm was on his second cup of coffee when Clarence Huntington, along with a younger man who fit the description of Blake Huntington, strolled into the dining hall and were ushered to a table. Unfortunately, Longarm was not near enough to overhear their conversation, but he could see that both men appeared listless and were probably suffering the aftereffects of a night of drinking and debauchery.
For the next half hour, Longarm watched the pair. When that grew wearisome, he decided to leave. Suddenly Ned Rowe rushed in, out of breath.
'Deputy Long!' he called as he crossed the dining room leaving the odor of manure in his wake. 'I found that horse with the broken shoe used in the train wreck!'
Longarm swore in silent fury. Blake Huntington as well as the entire roomful of diners had stopped talking and riveted their attention on the excited blacksmith.
'Yes, sir!' Rowe said, dropping into a chair across from Longarm. 'I found that horseshoe, all right!'
'Keep your damned voice down!' Longarm hissed across the table. 'This isn't supposed to be told to the entire town!'
Ned's face fell. 'Oh,' he said, looking around and realizing that everyone was waiting to hear more. 'Well, dammit, how was I supposed to know? Anyway, I found the horse!'
'Let's get out of here,' Longarm said, feeling thoroughly disgusted. 'We can talk about it outside.'
'Talk about it, hell! You can see the horse for yourself!'
Once they were outside, Longarm said, 'Show me the horse.'
'Sure. Follow me!'
As they hurried down the boardwalk, Longarm tried to assess the damage that might have occurred in the dining room of the Outpost Hotel. If Blake Huntington was a member of the outlaw gang that had derailed the Union Pacific Railroad train and then robbed its mail car safe, he would now be warned and therefore all the more wary. If he was not, then Ned Rowe's excited announcement would have little effect.
'The fella that brought this horse in is a tough-looking hombre, I'll say that. He told me to shoe the horse and that he'd be back for it in an hour.'
'In an hour?'
'That's right. But I'm not sure what I'm going to tell him when he returns and his horse isn't shod.'
'That won't be your worry,' Longarm said. 'It'll be mine.'
