'They were mean to me!' Eli hissed. 'Didn't even ask me in for supper after I said I was hungry.'
'That's no reason to kill them.'
'They asked for it!'
'Shut up,' Longarm breathed. 'If I wasn't a deputy of the federal court in Denver, I'd have gut-shot you up in the Unitas and been done with it. You deserve to die hard, Eli. A bullet in your brain would be too kind.'
Eli glanced sideways at Longarm. 'You're no different than me,' he said. 'You just hide behind a badge so you can do your killing legal.'
Longarm's eyes shifted to the man, then past him to the window. Even over the pounding of the iron wheels he could hear the sound of the wind howling off the Laramie Mountains. This storm was coming all the way down from Canada. Longarm could only imagine what kind of a white, frozen hell the locomotive engineer must be fighting as he peered vainly ahead into the freezing maelstrom, trying to gauge where each of the many switchbacks would be and hoping that the snow did not stick on the ground to block the rails. 'I never liked snow until now,' Eli said with a smirk. 'I always said that I was going to California. That's where I was headed when you caught me. I'd never have killed again.'
'That's a lie. You've killed so often that it means nothing to you anymore. That woman whose throat you cut in Denver was-'
'Was just another tired-out old whore!' Eli choked out. 'She tried to get me drunk so that her boyfriend could steal the money from my pants. But I was wise to 'em! If he hadn't jumped out of that hotel window, I'd have killed him too.'
Longarm didn't know if Miss Martha Noble had overheard this confession, but he suspected that she had and was probably starting to realize that she'd made a fool of herself defending such a cold-blooded killer.
A few minutes later, the conductor and the banker returned. The banker looked angry and the conductor began to pitch wood into the small stove at the rear of the car.
'I'd never hire him,' the banker said loudly. 'A man like that wouldn't last a day at our Bank of Wyoming but he'll last forever on this railroad. I tell you, the Union Pacific will hire anyone!'
Longarm smiled to himself. The banker was putting on a show of authority for the other passengers and was making sure that everyone knew about his bank. Loud, boastful people were imitating to Longarm, who preferred to go about his work with a quiet efficiency. He never bragged or told stories of the men he tracked down and brought to justice.
Longarm and other passengers seemed to hold their breath as the train inched its way up the summit. Time lost all meaning. It was as if they were traveling in a tunnel of ice. There was nothing to see outside and the storm kept screeching like a tormented witch. But finally, the train seemed to level out and pause, then slightly pick up speed.
'We've done it,' Longarm declared loudly. 'We've crested the summit!'
'Are you sure?' Miss Noble asked.
'He's right,' the banker said, beaming. 'I've been over this stretch a hundred times. There is no question about it. We've crested and are now on the downhill run.'
'But isn't that just as dangerous?' another passenger asked. 'I mean, what if we were to lose our brakes?'
'There is no chance of that,' an older man wearing bib overalls and work boots declared. 'I worked on a railroad for twenty years back in Ohio. Our brakes aren't going to fail.'
Everyone except Eli Wheat seemed much relieved. Studying his wedge-shaped face with his hooked nose and deep-set eyes, Longarm said, 'Looks like we're going to make Cheyenne after all. Another two hours at the most.'
Eli turned and stared right through him. 'Don't bet your life on it, Deputy.'
'What is that supposed to mean?'
Eli smiled. 'It means that a lot can happen in two hours and this blizzard is getting worse, not better.'
Longarm stared at the whipping snow curtain. He could hear the intensity of the storm grow and he knew that Eli was right. The ride down from this high summit was risky even under the best of circumstances, and these were the worst of circumstances.
Miss Noble turned around and favored Longarm with what he judged to be an embarrassed smile. 'I... I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about those two people that your prisoner attacked in Denver.'
'Then you know that he killed the woman.'
'Yes,' she said in a sad voice. 'I heard that. And I guess that I do owe you an apology.'
'Apology accepted,' Longarm said. 'And I probably shouldn't have grabbed Eli by the throat and tried to throttle him into silence.'
'Damn right you shouldn't have!' Eli spat out.
'Shut up,' Longarm ordered.
Martha Noble sighed. 'I will be oh so glad when we reach Cheyenne.'
'I suppose that you have family waiting for you there?'
'No. I'm not married. I was once but, well... it didn't work out.'
'i'm sorry.'
'I'm not. My husband was not a nice man. He wasn't a murderer or anything, but he had no character.'
Longarm nodded as if to say he understood.
