She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I think it was on that road out of town that leads to Fort Concho. It might have been someplace else. I really didn’t pay much attention to it.”
He hurried through his breakfast as fast as he could, and then went back to his room to deliberate. He needed information and he needed it badly while the murder was still fresh. He doubted the wisdom of going to the sheriff, who would most certainly know but would be most certainly interested in Longarm’s curiosity. He could pick up information from the men on the street or in the saloons, but that would be unreliable and perhaps distorted. In the end, he decided that it was worth a visit to the fort to get as many fresh details as he could, even if some people began to wonder why he found it so necessary to visit the garrison commander so often.
Just as he was finishing his deliberations, Todd came in to give him the news. When Longarm assured him that he had already heard, the boy said, “Kind of a shame, ain’t it, Mr. Long?”
Longarm said, “Oh, I don’t know. They ain’t doin’ much good around here. Who was it that got killed anyhow?”
“I heard that it was one of them officers, you know, one of them high-ranking kinds. Not like the ones that they’ve been killing before but one of them … you know, the ones that gives the orders?”
Longarm nodded. If that was the case, then indeed the case had turned serious. Killing some farm boy from Iowa who had enlisted to get off the farm was one thing, but killing an officer who most likely was from some influential family was another. Whoever was doing the killings had now upped the ante. He had also shown some knowledge of the military.
Longarm told Todd to saddle his bay mare and bring it around to the front of the hotel, saying that he would be along shortly. The young man nodded, hesitated a second, and then finally started toward the door. He stopped and turned and said, “Mr. Long, can I ask you something?”
Longarm nodded. “Well, if it don’t cost money or scare the horses. What?”
Todd fidgeted for a moment. “Well, this is a kind of delicate proposition, you understand, Mr. Long. What I was wondering, if a man was to find an army horse just running loose out on the prairie when that man was comin’ in to work early in the morning … well, if’n he found that horse, that horse wouldn’t be his, would it, Mr. Long?”
“He found the horse of the officer that was shot?”
Todd said hastily, “No, sir! I ain’t saying that. I’m just saying that I found a saddled and bridled army horse that was running loose. In case that you ain’t knowed about it, that’s the first one of the horses of the men that have been shot that’s ever been found and I’m the one that found it. You understand what I am saying, Mr. Long?”
Longarm nodded slowly. It was a fact that he had overlooked. He said, “Are you telling me that of the soldiers that were shot, none of their horses were never recovered?”
Todd nodded. “Yes, sir. That’s what I’m a-saying. Of course, I ain’t talking about that one that was stabbed in the back alley. He was just walking. He wasn’t a-horseback.”
“Where have you got this horse?”
Todd looked down at the floor. “Am I gonna get in trouble about this?”
“Not if you tell the truth.”
“I taken him to my cousin’s barn on the outside of town. I unsaddled him, unbridled him, and gave him a bait of oats and gave him some water. He was spooked, sure as hell.”
Longarm said, “The smell of blood spooks horses, Todd.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do now?”
“One thing that you’re supposed to do is not to tell anyone else, do you hear me?”
Longarm reached in his pocket and found a five-dollar gold piece. He flipped it across the space between them. He said, “Do you understand me when I say that you are not to tell anyone else?”
Todd looked surprised at the coin he had caught in the air. This was probably the first time he’d had five dollars all together at any one time in his life.
He said, “Yes, sir, Mr. Long. I am gonna do exactly what you tell me. Prexactly!”
“Then just leave that horse where he is. Scurry on around and bring me my horse, and then this afternoon I want you to show me that horse. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir! I’m tending to it right now. I’m already saddling your horse.”
Longarm waited until he was gone and then he had a double pull off the rapidly diminishing bottle of Maryland whiskey that he had opened the day before. After that, he got up, stretched, and checked his revolver. He put on his hat and started for the front of the hotel. He didn’t think it would take Todd very long to have his horse ready.
Todd was waiting for him as he stepped off the porch and into the street. Just before he swung into the saddle, Longarm looked around at the young boy and said, “Todd, is there anybody around here that goes way back and could give me a feel of this place? I mean, I’m a man who when he is thinking of going into business in a particular area wants to know everything he can about it. I’m a man who believes in being thorough. So, do you know of anybody who has been around here steady for a good number of years who would have a pretty good idea of the people and the history and where all the bodies are buried and that sort of thing?”
The open face of the sandy-haired young man screwed up for a moment while he thought about it. “Well, there’s ol’ Clell Martin.”
“Who is he?”
Todd said, “Well, he’s … I don’t know. He’s just an old gentleman been in and around here since anybody can remember. I think he was born here or something.”
Longarm said, “Where would I find him?”
Todd made a vague gesture toward the northeast. “Well, he’s got an old place, little-bitty old place, off up
