“And you forget just one thing, Sheriff. I ain’t just one man—there’s a hundred and twenty troopers out there at the fort. I can requisition every damn one of them and put this town under martial law if I want to. That would include you.” He leaned toward the sheriff. “Do you understand me?”
The sheriff turned away and walked to the other side of his office, staring out. He said, “I can’t tell you to get out of here, but I wish the hell you would.”
Longarm said, “Well, for once we are in agreement.” He turned on his heel and went out the front door.
Even though it was coming dark, he rode straight to the fort and went in to see the captain, this time wearing his badge. In a very brief time he told the captain what had transpired.
Captain Montrose said, “And you think it’s this Virgil Castle?”
“He’s the best suspect I got. For a while, I thought it was an old man that lives about a mile from here named Clell Martin. Do you know him?”
The captain said, “Yes, he hates soldiers. I think he’s an old Johnny Reb. I never considered he’d do something like this. He’s all stove up from what I’ve heard. But I don’t understand why you think that Virgil Castle would do this. Because he’s simpleminded?”
“You’re not going to believe this, but I think he thinks he is an Indian. I really believe that he is still fighting the horse soldiers.” Captain Montrose looked at him incredulously. “You mean, you think a demented half- wit has been shooting my men because he is still fighting the Indian wars?”
“Well, this is an Indian fort, isn’t it?”
“Don’t talk rubbish, Marshal. We don’t have any Indians around here. My God.” He stood up and said, “Well, what do you want us to do? Do you want me to restrict my troopers to the garrison?”
Longarm said, “Captain, I’ve been thinking about that, giving it considerable thought, and I am of two minds. One, if you don’t have any troopers out, I can’t catch him in the act. But if you do, he is liable to kill somebody else. I’m going to try to watch him—that’s the reason I left him out of jail, so I could watch him. But I don’t know if I can keep that close an eye on him. He runs along on foot as far as I can tell. This is rough country. I’m not as young as I used to be. If I try to follow him on a horse, he is gonna see me. What do you think? Do you want to risk your troopers?”
Captain Montrose thought about it for a few moments. He said, “Why don’t I restrict them for a couple of days and see what happens.”
Longarm said, “Well, I ain’t going to be able to tell much if you do that. I need to see if he will go for a position where he could shoot a trooper coming from town or going.”
The captain said, “I don’t understand why you didn’t arrest the other Castle family.”
Longarm said, “I had no real reason. I have no real suspicion of them. I have created enough trouble for myself arresting Vernon Castle and his two sons just to cut him off and isolate him. I really couldn’t work up a healthy appetite for arresting James Castle. His children are young. My plan now, though, is that I’m going to go to work on Vernon and try to make him give Virgil up. I don’t know if he suspects Virgil of doing this, or if he knows he’s doing this or what, but he’s not liking that jail at all. So I am going to be pounding on him and trying to convince him that the boy will be better off—I say boy, but really he is a man—that Virgil would be better off in one of those asylums than running around the country shooting people because sooner or later, someone is gonna wind up shooting him.”
Captain Montrose said, “I will be guided by whatever you say, Marshal. I tell you, this is a very frustrating situation.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more. The one thing that I do want you to do, Captain Montrose, is that if there is any trouble, any trouble at all, of any kind, I do not want you to deal with it yourself. You will be dealing with civilians and that is my job. I want you to get word to me as fast as you can. I’ll either be somewhere in town or I’ll be hid out somewhere along the road that circles to the south, to James Castle’s ranch, and the one up north of here, to Vernon Castle’s ranch. I will be most likely somewhere near Vernon Castle’s ranch or around town somewhere. If I am around town, I will most likely be at the jail or somewhere around my hotel.”
Captain Montrose said, “All right. My God. I hope this will be the end of this.”
That night, Longarm rode out to Vernon Castle’s ranch, to a position about a quarter of a mile from the main gate. He stayed for several hours, watching. He felt that it was nothing more than a futile gesture, however. Virgil could slip away from the ranch at any point as much as a mile from the gate and he, Longarm, would never be aware. In his own mind, he thought his best chance was to hammer down on the old man and make him give his son up. It was the most hopeful outcome of the plan that he had put in motion.
He hadn’t brought it up to Vernon Castle before because he wanted the old man and his two sons to have plenty of time to stew in their own juices. He figured that every minute they spent in that jail was a minute that would bring them closer to being cooperative. He was convinced the killer had to be Virgil Castle. If he was wrong, he had gone to a great deal of trouble and alienated a powerful man for nothing. Naturally, he had no intention of pursuing the charges of illegal cattle importation. All he was using that for was as a lever, as an ax, as a wedge, to try to force the old man into doing something alien to his nature.
He went over to the jail the next day, and let himself into the cells through the lockup door paying no attention to the sheriff. He walked back and stood in front of Vernon Castle’s cell. The man was seated on his bunk. He looked distinctly uncomfortable and very angry. A day’s worth of whisker growth was on his cheeks.
He glared up at Longarm. “Well, have you come to your senses and decided to let us out of here? I want you to know that my son is in considerable pain.”
Longarm said, “Well, that’s better than those five soldiers that got killed. They ain’t in no pain at all. They ain’t in nothing except a wooden box.”
Vernon Castle gave him a look. He said, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the soldiers that have been shot. Haven’t you been moving heaven and earth to get that garrison out of here?”
Castle’s face clouded. “What the hell does that have to do with me?”
“Who the hell would want the soldiers out of here more than the man who is killing them? That’s one way of getting them out of here, isn’t it?”
