'Yes, yes, of course,' Billy said. 'I know that, but in a few more years ... well, you really ought to begin a savings plan now, Custis. I'm enrolled in one. Most of the senior men in our department are.'
Longarm groaned. 'Billy, just give me that week off and we can talk about all this later,' he said, pushing himself wearily to his feet. Billy also came to his feet. He was dressed in a black, pin-stripped suit, with a white shirt with starched collar and a wine-colored tie. He looked quite natty as he skirted his massive mahogany desk and reached up to lay a pudgy hand on Longarm's shoulder.
'Look, I tell you what I'm going to do.'
'Oh, no,' Longarm said, brushing Billy's hand aside and confronting the man. 'Don't give me any of that bullshit of yours, Billy. What you are going to do is to give me the full week of paid vacation time that you've been promising for the last two years.'
'I'M going to do that,' Billy persisted, 'and more.'
Longarm's voice dropped. 'You are?'
'Sure! Actually, I'm going to give you two weeks of paid vacation.'
'Really?' Longarm allowed himself to smile. 'If I had two weeks, I'd go to St. Louis and then maybe take a riverboat down to New Orleans.'
'Hell,' Billy chuckled, 'that kind of trip would take you two months! And even then I'd be lucky if I got you back in one piece. Those riverboats are pretty wild and dangerous.'
'I've been on 'em,' Longarm said. 'And I can handle whatever comes my way.'
'I know that full well,' Billy said, returning to his chair. 'Sit down and let me tell you exactly what you'll have to do in order to earn that extra week of paid vacation.'
Despite his better judgment, Longarm returned to his seat. He stretched his long legs out and laced his hands behind his head. He would take whatever Billy said with a heavy measure of skepticism. 'All right, Billy, but I know you well enough to recognize a trap when I'm about to be snared.'
'This is no trap,' Billy promised. 'In fact, most any deputy marshal in this office would crawl over broken glass to have this assignment.'
'Sure,' Longarm drawled, not believing a word Billy said. 'Let's hear it.'
Billy had a flair for the dramatic and he liked to draw out anything suspenseful, so he picked up a cigar again, contemplated it for several long moments, then replaced it in his open box. 'Custis, there is a very special prisoner that needs to be delivered to the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma.'
'Oh, kee-rist!' Longarm said, jumping to his feet. 'That's a hellhole! And even to get there is a real sonofabitch. Don't you know that the Apache are raisin' hell again down in that part of the country?'
'Crook has all but put them under his authority,' Billy said with a smile.
'How come this prisoner has to be transported to Yuma, of all places? Why can't he just be tried here?'
'First of all,' Billy explained patiently, 'the prisoner has committed a crime in the Arizona Territory, with which we have a reciprocal agreement for prisoner exchanges. That means that we agree to give up our prisoners and transport them to Arizona and they agree to hand over any prisoners who have committed federal felonies here in Colorado. So you see, Custis, it works both ways.'
'Yeah,' Longarm said, 'but the rub is that some poor deputy like me has to transport them to hell and back.'
'I'm sorry,' Billy said, not looking a bit sorry, 'but I've given this matter some very serious consideration and you are definitely the best man for the job. In fact, you're the only one that I have complete confidence in regarding this particular prisoner.'
'Is this prisoner a one-man army?'
Marshal Billy Vail had a cherubic face and a boyish grin that often won him an argument, and he used it now. 'Actually, the he is a she.'
Longarm collapsed into his chair. 'The prisoner is a woman?'
'That's right,' Billy said. 'And she is quite young and beautiful.'
'Well, hell,' Longarm blurted out in confusion. 'Why do you want me?'
'Because you know all the tricks that a beautiful woman will use on a man to get her way. And this woman is clever as a fox. Why, if I gave her over to the care and protection of a younger man, she'd have him wrapped around her little finger before they got beyond the city line. And she'd have him helping her escape before they were out of Colorado.'
'Maybe you aren't giving your men enough credit.'
'Oh,' Billy said, 'I don't mean to belittle our newer deputy marshals. We've some very good ones. But this job definitely needs a man like you who is well seasoned. Someone who has enough experience and maturity to handle bad women.'
'How do you know I have that?'
'Come on, Longarm. There isn't a decent woman in Denver safe from your line of malarkey.'
'Pure poppycock!' Longarm snorted. 'I've never had anything to do with married women, or those that were fat, old, or ugly.'
'How gentlemanly of you,' Billy said, voice now dripping with sarcasm.
'Who is this woman that you want me to take to Yuma?'
'You'd know the answer to that if you'd read yesterday's newspaper,' Billy said. 'Her picture was even on the front page. Want to see it?'
