'Fine,' Brodie said. 'When would you like to do this?'
'How about first thing tomorrow morning?'
'Suits me,' Brodie answered. 'We'll leave after an early breakfast.'
Brodie finished his drink and then gazed at Lucy. 'I'm sure that you are exhausted. I have a guest room waiting for you.'
'Thank you,' Lucy said, looking sideways at Longarm with a question in her eyes.
'And Marshal, you can either sleep here on the couch, or in the bunkhouse. I'm afraid that I only have one spare bedroom in this small adobe. I apologize.'
'None necessary,' Longarm said, appreciating how neatly the Arizona rancher had managed to keep him from sleeping another night with Lucy.
'Good!' Brodie smiled. 'If you two will excuse me for a few minutes, I've got to go outside and tell my men what I want done this afternoon.'
'Of course,' Longarm said.
When they were alone, Lucy came over to sit beside him. She took his hands in her own and her eyes were dancing with joy. 'Isn't this wonderful news! Can you imagine how happy this makes me?'
'I think so.'
'Hal is wonderful to have done so much, and at such great personal risk!'
'He certainly has proved a savior,' Longarm said, trying to dredge up enthusiasm. 'Now, all we have to do is to get Maria out of your husband's house.'
'She's young,' Lucy said, 'and I can well imagine that she must be terrified. I'm sure this has been a terrible ordeal for her, just as it has been for me.'
'Yes,' Longarm said.
'But it's almost over, isn't it?'
'If Maria will confirm what Hal just told us, I think that a judge will give me the full authority to arrest Rivera and clean up this mess.'
'But what about those women prisoners that you were supposed to be in charge of transporting from Yuma to Denver?'
'Damn,' Longarm muttered. 'I'd entirely forgotten about them! Well, perhaps I can wire Billy Vail and he can send someone else out to bring them back to Colorado.'
'I hope so,' Lucy said. 'It sure seems as if you'll have enough to do just arresting poor Don Luis's murderers.'
'I agree,' Longarm said. 'The last thing I need on top of everything else is a bunch of crazy, cut-throat females.'
Lucy giggled. 'Just like you thought I was going to be?'
'You were a very refreshing surprise,' Longarm said. 'Yes,' he admitted as he slipped his arm around her waist. 'And what are we going to do about tonight?'
'I don't know,' Lucy said, acting very innocent. 'Whatever are you talking about?'
'You know damn good and well what I'm talking about.'
'Oh, I suppose you mean about the sleeping arrangements.'
'That's right.'
'Well, I'm sure that you will be very comfortable in the bunkhouse with all the other rugged men.'
'The hell you say!'
Lucy laughed, kissed his cheek, and wiggled out of Longarm's grasp. 'We'd better behave ourselves or Hal might get jealous.'
'Would you marry him?'
'Of course not!' A pause and then a frown. 'At the very least I'd want to spend a few more months in mourning before we were married.'
Longarm shook his head. Women, he could never really figure 'em.
CHAPTER 10
Longarm and Lucy sat quietly on horseback, hidden in a dense stand of cottonwood trees that were less than a quarter mile from the Ortega ranch house. Several minutes earlier, they had watched as Hal Brodie, accompanied by three of his cowboys, rode up to the ranch house. Brodie alone had gone inside to get Maria Escobar while his cowboys waited for the rancher.
'He's been in there at least fifteen minutes,' Lucy fretted. 'Do you think that anything bad has happened to him?'
'No,' Longarm said. 'And it's been more like five minutes.'
Lucy expelled a deep breath. 'What if they killed him?'
'Now why in the world,' Longarm asked, 'would they do something that stupid? They don't know that Maria Escobar is a witness to your husband's murder.'
