'Look there, Sally. He's holding a gun on me,' said Mark.
'Serves you right, bustin' in on us like this. Now, you get on out of here and shut that door, and I'll get dressed.'
From behind, John said, 'Step back, Mark, and pull the door to. We've got to talk this over with Daddy. This ain't your business to decide.'
Longarm said, 'Don't you reckon it's a little bit of Sally's business to decide, too?'
Mark said, 'Hell, she ain't nothing but a damned girl.' But he stepped back, pulling the door half closed.
Longarm said to Sally, 'Honey, you better get your robe on and go on back in the house. Let's get a chance to talk to your daddy about this. All right?'
She gave him a quick kiss and then slipped out of the bed and put on her robe. In another instant, she had flitted out the door. As she went out, Mark stepped back through. Longarm came out from under the covers with his revolver. He said to the angry brother, 'I've got to get dressed, too, Mark, and I don't particularly care for you watching me, either. Now, you just step back unless you want to play 'Let's both get killed.' I can shoot you dead before you can pull the triggers on that shotgun, I promise you. Now, get on out of here and I'll get dressed and be out there in three or four minutes.'
The brother's voice was furious. He said, 'All right, damn you, you son of a bitch. We're going to get this matter settled.'
'Just get the hell out of here!'
Once again, Mark backed out through the door, pulling it to behind him. He yelled, 'But I'll be waiting right out here, and there ain't no other way for you to go.'
With a sigh, Longarm got up out of bed and began pulling on his jeans, shirt, and boots. The whole mess just seemed to get more and more and more complicated.
CHAPTER 8
They were all seated at the kitchen table when Longarm arrived. With the exception of old man Colton, they were all dressed, even Sally. Longarm wondered how she had managed to get into her clothes so quickly. He reckoned, though, looking at her and looking at the shape of her breasts underneath the thin dress, she hadn't bothered much with underwear.
The old man was wearing a long, woolen nightshirt. Even at such a quick moment, he had somehow managed to get a cut of tobacco stuffed into his jaw and was spitting into a tin can as Longarm walked into the kitchen. Longarm wondered if maybe he didn't sleep with a cud in his mouth.
Except for Sally, they all stared at him as he walked into the kitchen and took a chair just to Asa Colton's right. He said, with no trace of sarcasm, 'Good morning, everybody. We're up a little early, aren't we?'
Asa Colton spat again and said, 'Now, sir. I want to get to the bottom of this business and see what it's all about.'
Mark jerked his thumb at Longarm. He said, 'Daddy, it ain't about nothing. It's plain and simple. We caught this son of a bitch in bed with Sally. The son of a bitch was fixing to do things to her. She was nekkid and so was he.'
The old man chewed slowly for a moment. He said, 'You done told me that. Now, I want to hear how it came about.' He turned his head and looked over at Longarm. 'What's your version of the situation, young fellow?'
Longarm shook his head, keeping his eyes carefully off of Sally. He said, 'I've got nothing to say, Mr. Colton, except your sons, at least this one...' and he jerked his thumb equally as viciously at Mark, '... busted into a place I was given to sleep in as a guest. Busted in with that shotgun that he's holding so lovingly in his hands. No, I've got nothing to say.'
Mark half rose. 'Well, I've got a bunch to say, and I'd like to do my talkin' with this!' He picked up the shotgun from where it rested on the table and slipped his finger inside the trigger guard. He said, 'The son of a bitch was with my baby sister. What are we gonna do about it, Pa?'
Asa Colton held up his hand. 'We ain't gonna do nothing in this here kitchen. You let that scattergun get loose in here, and me and you and everybody else will have Rebecca down on us. You just set yourself back down in that chair.'
Mark put the shotgun down and said insistently, 'Hell, Daddy, that fancy man from over at Russellville came over here and just put his hands on Sally and you had him taken out in the woods and shot. This son of a bitch was in bed with her, both of them nekkid.'
Asa turned to Longarm. 'That right, son?'
Longarm was halfway curious as to why the old man didn't ask Sally. He wasn't going to admit to anything, especially when it related to a lady's honor. These people didn't seem to understand that. 'I'm going to tell you the same thing as before, Mr. Colton, and that is that I've got nothing to say on the matter other than I don't think it's very hospitable for someone to break into somebody's sleeping quarters with a shotgun at full cock.'
From down the table, Mark shouted, 'That's a damned lie. I never had that gun cocked, and you know it, but you damned sure had your revolver cocked under the covers because I heard it.'
Longarm looked coolly down the table at Mark. 'You don't know what I had under those covers, and you don't know whether it was cocked or not. Just sit down, little boy, and shut up before I come down there and fix it so you don't eat so good tomorrow.'
Mark sputtered, he was so angry. He pointed his finger at Longarm. He said, 'Listen to him, Daddy. Now he's insulting your very own sons.'
A smile came over Asa's face. He said, 'Sons? I ain't heard him say a word about John. Seems to me he was talking to you.'
It was at that moment that Sally chose to speak up. She said, 'Daddy ...' She reached out and tugged at his nightshirt sleeve. 'Daddy, Mark ain't got nothing to do with this.' She nodded her head at Longarm. 'I choose this one. I want this one.'
