the dead man's face. 'You know him, Custis?'
'Nope. I was sort of hoping you might've seen him around these parts before.'
Traywick shook his head solemnly. 'Never saw this buzzard in my life. You reckon it was a holdup?'
Longarm nodded, catching Wing's eye for an instant as he did so. 'I reckon he was after our supplies and the wagon. Could be he saw us loading up in town and rode ahead of us so he could set up his ambush.'
'Well, good riddance.' Traywick rubbed his jaw. 'There's a deputy sheriff in Timber City. When we get back to the ranch, I'll send a rider to him with word of what happened. He can come out with the undertaker for the body if he wants, or we'll plant the son of a bitch ourselves. Come on. I reckon Matt's gettin' a mite worried about the two of you by now.'
Wing gave Longarm a puzzled look as the wagon rolled forward again. Earlier, Longarm had been clear about the bushwhacker wanting to kill him, yet now he was telling a different story. Clearly, Wing was willing to play along with that, but he had to wonder what Longarm was up to.
The Chinese cook was used to keeping a secret of his own, thought Longarm. If he was going to reveal who he was to anyone on the Diamond K, it would be Wing. It might come in handy to have an ally on the ranch--but only if it became absolutely necessary.
When they reached the headquarters of the Diamond K, both Matt Kinsman and his daughter Molly were standing on the front porch of the big ranch house. At the sight of Longarm sitting on the wagon, Molly hurried down off the porch as if she was going to run out to meet them, then stopped abruptly. Kinsman strode past her and demanded, 'What the hell happened?
How come it took you so long to get back from town?'
Wing answered the questions. 'Badman ambush us, Mist' Kinsman. Try kill us and steal wagon and supplies.'
'The hell you say! Who'd do a thing like that? One of those damn lumberjacks, more'n likely!'
Longarm shook his head. 'This fella was no lumberjack,' he said, inclining his head toward the back of the wagon. 'Here's his body, if you want to take a look at him, Boss. None of us know who he was.'
As Kinsman came over to the wagon to peer at the corpse in the back, he asked, 'That the son of a bitch's horse tied up there?'
'Yep,' said Traywick. 'The brand on it ain't one from around here, if that's what you're thinkin', Matt. Looks like this fella was just a drifter who picked the wrong gents to bushwhack.'
Kinsman's rugged face was impassive as he studied the dead man without a sign of recognition. 'Which one of you killed him?'
'I did,' said Longarm.
'That was good shootin'. Either of you hurt?'
Molly had come closer to the wagon, and Longarm saw her watching intently. He said, 'Nope, just shaken up a mite,' and saw a look of relief appear in her eyes. Of course, he reminded himself, she could have been worried about Wing, who had evidently been with Kinsman for quite a while. Just because she was glad neither of them had been hurt didn't necessarily mean she was getting attached to him.
Traywick dismounted and led his horse over to Kinsman. 'I'll send a rider into town to tell the deputy about all this, Matt,' he said. 'Pretty clear-cut case of self-defense, if you ask me.'
'Damn right it is,' said Kinsman with a snort. 'Diamond K riders don't kill folks without a good reason, even owlhoots like this one.' He jerked his head toward the rear of the house. 'Wing, take that wagon on around back and get it unloaded.' Kinsman looked around, and his gaze fell on one of the young cowboys standing nearby. 'Seth, go help Wing.'
Seth Thomas's eyes widened. 'But that's his job!' he said, pointing at Longarm.
'Custis has done enough for one day, downin' that bushwhacker like that,' snapped Kinsman. 'Now get movin', boy. Custis, you come on inside with me. I want to hear more about this.'
Longarm tried hard not to grin at Seth as he stepped down from the wagon and retrieved his warbag from the back. He was still carrying the Winchester. Seth was red-faced and fuming, but he did as Kinsman had told him to do, following the wagon toward the rear of the house as Wing drove it away.
Longarm went into the house with Kinsman, Molly, and Traywick. The rancher led the way to his study, and as he paused before the door he said, 'Go help Wing in the kitchen, Molly.'
'Why?' she demanded. 'Because I'm just a helpless female and hadn't ought to listen to you talking about men getting killed?'
'That's right,' said Kinsman. 'That's just exactly right.'
Molly's eyes narrowed angrily, but Traywick moved smoothly between her and her father and said quietly, 'Best do like Matt says, Molly.'
She sighed in resignation. 'Oh, all right, Joe. I'll go along with the old goat... for your sake.'
'Old goat, is it?' exclaimed Kinsman indignantly. 'Why, you little-'
Molly turned with a flounce--not an easy thing to do while wearing jeans and a man's shirt, thought Longarm-- and walked away down the hall, ignoring her father's reprimand.
Kinsman shook his head. 'Gal's got a mind of her own,' he muttered. 'Come on, Custis. I want you to tell me everything that happened.'
Longarm did so, leaving out only his conviction that the ambusher had been after him and him alone. As he talked, he lit a cheroot, and both Kinsman and Traywick filled pipes and lit them.
When Longarm was finished, Kinsman blew out a cloud of smoke and said, 'Sorry this had to happen to you on just your second day here, Custis. On the other hand, maybe you got your bad luck out of the way early.'
