The lumberjack nodded. 'Yeah, I remember you. You were in camp the day that boom got away and wrecked Miz Mcentire's cabin.'
'That's right. I need to speak to her again.'
'Go on ahead,' the man said with a wave of his hand as he lowered his rifle. 'I'll signal for the others to let you pass.'
'Much obliged.' Longarm prodded the roan into a walk.
As he rode on up the mountain, he spotted several other sentries. He wondered if there had been any more trouble since the runaway boom. Anybody who wanted to sneak up on these loggers was going to have to be pretty stealthy about it now.
When he reached the camp, he saw to his surprise that another log cabin had been thrown up near the sawmill. It was not as large as the one that had been destroyed by the boom, nor did it have a front porch, but it would serve just fine as the camp's headquarters and Aurora's residence. One thing they had plenty of around here, reflected Longarm, was logs.
He swung down from the roan and tied it to the hitching post in front of the newly constructed cabin. Before he could knock on the door, it opened and Aurora stepped out. 'I saw you coming, Marshal,' she said. 'How are you?'
'Reckon I'm fine,' replied Longarm. 'Any more problems around here?'
'Not so far, thank goodness.' Aurora wore a dark blue dress and had a ribbon of the same shade tied in her thick dark hair. 'Come inside.'
Something about her tone struck Longarm as being cooler than it had been a few days earlier on his previous visit. Could be she was angry he hadn't gotten back out to the camp before now, he told himself. If that was the case, she would likely change her mind once she found out what he had been doing.
However, he realized a moment later that she already knew what he'd been up to--or at least she thought she did.
As soon as he had shut the door behind him, she rounded on him and said frostily, 'I hear you've gone to work for the enemy.'
Longarm's eyes widened a little in surprise. 'What--oh, you mean you've heard about how I'm riding for the Diamond K.'
'I thought you worked for the government.'
'I do,' he told her solemnly. 'You ever hear of working in secret, Mrs. Mcentire?'
She flushed, and he wasn't sure if it was from anger or embarrassment. 'You mean you're trying to find proof that Kinsman is behind our trouble?'
'Kinsman--or somebody else on his ranch.'
Aurora lowered her eyes. 'I'm sorry, Marshal. I should have known it was something like that when I heard in town that you were working for Kinsman. He doesn't know you're a lawman?'
'Nope. I'm not sure how long I can keep it that way, though, so I want to sort out this mess as quick as I can.'
'What's to sort out? Just get the proof that he's trying to ruin me and arrest him.'
Longarm shook his head. 'It ain't quite that easy. For one thing, I'm not completely convinced that Kinsman's to blame for your troubles.'
'What?' She stared at him in disbelief. 'Who else could it be?'
'I don't rightly know,' admitted Longarm. 'Could be some of the young punchers on his spread, acting on their own.'
'No,' insisted Aurora. 'That unpleasant old man is behind things, I'm sure of it.'
'Or... it might be somebody else entirely. Do you have any other enemies who might want to see you have trouble with that government contract?'
'Of course not. It has to be Kinsman,' Aurora said stubbornly.
'Funny thing,' said Longarm, though he didn't really consider it amusing at all. 'He says the same thing about you. He blames you for rustling cattle and poisoning wells on the Diamond K.'
Aurora's face lit up again, and this time it was definitely caused by anger. 'The old... the old fool! How could he think that?'
'He found you and your men cooking steaks the day after some of his cows disappeared,' Longarm pointed out. 'Don't recollect you mentioning that to me the last time I was out here.'
'Because it's such an absurd idea that I didn't think it was worth mentioning!' Aurora crossed her arms across her ample bosom and began to stalk back and forth across the room. Most of her belongings from the other cabin had been salvaged from the wreckage, but this new place was still more sparsely furnished than the original. In addition, it had only one big room, and in one corner was the bed. Aurora's pacing brought her almost to it before she turned back each time. Her self-control slipped, and she began to wave her arms as she said, 'I don't understand it! I'm the one whose men have been killed, whose business has been threatened!
Kinsman is the one behind it, and you're defending him!'
Longarm felt a surge of anger himself. He had explained his actions. More than that, he had pointed out where Aurora herself had not been completely honest with him. He had as much right to be put out as she did.
Acting on impulse, he stepped forward and caught hold of one of her wrists as she swung her arm through the air. 'Wait just a minute!' he said. 'I ain't defending anybody. I'm just trying to get to the truth.'
'Let go of me, damn you!' She thrust her face up toward his, glaring at him. 'You've got no right-'
