“Thanks,” Longarm said. “Have you lived in this part of the country long?”
“Not nearly as long as I hope to,” the bartender said, hurrying away.
Longarm turned to his right and looked into the glassy eyes of a drunkard who was clinging to the edge of the bar and swaying as if he were bracing himself against a high wind. “Howdy,” the man said with a lopsided grin. “Wanna buy me another drink?”
“No,” Longarm replied, taking his whiskey and moving down the bar in search of someone who might give him a few leads on the Marble brothers.
He spotted an opening at the bar and eased up to a reasonably sober-looking cowboy. “How you doin’?” Longarm asked.
“I’m lookin’ for a pretty gal named Alice and not seem’ her right now,” the cowboy said, craning his head all around. “That’s how I’m doin’.”
“I see some gals over there,” Longarm said, pointing them out to the cowboy.
“Them’s new whores to town and they want more money than I got left. Besides, I am crazy about Alice. But she’s probably with some other fella.”
“I suppose,” Longarm said. “You happen to know either Dave or Joe Marble?”
The cowboy finally looked at Longarm. “Of course. Everyone knows ‘em.”
“You seen them in town lately?”
“Nope, but then, I ain’t been in town much myself. Just got paid and now I can’t even poke Alice until someone else has had his fill of her.”
“Do the Marble brothers live around here?”
“Naw, they sold their place a couple years ago and they keep on the move.” The cowboy regarded Longarm closely. “Why you askin’ about them boys?”
“They owe me.”
“Well, you ain’t likely to collect anything but a damned bullet.”
“They’re pretty tough, huh?”
“Yep, and as techy as teased snakes.”
“I see. Maybe they’re in Cortez.”
“Probably,” the cowboy said. “I heard that’s the last place they were spotted.”
“How long ago?”
“About two weeks. Last I heard, they were rustlin’ cattle again. Mostly, though, they rob banks and stagecoaches. Them boys are good at it and always have a lot of money.”
“I see.” Longarm tossed down his drink and ordered one for the cowboy and another for himself. He and the cowboy talked awhile more, but then Alice appeared and the cowboy jumped up and disappeared.
Longarm finished his drink and played a few hands of poker, hoping to learn more about the comings and goings of the Marble brothers. But no one at the card table was in a mind for loose talk, so Longarm quit the game and went up to his room and went to bed.
He awoke the next morning to the sound of a battle going on between a screaming woman and some man who was giving her a hard time. Longarm dragged himself out of his bed, stretched, and reached for his six-gun. He heard the woman hit the hallway floor, and then heard her cry of pain cut short.
Longarm jumped to the door and unbolted it, then stepped outside to see that there were two very big and very drunk men standing over a young woman that he recognized as Alice.
“Step back!” Longarm ordered.
“You better mind your own business!” one of them ordered.
Longarm cracked the man across the bridge of his nose with the barrel of his gun. The man reeled away in pain, and the other fella made a play for his holstered gun and also got pistol-whipped for his stupidity.
“Now get out of here before I shoot you both!” Longarm shouted at the retreating pair.
When they were gone, Longarm helped Alice to her feet. She was disheveled and had a nasty bruise across one side of her face, but was otherwise in pretty good shape.
“You’re a little small to be taking on a pair like that, aren’t you?” Longarm asked.
“I thought better of them,” Alice replied. “I don’t usually make that bad a mistake.”
“Well, I hope not,” Longarm told her, “or you could wind up dead the next time.”
“Who are you?”
“Custis. And your name is Alice.”
“How’d you know that?”
“An admirer of yours told me,” Longarm explained. “I didn’t catch his name but he was a lovesick cowboy.”
“That would have been Monte. For some fool reason, he keeps asking me to marry him—even when he’s sober!”
“Maybe you should marry the man. He seems like a fine fella and he adores you, Alice.”
