Longarm shook his head. “If there is any robbery planned, it won’t be done at a relay station. It’ll take place out yonder, out in the big middle of nowhere, so there aren’t any witnesses. But get it out of your mind, Herman. Besides, I’m here.”
Herman nodded his head slowly. “Yep. That you are, Marshal. For which I thank my lucky stars.”
The morning passed slowly. Longarm saw very little of Rita Ann. She seemed occupied in the back with Mrs. Higgins, sewing or something. Higgins said they were working on the clothes the Spanish lady had left to make them a better fit. “You know them women. Get a needle in their hand and a piece of cloth and nothin’ won’t do till they’ve changed it all about.”
Mid-morning Longarm walked outside for a look around. He walked to the back and saw the two Mexicans working with the mules, sorting them out. He figured it was a considerable job adjusting harness for that many mules. Not that they were of a much different size. As a bunch they were pretty uniform, but there was no harness made that would fit all the mules in a team. Longarm figured the Mexicans tried to keep them bunched as to size, but that also was not such an easy task because he knew that a team, even horses, had to be temperamentally suited, and if they weren’t, they would never pull together.
He walked over to the corral fence and watched the Mexicans working. It was clear they knew exactly what they were doing, and they did it with an economy of motion and as little excitement to the animals as possible. Up close the mules looked bigger. Longarm knew that most people thought of Spanish mules as small up against, say, a saddle horse. But they weren’t that much smaller. A big horse might weigh eleven or twelve hundred pounds, with the majority being closer to a thousand. But he calculated that the mules, the majority of them, were not much more than a hundred pounds less than that. And mules, for some reason, were stronger than horses. They weren’t as fast, but they could outlast and outwork nearly any horse you put one up against.
Longarm looked down the fence line to the shack. He didn’t see Doctor Peabody. Likely he was inside either nursing a hangover or nursing the bottle of mescal. Maybe both. He wondered what kind of arrangements the little man had made with the Mexicans to take him in. According to Higgins, he was broke. Maybe he wasn’t as broke as he let on. Longarm thought about looking in on the good doctor, but decided against it. Doctor Peabody was a mystery, and he might turn out to be the wrong kind of mystery, but Longarm was content to wait and see how the cards fell out.
They had ham steaks and mashed potatoes and redeye gravy and canned string beans for lunch. There were also corn dodgers and fresh butter. When Longarm commented on the pleasure of the butter, Mrs. Higgins said, “Laws, that reminds me. I got a churn full of milk clabbering. I don’t get to churning, it will go sour just sure as shooting.”
Rita Ann said, “I’ll be glad to do it, Mrs. Higgins.”
Mrs. Higgins patted her arm with her plump hand. “Bless you, girl, you are going to spoil me rotten.”
Longarm gave her a look just as he was about to take a bite of cornbread. “Yeah, Rita Ann, you are just so sweet sugar wouldn’t melt in your mouth.”
She cocked her head and gave him a crooked little smile. “You should know, Mister Long, being my employer.”
“I wish you’d keep reminding both of us about that. One of us seems to have a tendency to forget.”
“Good vittles, Mrs. Higgins,” Higgins said.
Longarm watched the thin man shovel down the food, and said, “Herman, I don’t know where it all goes. I’ve seen you put away them groceries now for three meals, but I ain’t seen none of it show.”
“He’s a fidget,” Mrs. Higgins announced. “Just fidgets night and day. Commences fidgeting in the mornin’ an’ don’t let up till he’s snorin’.”
Higgins gave her a dark look. “You’d fidget too if you had the weight on your shoulders I got on mine. Never can tell what might be about to happen round here.”
Longarm cleared his throat and gave him a hard look. Higgins dropped his head and looked guilty. He said, “Canned beans is all right, but I’ll be glad of spring and be able to get the real thing.”
After lunch Longarm caught Rita Ann by the arm and walked her out the front door before she could disappear into the back with Mrs. Higgins. She put her hand over her eyes against the sun. “It’s too hot,” she said.
“Not as hot as some other things I know.”
She gave him an innocent look. “Why, whatever are you talking about, Mr. Long?”
“Brushing my teeth.”
“Didn’t you get your teeth washed this morning?”
“Well, yeah, once I got my strength back. But it seemed like I had a little interference there for a few moments.”
They had stopped a few yards from the front of the station. She said, “Didn’t you like it?”
In spite of himself he blushed slightly. “Well, of course I liked it. Any man who wouldn’t like that would have to be dead from the waist down. But look here, what makes you slip up on a man like that?”
She shrugged. “I just like what I like when I want it.”
“I don’t even know your last name.”
She gave him an impish look. “Would that make it better if you did? Would you be able to say, ‘Oh, Miss Smith, that’s wonderful.’” She said it in a high falsetto and laughed.
“Damn you, girl,” he swore. “You are the beatenest woman I ever run into. Have you given any thought to what you’re going to do when you get to Phoenix? You’ll still be in the same fix.”
She cocked her head and eyed him. “You gave me to understand that I had a job with you. How come I won’t have a job of employment in Phoenix as well as here? And where is all them things I’m supposed to be writing down?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Well of course you’ve got a job with me. The only thing is, I got to take off for some
