when Lucy was just a bitty little babe, but I always done the best by her I knew how. She can read an’ do her numbers, like she said, and she can run all day like an Apache, shoot better’n nine out o’ ten men, drink most fellas under the table, and rassle an alligator single-handed. Yes, sir, I’m mighty proud of her.”
“Hush, Pa,” Lucy said, and Longarm thought she was actually blushing—or maybe it was just the firelight that made her look that way. “You’re borin’ poor Custis to death.”
“No, that’s fine,” Longarm said. He took a little nip from the bottle. “A father’s got a right to be proud of his daughter.” He grinned and handed the bottle back to Catamount Jack.
The level of rye in the bottle dropped considerably before the big man lowered it again. “You know much about this here Brazos Devil, Custis?” he asked.
The grin disappeared from Longarm’s face as he said, “Enough to be a mite worried about being out here after dark.”
Catamount Jack gave a braying bark of laughter. “A big fella like you, a lawman and all, and you’re scared of some critter skulkin’ around in the dark?”
“According to what I’ve been told, the Brazos Devil is suspected of killing four men. Ripping them apart with its bare hands or paws or whatever, in fact. But the real reason Thorp offered that bounty is because he thinks the thing might have carried off his wife.”
“Why in the world would a critter do that?” Lucy asked. “You figure the Brazos Devil wanted to lay with the woman?”
Longarm wasn’t surprised by the blunt nature of Lucy’s question. He was convinced she was probably pretty well versed in the ways of the world. Likely she hadn’t been shielded from much while she was growing up. Nobody would ever mistake Lucy Vermilion for a hothouse flower.
“I don’t know if the Brazos Devil had anything to do with Mrs. Thorp’s disappearance or not,” he replied honestly. “There’s a chance that an outlaw I brought in and one I had to kill a couple of days ago might be to blame for it. But somebody killed at least three men in a mighty bloody fashion quite a while before Mrs. Thorp ever vanished. Somebody—or something.”
“Saw me a critter like that once,” said Catamount Jack, his voice more slurred now by the rye. Longarm hadn’t drunk much from the bottle, and Lucy hadn’t touched it at all, he realized now. Catamount Jack went on. “Sasquatch, some o’ the tribes call it up yonder in the Northwest. Ugly critter. Never heard tell of ‘em hurtin’ nobody, though. Injuns say the critters are more scared o’ people than people are o’ them.” He lifted the bottle for another drink, swaying a little as he did so. He was sitting cross-legged, so that kept him from toppling over, but Longarm could tell he was getting quite drunk.
“This fella Thorp,” Lucy said, “what’s he done about findin’ the Brazos Devil ‘sides postin’ a bounty?”
“He and his ranch hands have searched all over his spread and on the other side of the river,” Longarm said. “The marshal deputized some men and led a posse out too. They never found hide nor hair of the varmint.” Longarm hesitated, then went on. “Thorp’s brought in some fancy Englishman, a big-game hunter. They’re going out after the Devil tomorrow. I’m supposed to go with them.”
The last of the rye gurgled out of the bottle and down Catamount Jack’s throat. “Ahhhh!” he said as he lowered the empty bottle. “Well, we sure don’t want no damned Englisher gettin’ to the critter ‘fore we do. We’ll just have to beat ‘em to the punch. We’ll ride west an hour before sunup, daughter.”
“All right, Pa,” Lucy said.
As drunk as Catamount Jack was, Longarm doubted if the man would even be capable of consciousness an hour before dawn, let alone going in search of the Brazos Devil. In fact, Catamount Jack was swaying back and forth even more now, and he suddenly slumped over on his side. Almost instantly, loud snores began to issue from his mouth.
At the same time, Longarm thought he heard some shouting coming from the town, which was about five hundred yards distant. He wasn’t sure about that, however, and besides, Mal Burley was in town. If there was trouble, it was the business of the local law to handle it. Longarm felt that he’d done his share for the night.
He inclined his head toward the slumbering Catamount Jack and asked, “Does he do this very often?”
“Now and again,” admitted Lucy. “But don’t you worry, Custis, he’ll be sharp as a tack come morning. Nobody bounces back from a drunk as fast as my pa.”
“You sound like you’re a little proud of him too.”
“Well, why shouldn’t I be?” she asked sharply. “He’s taken mighty good care of me. Maybe he never raised me the way most folks think a gal ought to be raised, but I always done just fine. And we’ve been happy. Ain’t that worth somethin’?”
Longarm nodded solemnly and said, “Yes, ma’am, Miss Vermilion, it is. It surely is.”
“You can call me Lucy.” She stood up and went to one of the packs they had unloaded from the mules. As she bent over it, Longarm couldn’t help but notice the way the tight buckskin pants hugged her hips and thighs. She took a buffalo robe from the pack and came back to the fire. “Pull his feet around so they’re not so close to the flames,” she told Longarm.
He did as she requested, and she spread the robe over the sleeping form of her father. As she straightened and put her hands on her hips, she smiled down fondly at him. “He’ll be all right just like that.” Then she looked at Longarm and said, “You about ready to give me some lovin’, Custis?”
He blinked in surprise, but managed to recover before he begged her pardon and asked her to repeat the question. Nodding toward Catamount Jack, he said, “In case you ain’t noticed, Lucy, your daddy’s sleeping right there.”
“Hell, I know that. We’ll go off in the trees a ways so we won’t bother him. Anyway, Pa wouldn’t care. I can tell he likes you, and he’s a mighty good judge of what a fella’s really like. Pa knows too that sometimes a body’s just got to have some lovin’.” She smiled down at Longarm and held out her hand toward him. “Come on, Custis. Don’t make me hogtie you. ‘Less, o’ course, that’s the sort o’ thing you like.”
Longarm growled, shook his head, and reached up to take her hand. He came to his feet in one lithe movement and pulled her into his arms. The evening had been much more eventful than he had thought it would be, and obviously it wasn’t over yet.
