“Molly,” she corrected him. “As long as we are all going to be traveling together to Denver, we might as well be on a first-name basis, don’t you agree?”
“Absolutely.”
Molly squeezed his hand and looked him right in the eye. “I know that Sophie spent the other night with you, Marshal Long. She … she said you were wonderful and a gentleman.”
Longarm blushed. “I guess you two share everything, huh?”
“Not everything,” Molly said. “But we are closer than sisters. Sophie means the world to me. She’s had a difficult life and was headed toward an early grave when I met and befriended her. She’s proven to be a wonderful friend and we’d do anything to help each other.”
“I’m sure you would,” Longarm said, not quite sure where this conversation was headed and starting to feel a bit uneasy.
“Sophie and I share all our secrets,” Molly said, smiling up at him. “We share clothes, recipes … everything.”
Longarm gulped. He might be reading this woman wrong, but he had a feeling she was telling him that she would like to share him with Sophie Flanigan.
“Wonderful,” Longarm said, thinking that he ought to finish his meal.
“It’s going to be a long, long trip back to Denver,” Molly said. “After we arrive and you’ve handed over our prisoner to the authorities, I don’t suppose that you would be able to take a few days off and show us the town? Neither of us have ever been to Denver and …”
“I’d enjoy that,” he snapped.
“Really!”
“Yes, really.”
Molly beamed, and then she turned and hurried outside. At the door, she waved and smiled. Longarm dug into the rest of his dinner, and then ordered half an apple pie, all the time thinking about Sophie and Molly.
Damn but they were going to be angry with him tomorrow when it was time to board that stagecoach for Elko and there was no marshal and no prisoner. But Longarm was willing to bet that Ray and Ernie would be grinning like happy fools.
It was nearly eleven o’clock that night when a dazed and badly shaken Deputy Trout and Longarm finally got everything, including the still-unconscious Ford Oakley, loaded into the medicine wagon and were ready to roll. “You drive and I’ll guard Oakley,” Longarm said.
“Maybe you should drive and let me guard the prisoner,” Trout said.
This suggestion surprised Longarm, who had supposed that Deputy Trout would want to avoid their prisoner as much as possible for the next few days, given how the man had almost broken his neck. “Why do you want to do that?”
“Because,” Trout said, “if someone passes by and sees me driving this wagon, they’re going to recognize me and have some questions. Next thing we know, all of Gold Mountain will realize our game and we’ll lose our head start. But if someone sees you, they probably won’t make a connection.”
“That makes sense,” Longarm agreed. “All right, I’ll drive. Just give me directions on where to go after we roll out of this town.”
Trout massaged his stiff neck. He was in considerable pain. “There’s a road that branches off from the main one heading east. You’ll see it about two miles out and it heads straight as a rifle shot north into the Ruby Mountains.”
“Good enough,” Longarm said, climbing up to take the lines to the four-horse team. “Get inside the wagon and let’s go!”
A moment later, the back door of the wagon slammed shut. Longarm snapped the lines against the rumps of the four horses and clucked his tongue. The medicine wagon, with bottles of elixir clanking and clinking, jolted forward down the alley. Longarm glanced up at a half-moon and drove past two dogs coupling in the moonlight.
“Enjoy her,” he said to the big male whose tongue was hanging out of the side of his mouth in a happy grin. “But treat her like a lady.”
The male’s tail wagged a little as Longarm and the medicine wagon passed quietly out of Gold Mountain.
Chapter 6
The road eastward out of Gold Mountain was wide and deeply rutted. Longarm could have followed it blindfolded. Two good horses would have been plenty to pull the rickety old medicine wagon, but four good ones made it very easy. Longarm was pleased with his team, and Marshal Wheeler had assured him that all four could double as saddle mounts, just in case they needed to abandon the wagon and make a run for Elko.
Longarm didn’t expect that to be necessary. Wheeler had told him that it would take three days for them to travel through the Ruby Mountains, and that the road was good because there were several little mining towns up in those mountains and a steady stream of supply and ore wagons to keep the road open. The first little settlement he was supposed to reach, in about eight hours, was called Lone Pine.
“Just water your horses and keep moving,” Wheeler had advised. “Lone Pine is a lawless mining camp and there are some real rough customers there. It’ll be best all around if they don’t know that you’re a lawman with Ford Oakley in your custody.”
That made good sense to Longarm. It also made sense that they should keep Oakley handcuffed and even his ankles tied whenever they were traveling. The prisoner would have a damned uncomfortable ride, but that wasn’t really much of a concern.
“Marshal Long?” the deputy croaked.
