Longarm didn’t have the heart to tell the old man that his two hundred dollars were probably counterfeit. The hell with that. Longarm knew that he had enough trouble without upsetting everyone who had been slicked by the Denver counterfeiter.
“Where would you guess that they were heading?”
The liveryman spat a stream of tobacco juice at the dirt. “You know something, Marshal, Buck Zolliver seemed almighty interested in my answer to that very same question.”
“He’s still here?”
“That’s right. But I’d sure give Buck a wide berth. You see, he’s lookin’ for his brother’s body. Been lookin’ for a couple of days now. He’s drunk and crazy with anger. This is a real rough town, and there are some bad men in Whiskey Creek, but they’re staying out of Buck Zolliver’s way. I’d advise you to do the very same.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Longarm said. “It doesn’t make any sense that they’d take Clyde’s body too far.”
“I can’t figure that either,” Waite said. “Even in this cold weather, it’d get to smellin’ real rank in a couple of days.”
“So where would you go to dispose of a body?”
“Like I told Buck, I’d dump it down a mine shaft so that no one would ever find it. Marshal, there are at least ten deep shafts within two miles of Whiskey Creek. My guess is that Clyde’s body is floating at the bottom of one of them and that it will never be found.”
Longarm shook his head. “Looks like both Buck and I have come to a dead end.”
“I kind of liked that Cox fella. I don’t understand why he let the kid do his killing up in that hotel, but YOU might want to give that one some thought. Also, women don’t travel this hard country too fast, and they’ll be riding in my old buckboard.”
“Good points to remember,” Longarm said.
“You gonna pay me another dollar for the extra information?” Waite asked, spitting tobacco between their feet.
“Nope,” Longarm said, “because it sounds like you are one hell of a lot richer than most of us poor working folks.”
“Yep,” Waite said, hooking his thumbs into the top of his dirty bib coveralls, “I expect that I am.”
Before Longarm stepped outside, he turned back to the liveryman and said, “I ain’t going to pay you extra, but do you know where I can find Buck Zolliver?”
“Any saloon where other people ain’t,” Waite told him. “Buck is in a killin’ frame of mind, and people are scattering when he comes around. You just peek inside a few saloons, and when you see an empty one, that’ll be where you’ll find Buck.”
“Thanks,” Longarm said.
“You gonna try and kill Buck?”
“Nope,” Longarm said as he headed into the muddy street, “not unless he tries to kill me first.”
“He will!” Waite called. “The Zollivers hate lawmen!
“I’ll keep that in mind!” Longarm called back as he marched back toward the hotel with his hand not far from his gun.
Chapter 12
“I’m scared,” Diana said, watching as Longarm checked his gun. “What if you get killed?”
“Then make sure that the federal government gives me a decent burial,” Longarm said, trying hard to sound lighthearted. “But don’t let them bury me in this hellhole of a town.”
“I’m serious!” Diana wailed.
“So am I.”
Satisfied that his gun was ready and that the derringer he kept attached to his watch chain was also in good working order, Longarm went to the woman and tried to calm her fears.
“There’s no real danger in this,” he began, “because-“
“No danger! Custis, you said that entire saloons full of hard men emptied at the mere sight of Buck Zolliver.”
“All right, so he’s on the prod,” Longarm conceded, “but I have all the advantages because he doesn’t know that I’m a lawman. And besides, all that I really want to do is question the man. I mean, to my knowledge, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“His brother was gunned down! He’s after the same man we’re after.”
“That’s not against the law,” Longarm said.
Diana heaved a deep sigh. “Can’t we just leave in the morning without you questioning this brute?”
“No,” Longarm said. “Because if we did that, then he’d be on our backtrail and I’d always be looking over my shoulder. I need to know where he stands before we leave Whiskey Creek.”
“He stands to kill Nathan and his new friend! And anyone else that comes between him and vengeance. Custis, surely you can see that.”
Longarm gave her a comforting hug. “Listen, Diana,” he said, “I’m not worried about Buck Zolliver and you shouldn’t be either. I am, however, worried about overtaking Nathan Cox and putting his money-making machine out of business before he bankrupts the federal government.”
