“I am, but food can wait.”
“No, no! I’ll get something,” Nathan said, heading for the kitchen.
Longarm just let the man go. Not even a professional actor could have faked the blank expression on Cox’s handsome face or the genuine need to be of service.
“Sit down,” Longarm ordered the three after checking to make sure they had no hideout weapons.
“You can’t take my husband all the way back to Denver,” Carole said.
Before Longarm could arrange his thoughts and pose a first question, Nathan came back with a tray of milk and cookies. “I baked them just like Mommy showed me how,” he said happily.
Longarm took a couple and so did the others. They were oatmeal cookies and damned good.
“If you take my husband back to Denver,” Carole said, “they’ll put him in a prison and he’ll be at the mercy of the other prisoners. At best, they’ll ridicule Nathan and make him their slave. At worst … well, you can see that he now has a child’s innocence, and you know what would become of him living among hardened criminals, Marshal Long.”
“Yes,” Longarm said, “but I don’t have the authority to exonerate him from all the crimes he’s committed. And he did kill his Denver accomplice.”
“Who tried to kill him first!” Carole cried.
“Is that what Nathan said?” Longarm asked.
“Yes, and I believe him. They got in a fight and Nathan won.
“I’ve got to take you all back to Denver,” Longarm said. “After that, what happens is up to the court system.”
“They’ll want to imprison Nathan,” Carole said. “And probably us as well.”
“Possibly.”
Longarm sat down in a chair. “But as for those two men who you killed, I am convinced that you did so in self- defense. Especially when you, Mr. Swensen, gunned down Clyde Zolliver in that upstairs hotel hallway.”
Teresa stood up. “And what about all this? We have a fine ranch now. It has helped Nathan to recover. To regain his happiest childhood memories. We’re sure that he can be happy here and that we can all repay society many times over for the damage we’ve caused.”
“I’m sorry,” Longarm said, “but you need to tell that to a judge, not to me.”
“I could make some more cookies,” Nathan interrupted. “It wouldn’t take long.”
“No thanks,” Longarm said.
“Why do you have that thing in your hand?” Nathan asked innocently.
“It’s a gun,” Longarm explained, holstering the weapon.
“And what does it do?”
“It shoots bullets.”
Nathan turned to his wife. “What are bullets, dear Carole?”
“You don’t really want to know.”
Nathan nodded and turned back to Longarm. “You look hungry, so I am going to make more of my mother’s cookies.”
“Thanks,” Longarm said as the man shuffled away.
“You can’t do this to Nathan,” Carole whispered in a trembling voice.
“I am sworn to uphold the law,” Custis heard himself reply. “And so we’ll be leaving first thing in the morning.”
“And the ranch?” Rolf asked. “We bought cattle and they’re going to be delivered next week. And I hired a couple of real cowboys and we’re going to-“
“You had no right to do any of that,” Longarm said, cutting the kid off in mid-sentence before he went to the front door, stuck his arm outside and fired his six-gun.
As expected, Diana came on the run.
“Who is she?” Carole asked.
“A friend of mine,” Longarm answered, “and a former acquaintance of your husband.”
A icy veil of suspicion dropped over Carole’s eyes. “Just make sure that she stays away from my Nathan.”
“No problem,” Custis said a moment before Diana hurried inside.
Longarm would never forget the sight a few moments later when Diana Frank saw Nathan standing in the kitchen making cookie dough and humming some childlike little song from his boyhood. A small cry was torn from Diana’s mouth as she whirled and ran right back out the front door, weeping.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rolf asked, looking confused.
“She loved him,” Carole said, her face no longer hard. “It’s clear to see that she loved my Nathan.”
“Yeah,” Longarm said quietly, “and I’m not too sure she doesn’t still.”
