“Well, this is patently unfair. You want to go after the men who killed your friends, and I don’t blame you. Besides, there’s no real reason for me to have a bodyguard.”
“Someone did try to kill you earlier today, Senator,” Leon Mercer pointed out. His tone was rather offended as he went on. “You see, I told you you shouldn’t have insisted that I stay at the hotel while you went to the racetrack this morning.”
Padgett’s frown turned to one of irritation. “Damn it, I’m still not convinced that gunman wasn’t shooting at you, Marshal Long. I’d think a lawman would be much more likely to have violent enemies than a mere politician.”
“Maybe so, but that ain’t always the way it is,” Longarm said. “Like it or not, Senator, it looks like we’re stuck with each other, for a while anyway.”
Padgett nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Well, I for one will be very happy to have the marshal with us,” Mercer put in. “I didn’t relish the idea of continuing on through the West with bullets whizzing around our heads.”
“It wouldn’t have come to that-” Padgett began.
He was interrupted by a voice that still seemed soft and sweet as honeysuckle, despite the fact that it had been raised to call out, “Why, Marshal Long, what are you doing here? Did you come to see us off?”
Longarm turned his head and saw Janice and Julie Cassidy standing beside the next car in line. Both young women were wearing simple yet elegant traveling outfits, and they were as lovely today as they had been the day before. Longarm lifted a hand in greeting as Janice hurried down the station platform toward him, followed by Julie.
Janice gathered her skirt and came up the steps at the rear of the car, joining Longarm, Padgett, and Mercer. The relatively small area was getting crowded, but Longarm managed to lift a hand to the brim of his hat as he nodded and said, “Nice to see you again, Miss Janice. Looks like I’m going to be traveling with the senator for a while.”
“Oh, how wonderful!” exclaimed Janice. “How did this happen to come about?”
Longarm shot a glance at Padgett and read a warning in the politician’s eyes. There had been no witnesses to the attempt on Padgett’s life at the racetrack except for Longarm, Cy, and the mysterious gunman himself, of course. Nor would there be any mention of it in the newspaper the next day, so the word wouldn’t get out. Longarm had seen to that. He understood what Padgett was trying to tell him: The senator didn’t want someone as flighty as Janice Cassidy knowing about what had happened. She would be bound to gossip about it. Longarm agreed with that reasoning.
“My boss has decided I ought to stick close to the senator,” Longarm said easily. “Important fellas like him have to have somebody around to look out for them.” That was close enough to the truth.
“That sounds perfectly reasonable to me,” Julie put in from the station platform. “Come on, Janice, we have to get settled.”
Sure enough, as soon as the words were out of Julie’s mouth, the conductor came along the station platform, bawling out the traditional “‘Boooarrdd! All aboard!”
Janice leaned toward Longarm and brushed her lips across his cheek in a quick kiss. “I’m so glad you’re traveling with us, Custis,” she murmured throatily. “We’re going to have so much fun!”
Longarm refrained from pointing out that he was actually traveling with Senator Padgett, not with Janice and her sister. And he suspected that the second part of her statement was incorrect as well. Given the lusty nature of Janice Cassidy and the hinted-at sensuousness of Julie, this journey around the racing circuit might well have its entertaining moments.
But if he found what he was looking for, it wasn’t going to be fun, thought Longarm. No, sir, not much fun at all …
Chapter 5
The train was slightly behind schedule as it pulled out on the run from Albuquerque to El Paso. Senator Padgett had a private compartment, befitting his status as an important man, and Longarm intended to share it with him despite the fact that it might get a little crowded with three gents in it. Leon Mercer, of course, was staying close to the senator, although Longarm doubted that the assistant would be much help in case of trouble. Not that Longarm expected another assassination attempt, at least not right away.
Once they had settled down in the compartment, Padgett gave Longarm a cigar, and they both lit up. “Havana,” Padgett said, exhaling and wreathing his head in the blue-gray smoke. “Fine, don’t you think, Marshal?”
“Well, it’s different from those three-for-a-nickel cheroots I usually chew on,” allowed Longarm. “Much obliged, Senator.”
“Why don’t you call me Miles?”
The jovial offer of familiarity had a hollow ring to it, Longarm decided. Like most politicians, Padgett liked to fancy himself a man of the people, just one of the boys, but he actually enjoyed the respect and deference that came with his office. “I reckon Billy Vail would rather I kept things more businesslike between us, Senator—but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the smoke.”
Padgett chuckled. “That’s all right, Marshal. Whatever you think is best.”
Longarm and Padgett were facing each other across the compartment. Mercer sat beside Longarm on the padded bench seat. He had a small valise perched on his lap, and he opened it now to withdraw a sheaf of papers. “I really think you should go over these reports, Senator,” he said. “The bills to which they pertain will be coming up for a vote shortly after Congress convenes again in the fall.”
Padgett waved the hand holding the Havana cigar, leaving a trail of smoke in the air. “There’ll be plenty of time for that later, Leon. Marshal Long, do you really think there’s a chance someone will try to kill me again?”
Longarm shook his head and said, “Doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what Marshal Vail thinks that’s important.”
“Yes, but you must have an opinion,” Padgett pressed.
