“No, it couldn’t have been any of us. We all stayed in the baggage car and started up the poker game again. You can ask ‘em.”
Longarm grunted. “You saying they wouldn’t shade the truth a mite to protect you?”
“Some of those guys aren’t that friendly with me. In fact, some of them might like to see me get into trouble so that I couldn’t ride against them for a while.” Cy’s chest inflated with pride. “I’m a pretty good rider, even if I do say so myself.”
“Maybe. Senator Padgett didn’t seem to think so.”
Cy shrugged. “The senator’s new at the racing game. He doesn’t always understand how these things go.”
“You can’t like the way he treats you sometimes, though.” Longarm rubbed his jaw. “I wonder what I’d find out if I was to start looking into your movements in Albuquerque, Cy. I wouldn’t mind knowing where you went and who you talked to before that trouble yesterday morning.”
Cy’s eyes widened in horror. “You think I had something to do with that assassination attempt on the senator!” he burst out.
Longarm didn’t think that at all—but he was willing to let Cy believe that he did. “You tell me,” he said coolly. “Did you?”
Cy clutched at the sleeve of Longarm’s coat. He seemed to be truly afraid now. “You have to believe me, Marshal! I wouldn’t do a thing like that. I couldn’t! I didn’t have anything to do with that fella who shot at the senator!”
“Keep your voice down,” snapped Longarm. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because it’s the truth!”
“Gents who like to drink too much and get mixed up in high-stakes poker games have been known to lie too,” Longarm pointed out. “What were you doing back there at the Crystal Star? Did you figure to make a bet against Caesar and then throw the race so you could clean up? That’d go a long way toward making it easier to put up with Padgett chewing on your ass like he does.”
Cy was shaking his head so violently that he got dizzy and had to put a hand against the wall of the building to steady himself. “I would never do anything like that,” he declared. “Sure, I don’t much like the senator, but I give him an honest ride every time.” He grimaced. “Maybe I do like to knock back a few and play cards, but that’s no crime. I swear, Marshal, you’ve got me all wrong!”
This had gone on long enough, Longarm decided. “All right,” he said curtly. “I ain’t saying that I believe you, but I reckon I can give you the benefit of the doubt … for now. You’d damned well better walk the straight and narrow from here on out, though. Stay away from the cards and the booze.”
“I … I can do that.” Cy swallowed hard. “Are you going to tell Senator Padgett about what happened back there at the saloon?”
“That shootout?” Longarm shook his head. “That was just a matter of pure-dee bad luck, I reckon. If those gents hadn’t recognized me and grabbed their guns, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“I never saw either of them before today. I can swear to that too.”
“As for you pulling a gun on me …”
Cy licked dry lips as he waited for Longarm to finish.
“We’ll keep that between us too.”
“Thank you, Marshal. I need this job riding for the senator.”
“Like I said, you walk the straight and narrow, and there won’t be any more trouble.”
“You’ve got my word on it,” vowed Cy.
Longarm figured he meant the pledge. If Cy had been telling the truth about everything that had happened, and if he kept his word about not causing any more ruckuses, then that would be one less distraction for Longarm, one less false trail to follow.
But Cy could have been telling the truth about everything else and still not be completely innocent. Longarm was going to have to keep that in mind.
“Come on,” he said gruffly. “Let’s get back to the hotel. You and me both have things to do.”
Longarm made one stop along the way, at the store where he had seen a hat like the one he’d lost displayed in the window. Since he hadn’t managed to play a single hand in that poker game before all hell broke loose, he still had his expense money. He spent some of it and came out of the store feeling fully dressed again, the Stetson sitting squarely on his head. It would take a few days for it to adjust to his head and fit perfectly, but Longarm already felt a lot better.
He had let Cy go on to the hotel alone. Though the jockey wasn’t cleared in Longarm’s mind, he was no longer a prime suspect either.
Which was unfortunate in a way, because it left Longarm right back where he had started the day before.
There was nothing like nearly getting shot to give a man an appetite, Longarm mused as he entered the hotel. He went through the lobby and turned right into the dining room, which was beginning to get busy with the lunch crowd. Longarm planned to sit at a stool along the counter, but a female voice called, “Custis! Over here, darling!”
Longarm saw Janice and Julie Cassidy sitting at a table. Janice was the one who had called out to him, and as he ambled up to the table, Julie gave her sister a long look and repeated coolly, “Darling?”
“Well, he is, don’t you think?” demanded Janice.
Julie gave Longarm a sultry smile. “I certainly do. You’ll join us, won’t you, Marshal?”
