Goustwhite looked back at him, his face filled with pain and hate. He jerked his shirt loose and started making his way through the crowd.
Longarm said to Davis, “I’ll bet you ten dollars he doesn’t do it.”
Davis gave him a small smile. “I don’t care if he does or not. Within an hour everyone will know he’s crooked.”
“You’ve made an enemy I reckon.”
Davis smiled. “So has he.” Then he turned to the money. He counted it swiftly. “Looks like a hundred and thirty-five.” He started peeling off money and dropping it in front of each man. He said, “That’s twenty-five apiece for the four of you and thirty-five for me because I caught him and because that’s the easiest way to divide it up.” He laughed.
Longarm looked at the bills in front of him. He pushed them back to the middle of the table. “That ain’t mine. He didn’t win nothing off me. I only been here for a couple of hands.”
Davis looked at him. “No, but he won it off you last night. He was doing the same thing. I just wasn’t sure until tonight.”
Longarm looked at him evenly. “Nevertheless,” he said. He left the twenty-five dollars where it was. In the middle of the pot.
Austin Davis said, “Do I gather that you disapproved of what I done, Marshal?”
Longarm turned his eyes full on the man. “Mister Davis, when you do something I disapprove of, you won’t have to ask.”
Davis challenged him back. “Then why don’t you take the money? You figure you are better than us?”
“You, for sure. The others I don’t know about. Maybe I’m just angry because I didn’t catch the bastard. The money is in the pot. We’ll play for it this hand. I’ll win it anyway. Just like I intend to have most of your money before the night is out. Now deal, dammit.”
Austin Davis laughed low in his throat. “You may get some of my money, but not the way you play poker.”
Longarm leaned back in his chair. “Mister Davis, I believe me and you are going to have us a talk in the not- too-distant future.”
Davis was watching the deal go around. He said, “Always happy to help the law, Marshal. Especially the federal law. I’ll try and make some time late tomorrow and have a talk with you. Be glad to give you the benefit of my experience.”
They played without much talk for the next four hours. At the end of a hand Longarm sat back in his chair and yawned and then counted his money. He was up about sixty dollars. The players had changed several times except for him and Austin Davis. He could not tell how much Davis was winning, but he was irked to think it was more than sixty dollars.
Several times he’d almost had Davis trapped in a hand when he, Longarm, knew that he had the best cards. But each time something had warned Davis, and he had dropped out before the final bet. And in the same way, Longarm had eluded the net that Austin Davis had several times spread for him. Still, it seemed that, once again, Davis was going to be the big winner.
Longarm got out his watch and looked at it. It was five minutes to midnight. He stood up and shoved his roll of bills in his pocket.
Austin Davis looked up. “You leaving us? So early? Hell, it’s just the shank of the evening.”
“Glad you think so because you’re coming too.”
Davis said, “Marshal, I am right happy here.”
Longarm crooked his finger. “Get your money. Me an’ you are going to have that talk.”
“What if I ain’t ready to talk?”
Longarm shrugged. “It’s all the same to me. One way will be easier on you, that’s all. But you will be coming along.”
Davis said, “Well, since you’ve been so nice about it and all. How can I refuse an invitation so elegantly put.” He stood up and began gathering up his money. He looked around the table. “Gentlemen, if I disappear you will all remember this moment, will you not?”
One of them said, “All I know is you are leaving with most of my money. Hell, Marshal, you’re a winner too.”
Longarm looked at him. He said, “Why, hell, yes, I’m winning. That’s the point of the game, you damn fool.”
Davis said, “See, Jack? That’s why you always lose your money. You never had anyone explain the point of the game to you before.”
Longarm said, “Let’s go.”
Davis said, “Am I under arrest, Marshal?”
Longarm said, “Not yet, Davis, but the night is young.”
Chapter 4
They walked the short distance to Longarm’s hotel. Austin Davis said, “Where in hell are we going?”
“We’re going somewhere quiet to have a talk. My hotel room.”
“What if I don’t want to have a talk?”
Longarm shrugged. “Then I reckon you go on back to the poker game and find out how many kinfolks Amos Goustwhite has got and how many of them have heard about you breaking his arm.”
