“Hell, I don’t know what they are.”
“Dammit, Davis, just say yes.”
“All right, yes. What now?”
“For openers you can put your hand down. You going to look damn silly walking around like that for the rest of your life.”
“Is that it? Is that all?”
“Yeah, you are now a provisional deputy U.S. marshal, subject to all the laws and conditions of that office.
“What does that mean?”
“For one thing, it means that there are more than just several things you better do, and several you better not do. Some can get you in jail, a few can get you hung.”
Davis’s eyes got wide. “Oh, hell, that was exactly what I wanted to hear. Oh, hell, yes. That’s the kind of news makes a man glad he joined up. Exactly what are you talking about?”
“You are now sworn to uphold the laws of the United States. It means you better do your duty, you better not get caught disobeying any orders, it means you better uphold the law, and it means you better not get caught with any money in your pockets ain’t supposed to be there.”
Davis reached out and poured himself another drink. “What’s the pay?”
“Three dollars a day. Out of that you outfit yourself, furnish your own mount, your own cartridges and arms, and find food and fodder for yourself and your animals. How you shelter yourself is not a concern of the government.”
Davis nodded. “Sounds fair to me. Hell, if a man had the money behind him, he could work at such a job for a good long while before he went broke.”
Longarm said dryly, “Glad you are taking it so well.”
Austin Davis gave him a look. “Marshal, I don’t exactly understand why you picked me for this job unless you think there is an outstanding chance of me getting killed. I’ve had the impression right along that you didn’t much care for me. Might even say you disapprove of me.”
Longarm gave him a grimace. “You’re so damn neat, Davis! Hell, you don’t look like you’ve ever had a speck of dirt on you. I’ve been encountering you for three, maybe four days and you ain’t never got a hair out of place. You are always shaved, your pants are pressed and your shirt. Your boots are shined. Hell, your damn fingernails are even clean. Ain’t you ever rolled around in the dust and mud?”
Davis laughed mildly. “Maybe that’s the reason I’m so neat now. But that ain’t what we are talking about right now. You’ve asked me to do some kind of job. You ain’t told me what it is yet.”
Longarm frowned and poured himself a drink. He sat, sipping at it slowly while he tried to think. It wasn’t an easy proposition to put forth. Finally he said, “You ever heard of ol’ Dalton Diver? Lives here.”
Davis thought a moment and then shook his head. “Not that I recollect.”
“Well, he’s got a passel of daughters and he makes a business of marrying them off. The best I can find out he’s married four of them into that gang. So far it don’t appear to have been lucky for the men involved. Best I can count, three of them have been killed.”
Austin Davis snapped his fingers. “Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, I heard about him. In the saloon. I thought somebody was pulling my leg.”
Longarm shook his head. “Ain’t no kidding about it. If what little I’ve heard is true, I got to believe it ties n somehow.” As best he could, with what little he knew, Longarm told Austin Davis about the sisters and their connections with the outlaws and about Dalton Diver’s method of marrying or “selling” off his daughters.
When he was through, Davis shook his head. “That’s the damnedest thing I ever heard. Yeah, I’d say there’s got to be some kind of connection. Either that or it’s the biggest coincidence that ever came down the pike. How do you want to play it?”
Longarm picked up his glass of whiskey and thought a moment. “Thing is, I don’t know enough to say what to do. All I know is that I can’t spark more than one of them girls at a time. They’re sisters, don’t you see, and a man that was doubling around on them would get caught in nothing flat. I already got this Hannah in my gunsights, so I figure to proceed along that line and see what turns up.”
“You got one in mind for me?”
“Yeah. That Rebeccah. According to Hannah she married a Lester Gaskamp who was supposed to be the leader of the bunch at the time. He was killed right off and old Dalton had him another daughter ready for sale.”
Austin Davis said, “Seems like the bride price is a touch high for what the husbands get.”
“Near as I can figure, they don’t get nothing.”
“What does this Rebeccah look like?”
“If she looks anything like Hannah, she’ll make your pistol stand up and dance.” Davis smiled slowly. “I could stand a little of that.”
Longarm said sharply, “Your main duty is to try and PUMP her dry. You are after information.”
“What kind of information?”
Longarm shook his head. “I don’t know. I feel sure that Bodenheimer has got to be tied to that gang in some ways, but I got the same feeling about Dalton Diver.”
“Well, his daughters ain’t going to give him away if that is what you are hoping for.”
“You mean you can’t raise a woman to a level of excitement that she ain’t aware of what she’s saying?”
“I can do that, yes. But what she is saying don’t generally have nothing to do with an outlaw gang and her
