was, but he paid them no mind. It was his conviction that most people had way too much interest in things, especially when it comes to things that were none of their business.
He rode into the alley behind the undertaker’s, left his horses, and pounded on the back door. When a man came, Longarm indicated the body and directed that the body be taken in. The undertaker himself came out, and Longarm gave him instructions about getting a photographer and having a tintype of the man’s face made. He said, “And I don’t want him buried for twenty-four hours. But get him ready for viewing, as I am liable to be bringing some folks by to make an identification.” He gave the undertaker ten dollars to get him started, got a receipt, and mounted up and rode over to the sheriff’s office.
He had expected to fetch Bodenheimer, walk him over to the undertaker’s, see what he had to say about Gus Home, and then head on back for Hannah’s cabin. But to his agitation and irritation, the office was full of a mayor and three city councilmen, all of whom were in an indignant mood.
They came crowding at him the moment he entered the door. A short, plump man in a swallowtail coat and vest with, incongruously, a derby hat was in the forefront, shaking a plump forefinger at Longarm. He said, “Now you look here, Marshal, I am Bower Arp and I am the mayor of this town, and I am ordering you right now to release our sheriff and his deputies.”
Longarm pushed the forefinger away with some annoyance. He said, “Well, Mayor Arp, you can order all you want to, but it ain’t going to do you a bit of good.”
That started the three councilmen yelling. They were not as well turned out as the mayor, but they were no less vocal. Longarm finally shouted, “Shut up!”
He glanced over at Melvin Purliss, who was standing by looking helpless. Then he looked back at his tormentors. He said to the mayor, “Now Mayor Arp, let’s me and you get one thing straight. Bodenheimer and his deputies are not yours. They are county law officers. They can operate inside your town, but they are elected officials, at least Bodenheimer is, who only answer to county government. The only law you can have in a town is a marshal or a police force. Now, do I have either one of them locked up? Huh? Tell me.”
The mayor began to bluster, but it did him no good. Finally he said, “You are leaving us with no law, Marshal. You’ll be gone and we’ll have no law to protect us.”
Longarm gave him a hard look. “Then why don’t you appoint you a town marshal or a police chief?”
The little fat man worked his mouth a few times and finally managed a weak, “Well, I don’t know. It never seemed necessary before. Besides, who’d want the job.”
“Yeah,” Longarm said dryly, “it might dry up a major source of income for the town.”
The mayor gave him a look. “I do not know what you are talking about, sir.”
Longarm nodded. “I’ll just bet you don’t, Mayor. Now, I tell you what. You and your boys get the hell on out of this jail and don’t come back. You do, I’m more than likely going to arrest and jail you for interfering with a federal officer in the performance of his duty.”
The mayor’s mouth worked again as the rage rose in him. He said, “By damn, sir! By damn! There will be more than one telegram sent to your superiors before this day is much older. You can depend on that! By damn, you do not know who you are dealing with, sir!”
“Oh, yeah, I figure a telegram from you would be the same as a step up in my career.”
The mayor got red in the face. He shook his finger again. “Damn you, sir! I am not only the mayor, I am also the town dentist. You will rue the day you get a toothache in this town!”
With that he gathered his dignity around him and marched out, leading his small pack of councilmen out onto the street. Longarm closed the door behind them and then turned to Purliss. “Well, Deputy, how are the prisoners?”
But Purliss said reproachfully, “Marshal, you right shore you ought to have talked to the mayor like that? He do be the boss, you know.”
Longarm stared at him in amazement. “Where did you get that idea? Didn’t you just hear what I told him? He comes back in this jail you chunk him out on his ear. And I don’t want Bodenheimer having any visitors, even his wife.”
“But the mayor is supposed to be the boss of the town, ain’t that right? Ain’t he like the foreman?”
“Listen, Purliss, you are a county deputy. You are standing on county property. Get the mayor out of your mind. Now, I want you to bring Bodenheimer out here. I’m going to take him over to the undertaker’s.”
“The where?”
Longarm stared at him. “Melvin, you are starting to irritate me. Won’t take much more and you’ll be jailing yourself. Now get Bodenheimer. None of the others, just him.”
When Purliss brought Bodenheimer out into the office, Longarm was not surprised to see the man looking duller than ever. But now his clothes were rumpled and he needed a shave. He said immediately, “You come to turn us loose?”
“No. There’s a dead man over at the undertaker’s. I’m going to take you over there to look at him. If you can tell me anything about him it will help your case with me.”
Bodenheimer stared back. “I ain’t got to go nowhere with you.”
“That’s right,” Longarm Said evenly. “And I don’t have to feed you or give you water. How will you have it?”
Bodenheimer said matter-of-factly, “I’ll get you one of these days.”
But he agreed to come along. They went out on the street. Longarm had not bothered to manacle the man or hold a pistol on him. As they walked across the street people stopped and pointed and whispered to each other. Longarm had no doubt that the word had spread throughout the area that the sheriff had been arrested.
Inside the undertaker’s parlor they looked down at the man Longarm knew as Gus Home. He was laid out on a wooden bench. Bodenheimer barely gave him a glance. “Don’t know him.”
“You’ve never seen this man?”
