Davis stopped. They were in front of a dry goods store. “And I suppose you can’t be bushwhacked.”
“Folks think a minute or two more about back-shooting a federal marshal than they do a tinhorn gambler.”
“Tinhorn—hey, wait just a damn minute.”
But Longarm was walking on. By the time Austin Davis had caught up they were turning into the undertaking parlor. Hatcher, the undertaker, came bustling forward to meet them. He was a short, balding man in a shabby suit who looked glad for the business. He said, “Yessir, Marshal. Can I he’p you?”
“We need to have another look at that body. Gus Home.”
“Yessir, yessir. If you’ll just step right this way. By the way, Marshal, the photographer has been in and the picture was taken just as you asked.”
Davis said, “For your scrapbook, Marshal?”
Longarm gave him a sour look. “I can’t believe somebody ain’t killed you before now, Davis. Now take a look at Gus Home here and see if you know him.”
Chapter 6
Austin Davis looked down at the dead face. He said, “Hell, this here is Gus White.”
“You sure?” The name matched the initials G.W.
“Hell, yes. I’ve knowed him in different places down along the border for the last three or four years. Say he was calling himself Home, Gus Home?”
“Yeah.”
Davis shrugged. “That might have been his right name, but I knew him as Gus White. Course some of them fellers changed their names ‘bout as often as they changed their shirts. Last I heard of him he was doing a little time in the state prison in Huntsville.”
Longarm stared at the face, calculating. “What did he get up to?”
Davis said, “You understand I never knowed him all that well except to see around the saloon or run up against in a poker game. But he got up to what Most Of them did. Robbery, cattle rustling, dealing in stolen cattle, smuggling a little gold. Might have been in a shooting scrape or two, I couldn’t say. I wonder what in hell brought him here.”
Longarm said, “Yeah, me too.” He turned to the undertaker. “Well, much obliged, Mister Hatcher. You can plant him anytime you’re of a mind.”
He took Austin Davis by the shoulder and steered him to the door and out onto the street. Davis said, “What the hell’s the hurry?”
“I didn’t want you saying anything about Goustwhite. I don’t think we’ll be bringing him in.”
Austin Davis looked at him. “What is going on now?”
Longarm frowned. “Say you was going into a business and you didn’t know much about how to run it. What would you do?”
Davis thought a moment. “Well, I reckon I’d fetch me in somebody who did. Bring in some outside help. Why?”
Longarm said slowly, “That’s what I been kind of thinking. I reckon somebody here decided to start a new business, but didn’t figure he had the know-how for it. So he sent for outside help. Like Gus Home. Or White, or whatever his name was. There’s been several others killed. Near as I can find out, they ain’t boys from this town or this county.”
He stopped and stared across the street at the courthouse. “Austin, we may have just run across the damnedest operation I ever had a hand in.”
Then he turned abruptly to Davis. “Listen, I don’t want the home folks to know Goustwhite has been killed. Hell, I don’t know how deep this thing goes. Might be everybody in town is part of it. You ride back out there and hide that body. Roll it into a ravine or something. Stuff it up in a thicket, but get it well hid. Ground up there is too hard to dig a hole.”
“What about his horse?”
“Take the bridle and saddle off and turn him loose. You might see which way he heads if he takes it into his head to home.”
“And Rebeccah?”
“Go on back there. Get in on some excuse. Tell her you lost your wallet. And don’t mention Vince Diver again. Hell, you claim to be a hand with the ladies. Well, prove it. And for heaven’s sake, don’t let nobody know you killed Goustwhite. That could be fatal.”
“Where you going?”
Longarm sighed. “I’m going out to visit Miss Hannah. And you can believe it or not, but I ain’t looking forward to it. And she is as pretty a piece of quail as I’ve laid my eyes on in some time.”
“What about that money and them checks?”
Longarm had gotten a large envelope from the desk clerk and put the cash and checks in it. He’d sealed it and had the clerk put it in the hotel safe. He sighed and said, “I’d like to have gotten it to the Ownsbys today, but I just don’t have the time. Tomorrow will be soon enough, I reckon. I fear for my life from Miss Hannah as it is. I swore to her I’d be back within the hour. What time is it? Hell, it’s heading for four o’clock. She is going to tear me limb from limb.”
Davis said dryly, “You sure you ain’t kind of putting on the dog? I mean, I been here four days and it appears you can walk down the street without having the female population make a churning charge at you.”
Longarm gave him a pained expression. “It ain’t that it’s me. It’s me that she has fastened on to to show her
