He slowed his horse to a walk and began looking for Davis. If he didn’t see him soon, he planned to stop and wait on the road. The country was thick with brush and slashed with cuts and draws. He had no intention of going off the road to try to locate the pair in such country.
His wait was a short one. Within five minutes Austin Davis and his prisoner emerged from the tangle of bushes and weeds that lined the road. Longarm was startled to see that Bodenheimer looked almost exactly the same. He didn’t appear to have even picked up any extra dust as a result of his ordeal. And from what Longarm could see, he was certainly not missing any fingers or any other body parts. As they rode up Austin Davis said, “Had to make sure it was you. Can’t be too careful in these parts. Lot of road agents about, the sheriff was just telling me.”
Longarm gave him a fierce glare. “Well?”
Austin Davis rode his horse up close to Longarm’s so that he and the marshal were facing each other. Davis said, “He’s willing to tell us what he knows, but he needs a guarantee. I told him I thought we could work something out.”
Davis had left Bodenheimer sitting his horse some ten yards away. The horse’s head was drooping and so was Bodenheimer’s. Longarm said, “Hell, I didn’t send you into that brush to bargain with the sonofabitch! What the hell did you and him do, have a game of cards?”
Davis said patiently, “I seen right off that he was a good deal scareder of the folks he was in with than he was of us. Wasn’t ten minutes before he seen through our little ruse. He knows we won’t kill him, but he also knows that the other side will kill him. So I set in to see if we couldn’t arrive at a mutually satisfiable arrangement.”
“You did what!”
“I set out to horse-trade with him.”
“I see.” Longarm was still glaring at Davis, who was pretending not to notice. “I take it you never pulled a gun on him, never dirtied your fists, never threatened to skin him alive, never even showed him a knife, and didn’t build a fire and take his boots off and hold his feet close?”
Davis looked away. “Didn’t see no need.”
“Then what in hell did I hire you for? Hell, I could have gone back there and tried to reach a mutually satisfiable arrangement with the bastard. Davis, I’ve half a mind to lock you in jail and half a mind to drag you behind my horse for a mile or two. What the hell kind of guarantee does he want?”
Davis pulled a face. “He wants safety. He wants you to get him out of here.”
“Is that all?”
“Just about.”
Longarm glanced over at Bodenheimer, who was sitting placidly on the back of his horse. “Did you tell him our little plot?”
Davis shook his head. “Didn’t have to. You’re right. You have got a reputation, only this time it didn’t serve you so well. Old Bodenheimer ain’t as dumb as you think. He said you would have never have let me approach with a drawn gun. That you’d have done something before I ever got close.”
Longarm gave his provisional deputy a sour look. “How does that make you feel? A man like the sheriff seeing something you ought to have known. What came over you to come riding up here with a drawn gun? Hell!”
Davis took a small cigarillo out of his pocket and lit it with a big match. He said, “Wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference. Bodenheimer told me straight off he knew I was in with you. He said you would have never surrendered a prisoner so easily. Now who’s so damn smart? Seeing this whole matter was your idea. He told me point-blank he didn’t think I’d do much to him, but it didn’t matter because he wasn’t going to open his mouth so long as he was in Mason County. Said he’d rather I killed him outright than left him for the dogs that would have got after him. Custis, this is the situation. Can’t be changed.”
“And he wants out of here?”
“What he says.”
“Bring him over.”
When he was facing Bodenheimer Longarm said, “What have you got to tell me?”
Bodenheimer shifted his eyes back and forth from Davis to Longarm. He said, “I ain’t got nothin’ to tell you without you give me your word to see me safe out of here.”
“All right. I’ll send you to Kansas. You ever been to Kansas?”
Bodenheimer said stolidly, “That there is where the federal pen is. Leavenworth. I ain’t wantin’ to go to no prison.”
“Then what do you want?”
Bodenheimer’s eyes shifted again. “I want you to get me out of here and turn me loose. Out of this county. My life ain’t worth a plugged nickel as it is. Soon as you throwed me in jail I was expectin’ to be killed at any hour. Then you rode me around the square. That done it.”
Longarm thought a moment. “Have you got enough to trade for that? Me turning you loose?”
Bodenheimer licked his lips. “You want who be behind this, don’t you? Behind the thieving an’ whatnot.”
“Yes.”
“I can tell you that. And I can tell you how it started and how they do it.”
“That’s pretty good trading material. Start telling.”
“I want your word you’ll see me safe out. Safe out of Mason.”
Longarm shrugged. “You got it. I give you my word I’ll see you safe out of Mason.”
“And no federal prison.”
