“I know where it is,” Longarm said. “What in hell was he doing up there?”
“Aw, him and his church was runnin’ from religious per-persah … Something.”
“Religious persecution?”
“Yeah, that’s it. They couldn’t practice their own religion where they was. Folks wouldn’t have it. So him and the whole bunch of ‘em up and moved to a place in Michigan that nobody else wanted.”
Longarm frowned. “What was his religion that he was persecuted?”
“They was Shakers.”
“Shakers?” Longarm thought for a moment. “I don’t reckon I ever heard of them. “What set them off, say, from Baptists or Lutherans or whatnot?”
She was busy brushing her hair. She said into the mirror, “Well, they believed in share and share alike. But what got ‘em into trouble was they carried that over about wives and such.”
“You mean they could have more than one wife?”
“They could have a bunch, I think. Anyway, Daddy didn’t mind that sharing all around so much, though he felt they was a bunch didn’t come up with their fair share. But then they went to poaching on his wives, so he just took him one and come to Texas. That’s what he said. He said he just grabbed up a wife and what kids there was and come to Texas.”
“Were you born in Texas?”
“Aw, yeah. This was all some years back. Better’n twenty I would reckon. My momma wasn’t a Shaker. Daddy come acrosst her here in Texas. I think his Shaker wife passed on over while I was a little girl. I don’t recollect her.”
“I see,” Longarm said slowly.
He didn’t say any more about it until they were mounted and riding into town. Then he said casually, “Anyone in your family got the given name of Wayne?”
“Wayne?” She looked at him and laughed. “Marshal, we is all girls. Wayne is a boy’s name.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Guess you’re right.”
When they walked into the jailhouse only Austin Davis was there. He was leaning up against a desk with his arms crossed. Longarm looked at him.
“Nobody here yet?”
Davis coughed slightly and signaled Longarm with his eyes. “Just Mister Diver. He’s back in one of the cells resting.”
“He ain’t sick, is he?”
Davis shook his head. “No, no. Not sick. That cell on the left as you go through is open. Door is open. He wanted it that way so he could get some air.”
Longarm stared for a second before he realized that Davis was telling him that the door to the first cell on the left was open. It was good information to have, Longarm thought. Miss Hannah was liable to turn into a handful when she realized she had been tricked and was about to occupy a jail cell.
She was looking Austin Davis over. “Who be this?”
Longarm said, “That’s another federal marshal, Marshal Smith. Honest John Smith.”
“Howdy do,” Hannah said. Austin Davis doffed his hat. “How do you do, Miss Hannah.”
“I hope my daddy ain’t ailing.”
“No, he’s just resting.” Austin Davis looked over her head at Longarm. “But I’d hurry on back. The other sisters might be getting here any minute. Might get crowded at the door.”
Longarm said, “I better take her in to her daddy.”
Davis said, “I’ll get the door.”
With Davis holding the big, heavy door that separated the cells from the office, Longarm took Hannah by the arm and escorted her through the door just as it opened. He saw the empty cell on his left with the door standing open, and was immediately aware of a sharp outcry to his right. Hannah tried to look around him toward the cell on the right, but he unceremoniously shoved her into the open cell and, while she was still startled, closed the barred door and locked it. As quick as he could, he jerked the key free and stepped back through the big door as Austin Davis shut it behind him.
The thick door cut off most of the screams and cries, but they were both aware of the tumult coming from the cells. Longarm ran his sleeve across his forehead. He said, “Wheee, I don’t much care for that brand of work.”
“About like putting a bobcat in a burlap bag. And nearly as noisy.”
Longarm said, “I got a little glance at Rebeccah. She’s as pretty as Hannah, though in a darker way. How’d you make out?”
Davis shrugged. “About like you, except I didn’t have nobody to open the big door for me and the cell door was locked.” He showed Longarm the side of his neck where it was severely scratched. “I had to hold her whilst I unlocked that cell door. She seen my intent and didn’t care for it. By then, of course, she knowed her daddy wasn’t here. But it was fine up until then.”
“You got here ahead of me.” Longarm was thinking guiltily of what had delayed him. “Guess you didn’t waste no time.”
Davis said, “I got lucky. She was just coming in from a ride when I got there. We just turned around and come on in, though she was suspicious as hell about what her daddy was doing at the jail.”
