“Me too. I needed to get away, and that’s why I’ve come out here to really experience the American West. To partake in your great adventure while there is still time.”
“With that controlling old woman who orders you about as if you were working for her, instead of the other way around?”
Caroline’s brow knitted. “Marshal, that ‘old woman’ is actually my aunt. Only she prefers to be thought of as an ordinary woman.”
Longarm didn’t understand this. “Why?”
“Because she feels that if people don’t think of her as aristocracy, they will be more open and honest and she can judge them better.”
“I see. And what does she think of me?”
“She thinks you are very dangerous for me.”
“And you agree?”
Caroline laughed softly. “After that kiss, I know that you are very dangerous. Goodbye, Marshal.”
“Goodbye,” he said wistfully.
Chapter 7
The rest of the train ride into Reno was blessedly uneventful. Longarm thought about Lady Caroline more than he should have, and maybe Irma sensed that, because her passion cooled and she spent more time in her second- class coach. Twice when Longarm came by to visit, he found Irma engaged with a handsome young merchant named Sam Allen who owned a big granary and feed store in Reno.
“I sell a complete line of Stetsons too,” Sam said, poking a finger at the hole in Longarm’s hat. “I could take that one in on trade and give you a new one for … oh, twenty dollars.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Longarm said.
“Sam is very seriously thinking about opening a second store in Carson City,” Irma said, looking quite excited as she sat close to the enterprising young businessman. “What do you think, Custis?”
“I think that would probably be a fine idea.”
“The deal pencils out,” Sam said, actually reaching for a pad of paper and pencil in his shirt pocket. “I’ve done the figuring about six or seven times over. My father founded the Reno store and then he passed it on to me. My mother lost her mind about two years later. I’m the only child. I wish I had a brother to help me run two stores.”
“You’ll find someone to help,” Longarm said.
“I’m pretty good at figures,” Irma blurted out.
Sam grinned. He was a big kid, deceptively simple-looking at first glance, until you talked to him for a few minutes and realized he was very sharp in business. “You are, Irma?”
“You betcha.”
“Well, maybe when we get to Reno, you could come down to Carson and I’ll show you the store I want to buy and renovate. I’ll have to put about three hundred and sixty-five dollars into it, but I’m sure that I can recoup my investment the first quarter, and then begin to turn a profit. You see, I get all the best prices because I know which suppliers to deal with and which ones to avoid.”
“I’d love to look at it, Sam.” Irma glanced up at Longarm. “Isn’t this exciting?”
“It is,” Longarm said, trying to force a degree of enthusiasm into his voice. “Very exciting.”
“Aw,” Sam said with a shrug, “investing is just part of doing good business and it’s all pretty cut and dried. You just figure your investment, the cost of your loans, how long you have to carry inventory and what that will cost, and then how much markup you can charge and still stay competitive. After that, you look at the figures and say yeah or nay.”
“Humph,” Longarm said, trying to sound impressed. “And here I thought business was complicated.”
“Nope, not at all. Frankly, I’ve been at this for ten years, since I was thirteen. My father had me doing everything in his store, and by the time I was fifteen, I was in charge and making the decisions. So it’s old hat to me.”
“I can tell.”
“And maybe, just maybe, I could do you a little better deal if you want to trade me that ruined hat. What size is it?”
“Seven and a quarter, but I’m not interested in trading it off.”
“Not even if I gave you fifteen dollars? That’d be about half of what a new one costs.”
“It’d still leave me eighteen dollars poorer,” Longarm said. “Besides, I’m getting used to the extra ventilation.”
Sam didn’t see that Longarm was joshing him, but Irma did and she became a little irritated. “Sam is just trying to help you out, Custis. There’s no reason to poke fun.”
“I’m not poking fun,” Longarm said, “but I’m not trading in this hat. It reminds me that I need to both duck and shoot a little quicker.”
“Yeah,” Sam said, looking very concerned. “Irma told me all about what happened in Elko. I was taking a nap and didn’t even hear the gunshots, but I guess you really drilled them two Elko fellas dead center.”
“They were tough customers,” Longarm said, “who didn’t know the meaning of the word surrender.”
