“Chambers,” Longarm suggested.
“Yes, that was it. Tyler argued his point in chambers, but the judge ruled against us. The jury never heard any part of that.”
Longarm gnawed on the end of his cheroot for a while before he said, “I don’t s’pose it’d be possible for a person t’ get a look at that skull after all this time, would it?”
“I … I’m sure I don’t know, Custis. Why? Is it important?”
He frowned, then admitted, “Could be. You see, Maddy, I happen t’ know that your lawyer is right. There is a way t’ look at teeth an’ tell if they belong to an Indian or to a white man.”
“And if you see those teeth and know they couldn’t be Daddy’s, then you can get the hanging stopped?”
“Dammit, Maddy, I never said that. And don’t you go getting your hopes up.”
But in truth it was what he was thinking. He just didn’t want to tell the girl that. Not yet.
“The only reason people believed Gary killed Daddy, Custis, is because he’d gotten me in a family way and everyone knew Daddy was furious about it. That and because everyone thinks Gary wanted Daddy’s gold mine.” She snorted rather bitterly. “There isn’t anything in that dirt hole worth a good argument much less a murder.”
Longarm looked down at Maddy’s belly.
“I know, I’m not that far along. Not with this one.”
“I see. You got a kid tucked away someplace?”
“Yes. A little boy. I named him Gary Rupert in honor of my husband and my daddy.”
“And this one … forgive me for mentionin’ it, but hasn’t your husband been in jail five, six months now?”
She blushed. And nodded.
“Is the territory o’ Wyoming doing something different these days an’ letting wives into prison cells?”
Maddy blushed again. Then with a sideways grin she shrugged and said, “You know me, Custis. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed anyhow. I told you twice already that I’d do anything to help Gary, and I meant it. And I do owe Tyler an awful amount of money, more than Gary and me could ever hope to repay. I thought if it might help to get Gary out …” She shrugged again, but this time there was no grin to go along with it.
“I see. Sorry I brought it up.” Longarm took a deep draw on his smoke and held it in his lungs for a bit before slowly allowing it to trickle out. He was more glad than ever that he’d asked Maddy to put her clothes back on. But for a much different reason now than at first. “I, uh, reckon I could take a look at that skull they found. If it’s still around, that is. Just remember that there’s no guarantees. We aren’t dealing with rational, sane human persons here. We’ve dealing with a court o’ law. And those two ain’t the same. So before it gets any later, girl, let’s us look up your Mr. Tyler … what’d you say his name is?”
“Overton.”
“Yeah. Him.” Longarm stood, the cartilage in his knee joints popping, and stubbed the butt of the cheroot out before leaving the tack room for the straw-littered barn area.
When they got outside, the night air seemed damn near balmy in spite of the thick, wet layer of snow that covered Talking Water and everything around it.
Chapter 15
Maddy waited outside while Longarm went into the Five Aces—Longarm figured the owner of a place with a name like that either had a fine sense of humor or balls made of pure brass—and bought a bottle for the stage guard, George, and his driver pal, Jesse. Longarm owed them twice now, for the room and again for the privacy, and besides, he wanted to tell them it was safe to go back now if they were ready to turn in. The gift pleased them. Good bonded whiskey instead of the much cheaper popskull made from raw alcohol and floor sweepings. Or whatever. He accepted one drink with them, then excused himself.
“Sorry I took s’ long,” he said when he finally rejoined Maddy on the sidewalk.
“It’s all right. I was enjoying the air. It feels so soft tonight. And the sound of the creek.” She hugged herself and lifted her face toward the stars, bright now that the storm had passed. “I like it here. It’s a place where I’d like to stay. We lived in a lot of camps, Daddy and me, but never in one place very long. Even when Daddy brought in a nice discovery, which wasn’t very often, he’d just sell out and move along. The profits from any one strike were only used to look for another. That’s one of the things Custis, I know you won’t believe me, considering what I have in my belly here, but I am very much in love with my husband. I truly would do anything to save him.”
“Even fake a note saying your father has been seen alive?”
She gave him a level, unflinching look and said, “Yes, Custis, I would do that. I didn’t. But you know that I would.”
He nodded, knowing it was the truth.
“You don’t know Gary, Custis, but he is … wonderful. How can I explain it to you. He has rattled around as much as I have. Never a place to really call home. He was orphaned when he was little and passed around from one relative to another. Farmers, mostly. He says he came to hate farms. All the drudgery and effort and then the weather turns wrong or the locusts come or there is hail or no rain or too much rain or cold nights or days too hot. Always something wrong.”
Longarm said nothing, but the truth was that Gary Lee Bell’s feelings on that subject were very much the same as Longarm’s. He admired the stubborn, hopeful persistence that a farming man must have. But he’d long ago sworn that he would never again walk behind the ass end of a mule nor hang onto the handles of a moldboard plow.
“Later,” Maddy went on, “he went from one job to another. None of it meant anything to him. Those jobs were just ways to survive. Then … he came to work for Daddy, helping muck out the drift Daddy was working on. Gary isn’t handsome, you know. Not the same way you are. But he’s sweet. And so gentle. I can’t tell you … when he looks at me, Custis, there is, like, almost like a light that’s in his eyes. And a softness, all warm and tender. Just for me. Like I’m the only person in the whole world that’s important to him. When he looks at me like that I get all
