Longarm nodded. He said, “Yeah, I think you’re right. We’ll just keep it to you and the Goodmans. What are their first names? Robert and Rufus?”
“Yeah, they answer to those.”
“How do we get in touch with them? To tell you the truth, I’d rather not be seen going over there.”
Hunter nodded. “That would be the best part of your idea. Now, you’re talking about this happening tomorrow afternoon sometime?”
Longarm said, “If I can make it happen, that’s when it’s going to start. But you have to understand, I can’t guarantee anything. I’m guessing and gambling like I’ve never guessed and gambled before.”
“Then I reckon I’d better ride over there tonight and see if I can’t get them headed this way. I can’t tell you for certain that they’ll go along with it, but I’m willing to bet they will. It’s a chance, Marshal, and that’s all any of us are looking for.”
Longarm put out his hand. He said, “Well, here’s luck.”
They shook hands, and Longarm walked to his horse and mounted. He said, “Don’t look for me until you see me coming, and if you see me coming, odds are I’m going to be fetching you some company. I’ll see about laying in a supply of groceries and whatever else we’ll need.”
“We’re going to need cartridges,” said Tom Hunter.
“What size you take?”
“Some .44s will do me all around.”
Longarm nodded. “Same for me. What about the Goodmans?”
“I’ll find out tonight.”
Longarm said, “Are you planning on getting them started tonight?”
“If they will,” Hunter said.
Longarm nodded again. “Here’s hoping that I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.” He put the spurs to his horse and headed down the gentle slope that led away from the cabin.
In spite of pushing his horse on the return trip, he was late for supper. The other two boarders had finished and gone to their rooms. Mrs. Thompson served him ham with sweet Potatoes and rice and gravy. He asked her to sit with him while he ate. She got herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the far end of the table. Once again, he noticed how graceful and elegant she was, and except for the sadness around her eyes, her face would have been very attractive. He was eager to know what had happened to her husband, but he preferred to wait and let Mr. Hawkins tell him the story.
For a few moments, Longarm tried small talk, asking her where she was from before they had come to the town of Grit and to the hill country since she didn’t sound so much like a Texan. She was from Kentucky, she and her husband both, and they had come to Texas, first to San Antonio and then to Austin, where her husband had been involved in commerce and then in the wholesale livestock business and then the banking business.
He could see that she did not care to talk about her husband’s past, so he tried to turn the conversation more toward her. She had been a schoolteacher at one time and then had worked in a ladies’ millinery shop. He badly wanted to mention about her sending her two daughters off, but he figured the subject wouldn’t be welcomed, so he stayed away from that also. It seemed that with Mrs. Thompson there were too many subjects that were too painful to bring up. It made him feel sad and it made him feel angry. One thing he did manage to ask her was how she ran a boardinghouse with only two boarders.
She sighed and said, “Well, up until about a few weeks ago, I had five boarders, counting Mr. Hawkins, who is almost a regular since he’s through here so often. But then the feed store got taken over by the Myerses, and they fired the three men who were working there that had been boarding with me.”
Longarm looked down the table at her. He said, “It seems like these folks intend to take over the whole town. I’ve noticed a couple, three empty stores around here.”
She picked at the tablecloth and looked down. She said, “I would imagine that their intention was to run everyone off from here and close everything down, except for the saloons where their cowhands can chase their whores and drink their whiskey.”
Longarm looked up in some surprise. He said, “They got whorehouses in this town?”
Mrs. Thompson nodded. “Of course, Marshal. I’m surprised you’re that naive. There’s one over every saloon.”
Longarm was amused. “Well, I reckon if you’re going to keep the kind of hired help that the Barretts and the Myerses keep, you’re going to have to let them have some recreation.
“That’s my point. I would expect that their intentions, once they get through dividing this country up, is that there not be anything here that doesn’t support a head of beef or a cowboy that tends to that beef. I don’t believe that they intend for this to be a town with schools for children, or churchgoing people, or banks. They want to be able to control everything, and I don’t believe they’ll be happy until they do.”
Longarm looked down at his plate. He said, “Well, this is none of my business, but since Mr. Sims is your only star boarder, how can you make it here?”
She said, “I can’t, Marshal. I’m already making plans to move to my sister’s home in Austin. You probably know that my children are already there and you’re probably thinking that I sent them because your coming was going to cause trouble.”
“Did you?”
She gave him a look. “Of course. If they were your children, would you want them here in the middle of a gunfight? You’re down here to stop the Barretts and the Myerses. I think there’ll be a lot of trouble while you try, and I think a lot of people are going to be hurt. I didn’t want my daughters to be caught in the crossfire.”
Longarm nodded. “Can’t much blame you for that, Mrs. Thompson. When are you thinking about pulling up stakes?”
