“Why would he come?”
Longarm said, “Because he’s already worried about me, that’s why. I’ve already killed two of his men, maybe more; I don’t know. I’ve lost track.”
Barrett stared at him. His little pig eyes bored straight ahead into Longarm’s face. He said, “You think you’re pretty tough, don’t you mister?”
Longarm shook his head. He said, “No, I don’t think I’m tough. I think I’m doing my job. Now, do you want to write that letter and then get some water and some of that bacon that’s frying over there?”
The room began to fill with the mouth-watering smell of the bacon. In a little while, Longarm knew, it would smell like burned bacon if Tom Hunter was kept on as cook, but for the time being it smelled good. Longarm said, “What’s it going to be? Speak now. I ain’t got time to fool with you.”
Barrett shook loose from Goodman and Hunter. He said, “Give me the damned pen and ink.” Rufus Goodman was holding the bottle of ink and the pen. He set them in front of Archie Barrett.
Barrett picked up the pen and then dipped it into the ink. He looked up at Longarm and said, “You swear you’ll give me water and something to eat if I write this, and then you’ll turn me loose?”
Longarm said, “I’m not going to swear anything to you, Mr. Barrett. I promise you this and I’ll swear this to you, you’re going back into that room until you rot if you don’t write. That’s what I will swear to you. So, you make up your mind about it.”
Barrett’s voice took on a whine. He said, “I don’t see what you need with me after I write this letter. You ought to be willing to turn me loose. If I write it, you ought to be through with me.”
“What are you doing, Mr. Barrett? Reading my mind? You don’t know what’s in my mind. Now, you write what I tell you, and I’ll give you some water and some breakfast. That’s all I’ll promise you. It’s your choice: either write or go back in that room.”
Barrett’s face grew sullen. He glanced around at the hard-looking men standing around him. Finally, he dipped his pen again in the ink and then wrote the name Jake Myers at the top. After that, he looked up at Longarm, the pen poised in his hand. He said, “Now what?”
Longarm said, “Write what I tell you.”
Myers, I think we need to have a meeting about this here United States marshal that has come to town and is causing quite a bit of trouble. I hear he has been interfering in your business and I damned sure know he’s been interfering in mine. I’m sending this note by that leather peddler Hawkins who has been over here trying to sell me a saddle. He says he is on his way to your place. I figure we should meet this afternoon about three o’clock at the rocky hill just east of town. I figure that’s about halfway between us. I won’t be bringing any men with me.
We’ve had our differences in the past, but I figure we need to handle this one with a common interest. Once he’s dealt with, we can take up where we left off, but until that time, I’m willing to call a truce between us. If you can’t come at three o’clock, send me a note back by that saddle salesman.
Longarm waited until Barrett had finished writing. He had to admit that the man wrote a damned good hand.
When Barrett had finished the last sentence, he looked up. Longarm said, “Just sign your name. Archie Barrett.”
When the document was complete, Longarm took it up and read it carefully, looking for any tricks or hidden meanings. There were none. Barrett had taken it down exactly as he had spoken it.
Barrett said, a little croak in his voice, “Now, what about some water and some whiskey and something to eat?”
Longarm grinned at him. He said, “You know, Mr. Barrett, you expect us now to treat you fair and decent, like we’re going to keep our part of the bargain because you’ve kept yours. Well, I don’t think we’re going to do that, Barrett. We’re going to treat you the way you’ve been treating these folks around here for years. You can have some breakfast and you can have some water and you can have some coffee—you can’t have no whiskey—but you can only have it after we’ve had our breakfast. Mr. Hunter and Mr. Goodman, would y’all escort Mr. Archie Barrett back to his room?”
It gave Longarm a deep inside chuckle to hear Barrett scream and curse as he was thrown once again into the room and have the heavy door shut on him. When Hunter and Goodman came back, Longarm rubbed his hands together. He said, “Well, gentlemen, let’s get this thing started. Let’s have some breakfast. I believe we can even have some eggs, courtesy of young Mr. Goodman here and his endeavors. Mr. Goodman, if you’ll fry up a good batch of eggs and keep Tom out of the kitchen and make up some more of those baking powder biscuits, we’ll have a good feed.”
He glanced over at Hawkins. “Then Deputy George Hawkins will be off on his mission to carry this little missive to our good friend, Jake Myers.”
Hawkins just gave Longarm a sour look and got up to pour himself a cup of coffee. He said as he passed, “You know I wouldn’t do this, Marshal, if the pay wasn’t right. I’d do nearly anything for two dollars a day.”
Longarm smiled. He said, “That’s the spirit, Mr. Hawkins. By the way, do you know where this rocky hill is?”
Hawkins said, “Of course. If you recall, I was the one who suggested it. I probably know this country better than any one person around here. Lord knows I’ve been all over it.”
While they had waited for Barrett to agree to write the note, Longarm had questioned the others about a possible rendezvous point that would also give him a place of ambush. A small hill with rocky outcroppings had been chosen, mainly because about a mile farther north there was a small butte with some little caves that led into it. It would make an ideal place for Longarm to await the coming of Jake Myers and Hawkins.
From the kitchen, Hawkins said, “In that letter you got Barrett telling Myers to come alone. I can guarantee you, Marshal Long, that Jake Myers ain’t going to stir his fat old ass out into the open without a couple, three gunhands with him. That’s for sure.”
Longarm said, “Well, if that’s the way it has to be, that’s the way it’s got to be. You just make sure you ain’t amongst them, that you have business back in town.”
They ate their breakfast and then Tom Hunter and the elder Mr. Goodman went to get Archie Barrett out and feed and water him. While they were at the task, Longarm beckoned Hawkins out the front door. They walked a little way from the cabin, surveying the range that led back down toward the town. Longarm said, “Look here, George, if you’re really not of mind to deliver that note to Mr. Myers, I can understand it. I don’t want to ask you to
