“The Nelsons apparently live in the town of Santa Rosa. That’s a middling-size place halfway between Albuquerque and Tucumcari, about in the middle part of the state, the desert part.”
Longarm nodded. “I know of it but I can’t say that I’ve done a hell of a lot of business around there. In fact, I can’t think of anybody I’ve ever run to ground in that area. Of course, New Mexico has often been a hunting ground of mine. Doesn’t matter where I jump somebody, seems like they head for New Mexico—either there or Oklahoma Territory or Texas. They always head for bad ground, bad country, and bad folks. I wish sometimes they’d head for places a man could enjoy. Why don’t they ever head for San Francisco?”
Billy Vail said, “Well, all I know is that you had better go down there and find out what this is all about. I can’t have folks putting out wanted posters on my deputy marshals.”
Longarm sighed. “Billy, I don’t want to go anywhere right now. I need about a week of whiskey and women and clean sheets and hot baths. This is just going to have to wait.”
Billy Vail shook his head again. “Custis, I wish I could say otherwise, but I think this has got to be looked into right away. I can’t have them going around putting a price on the head of lawmen. For all I know, you could walk out of this office and somebody could shoot you in the back, load you in a wagon, cart you to Santa Rosa, and claim the ten thousand dollars. Your life’s in danger every place you are, every second you’re walking around until we get this matter settled.”
Longarm sat up straighter in his chair, though he didn’t really feel like it. He said, “Billy, have you wired the sheriff down there? Or the town Marshal?”
Billy Vail gave him a disgusted look. “Of course I have. That was the first thought that came to my mind.”
“Well, what did they say?”
Billy grimaced. “Never got an answer, not a word. It’s been three days and I still haven’t heard one word.”
“You’ve been sitting on this for three days and you haven’t mentioned this to me?” Longarm said.
“In case you’ve forgotten, you just got back yesterday.”
Longarm nodded. “Well, that’s true. You wired them both?”
Billy Vail held up his hand and ticked off his fingers. He said, “I wired the sheriff, I wired the mayor, I wired the town marshal, and I wired a bank down there just in case. I haven’t heard a word back.”
Longarm took off his hat and scratched his head. “Well, that’s the beatenest thing I’ve ever heard. Does it say who they’re to apply to for the reward money when they either have me a prisoner or a carcass?”
Billy Vail shrugged. “According to the information I’ve gotten so far, interested parties are to contact the Nelsons in Santa Rosa. It doesn’t give an address.”
Longarm said, “Do you reckon this might be some kind of joke, Billy?
Some kind of prank? I mean, ten thousand dollars is a hell of a lot of money. I know I’m worth considerably more than what ya’ll are paying me, but ten thousand dollars just for one deputy marshal?” He whistled and shook his head. “Either somebody has a lot of money to throw around, or else they’re playing a joke. Now, if this is a joke, Billy, and I go stumbling my way down to New Mexico—and I will be stumbling because I’m about half asleep right now—I’m not going to be in a very good frame of mind. There’s liable to be some bodies turned in, but they won’t be mine.”
Billy Vail put his hands on the top of his desk and looked directly at his deputy. “All right,” he said, “if you were me, what would you do? Would you just ignore it, pay it no attention? Just say … oh, well, never mind about that? And suppose I ignore it and suppose you get killed. Guess what my superiors might think about that! Put yourself in my boots for a minute.”
Longarm squirmed in his chair. He didn’t know quite what to think. “Billy, if they’re putting up those posters, that’s against the law. I don’t know what the legal phrase for it is, but they’re assisting in my murder. They’re paying somebody to kill me, and that’s against the law the last time I looked. So I don’t know who these fool people are, but all I’ve got to do is go down there and arrest them on the spot.”
Billy gave him a dry look. “Yeah, well, how are you going to prove they’re the ones who put up posters? Let’s say you find these Nelson brothers or cousins or whatever they are, and you have one of those posters in your hand, and you say, “Ya’ll are all under arrest for threatening to murder me,’ and they say, “We didn’t have nothing to do with that.’ What will you do then?”
Longarm frowned. “I’ll be damned if I know, except maybe get them together and lock them in a room until one of them decides to tell the truth. That’s all I can think of.”
“Custis, you’re a fair hand for bending the rules, but I don’t think even you would bend them that much. There’s something in this. I don’t know what it is, but it’s got me puzzled enough that I’ve got to send you down there to find out.”
“You know, Billy,” said Longarm, “it would seem to me that I’d be the last man to send down there. You’ve got about a dozen other deputies around here. Why don’t you send one of them down there to find out? There’s no price on their heads. Let them go down there and look things over and see what the deal is.”
Billy Vail nodded. “I’ve thought about that, Custis. I’ve thought it over and over. I’ve put myself in your place, and if it was me that was on the receiving end of this threat, I’d be the one wanting to look into it. I wouldn’t want to depend on the skill of any other man. If my life was being threatened like that, I’d want to get to the bottom of it just as quick as I could.”
Longarm said, “Damn it, Billy, these men would have to be fools. If I got killed, they’d have the Marshal Service all over them like bees on honey. They can’t be that crazy. There’s more to this than meets the eye, I can guarantee you that. I don’t think these men are trying to get me killed or captured. I think they’ve got some other reason.”
The chief marshal looked at him. “That’s just fine, Custis. But what if some gun-happy fool sees one of these posters and doesn’t know they don’t want you killed. What if he says, “Look here, here’s the famous Deputy Marshal Custis Longarm Long,’ and pops you one right between the shoulders? Is it going to make you feel a lot better when they tell him, “Oh, that was a big mistake, we didn’t really want this man shot?’”
Longarm sighed again and slid down in his chair. “I guess you’ve got a point. I can’t get away from it. I guess you really do have a point, but I’m damned if I feel like going back out into the field.”
Billy Vail leaned back in his chair. He said, “Well, why don’t you take twenty four hours and let’s think it over.
