him for what he’s worth and sell him for what he thinks he’s worth. I’d get rich. Billy, just let me go down to Texas and handle that job by myself. I don’t want to work with Austin Davis! Hell, he ain’t been a deputy marshal much over six months.”
Billy Vail sat and studied his deputy. Where Billy was small and rounded, Longarm was tall and heavy in the shoulders and arms and hands. His face said he could have been pushing past 40, but the easy, powerful grace of his body suggested a younger age. All of him said hard and determined and resourceful. He had gotten the nickname Longarm some years past, partly because his last name was Long, but mainly because it was known among those on the other side of the law that you couldn’t run far enough to escape Custis Long. An outlaw once said, “I was buried so deep in the badlands of New Mexico that I swear my Maker couldn’t have found me and, first thing I knowed, here come Custis Long sticking that long arm of the law of his in there and plucking me out of the back of a cave.”
Longarm worked with other men, sometimes willingly, but more often with no enthusiasm. He was a loner who did not like to consult with others about his plans and his decisions. But now, worse than just working with anybody, Billy Vail wanted him to work with that tall talker from Texas, Austin Davis. He said again, “Let me do the job on my own, Billy. Or give me somebody else.”
Billy Vail turned and looked out the window of his office in downtown Denver. “Hell, Custis,” he said, “you worked with the man before. You deputized him your ownself. And it was you recommended he apply to the U.S. Marshal Service.” He wheeled back around in his chair. “Ain’t that a fact?”
Longarm looked away. “Yes, but-“
“Ain’t no buts about it. In the first place, it’s Davis who brought this matter to my attention. He’s done some good work getting depositions from Texas cattlemen who have been affected by them Mexican herds. He’s done most of the spadework already. And, besides, he knows the Tex-Mex border better than anybody else I got.” Longarm said very softly, “So he claims.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Listen, Billy, why don’t you send somebody else? Hell, I got a few days off coming and I wouldn’t mind cooling my heels a bit.”
“All you been doing is cooling your heels here lately. You’ve got more time in town than I have. You surely have had time to make it through your list of lady friends more than once. Now, are you telling me that this Austin Davis ain’t a dependable man in a tight place?”
Longarm grimaced. “No, I ain’t saying any such thing,” he said grudgingly.
“You telling me he can’t handle himself?”
“No.”
“You remarking on his character?”
Longarm looked unhappy. “No, I ain’t badmouthing his character. Damnit, Billy he is such an arrogant sonofabitch. He irritates the hell out of me. Why that bastard thinks he could walk into a Mexican whorehouse without a penny in his pocket and come out with a satisfied look on his face.”
Billy Vail cocked his head. “Now there’s a curious thing. Davis said you told him he couldn’t get laid in a two-bit cathouse with a thousand dollars in his pocket.”
Longarm looked off toward the corner, a disappointed expression on his face. Shaking his head, he said, “Now that’s it right there. Just the kind of remark he would pass.”
“You didn’t tell him that?”
Longarm looked uneasy. “Well, yeah,” he admitted reluctantly, “but only because of remarks he passed about my poker playing. He said the only way I’d make a small fortune playing poker was to start with a big one.”
Billy Vail smiled and looked away, then remarked, trying to sound serious, “He said you told him the only chance he had of breaking even in a poker game was not to play. Any truth to that?”
Longarm was squirming. “See?” he said. “See? See why I don’t want to work with that lying, miserable sonofabitch! Telling tales behind my back. And not only that, but the sonofabitch drank the last of my good Maryland whiskey when he don’t know the difference and there was enough of the rotgut variety around to swim in.”
“Marshal Davis said he done it for your own good,” Billy Vail replied. “Said he didn’t think a man of your age ought to be putting so much of that juice away. Said it made you creaky in the mornings.”
“Well, that does it!” Longarm exclaimed. He got up, picked up his hat, and put it on his head. He gave Billy Vail a grim look. “Give me the particulars. I can guarantee that Marshal Davis will be damn sorry to see me come and damn glad to see me go. I reckon he won’t ask for me on a job again. All right, I’ll go wet-nurse the smart-aleck little bastard. Where and when?”
“Oh, he didn’t ask for you,” Billy Vail said. “In fact, he put up a bigger squawk than you about working with you. Damn near said the same things you did.” The chief marshall let a small smile work on his face. “Seeing as how the regard is mutual on both sides, y’all ought to get along just fine.”
Longarm felt the heat rising. “That sonofabitch,” he said. “He come at you in exactly that way to trap me. All right. So be it. He’s a sneaky sonofabitch, but I reckon I can put up with him for the good of the service. I just hope the little bastard don’t forget who the senior deputy is. I hope you made it clear to him.”
Billy Vail leaned back in his chair and twined his fingers across his ample little belly. “No,” he said, “I figured you’d get him straightened out on that. Now, sit down and let me lay the matter before you.” He smiled a little. “You wouldn’t want to go down there and have Davis know it all and you be in the dark.”
Longarm sat down and said, “I just hope the sonofabitch has got a wad of money in his pocket and feels fearless enough to play me a little head-up poker. If that happens, then this damn trip will have been worth it.”
“Funny thing, but Austin Davis said-“
Longarm waved his hand. “No, no. Don’t tell me he said the same thing, because I ain’t going to believe YOU.”
The chief marshal looked at his deputy intently. “Custis, do you really not want to work with the man? Is he
