Caster suddenly slammed the palm of his hand down on the top of the desk. His eyes got small in his fleshy face. “Listen, Long,” he shouted. “When in the hell you going to learn to tend to yore own bid’ness? Maybe you’d like to keep them cattle in Mexico. That can be arranged if you keep on with that mouth of yours.”
Longarm swallowed and reminded himself that his day was coming, one way or the other. “Well,” he said, “I figure this is my business, Mister Caster. After what I’ve paid for these cattle and what I’ve got to pay you and Mister Mull, I got to be able to drive them through the coastal plains and you know what that depends on. I got to have Mister Mull’s seal and signature on them road papers.”
“You been told, I don’t know how many times, that you ain’t going to see Mull. Get that clear in yore head.”
“Just take your word?”
“That’s the way it is, Long. Now get out of here.”
But before Longarm could walk the length of the long office, Caster called to him, “How much you pay for them cattle, anyway?”
Longarm didn’t bother to think. “A little over eight dollars a head.”
Caster laughed. It was a malicious sound. “He done it to you again, that drover you hired. I bet he never give more than seven dollars for a single head and more likely less than that. But he’ll have him a bunch of bills of sale and you’ll have to pay him off on that.” Caster shook his head and spit in the bucket. “I’d like to do bid’ness with you, Long, as long as yore money lasts. Which I’d reckon ain’t going to be very long as dumb as you are.”
“You think he cheated me?”
“Oh, hell, feller, of course he cheated you. And will probably cheat you again before it’s all over. Next time you want some cattle gathered, you need to get in touch with Raymond San Diego over at the Tejano Cafe. He’s the brother to the man works for me, Raoul San Diego.”
“The one I’m supposed to give the money to.”
“That’s right, Long. Now, have yore cattle at the bridge as early as you can tomorrow morning.”
Longarm left Caster’s office in a very thoughtful mood. He and Austin Davis both wanted a piece of Caster to take home for a keepsake, but the man was being mighty leery and careful. As far as Longarm was concerned, if they didn’t get Mull the operation would have been a failure. He couldn’t visualize exactly how the final action would play out, but there had to be some way to get Caster and Mull in the same place with both their hands in the cookie jar. And meanwhile, there was Raoul San Diego to think about. Longarm had gone to Caster’s halfway expecting the man to be there. He wondered what he’d do if San Diego did create a ruckus before the job could be completed. He reckoned he’d just have to do a good imitation of a man crawfishing and begging pardon and making excuses. San Diego was one more reason it was best to have Austin Davis out of the way. Longarm didn’t believe the young deputy had the control to take dirt off a man. He’d kill him first. Well, at least Caster had done him the favor of driving another wedge, supposedly, between himself and Davis. So long as Caster thought he was dealing with a fool, so much less on guard he’d be.
Longarm’s room was empty, though he noticed that the half-full bottle of Maryland whiskey was missing. For a man who expressed no particular preference for the hard-to-get stuff, Austin Davis seemed to guzzle it at every opportunity. He made fun of Longarm for not drinking the local whiskey, but he never passed up a glass of the Maryland corn squeezings. Longarm went on down the hall to Davis’s room. The door was ajar, and Longarm felt a brief twinge of worry, but when he pushed the door all the way open he found Davis sitting cross-legged in his stocking feet in the middle of his bed, playing solitaire with a greasy deck of cards. He looked up as Longarm came in. “You get all the doings done?”
Longarm found a wooden chair, turned it backwards, and straddled it so he was facing his partner. “Yeah, I reckon so. You know, you said you’d taken some guff off Caster. I’m willing to bet he ain’t talked to you nowhere near as corn-mouthed as he has me. The sonofabitch has done everything but call me an idiot. He says you’re cheating me on the price paid for the cattle, that you’ve got some phony bills of sale, and that if I believe you for more than the time of day with the town clock to check you by, I’m the biggest ignoramus in the county.”
Davis chuckled quietly. “I’m glad to see I ain’t getting all his business out of that particular store.” He jerked his head toward the table beside the bed. “Help yourself to some of your whiskey. Is it kind of getting under your skin having him talk to you like a schoolboy?”
“I’m not partial to it, I’ll say that. But I’m taking it with the expectation of better days to come.”
“That’s what I done.” Davis gave him a look. “But I guess them better days won’t come for me.”
Longarm shot him a glance and got up and poured himself a glass of whiskey out of his own bottle. “Cattle have got to be brought over as soon as possible. I reckon that means you roll out mighty early.”
“What about the bribe?”
“I don’t know. Caster said he’d tell me in the morning. I reckon I’m to hand the money over to Raoul San Diego. Twenty-five hundred. Half of it.”
“And you give him the other half when he turns the cattle loose, is that it?”
“so far. But he may change his mind. He’s acting mighty skittish.” Longarm thought a moment, then said, “Austin, I’ve been forgetting something. Jasper White is supposed to point out Mull to somebody when he steps off the train. I ain’t sure that can be me. Maybe you better stick around.”
“You mean I can come to my own party now?” Davis said sarcastically.
“Hold up, now. I ain’t saying you can be in on the transaction, the business when Caster and Mull go one step too far.”
Davis put a black queen on a red king. “Let’s see how it goes. I’ll do whatever you think is right. Though I’m damned if I can see how you’re going to get Mull and Caster hemmed up in the same corner. Not from the way you say Caster is acting about it.”
Longarm had been thinking about something. “You know,” he said, “Jasper is supposed to point out Mull, but he could point out anyone getting off that train. Could be a drummer or a banker for all we’d know.”
Davis paused with the deck in his hand, looking down at the cards laid out before him. “That’s true,” he agreed. “But what are you going to do about it?”
