again. Still
He held his right hand far from his body and with his left unbuckled the gunbelt at his waist. ?Easy now,? he said softly. ?I won?t try any tricks.?
The holstered Colt slithered over his hips as soon as the buckle was loose and landed on the carpet with a solid thump.
?That?s better,? Walter said.
Without waiting to be told, Longarm used the toe of his boot to flip the gunbelt and Colt well out of reach. Then he leaned forward and extended a hand to Jessie.
?May I help you up, madam??
The look in her eyes was murderous, ?Get these things off of me,? she demanded.
?Yes, ma?am,? Longarm answered in as meek a voice as he could manage.
He stepped up behind her and dipped two fingers into his vest pocket.
Chapter Twenty
It wasn?t a handcuff key that Longarm kept brazed to the end of his watch chain, but a .41 caliber rimfire derringer. The tiny palmful of death came into his hand as he stepped up behind Jessie.
Longarm grabbed her throat with his left hand, holding her between him and the menace of Walter?s shotgun, and the cold muzzle of the little derringer snugged tightly into the hollow beneath her right ear.
Jessie yelped and tried to pull away but, handcuffed and held firmly, she had no chance.
?This isn?t the gentlemanly thing to do, I realize,? Longarm said calmly, ?but I think now it?s your turn to shuck the iron, Walter. Or the only way to take me is to take your boss first.?
Walter laughed. It sounded more like a bark.
Jessie?s eyes got wide, and she began to tremble.
?Do what he says, Walter. Do what he says at once!?
By now they had begun to attract the attention of the guest in the parlor, staring wild-eyed and frightened at the scene being played out in the foyer, and the Mexican working girls looking on with dull-eyed disinterest. The captive whores, playthings of anyone with money enough to pay for the privilege of abusing them, acted like they had seen so much already that they had seen it all. As if nothing that could possibly happen in this house would concern them anymore.
?I really think you should do what the lady says,? Longarm suggested. ?Just lay the shotgun down. Nice and easy so it doesn?t go off by accident and hurt somebody. Then we?ll work things out, and nobody gets hurt.?
Walter laughed again.
Longarm did not particularly like the sound of that.
?Do it, Walter. He?ll shoot me. I know he will.? Jessie was in a state of agitation that had her sweating and stut tering. It completely ruined Longarm?s image of her as the high-toned lady of breeding and quality that she presented herself to be.
?Lay the gun down now,? Longarm urged.
?Shit, mister, you think that bitch can?t be replaced? Easy as pie, mister,? Walter said. ?The boss can hire all o? them he wants. A snap o? the finger and they?ll be lined up at the door wanting to hire on as madam o? this gold mine.? Walter grinned. ?No, the way I see it, mister, I?ll just take the both of you. No more problems then. See??
He lifted the lethal shotgun to his shoulder.
Well shit. Longarm thought. This was not going at all the way it was supposed to.
On the surface of things his choices seemed simple enough. He could stand there and let Walter shoot him and Jessie with one load of buck. Or he could set the derringer aside and allow Walter to shoot him more conveniently out of the sight and hearing of the witnesses in the parlor. Some choices.
?You win,? he said quickly, and Walter?s finger relaxed on the double triggers of the scattergun. To Jessie he added, ?Sorry, madam. I didn?t actually mean for any harm to come to you.?
?You son of a bitch!? the ungrateful whore snapped. ?Sorry! Sorry, is it?? She tried to kick him, raking his right shin painfully with the heel of her shoe.
Walter was laughing again, obviously enjoying Longarm?s discomfort and Jessie?s anger.
Longarm shrugged and winked at the man?then twisted the little derringer and shot Walter in the face.
Since threatening Jessie hadn?t done it, he had to take the only other route open to him.
The brutal little pistol bellowed, twisting sideways in Longarm?s hand from the poorly contained recoil. A bloody dimple appeared on Walter?s upper lip as the heavy slug from the tiny gun plowed into his half-open mouth and on through tissue and bone, sweeping teeth and scraps of vertebrae with it.
Walter went pale and sat down abruptly, his legs folding so suddenly that they dropped him straight down into a cross-legged position against the foyer wall.
Much too late to do him any good, his finger contracted involuntarily on the rear trigger of the shotgun, and a flaming eruption of lead pellets tore a swath of destruction through the carpet and floorboards of the fancy house.
The recoil of the shot shell kicked the gun loose from Walter?s nerveless fingers, and the stock bounded up to hit him a glancing blow across the temple.
Longarm pushed Jessie away from him and jumped forward to retrieve the shotgun before Walter could get his sense back and reach for it. One barrel of the weapon remained loaded, and Walter was still alive.
The man looked at Longarm with blank, uncomprehending eyes. He worked his mouth trying to speak, but no
