All of a sudden it was night. For just a little while it was dark, and then the biggest, roundest, most golden, brightest moon Longarm had ever seen filled the sky and threw light and shadows everywhere. You really didn’t see it back in the valleys and draws of the mountains, not even when you were topping out on the terrain, because there was no flat horizon to judge it by. It was awesome. Longarm said, “See what you mean about the moon, Jack. Unfortunately, I ain’t got no paper to read.” Shaw said, “You probably got a better view of it. I’m fumbling around in the dark here trying to make my supper. All I got is dried beef and biscuits and cheese and canned peaches. I don’t reckon you’re hungry, though.”
“I ate earlier,” Longarm said. “Say, I still don’t understand why you felt it was necessary to go through three batches o mountains. You switched your trail enough almost made me dizzy. You’d have been a lot better off, once you come out of the Mescals, making straight for the border. Instead you wasted four days rummaging around in that rough country.”
Shaw chuckled. “Well, I tell you, Longarm. It’s considerably easier to get rid of folks you don’t want tagging along in tangled country. You can’t do ‘em in quite as easy out in the open, if you get my drift.”
Longarm shook his head. “I ain’t never goin’ to understand how them boys let you knock ‘em off one at a time. Was they that dumb or that easy?”
“Greed, Longarm. Plain old simple greed. Most of ‘em knew I was picking off the weak ones, except for the first two they thought was brought down by fire from the train. But the rest of ‘em, each one of ‘em, thought they was gonna be the one I’d share the proceeds with.
Remember them last two? Looks like I shot both of them, don’t it?”
“Yeah, shore as hell does.”
“Wasn’t the way it was. I told each of ‘em to kill the other. One shot the other in the back and I done him the same favor. Greed, Custis, plain ol’ greed.”
“Well, what I don’t understand, Jack, is how come you didn’t want to share none of it. Did you get so much you figured it was one big score and you was through? Or was it so little wasn’t enough to go around?”
“You don’t know the amount of the proceeds?”
“Naw. That was Indian Affairs money you got. Money was meant for the reservation people to buy supplies and whatnot. The folks on the train didn’t have no idea how much money was in them sealed sacks.
Jack Shaw said, “Now you starting to get some idea about why I feel like the loot by rights belongs to me. All them men figured it was going to be share and share alike. But wasn’t a man among ‘em knew about that money being shipped to the Bureau of Indian Affairs out of Phoenix to Globe. Wasn’t a one of them knew what train it was gonna be on. Wasn’t a one of them knew within a thousand guesses how much money it was. And wasn’t a one of them spent a week riding that track to figure out the best place to take the train and then another week riding the countryside to figure out the best escape route.”
“And they seen it as an eight-way split?”
“Damn shore did. Was the only way they’d sign on. Hell!” Shaw made a disgusted sound. “Can you blame me? Hell, ever’body wants something for nothing these days. Man don’t want to work for what he gets. I spent nine hard, dangerous years learning the law from the other side of the badge before I went the other way with that robbery in Del Rio. I earned my wages. But these punks these days, hell, they don’t want to learn. They damn shore don’t want to work. But they want a share. Oh, yeah, they expect theyselves a share. Well, I give ‘em their share all right.”
“You still ain’t told me what amount of proceeds you got.”
Shaw laughed, a short brittle sound. “I reckon I’ll let you find out that for yourself. I will say I didn’t get as much as the Indian Bureau will say they lost.”
Longarm was quiet for a moment, thinking about it. Then he said, “Your inside man take his cut out first? Before he shipped the money?” Shaw didn’t answer the question. Instead he said, “Now, we might talk about giving you a share, Custis. I know you probably won’t take it, but I’m willing to leave five thousand-no, make that ten thousand-outside the front door in return for you taking a nap for about two hours.”
Longarm brought his carbine closer to hand and said, “Go ahead, set it on out there. Just outside the door.”
Shaw laughed his brittle laugh again. “Now, Custis, ain’t no use in getting your feelings hurt. Hell! I had to make the offer. I shove any money out there it will be with a broom handle. Now if I’ve made you mad with my little proposition, then I apologize. I didn’t mean nothing personal by it, and I don’t see no point in me and you making anything personal about this situation. We are both professionals and I’m willing to act like it.”
“You still ain’t told me why the Indian Affairs Bureau is going to report more of a loss than you took.” Longarm could hear Shaw sigh. Then the outlaw said, “Well, just figure they don’t count so good and leave it at that. I don’t know what you mean by me having an inside man. I just overheard a conversation in Phoenix, that’s all.”
“Nevertheless,” Longarm said, “when this is over, I think I’ll have me a look inside that Bureau in Phoenix. See if they is anybody there with a connection to YOU.” Shaw said, his voice cool, but with a hardness in it Longarm had not heard before, “What makes you think you’ll be getting out of this in the kind of shape where you’ll be asking anybody anything?”
“Well, let’s just say I’m hoping. How does that sound, Jack? Ain’t that what you’re doing?”
“I don’t see why we can’t make some kind of deal, Custis. I got the best of it right now. Even you got to admit that. But I’m still willing to talk about a deal. If you think today has been hard on you, why, you wait until tomorrow is good and settled in. You are fixing to find out how bacon feels when it’s frying.” Longarm said dryly, “This ain’t my first county fair, Jack. Why don’t you save that kind of hominy grits talk for them as will buy it. You might get in short supply you waste it on me.”
“Ain’t no use gettin’ testy, Custis. Gonna be a long enough night as is.”
“Thought you was leavin’.”
Shaw chuckled. “I’ll let you get in a nap first. I know you got to be mighty tired for a man of your age. What are you anyway, Custis, ‘bout forty?”
“Not for ten years yet. Question is, will you git to be forty?”
“You ain’t much older than me and I just barely turned thirty-five.”
“Come on out here and I’ll whisper it in your ear.”
“Fact of the business is, Custis, I don’t really care a damn. Not that much anyway. Just being sociable. But I reckon I better quieten down now so you can get a little sleep.”
The moon was well up. It was amazing to Longarm how light it was. It was, of course, a different kind of light from the sun. The shadows looked odd, misshapen and distorted, and the colors of things were all wrong. What was brown, like the shack, looked reddish, and the whitish parts of the prairie seemed to almost glow and shimmer. A faint breeze had come up, and Longarm could hear the rusty windmill blades creaking around. Looking to his right, he could see the packhorse with his neck stretched out, his head reaching, his lips sucking as he kept taking in water.
It was cooler now, but not all that much. Longarm calculated that it was somewhere between eight and nine o’clock, but he had no real way of knowing. He halfway wished that Jack Shaw had not stopped talking.
Now that matters had settled down, he could feel just how tired he was. His body ached and cried out for rest; not just being stationary, but real rest, sleep rest, relaxed rest. He was lying down, but he wasn’t resting. His whole body was tensed, alert for any sign of action from the cabin. He shook his head and blinked his eyes several times. He could tell that it was going to be a long night. He looked to the right and wished reverently he had a position just twenty or thirty yards in that direction. It would make the job that much simpler. As it was, he couldn’t say what he’d do if he heard Shaw’s horses coming out of the corral. It would be a fifty-fifty risk. If he was right, he would shoot Shaw. If he was wrong, Shaw would shoot him. He stifled a yawn and glanced up at the moon. A few small clouds were passing across its face, and it was odd to see them reflected on the ground, dark patches moving blackly across the white and tan prairie. They looked like moving pools of water. He shook his head again and blinked hard. His canteen was at hand, and he picked it up and hefted it. There was no more than a quart left. He reckoned it would see him through the next day, but not by much. Tomorrow would be the day to start threatening Shaw with the Arizona Rangers. If he’d done it too soon it would have made Shaw that much more dangerous, and the man was too mean and too ingenious and too cunning to be pushed into a corner. For the time being let Shaw think that Longarm was all he had to worry about. So long as he thought that was the case, he’d be content to wait Longarm out, sure in the knowledge that the sun would do his work for him.