LONGARM AND THE BOARDINGHOUSE WIDOW [066-066-5.0]
By: Tabor Evans
Synopsis:
What would you expect in a town called Grit? Two cattle barons want all the land to themselves—no matter who’s holding the deed. They dam streams. They rustle beef. And when their men aren’t killing each other, they’re killing innocent locals. That just ain’t nice. It’s up to Longarm to take the dirt out of Grit. He’s got a pocket full of pistol and a rifle full of reason. The one person who’s happy to see him is the widow Thompson. She’s had enough of Grit and its dog-like denizens. The turf war got her husband killed, and she wants justice done. Who’s Longarm to disappoint a grieving widow? 218th novel in the “Longarm” series,
1997.
Jove Books New York Copyright (C) 1997 by Jove Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.
ISBN: 0-515-12016-2
Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.
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A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
Printing history Jove edition / February 1997
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
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Chapter 1
United States Chief Marshal Billy Vail said off-handedly, “Custis, have you ever been to one of them circuses? You know, the kind that travels around with wild animal acts and all such as that?”
United States Deputy Marshal Custis Long gave his boss a wary look. A man needed to be careful before he up and answered one of Billy Vail’s seemingly innocent questions. All too often, they led to long, hard assignments. It was very seldom that the chief marshal told a story for a story’s sake or an anecdote to entertain one of his deputies.
Longarm said, “Well, I don’t know, Billy. Yeah, I reckon I’ve seen a circus now and again when it was handy in what little time I have off from work.”
Billy Vail said, “You ever seen that lion tamer? You know, that guy that gets into that cage with them lions and tigers all in a ball, carrying on, fussing and fighting among themselves. He just gets in there with a whip and a chair and separates them. You ever seen that?”
Longarm was still cautious. He said carefully, “Well, I might have seen something like that, Billy. Why? You got something special in mind?”
They were sitting in the chief marshal’s office on the second floor of the federal building in Denver, Colorado. Billy got up from his creaky old swivel chair, walked over to the window behind him, and looked out at the weather. It was coming a good spring after a hard winter and Longarm had reflected, as he had walked over to the office from his boardinghouse, what a pleasure it was to wear an open-necked shirt and feel the pleasant breeze blowing past his skin. He had finished, not much long before, a hard trip through the mountains, through snow and ice, and through some awfully hot lead. He was looking forward to a rest in the comfort of the big city of Denver and the equally attractive charms of several lady friends of his about the town.
Billy Vail said, “You know, that’s a mighty brave fellow who walks in there and separates them lions and tigers like that.” He turned around to look at Longarm. “Ain’t that a fact?”
Longarm had been resting his boots on an incidental chair. He took them down and set them on the floor with a clump. He leaned forward. He said, “Billy, I’d like to remind you, I just came off a tough assignment, I damned near got frostbite, snakebite, and bullet bite, and I ain’t looking to get lion or tiger bite or bit or however you want to say it. I don’t know what you got in mind, but if there’s some circus that needs cleaning up, then there’s some deputies a hell of a lot more junior than me who can go and tend to it.”
Billy Vail shook his head slowly. He said, “Don’t you know that there is certain jobs that only a man named Longarm can do? You know, you didn’t get that name on account of the way you parted your hair.”
Longarm snorted. The nickname was both a trial and a tribute to him as far as he was concerned. He supposed it came about because his last name was Long and it was known that he was the long arm of the law. No matter where You Went or where you hid, eventually Custis Long was going to show up and say it was time to go to jail. Either that or boot hill.
Longarm said, “Now, don’t come with any of that foolishness on me, Billy Vail. I’ve been to two county fairs and a grass fire and I’m not a bit impressed with this kind of talk.”
Billy Vail said, looking sorrowful, “Custis, I hate to ask this of you, I really do.”
Longarm snorted again. “Why, you lying old fraud. You don’t care what you ask of me. I’m surprised you let me have time to change horses before you send me out on some other damn-fool errand.”
Vail shook his head. He said, “Now, you’re playing me wrong, Custis. Lord have mercy, if there was another soul I could send, I’d cut off my right arm before I’d send you.”
“If I had a dollar for every time you said that, I could break the biggest poker game in the state or have the money to buy out the biggest whorehouse in New Orleans. What is it this time? And it better not involve no lions and tigers.”
“Well, we’ve got a situation down in Texas that is going to take some mighty delicate handling, and you’re the only man I can think of that could do the job.”
Longarm sighed. He said, “Billy, do you realize how long I was out this last time? I was out damned near two months, and I bet you there wasn’t three nights out of that two months that I slept in a bed or had three meals on two consecutive days. I got rode hard and put up wet, wore out six horses, damned near burned the rifling out of every pistol I own, and now you want me to off and settle some squabble down in Texas? What is it this time? Somebody discovered an honest politician and it’s got them worried sick?”
Billy Vail came back around to his chair and sat down. He put both hands flat on top of his desk. He said, “There’s a little town down in the hill country of Texas, about a hundred miles out of Austin. It wasn’t worth a damn ten years ago, but now that all the Indian trouble is out of there, all of a sudden they’re discovering what wonderful grass there is around there and what wonderful water they have. Everybody is wanting to crowd in there, but unfortunately, there’s a couple of old nester families that ain’t looking for company and they’re making it kind of hard on everybody, including each other. So, I need to send somebody in there that knows how to separate lions and tigers. I don’t expect you to use a whip and a chair, but it ain’t a job for one of the younger men, Custis. I’ve got to tell you that.”
Longarm sat there looking disgusted. He didn’t know about the younger men. All he knew was that he felt about a hundred years old at the time. His face, from the weathering it had taken through hard usage, said forty. But the big shoulders and the muscled arms and the rest of his body said younger. He was a little over six feet tall and weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds, mostly made up of leather and bones and sinew and muscle. He said, “Billy, aren’t you ever ashamed of yourself for the way you treat me?”