“Get to your point.”
Davis shrugged. “It’s pretty simple. There is wanted paper out on several of the boys in that gang. Not big money, five hundred to a thousand. That bank in Junction has put that much on the head of any man involved in their robbery. Anyway …” He shrugged again. “Anyway, I figured you intended to give the three a pretty good shake. I just figured to be on hand and pick up any loose apples might be laying around on the ground. Do a little gleaning.”
“So you are a bounty hunter.”
Davis shook his head. “No, that ain’t exactly right. If you’ve got to put a name to my main vocation, I’d reckon you could call me a gambler. But only with money. I am adverse to gambling with my hide turning bullets. I have taken a few boys in for the money on their heads, but it was mainly because they more or less dropped into my lap. I ain’t never gone around making a habit out of chasing folks who didn’t want to be chased and would put a hole through you for your troubles.” He gave Longarm a careless smile. “Like I said, I was here doing some gleaning, some picking up after. I figured to let you do the dangerous work and I’d take what was left.”
Longarm studied him a long moment. “I got a hunch about you, Davis. I think you like to keep folks off guard. I think you’ve put your hide on the line a few more times than you are admitting to me.”
Davis yawned. “You think what you want to, Longarm. Don’t make no difference to me. But if you’ve got me pegged as being in with this outfit that’s doing the robbing around here, you can think again. When I found out they had robbed the auction barn, I knew right then and there they wasn’t going to last much longer, not as dumb as they appear to be. Nosir, I’d just as soon you wouldn’t lump me in with no outfit that dumb.”
Longarm said, “Raise your right hand, Davis.”
Austin Davis looked startled. He glanced at Longarm. “What for? I don’t need to go outside.”
“Don’t be an asshole. Raise your right hand. I am going to swear you in as a provisional deputy U.S. marshal.”
Davis gave him a mild look. “Like hell you are.”
“Why not?”
“All the use of a badge is that it makes a good target. No, thank you, sir.”
“Listen, Davis, as a federal officer I can procure anything that belongs to the federal government, all the way from horses and mules to wagons and soldiers. You are a citizen of the United States. That means I can procure you.”
“You ain’t drafting me.”
“You ever been called for jury duty?”
“Who hasn’t. But it ain’t the same.”
“It’s exactly the same. The government is calling upon you to do your duty. Now raise your right hand. If you don’t, I’m going to stick you in a jail cell with the sheriff and his deputies.”
Davis looked interested. “You arrested the sheriff?”
“And his two blood-kin deputies.”
“What for?”
“For collusion, for accessory, for irritating the hell out of me by playing me for a fool. What difference does it make.”
Davis looked impressed. “Well, well. Sounds to me like you are making progress.” He glanced at Longarm. “But I still don’t want no badge.”
“You ain’t going to get no badge,” Longarm said. “Hell, I don’t even wear mine half the time. And you ain’t going to tell nobody that you’ve been sworn in. I’ve got a special job for you.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“I reckon you take yourself for a hell of a hand with the ladies.”
Davis gave Longarm his slightly arrogant, slightly amused smile. He said easily, “Oh, I reckon I could get some testimonial letters if it got right down to it.”
Longarm gave him a grim look. “I wouldn’t be taking all this with such a light heart. It might get a little rough in places.”
“Did I give that impression? Hell, Marshal, you misunderstand me. I am the most serious and humble of men.”
“Bullshit. If there was anybody else I wouldn’t even throw a rock at you. But I need some help. Now raise your damn right hand.”
Davis frowned slightly, but he slowly put his hand in the air. “Like this?”
“Like anyway you want. Do you swear to abide by the rules and conditions of the Marshals’ Service, so help you on your oath?”
“Hell, I don’t know what they are.”
“Dammit, Davis, just say yes.”
“All right, yes. What now?”
“For openers you can put your hand down. You going to look damn silly walking around like that for the rest of your life.”
“Is that it? Is that all?”
“Yeah, you are now a provisional deputy U.S. marshal, subject to all the laws and conditions of that office.
“What does that mean?”
“For one thing, it means that there are more than just several things you better do, and several you better not do. Some can get you in jail, a few can get you hung.”
Davis’s eyes got wide. “Oh, hell, that was exactly what I wanted to hear. Oh, hell, yes. That’s the kind of news makes a man glad he joined up. Exactly what are you talking about?”
“You are now sworn to uphold the laws of the United States. It means you better do your duty, you better not get caught disobeying any orders, it means you better uphold the law, and it means you better not get caught with any money in your pockets ain’t supposed to be there.”
Davis reached out and poured himself another drink. “What’s the pay?”
“Three dollars a day. Out of that you outfit yourself, furnish your own mount, your own cartridges and arms, and find food and fodder for yourself and your animals. How you shelter yourself is not a concern of the government.”
Davis nodded. “Sounds fair to me. Hell, if a man had the money behind him, he could work at such a job for a good long while before he went broke.”
Longarm said dryly, “Glad you are taking it so well.”
Austin Davis gave him a look. “Marshal, I don’t exactly understand why you picked me for this job unless you think there is an outstanding chance of me getting killed. I’ve had the impression right along that you didn’t much care for me. Might even say you disapprove of me.”
Longarm gave him a grimace. “You’re so damn neat, Davis! Hell, you don’t look like you’ve ever had a speck of dirt on you. I’ve been encountering you for three, maybe four days and you ain’t never got a hair out of place. You are always shaved, your pants are pressed and your shirt. Your boots are shined. Hell, your damn fingernails are even clean. Ain’t you ever rolled around in the dust and mud?”
Davis laughed mildly. “Maybe that’s the reason I’m so neat now. But that ain’t what we are talking about right now. You’ve asked me to do some kind of job. You ain’t told me what it is yet.”
Longarm frowned and poured himself a drink. He sat, sipping at it slowly while he tried to think. It wasn’t an easy proposition to put forth. Finally he said, “You ever heard of ol’ Dalton Diver? Lives here.”
Davis thought a moment and then shook his head. “Not that I recollect.”
“Well, he’s got a passel of daughters and he makes a business of marrying them off. The best I can find out he’s married four of them into that gang. So far it don’t appear to have been lucky for the men involved. Best I can count, three of them have been killed.”
Austin Davis snapped his fingers. “Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, I heard about him. In the saloon. I thought somebody was pulling my leg.”
Longarm shook his head. “Ain’t no kidding about it. If what little I’ve heard is true, I got to believe it ties n somehow.” As best he could, with what little he knew, Longarm told Austin Davis about the sisters and their connections with the outlaws and about Dalton Diver’s method of marrying or “selling” off his daughters.
When he was through, Davis shook his head. “That’s the damnedest thing I ever heard. Yeah, I’d say there’s got to be some kind of connection. Either that or it’s the biggest coincidence that ever came down the pike. How do you want to play it?”