He rolled off her to the side away from the door, trying to think of something consoling to say. It obviously wasn’t necessary because in an instant, she had bounced to her feet and was putting on her clothes.
Lucy said, her eyes sparkling, “Oh, I knew it would be grand. I knew it would be so wonderful with a grown man, not like with those boys. Oh, that was everything I expected, Marshal Long. I am so happy, so fulfilled. I feel like a woman.”
Longarm’s mouth was open and his mind was dazed, but before he could reply, she had dressed and was out the door, closing it behind her. He sat up slowly, shaking his head. He didn’t know what had happened but it had felt good, at least to him.
He rose out of bed and began to dress. It seemed the decision had been made for him. He had plenty of time to drop by and take supper with Miss Gloria, the bank teller.
As he looked in the mirror to see if he needed another shave, he noticed blood on his left ear. He touched it gingerly. It was sore. Like a dim memory rising out of a fog, he remembered that during the moments when Lucy had gone wild, his ear had somehow ended up in her mouth. She had apparently tried to chew it off. He wet a rag, wiped the blood off, and then dried it. He said out loud, “Damned if I ain’t getting hurt worse back here at home than I did on the trail. I’m beginning to believe those outlaws that I’m always chasing are a good deal safer than these women.”
He got over to Gloria’s a little before eight. She had held supper for him. The way she was dressed told him what was to be expected. She was wearing a light linen frock that was clearly the only clothing on her body. She served him a dinner of good roast beef along with mashed potatoes and corn, with apple cobbler for dessert. He had brought his own whiskey since he did not see her that often. They sat a while after they had eaten, with her drinking coffee and him sipping his Maryland whiskey.
Gloria was a handsome woman of about thirty who had been widowed for several years after her husband fell off a windmill. She’d come in from the ranch and gone to work in Denver, until she had moved up to the respectable job of teller at one of the smaller banks.
He could tell she was anxious. He was anxious too, but not as anxious as he had been earlier that night. He dawdled another ten minutes, and then got up out of his chair, crossed to her, and kissed her long and meaningfully while he ran his hand down the blouse of her dress and cupped her ample breast in his hand. She got up silently and led him into the bedroom.
Gloria liked to tease. He got undressed and lay down on the bed while she slowly undressed. Her style was to parade around naked, keeping his gaze on her, and then to suddenly rush in for a few strategically placed kisses. After that, she would withdraw for some more teasing. Her theory, she said, was that the longer you looked at a meal, the more you wanted it. Longarm had always wanted to say that while you’re looking, it’s cooling off.
Finally, she came to him, and they mingled their bodies and their appendages and their fluids, until finally they started toward the rising sensation of passion. Gloria climaxed very physically, bucking and straining against him, beating him on the back with her hard little fists, and drumming her heels on the backs of his legs. He didn’t think about it at the time, but later, as he sat on the side of the bed, he felt the bruises that he realized would still be there the next day. He didn’t know how many more women he could stand in the short period of time he had before he left town.
He declined her offer to spend the night, begging off with the excuse that he was still writing up his report from his last trip and that it was due the next day. She gave him a long and lingering kiss at the door and said that she was disappointed that he had been so easily satisfied. Since he couldn’t very well tell her the truth, that he had been emptying his bucket in other wells, he said he was just completely worn out from his time away from Denver.
He said, “You let me get in one or two nights’ good sleep and we’ll roll and pitch and scuffle all night long.”
Longarm left her not without some regret, and walked back to his boardinghouse. A wise man had once told him that you never got back those chances at a woman you let pass you by, but he was of the opinion that many more chances in the near future would just about finish him off.
He did very little the next morning except have breakfast at the Elite Cafe and then wander in and out of a few saloons, finally ending up back at his boardinghouse for lunch. It was curious and almost laughable to watch Lucy’s face as she served him. She averted her eyes in the most obvious way, and the faint blush she wore should have been a giveaway to a blind man. Fortunately, her mother stayed in the kitchen most of the time and none of the other boarders, half of whom were women, seemed to take any notice. For his part, Longarm played it straight, being polite to the young lady and treating her as if nothing had ever happened between them. He wondered, however, if there would be a repetition of the night before. It still dazed him to think of what had happened and how fast it had happened, Besides that, his ear was still sore.
In mid-afternoon, he walked down to the Federal Building and went up to Billy Vail’s office to see if there was any news. A telegram had arrived from Ross Henderson, and Billy held it with a slight frown.
Billy Vail said, “Here’s what he’s got to say. See what you think.” He cleared his throat and read aloud:
HAVE ARRIVED IN SANTA ROSA OKAY STOP HAVE ASKED A FEW QUESTIONS AND HAVE DETERMINED THAT THERE IS A FAMILY OF NELSONS STAYING HERE STOP THEY APPARENTLY LIVE ON A RANCH SOME FIFTEEN MILES OUT OF TOWN STOP DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM NOR DOES ANYBODY ELSE EXCEPT THEY APPEAR TO BE WEALTHY AND DON’T WELCOME STRANGERS STOP ALSO THEY ARE SOME KIND OF FOREIGNERS MAYBE YANKEES MAYBE FROM FURTHER AWAY THAN THAT STOP HAVEN’T HAD MUCH COOPERATION FROM THE LOCALS STOP IN FACT I DON’T EVEN MUCH TRUST THE LOCAL SHERIFF OR THE TOWN MARSHAL STOP I WILL KEEP NOSING AROUND AND ASKING QUESTIONS AND GIVE YOU FURTHER REPORTS STOP
Billy looked up. “I may have left out a few stops but that’s the gist of it. What do you think?”
Longarm was alarmed. “Billy, he put in the telegram that he didn’t trust the local law. Now you and I both know that the odds are that the telegrapher he gave that message to is going to tell the sheriff and the town marshal. That was a damn fool stunt to pull.”
Chapter 3
Billy looked up from the yellow telegram and said, “By damned, you’re right, Longarm. When do you reckon that friend of yours, Lee Gray, is going to get there?”
Longarm shook his head. “He ought to be there sometime today if he moved on out. But I’m a little concerned about Ross. That’s kind of a stupid telegram to be sending from Santa Rosa. He ought to have sense enough to take the train up the line and send it from some point where the telegrapher wasn’t likely to be under the thumb of the local law.”
Billy Vail rubbed his smooth pink jaw. “I’m afraid you’re right. I’m beginning to regret sending that young man. What do you think? Maybe you’d better take off right now.”
“Let’s give it another day until we hear from Lee Gray,” Longarm said. “Let’s get a better line on what’s going on. I just can’t believe that Ross was stupid enough to say all that in an open telegram.”
Billy Vail, looking worried, said, “Hell, Custis. He’s just a kid. What do you expect?”
Longarm turned level eyes on his boss. “If he keeps making mistakes like that, that’s all he’s ever going to be—a kid. He ain’t going to get no older.”
“We don’t necessarily know that these folks are dangerous.”
“And we don’t necessarily know that they ain’t, do we?”
Billy Vail rubbed his jaw again. He was obviously agitated. “I swear. This is one of the most puzzling messes I’ve ever seen. What in the world have you done to get yourself into this? A wanted poster put out on a deputy marshal, and naturally it had to be on you. Oh, I didn’t tell you, by the way. The poster says they prefer you alive.”