“Then that is what you will have to do, Custis. Isn’t it?”
“Pardon me?”
Maddy tossed her head and clamped her lips into a tight, thin line. “Why, you will simply have to go to the Medicine Bows and look for him. You know Daddy. If you find him you can take him to Cheyenne with you. You have to go past the Medicine Bow diggings and through Cheyenne to get back to Denver anyway. It wouldn’t be all that much out of your way.
“And there is time enough. This is only Tuesday night. The execution isn’t until Monday. There would be plenty of time for you to reach the discovery field in the Medicine Bows and just … you know … look around. You know Daddy. He can’t resist any new find or rumor of a find. He always has to see whatever is on the other side of the mountain. That’s what has happened. I know it. He isn’t dead. He just decided one evening to go someplace else. He’s done that sort of thing before, you know. He always turns up eventually. But this time …”
“If you don’t think your father is dead, Maddy, how d’you explain the body that was in that mine shaft?”
“it was in water, Custis, and all they recovered were some bones. Somebody decided it was Daddy because he’s the only person who was missing from around here at the time. But it could have been anyone. Tyler argued in court that the skull was that of an Indian who probably fell into the shaft by accident. Tyler claims there is a way a scientist can look at the teeth on a skull and tell if the person was white or Indian. But we didn’t have any scientists around here to testify about that, and we couldn’t afford to send back East and hire one to come all this way. Tyler talked to the sheriff and the county commissioners about it, but they said they didn’t have any money to waste on something like that, especially when they didn’t believe it was true to begin with. The judge wouldn’t even let Tyler tell the jury what he believed—about the teeth, I mean—because there wasn’t any evidence to support what he said. Tyler read about it somewhere, you see, but he couldn’t find the article again and couldn’t remember exactly where he’d read it. So anyway, there was no evidence that the judge would accept and the jury never heard that argument. And that was the best defense Gary had. Tyler never got to say a word about it in court. Just in …” She frowned.
“Chambers,” Longarm suggested.
“Yes, that was it. Tyler argued his point in chambers, but the judge ruled against us. The jury never heard any part of that.”
Longarm gnawed on the end of his cheroot for a while before he said, “I don’t s’pose it’d be possible for a person t’ get a look at that skull after all this time, would it?”
“I … I’m sure I don’t know, Custis. Why? Is it important?”
He frowned, then admitted, “Could be. You see, Maddy, I happen t’ know that your lawyer is right. There is a way t’ look at teeth an’ tell if they belong to an Indian or to a white man.”
“And if you see those teeth and know they couldn’t be Daddy’s, then you can get the hanging stopped?”
“Dammit, Maddy, I never said that. And don’t you go getting your hopes up.”
But in truth it was what he was thinking. He just didn’t want to tell the girl that. Not yet.
“The only reason people believed Gary killed Daddy, Custis, is because he’d gotten me in a family way and everyone knew Daddy was furious about it. That and because everyone thinks Gary wanted Daddy’s gold mine.” She snorted rather bitterly. “There isn’t anything in that dirt hole worth a good argument much less a murder.”
Longarm looked down at Maddy’s belly.
“I know, I’m not that far along. Not with this one.”
“I see. You got a kid tucked away someplace?”
“Yes. A little boy. I named him Gary Rupert in honor of my husband and my daddy.”
“And this one … forgive me for mentionin’ it, but hasn’t your husband been in jail five, six months now?”
She blushed. And nodded.
“Is the territory o’ Wyoming doing something different these days an’ letting wives into prison cells?”
Maddy blushed again. Then with a sideways grin she shrugged and said, “You know me, Custis. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed anyhow. I told you twice already that I’d do anything to help Gary, and I meant it. And I do owe Tyler an awful amount of money, more than Gary and me could ever hope to repay. I thought if it might help to get Gary out …” She shrugged again, but this time there was no grin to go along with it.
“I see. Sorry I brought it up.” Longarm took a deep draw on his smoke and held it in his lungs for a bit before slowly allowing it to trickle out. He was more glad than ever that he’d asked Maddy to put her clothes back on. But for a much different reason now than at first. “I, uh, reckon I could take a look at that skull they found. If it’s still around, that is. Just remember that there’s no guarantees. We aren’t dealing with rational, sane human persons here. We’ve dealing with a court o’ law. And those two ain’t the same. So before it gets any later, girl, let’s us look up your Mr. Tyler … what’d you say his name is?”
“Overton.”
“Yeah. Him.” Longarm stood, the cartilage in his knee joints popping, and stubbed the butt of the cheroot out before leaving the tack room for the straw-littered barn area.
When they got outside, the night air seemed damn near balmy in spite of the thick, wet layer of snow that covered Talking Water and everything around it.
Chapter 15
Maddy waited outside while Longarm went into the Five Aces—Longarm figured the owner of a place with a name like that either had a fine sense of humor or balls made of pure brass—and bought a bottle for the stage guard, George, and his driver pal, Jesse. Longarm owed them twice now, for the room and again for the privacy, and besides, he wanted to tell them it was safe to go back now if they were ready to turn in. The gift pleased them. Good bonded whiskey instead of the much cheaper popskull made from raw alcohol and floor sweepings. Or whatever. He accepted one drink with them, then excused himself.
“Sorry I took s’ long,” he said when he finally rejoined Maddy on the sidewalk.
“It’s all right. I was enjoying the air. It feels so soft tonight. And the sound of the creek.” She hugged herself and lifted her face toward the stars, bright now that the storm had passed. “I like it here. It’s a place where I’d like to stay. We lived in a lot of camps, Daddy and me, but never in one place very long. Even when Daddy brought in a nice discovery, which wasn’t very often, he’d just sell out and move along. The profits from any one strike were only used to look for another. That’s one of the things Custis, I know you won’t believe me, considering what I have in my belly here, but I am very much in love with my husband. I truly would do anything to save him.”