“Don’t you make ‘em pay for the damages?”
“I try to, but they’re always broke. We haul them off to court, but they choose jail rather than pay fines. I’m the one left holding the empty bag, and that can be expensive. And then too, one of these times I just might catch a stray bullet.”
“That can happen,” Longarm said. “What about Marshal Todd? Doesn’t he keep a lid on the troublemakers?”
“Oh, he tries,” Jake said. “On Saturday nights he comes around, and he’ll haul the worst of ‘em out of the saloons and lock them in that little rock house jail. But as soon as he’s made his rounds, the bad apples left behind just get rowdy all over again. And Marshal Todd is no spring chicken. He goes to bed at nine o’clock every night, and it better be an emergency before you dare to roust him out.”
“He needs to hang it up and retire. I like Todd, but he must be what? Mid-sixties?”
“Seventy-three,” Jake said. “Mike Todd was a real town tamer in his younger days, but they are long past. I hear he cleaned up Abilene so fast that the bad ones were bailin’ out of there like ticks off a dying dog. He went over to Bodie, California, and damned if he didn’t do the same thing there. He’s tough, but too damned old.”
Longarm had to agree. It was amazing that Todd was still alive considering that he was constantly being forced to arrest men young enough to be his grandsons. Todd was a veteran and plenty careful. He knew all the tricks and never bullied, blustered, or forced men to violence. But still, men did get liquored up and crazy, and Mike Todd was too damned old and slow to brace them and expect to come out a winner.
Longarm had another drink, and then he played a few hands of poker with a couple of cowboys. From them, he learned that the rains had been good in the spring and the grass had been better than it had been in years.
“If we have another couple of good years,” one cowboy said with a slow grin, “we might even be able to start feedin’ ourselves and our poor horses.”
Longarm chuckled. “You boys look well enough fed to me.”
“And you look a little lean,” the cowboy said. “What’s the matter, the government been cuttin’ your wages?”
“Nope, they’ve been running me too damned hard.”
Longarm was about to say more when he heard a cry and suddenly Lady Caroline burst breathlessly through the doorway. “Marshal, come quick!”
Longarm bolted out of his chair. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Irma. A couple of men are accosting her!”
Longarm wasn’t exactly sure what Caroline meant by the term “accosting,” but he figured it meant something like giving Irma a bad time. In three strides, he was out the doorway and marching up the boardwalk.
Irma was fighting with a couple of big men who looked to be trying to drag her into an alley. Mrs. Addie was trying to help, but even as Longarm watched, one of the bullies slapped her so hard the poor old woman struck a hitching rail and crumpled to her knees.
“Hey!” Longarm shouted, bursting into a run. “Let go of that woman!”
When they saw Longarm, the two men released Irma and went for their six-guns. There was no hesitation on their parts and Longarm, coming on in full stride, was caught by surprise. He stabbed for his own six-gun as he skidded to a halt, but lost his footing and fell hard.
The two men opened fire, and Longarm rolled in behind a water trough. Cussing at his own helplessness, he dragged his gun out even as slugs sprayed wood and water. He raised his head and damn if one of the big son-of-abitches didn’t drill his new Stetson through the crown and send it flying.
Longarm cocked back the hammer of his gun and coolly shot both men through the chest even as they started to bolt and run for cover. It was over just that fast.
“You killed them,” Caroline said, rushing over to Longarm and biting her knuckles. “You shot them both dead.”
“damn right I did,” Longarm said, coming to his feet and marching over to help Mrs. Addie up. “Here,” he said to Caroline, “help your friend inside this store and find her a chair. Mrs. Addie looks pretty shaken up.”
Longarm went over to Irma. Her dress was torn, her hair was mussed, and now, in addition to that puffy lip, she had the beginnings of a shiner. “Are you all right?”
Irma shook her head and visibly gathered her composure. “Those bastards tried to get fresh with Lady Caroline, can you imagine that!”
“Yes. And I can also well imagine that you stepped in and told them they had no business messing around with royalty. Or something like that. Am I right?”
“I couldn’t believe them. They weren’t drunk or nothin’. They were just awful!”
“They were quick with their guns,” Longarm said. “Quicker than most but a mite too quick on the shoot. They’d have drilled me if they’d been steadier.”
Irma hugged Longarm. “I hate men,” she whispered. “All of ‘em except you, Custis.”
Longarm patted her back, and then he was surprised when Irma broke down and began to cry.
Chapter 6
Marshal Mike Todd finished filling out his report, and as Longarm was escorting the three women out of his office, the old lawman said, “Custis?”
“Yeah?”
“Mind if I have a word with you in private?”
“Sure, as long as it’s quick. Our train is due to pull out in ten minutes and I have to be on it.”
“It’ll be brief,” Todd promised.
Longarm told the three women to go on to the train station. “I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes,” he promised.
When the door closed, Longarm turned and said, “What is it, Mike?”
“It’s me,” the old lawman said. “I’m not able to do the job anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean those two you had to kill weren’t strangers to Elko. They’d been here before and raised hell. Never attacked a woman or anything like that, but I knew they were trouble.”
“Well, Mike, you don’t have to worry about ‘em anymore,” Longarm said.
“Yeah, I know that,” Todd said. “But there will be others just like ‘em and I won’t be man enough to run ‘em off before something like this happens again.”
Longarm expelled a deep breath. He liked this man, and had worked with him on a few occasions. Mike Todd was a mite too set in his ways and not very flexible about learning new techniques of law enforcement, but he was brave, forthright, and honest, which made up for all the other shortcomings.
“What are you trying to tell me, Mike?”
“I need to retire,” the old man said. “I’m worn plumb out. I’m finished as a lawman and ready for a rocking chair.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Custis, if it had of been me out there today instead of you, I’d be dead and those two ornery bastards would be terrorizing that girl and maybe the whole town.”
Longarm knew this was probably the truth. And yet, he couldn’t openly agree. “Maybe you should retire, Mike. It’s a tough job.”
“It’s a younger man’s job. A job for a man like you.”
“I already have a job.”
“Quit it and take my badge,” Todd blurted. “I get paid sixty dollars a month and the town has a little house that it lets me use for-“
“Mike,” Longarm interrupted, “I just can’t do that.”
The marshal of Elko clamped his mouth shut and his brow furrowed. Suddenly, the lawman looked even older than his years. “Why not?”
“Because I like my own federal job better,” Longarm said, telling him in the most straightforward way possible. “I wouldn’t be happy stuck in this cow town. My feet are too itchy, if you know what I mean.”
“I do, but there’s some awfully nice folks here,” Todd countered, “and they support their marshal. Maybe you could even get a raise and-“
“I’m sorry,” Longarm said, coming up and placing a hand on Mike’s thin shoulder. “But what I’ll do is to telegraph my Denver office and let Billy Vail know that you’d like to retire. Maybe someone on our staff would rather be settled than riding stagecoaches and railroads all over the frontier the way I do.”