Longarm moved into the room, saying, a trifle sharply, “Dulcima, cover yourself!”
“Why? He look like a beeg boy who has seen eet before.”
“Damnit, just cover yourself! This is a mess.”
Austin Davis turned to him. “I see who else you was talking about. That is some kind of an ‘else’. What happened, San Diego catch you stealing his cookies?”
Longarm gave him a weary look. “How long you figure you’ll have to go on about this before we can get down to the real problem? I mean, how much talk you got to make about it? I can understand you can’t just let it go for what it appears like.”
Davis shrugged, then turned and glanced at Dulcima. She had closed the robe, but the thin material did very little to hide her nakedness. He said, to Longarm, “I don’t have to say nothing. But it’s kind of hard not to. I don’t reckon the second man on the scene after somebody had just struck gold could keep his mouth shut either.” He nodded his head toward Dulcima. “I call that oro puro. And if you dipped your biscuit in that gravy, all I can say is that I wish it had been me and you’d had a feather up your ass and we’d have both been tickled.”
Longarm sighed. “All right, all right. Get it out of your system.”
Davis grinned. “I’m just jealous. You come out here to deliver a man some money and instead you wind up taking some of his pie. You got my admiration. I’d call that some pretty slick work.”
“Listen,” Longarm said as patiently as he could, “I come out here like I was supposed to. Dulcima said he’d gone to Mexico, and one thing led to another and we ended up here in the bed without our clothes on. Next thing I know I seen a look on her face that told me somebody else had come to the party. I had my back to the door at the time, but I didn’t bother to look. I rolled off the bed and come up shooting. I got to tell you I was blind lucky, because I hadn’t left my revolver in a handy place. I’d been too busy at the time. But I somehow landed with it near my hand and I fired through the holster.” He pointed toward the back wall. “You can see yonder he got one off that missed one of us by a cat’s whisker. I don’t know who he meant to kill.”
Davis shook his head, and let out a low whistle as he looked at the bullet hole. “I’d say you got double lucky, partner. I take it you weren’t exactly set up for action at the time.”
“Not that kind,” Longarm said dryly.
Davis glanced at Dulcima. She was sitting on the bed, examining her fingernails, not seeming to pay the two men any mind. Davis jerked his head toward the door. “Let’s go take another look at the situation outside,” he said.
“What?”
Davis jerked his head again and then stepped through the doorway. Longarm followed him. Davis drew the door to, but didn’t latch it. He walked past Longarm and went halfway down the stairs, motioning his partner to follow. “C’mon down here.”
Longarm descended the few steps. “What?”
“I don’t think we ought to be talking in front of her.”
Longarm frowned. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t think you’re going to be telling Caster about San Diego.”
“What have you got in mind? He’s a little large to hide. And I don’t see how we can bury him, with Dulcima’s hired hands working out in the back. I’m sure they didn’t mistake them gunshots for firecrackers.”
“I would imagine they hear gunshots around here all the time.”
“You got some kind of idea how we can not tell Caster anything?”
Austin Davis nodded slowly. “Maybe.”
“Who the hell am I supposed to have given the money to?”
“How about you gave it to San Diego and the last time you saw him he was striking out for Mexico with the girlfriend right by his side.”
Longarm turned and glanced at the closed door. “You talking about taking his body across the river?”
Davis nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know no place around here to get rid of him without risk of being seen or him being found too soon. I got some friends about twenty-five, thirty miles south of here ought to be willing to do me a favor.”
“Mexicans?”
“Yeah. Ranchers. In fact I bought some of that herd from them. Not many, about a hundred head. But the way I see it is you’ve got to be able to tell Caster that you gave San Diego the money and you don’t know what happened to him after that.”
“Why do I have to have given him the money? How come I can’t say I couldn’t find him?”
“Because Caster ain’t going to take the money from you,” Davis explained, “and I doubt if he’s got another go-between lined up. And that would just delay matters. Right now that ain’t what we need. On account of her. Dulcima.”
“What about her?”
Austin Davis pushed his hat up. “Well, I figure she’s got to go to Mexico with me. Either that or we got to shut her mouth some other way. She seen you kill San Diego. You willing to bet your hide she won’t go and tell Caster or tell somebody so word gets back to him?”
Longarm looked at the door again. When he turned back to Davis, he said, “No, I reckon not. But seems to me you are making plans mighty fast here. You sure you’re thinking good?”
Davis gave him a small smile. “At least I’m thinking with the right head. I’d say you been through a rodeo here just lately.”
“What if the lady don’t want to go to Mexico? She’s got this nice house here. What makes you think she’ll be willing to go off with you to some damn small rancho where they’re still eating tortillas and beans out of the same pot?”
“I’m counting on you to talk her into it. You seem to have a way with her.”
Longarm looked at the bedroom door once again. “I wouldn’t be counting on that. That’s a lady got a mind of her own.”
“Hell, she can’t say no to a big, handsome man like YOU.”
Longarm gave him a look. “What say we let that kind of talk slide for a better time? I know I’m fair game right now, but save it.” He reached up to reposition his hat and realized that the only thing he was wearing was a pair of jeans and a revolver. “I don’t know, Austin, you are carrying me kind of fast right now.”
“What the hell you want to do? You want to go and tell Caster you were slipping San Diego’s girlfriend a little of ol’ Slick Willy and he come in and didn’t like it and you killed him? Reckon how he’d take that?”
Longarm shook his head. “Damn. This is messy. Hell, I don’t much care for doing things in this manner.”
“You shot that robber in San Antonio that come out of an alley at you. You went to the sheriff about that and damn near ruined the job. You want some more?”
Longarm shrugged. “I reckon you’re right, We can’t let San Diego’s body be found before we make the arrest. And I don’t reckon we can let Dulcima run around loose. I think it would amuse her to tell folks about these two men having a gunfight over her.” He scratched his head. “But how the hell we going to work it?”
“Ask her to go with me to Mexico. Make up some story.”
“And if she won’t go?”
Davis shrugged. “Then I reckon she’ll have to be hogtied and taken.”
Longarm gave a dry laugh. “That ain’t a job I want.”
“Well, you’re the boss. You tell me a better way.”
“Damn!” Longarm said. He looked down at the body sprawled on the stairs. “Why did the sonofabitch come in when he did? Damnit!”
“Why? You wasn’t finished?”
Longarm gave him a sour look. “That ain’t the point, Austin. Damnit, if you don’t take the worst side of a situation, I never saw anybody who did. I mean if he hadn’t come in like that, if I could have met him under different circumstances, I might not have had to kill him.”
“How about if you hadn’t been up here in the bedroom with his woman and both of you with your clothes off? Or I guess that was in the line of duty.”
“Oh, go to hell, Austin,” Longarm said. He stood there on the stairs trying to think of a better plan than the one Davis had proposed. There wasn’t one. Until the job was finished he couldn’t let it be discovered that he’d killed San Diego, and he couldn’t leave Dulcima running around loose to talk to the wrong people. But he had no idea how he was going to get her cooperation. “Well, let me go in and talk to her,” he said at last.