She said, “I can’t envision you having trouble that you can’t handle, Mr. Long.”
He said, “I can handle it, but I am getting tired of it. I’m not going to see seventeen again, maybe not even twenty. I know that it surprises you, Miss Mabelle, but I think that I would like to grow old gracefully. So that kind of leaves horses. What I have in mind is a place where I could raise common stock horses, range horses, and either sell them up north where they haven’t got enough sense to know what a horse is worth, or else sell them to the army. I picked San Angelo because it’s a big enough place and the land is cheap around here and there is plenty of it. It’s a place where I could spread myself, but I’ve been bothered by something that I’ve heard in town.”
“You’ve heard that they’ve taken to shooting cavalry soldiers around here?”
“Yes, ma’am, I have. Now I’m just wondering what it’s all about. Is it just some insane person, or is there a feeling in this part of the country where they don’t want any outsiders? I mean, I don’t want to set up around here to sell horses to the cavalry and discover that they are going to go from shooting soldiers to shooting the man who is supplying them with horses.”
She looked at him. “Why have you come to me?”
“For the reason I have told you, Miss Mabelle. If anybody knows what’s going on in this town, it’s you. Would you dispute that?”
She smiled slightly. Even though they were several feet apart, Longarm could sense the sexual power of the woman. He remembered it from the last time he had been there. Now it was even more evident. He didn’t know what she did herself. Maybe she had a boyfriend on the side. Certainly he had never heard of her having a husband.
She said, “And you think that I would have some idea who is killing these soldiers?”
“I think that you might be able to tell me if there is a climate around here that would make it unsafe for me to go into the horse business, especially the horse business where I would be selling to the army.”
She got up suddenly and crossed the room to where several decanters sat on a side table. She poured an amber liquid into a wine glass. Holding it in her delicate hand, she came back to the settee. “Sherry,” she said, indicating the glass. “Sometimes I think I like it too much.”
Longarm gave a slight smile. “Miss Mabelle, I have a hard time envisioning you overindulging yourself in anything. You look like a mighty strong-willed woman to me.”
Her eyes crinkled with a small smile. “Do I strike you as a happy woman, Mr. Long?”
“Well, you’ve certainly made a place for yourself. I can’t imagine you’re losing money on this operation but with all due respect, Miss Mabelle, it is very difficult to tell much about a person such as yourself, reserved and aloof as you are.”
She took a sip of the wine. “So I seem aloof, do I? Unapproachable?”
He said, “That’s the impression that I kind of get, though I don’t claim any superior knowledge on the subject.”
“But you, just a moment ago, said that you knew about three things. Women were one of them. Don’t you consider me a woman?”
Longarm blushed in spite of himself. He said earnestly, “My Lord, yes, Miss Mabelle. I don’t think that anybody in their right mind would take you for anything but a woman, and a woman of the finest kind, in all ways.”
“How do you mean? Do you mean that like I think you do?”
Longarm nodded. “Indeed I do.”
“So then you don’t find me so unapproachable?”
Longarm said carefully, “Maybe it’s just that the occasion or the circumstances haven’t come up. Given the right time and the right place, I reckon that I can be induced to approach you.”
She laughed. The high tinkling laugh was pleasing to the ear. She said, “Are you unapproachable, Mr. Long?”
He locked his eyes with hers. “I’ll let you make a decision on that yourself, Miss Mabelle,” he said. “I don’t think that a woman like yourself would have much trouble approaching an old rounder like me. But we are kind of getting off the subject here. Maybe it is deliberate on your part.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Maybe you don’t want to talk about this particular business.”
She shrugged. “It makes me no never mind. It’s just that I can’t tell you anything. I don’t think that there is anyone in this town who knows who is killing those soldiers except for the one who is doing it.”
Longarm said, “It’s not just that. It’s also this attempt to get them to move the fort. I’ve been hearing that too, even before I got here.”
She waved her free hand airily. “Oh, that. I don’t think you should put too much stock in that. It’s just the Castles. For some reason, they don’t like this army garrison here. Maybe it’s because they are bringing up stolen cattle from Mexico. I don’t know. They’ve got the sheriff in their pocket. Maybe they’re afraid the soldiers might take a hand.”
Longarm was surprised to hear her talk so easily about the Castles bringing in stolen Mexican cattle, but he let it pass. He said, “It’s not just that. I’ve heard the mayor and the city council have been writing to the War Department and the governor trying to get this garrison moved out of here. I find that hard to believe. Those soldier boys spend a lot of money in this town. I imagine that you see a lot of it in here.”
She said, “It’s not the mayor, Mr. Long, and it’s not the council. The mayor and the council do what the Castles tell them to do, just like the sheriff. I can believe that they have their reasons as I’ve stated for wanting that army post moved, but I can’t believe that they would be behind something so silly such as shooting the soldiers. That would just make the army dig in their heels harder and be more determined to stay. As big as the whole clan is, I don’t think that the Castles believe that bushwhacking soldiers is the way to get rid of the fort.”
Longarm nodded. “That would make sense, wouldn’t it? No, the army would take a damned dim view of being faced down by a bushwhacker and pulling out of a long-established garrison post just because a few of their soldiers have been killed. Hell, they can print those soldiers just about as fast as they print money. There ain’t never any shortage of people who can’t find no other work ready to join the cavalry and go waste their lives out in the big middle of nowhere. No, I have to agree with you on that. But you do say that the Castles are pushing for the garrison to leave. Do you have any idea why, besides this business of the stolen cattle?”
She shrugged her shoulders again. “No, and I don’t really know why they should be so concerned about the army. Hell, the army’s not interested in who’s bringing in stolen cattle. Supposedly, they are here to defend us from the Indians. The nearest one of which I think is about five hundred miles from here.”
Longarm finished his drink in a quick move. He said, “Well, it’s certainly got me puzzled. But I appreciate your time, Miss Mabelle.”
She held out her hand to him. The fifty dollars was in it. She said, “Here. Take this.”
He was about to get up but he settled back down. “Why would I want to take that back?”
“I didn’t do you any good. One of the rules of this house is that if you don’t satisfy the customer, he doesn’t have to pay. I didn’t give you any answers that could have possibly satisfied you.”
Longarm said, “Ma’am, I said that I would pay fifty dollars for a few minutes of your time. I didn’t say that I had to get satisfaction out of it. No, a deal is a deal. That’s your money.”
She thrust the bills at him. “Do me a favor and take it. I don’t want any money hanging between us.”
He slowly began to understand what she was talking about. He asked, “Am I hearing what I think I am hearing?”