The telegraph operator, who was a thin, chalky man with sunken cheeks, stared at him and gulped. Longarm slowly pulled his badge out and, holding it in the palm of his hand, shoved it in front of the telegrapher’s face.
He said, “Take a good look at it. Don’t make any mistakes.”
The telegrapher finally found his voice. He said, “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I ain’t saying a word. Yes, sir. No, sir.”
Longarm said, “I just don’t want you to get confused as to who carries the most weight, the Castles or the United States government. In a fair fight, the United States government is going to win every time.”
“Yes, sir!” the telegrapher said.
“Send it.”
“Yes, sir.” The telegrapher wheeled on his stool, went to his desk, and began hitting the wireless key.
Longarm listened to the dots and dashes, knowing what the message said. He had wired a friend of his, a deputy marshal in Omaha, Nebraska. He had asked the deputy marshal to find a friendly federal judge and have that judge wire him a warrant for the arrest of the Castle family for the illegal importation of Mexican cattle and the illegal sale of those cattle inside the United States. He had closed the telegram by asking his friend not to question the reason, saying that he was on the track of something far more serious than the movement of Mexican cattle, and that he needed a handhold somewhere so he could move some of the obstacles that were blocking his path. He was fairly certain that his friend would understand and comply. He had chosen Omaha instead of Kansas City or St. Louis because he was fairly certain that the Castles would ship cattle to Omaha and the deputy marshal in Omaha happened to be a good friend of his. It was as simple as that.
When the message was sent, the telegrapher looked expectantly at Longarm as if awaiting further instructions. Longarm disappointed him by simply paying for the telegram and leaving without another word. He took the blank on which he had written out the message with him.
He rode back to his hotel, had a late lunch at a little cafe just down the street from the Cutler, and then went to his room, poured himself a drink, and sat down on the bed to think.
He was almighty curious about Virgil Castle. Could the killings indeed be the work of a weak-minded member of a powerful clan? Maybe they were too smart to believe that they could move the army by killing individual soldiers, but perhaps Virgil was a little too thick-headed to understand that and had just been trying to help matters along in his own muddled way. It made a plausible explanation. The man could have overheard his father or his brothers talking about the garrison, saying that it was standing in their way, and figured that the simplest way would be to shoot a soldier. He still didn’t know when Virgil had been spotted naked carrying a rifle, or even which road he had been seen on. Longarm immediately set his glass aside and went in search of Todd.
He found the young man in the lobby of the hotel. He drew him aside, told him what he had heard in the barbershop, and asked Todd if he had heard the same.
Todd looked around nervously. “Mr. Long, I don’t reckon that we ought to be talking about the Castles, especially Virgil. They don’t allow nobody to make fun of him.”
Longarm said, “I just want to know when he was seen walking naked down a road carrying a rifle.”
Todd looked around again to make sure that no one could overhear him. “It was last night … late last night.”
“You mean, like midnight or after?”
“Yes, sir,” Todd said. Then, with an appeal in his voice, he said, “Mr. Long, you ain’t gonna tell nobody that I told ya, are you?”
Longarm gave him an impatient look. “Todd, I thought you and I had a deal. We don’t talk about our business with anybody else. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
Longarm asked, “Do you know which road?”
For a moment Todd appeared to think the question over, then slowly shook his head. “No, sir. You see, it’s mostly just gossip that gets to me. There ain’t all that many particulars to it. I just kind of heard it when I was out around the stables. Things like that get started at one end of this town, and they get all changed around by the time they get to the other. Do you know what I mean?”
Longarm said, “Yes, I do.” He gave Todd a silver dollar and then went back to his room, his mind turning the matter over and over. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. Now all he needed was a little leverage to get hold of the Castles by the short hairs. A handle, a come-along.
He would have it if his friend was able to get him the bench warrant from the federal judge. That would give him the authority to arrest the Castles, to search them, to search their premises, to scare the living hell out of them.
But all that could wait. For the moment, he could allow his mind the luxury of thinking about the evening ahead with Mabelle Russell. The widow Shirley Dunn had built a fire in him with her very unusual supper. The fire was still banked and only waiting for the slightest opportunity to ignite into full blaze.
He went to his rooms and immediately set about taking a bath and slicking himself up for the engagement that grew nearer by the moment. For the time being, the law business would wait.
Chapter 7
Longarm almost dropped his fork when Mabelle Russell said almost casually halfway through supper, “When are you going to put on your badge, Marshal?”
He stared at her, trying to think of something to say. After a moment, he tried to put a lying face on. He said, “What are you talking about? Marshal? Badge? I am a gambler and a horse trader. What’s this marshal stuff?”
She laughed gaily. “Oh, for God’s sake, cut it out. I know who you are. When you were here three years ago you were spotted. Someone told me that you were passing yourself off then as a gambler, but you were actually the famous Marshal Custis Long, known far and wide as Longarm. I don’t see where you have the gall to travel around incognito as well known as you are.” He could do no more than stare at her. Finally he said, “Mabelle, does anybody else know about this?”
She shrugged. “I doubt it.”
“Then how come you know?”
She gave him a slight smile. “Don’t you think that I make it my business to know every man’s business who comes into my place? Do you think that I would last long in this business if I didn’t have a very inquiring nature? I don’t just let anybody come in here. They’ve got to have some sort of a recommendation. You take a small town and there will be two people that know everybody and what’s going on. One of them will be the madam of the local whorehouse.”
Longarm looked at her. “Who will the other one be?”
Mabelle laughed again. “Well, naturally it will be the one that the madam is paying to get her information.”
Longarm laughed ruefully. “I reckon that it makes a little sense. I’m going to ask you a favor. Do you think that you can keep this under your hat for a few days? Do you reckon that you can help me out a little bit there?”
She shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It makes no never mind to me, one way or the other, who’s killing those soldiers. In fact, I wish you would catch the sonofabitch. My trade has dropped off considerably. About half of that garrison is scared to come into town late at night. Sure, I’ll keep your secret. Keep that badge in your pocket as long as you want to.”
He thought about telling her of his plans for the Castles, but then kept quiet. It wasn’t necessary that she know everything just yet, but he did have some questions that he wanted to ask her about the family. He figured that she could give him more detailed information than anyone else, but right then he was concentrating on the best steak he had had in a long time and the several choices of desserts that would follow the meal.