She sat up in bed and got a huff in her voice. “You might well talk about my dead husband, seeing as you are the one that killed him.”
Longarm said wearily, “You don’t know that I killed your husband and I don’t know that I killed your husband. We were chasing that bunch in far eastern Oklahoma, almost in Arkansas, and I shot a man that we have never proven was your husband. You’ve always claimed I killed your husband because the Gallaghers told you that I killed him, but the Gallaghers may have killed him or he may have just left you. He may be in Mexico right now.”
“I’ll thank you not to speak of him that way.”
“My point is, Lily Gail, that you told me you knew the Gallaghers through your husband.”
“That’s simply not so,” she said. “I’ve known the Gallaghers ever since I was a little girl, I grew up around them. Why, I’ve known them fifteen years or so. The very idea, you making me out a liar like that. Where did you ever get such an idea?”
“You told me.”
“Well, you misheard, that’s all.”
Longarm sat back down in his chair, drew slowly on his cigar, and sipped at his whiskey, thinking. It sounded like a true story. He could not imagine Lily Gail inventing a scar made by a man’s face being laid open by a blow from a revolver. Longarm had seen such an injury, and when they didn’t get stitched up properly, they did leave a long, white, bad-looking scar. He didn’t think she was capable of inventing such a story so quick. Given time and research and reason, she was perfectly capable of passing a lie on as truth, especially with those innocent eyes of hers, but it had come out too easily to have been made up so quickly.
He said casually, “Did the Gallaghers say where they wanted to meet me across the line on the strip?”
“Yes, sir, they did. In Quitman, or just outside of it.”
“Quitman? That’s a boomers’ town. I didn’t think that place was still standing.” He was referring to one of the shanty towns that had sprung up along the Oklahoma line in advance of the land rush that had taken place there. He’d never really understood why the people who had rushed to grab up the free land had been called boomers, but it was a name that suited them well. They had been the dregs of every community from almost every state and territory in the country. By and large, they were either outright crooks or near to the edge. Dollar-grasping, greedy scoundrels who far outnumbered the legitimate farmers who were hoping to find free land where they could make a living and raise a family. The boomers had come through and grabbed what land they could, mostly by chicanery, and then gone moving on to some other rush, be it gold, or land, or whatever.
Longarm said, “Lily Gail, I don’t know about Quitman. That’s a pretty rough little pueblo, and I reckon about half of that town is related to the Gallaghers through one breed or another.”
She said, “They have a sheriff there.”
Longarm laughed. “That’s a good one, Lily Gail. Now let me take my pants off so you can pull my other leg.”
She gave him her look. “Why, whatever do you mean by that?”
Longarm said, giving her a level gaze, “Lily Gail, hope you understand that if the Gallaghers do me serious harm in a way that I won’t ever be able to move again, every federal marshal will be looking for them and for you.”
She raised half up, causing the sheet to fall away from her breasts. “What do you mean, they’d be looking for me? I have nothing to do with this.”
“Lily Gail, don’t fool yourself. I’ve already made known to the right parties that you are the one that contacted me. Now, doesn’t that make you want to tell me about this whole setup?”
She turned to face him full on the bed. She said, her face anxious, “Custis, I done told you everything I know. All they told me is to bring their proposition in to you and see what you thought. That’s all I know. I don’t want no trouble with the United States marshals service.”
“When do you expect to meet with the Gallaghers? Are you going to meet with them in Raton tomorrow?”
He could see the uncertainty in her face. “I don’t know. I’m supposed to meet someone. I don’t know if it will be either Rufus or Clem. I guess they’ll get word by either one of the brothers. Why?”
He looked at her for a long moment. “I’ve got a proposition for them. But if they are not serious about their intentions, then they’re just trying to bait a honey trap and you’re the bait.”
“Now, Custis. That ain’t so. I’ve told you what be the truth as told me.”
“We’ll see. Now here’s what I want you to tell whoever it is that you meet when you get to Raton. You tell them that I will meet one of the Gallagher brothers just across the line on the Oklahoma side toward Quitman. I won’t come into Quitman, but I’ll meet one of the Gallagher brothers. The other is to come in and stay with a friend of mine named Fisher Lee. I think they will be able to understand that, if I don’t get back safe, the brother that will be with Fisher Lee might have some trouble finding his way home. Do you think you can understand that?”
She frowned, furrowing her brow. “No, I don’t really get it. Maybe you better tell it to me again.”
He took a sip of whiskey. “I think you understand it all right, Lily Gail, but I’ll tell you again in the morning just to be sure. What time does your train leave?”
“Ten.”
“Then we’ll get up at seven so we have plenty of time for you to practice and get your lines straight. Now, we’d better get some sleep. I’m nearly worn out.”
Lily Gail said, “You mean, you just want to sleep? Me and you in this nice big bed and you just want to sleep?”
He started undressing. “Lily Gail, I know it’s going to be a shock to your system, but that’s all I want to do tonight. You stay on your side of the bed.”
“I think I’m insulted.”
He nodded. “I know this may come as a surprise to you, Lily Gail. There are folks that use the bed for sleeping, and that’s just what we are going to do tonight. I’m nearly worn out from fooling around with you and worrying about this other business. The whole matter has taken me unaware, as my body was all prepared to do nothing but rest and have a good time until you came along and brought me this trouble.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Now, you just stay over there on your side of the bed and we’ll make it to morning. Then we’ll have some breakfast and get all of our plans straight so that you can understand them. I’ll make sure that you get your lines straight.”
The next morning at breakfast he said, “Now, your train will arrive in Raton just after noon and you are to meet someone there. You claim that you don’t know who, but that’s all right. Tell them to get word back to the Gallagher brothers that I’ll be at the New Mexico and Oklahoma border tomorrow at about four o’clock. I’ll ride on a direct line from Springer to Quitman. As flat as that country is, we ought to spot each other from ten miles off. I’ll have a man with me, Fisher Lee. He’s a tall string bean of a man, but he’s a good man. Now, we’re going to stop short of the Oklahoma border and I want Rufus to come across when I cross at the same time.”
She looked up from her coffee. “Rufus? You want Rufus?”
He nodded. “Yes, he’s the oldest. I think that it’s befitting for him to have the nice visit with Fisher Lee.” Of course, he didn’t tell her that Rufus was the one that she had identified with the scar.
She said, “So, you’ll be talking to Clem. What if they don’t care for that?”
“Then I reckon the deal is going to be off.”
She looked troubled. “They ain’t going to like it if I go back and tell them that you’re calling the terms. They might blame me for it.”
He reached over and patted her hand. “Lily Gail, I have confidence that you can take care of yourself.”
“Well, where would this Fisher fellow be taking Rufus, or whoever it is that comes?”