"Really?"
"That's right. You're fiery and impetuous, and those qualities make you all the more appealing."
"Well, I'll be," she said. "And I've always admired women who were cool and somewhat aloof Who could be thrown headlong into any unpleasant situation and know exactly how to act."
"Those kind of women may seem admirable," Longarm assured her, "but they're often just incapable of showing emotions. And that, my dear woman, is certainly not one of your shortcomings."
"Thank you," she said as they entered the town.
Right away the people of Prescott stopped and stared. A woman like Lucy Ortega was not soon forgotten. The women who saw her fell into little clusters and whispered God only knows what, and the men stared, a few tipping their hats in respect and calling out, "Afternoon, Mrs. Ortega!" Or, "Welcome back, Mrs. Ortega!"
In each case, Lucy would smile and thank them for the greeting, but as they neared the marshal's office and a crowd began to gather, Longarm could tell that his prisoner was growing increasingly nervous about what would happen next.
"I wish we'd just gone out to the ranch," she whispered. "Longarm, I'm afraid!"
"Don't be," he tried to assure her. "I've got the extradition papers from our federal judge in Denver and my name is on them as the one who is to deliver you to Yuma. If Marshal Haggerty or any of his deputies... does he have deputies?"
"Yes !"
Longarm was about to ask how many when the door to the marshal's office swung open and a big bear of a man filled the doorway. Haggerty was as tall as Longarm and half again as wide. He wore a full beard, and the six-gun strapped to his big waist looked like a child's toy. Now, he glared at Lucy, then at Longarm.
"Afternoon, Marshal Haggerty," Longarm called, not quite ready to dismount until he tested the water. "I'm United States Deputy Marshal Custis Long and I'm escorting Mrs. Lucy Ortega to the Yuma Territorial Prison."
"Then what in the hell are you doin' here in my town!" the lawman boomed in a deep, guttural voice. "She's an escaped prisoner!"
"Being returned, as you can very well see."
Haggerty stepped out to the edge of the boardwalk. "Why, she ain't even wearin' no handcuffs or nothin'!"
"That's my decision," Longarm said, watching a deputy push out of the office and come to stand beside Haggerty. The deputy was the exact opposite of the town marshal. He was tall, cadaverous, and looked as if he were half asleep, except that his gun hand stayed very close to his Colt and his fingers were splayed, telling Longarm that the man was ready to shoot it out at an instant's notice.
"Mrs. Ortega, climb down offa that horse!" Haggerty bellowed. "I'm putting you behind bars."
"No, you're not," Longarm said, his voice hard and flat. "I have custody of this woman and I'm the one to decide where and how she is kept in custody."
"Let me see them damned orders you got," Haggerty challenged as he stepped forward.
"Can you read?" Longarm asked.
"Enough," Haggerty growled, sticking out a hand as big around as a pie with fingers as thick as sausages.
Longarm used his left hand to reach into his coat pocket where he had his orders. He slowly removed the paper and extended it to Haggerty, who snatched it from his grasp.
Longarm watched as Haggerty tried to read the judge's order. The man had fat, porcine lips and they moved when he read, halting every few words and struggling to sound them out.
"Why don't you let me read it?" Longarm offered.
Haggerty ignored him and kept trying to read the judge's order. Finally, he seemed to realize that he was making a fool out of himself in front of the townspeople. He stopped and gave Longarm a twisted grin before he stepped forward as if to hand the order back to Longarm. Only instead, he pretended to accidentally drop it in a horse-watering trough.
"Oh, damn," Haggerty exclaimed with mock chagrin, "look at that, will you!"
Longarm could not believe his eyes. He jumped down from his horse, but the judge's custody order was already sinking into the trough, and when he snatched it out, the ink was running and the document was illegible.
Longarm was livid. "You did that on purpose!"
Haggerty stopped grinning. He drew his fist back and took a swing at Longarm, who easily ducked the punch and pounded the man to the gut, expecting Haggerty to fold like a wet dishrag. Only Haggerty didn't fold. His gut was as hard as rock, and when he roared, Longarm knew he was in big, big trouble.
Longarm retreated a few steps. "Marshal," he said, "this doesn't elevate our profession in the eyes of the citizens."
"To hell with that," Haggerty growled, charging forward.
Longarm knew that he could not stand up to the much heavier man and trade him punch for punch, so he hooked Haggerty in the brisket and took a grazing left to the side of his head in exchange.
"Get 'em, Haggerty!" a man shouted. "Knock his gawddamn head off!" Haggerty had every intention of doing just that. Longarm circled, flicking out sharp left jabs to the bigger man's face, trying to blur his vision. Haggerty kept bulling in, trying to land a killing blow.
Longarm completely forgot the skinny deputy until the man tripped him from behind. Haggerty was on Longarm instantly. He hammered Longarm twice in the face and Longarm couldn't buck the man off. He'd have been a goner if Lucy hadn't spurred her little strawberry roan over the top of them both and knocked Haggerty aside.
Longarm came to his feet with his ears ringing and the taste of blood in his mouth. He had a mind to just draw his gun and shoot this big sonofabitch, but that would probably have delayed them in reaching Yuma, so he ducked a punch and whistled a right hand uppercut to Haggerty's exposed throat.
The town marshal blanched and staggered. He began to make terrible sucking and choking sounds interspersed with grunts as Longarm's fists pelted his brutish face. Longarm knocked Haggerty back until the man was pinned up against a hitching rail, and then he finished Haggerty off with a double-fisted slam to the base of his neck.
Haggerty folded, hooking one arm over the railing in an attempt to stay on his feet. Longarm grabbed the man by the ears and drove a knee into his battered face. Haggerty was finished.
"Hold it right there!" the deputy shouted, gun in his fist. "One move and I'll kill you!"
Longarm looked at the man and knew that he was not bluffing. He was trying to gather his wits and catch his breath when a second voice, accompanied by the sound of a gun cocking, said, "Deputy Wilson, drop your weapon and raise your hands."
Longarm saw a tall, handsome man of about thirty step forward and disarm Haggerty's deputy. "Now, turn around and drag your boss back into the office and don't come out again until these people are gone."
"You'll pay for this, Brodie! Gawddamnit, you're making a big mistake!"
"Probably," Brodie said. "But you're not going to spill the blood of a United States deputy marshal."
"But what about the woman!"
Brodie looked up and smiled at Lucy, who smiled back, her face suddenly relaxing. She said, "Hal, I can't thank you enough."
"Sure you can," he said. "Clear your name and marry me."
Lucy's jaw dropped, and even Longarm looked astonished before he said, "I guess we need to talk."
Brodie nodded. "I guess so."
The crowd parted as Wilson dragged Marshal Haggerty off the street, over the boardwalk, and into the office. Longarm noticed that not one person even offered to help, which said a lot for Haggerty's popularity.
"It's all over," Longarm told the crowd. "Everyone go back to whatever it is you are supposed to be doing."
The crowd, however, showed no signs of dispersing. With Haggerty gone, they displayed something of a holiday mood, with lots of laughing and grinning.
Longarm felt woozy from the pounding he'd just taken. He went over to the horse trough, dipped his head in the cold water, and felt instantly clear-headed.