Brodie finished his drink and then gazed at Lucy. "I'm sure that you are exhausted. I have a guest room waiting for you."
"Thank you," Lucy said, looking sideways at Longarm with a question in her eyes.
"And Marshal, you can either sleep here on the couch, or in the bunkhouse. I'm afraid that I only have one spare bedroom in this small adobe. I apologize."
"None necessary," Longarm said, appreciating how neatly the Arizona rancher had managed to keep him from sleeping another night with Lucy.
"Good!" Brodie smiled. "If you two will excuse me for a few minutes, I've got to go outside and tell my men what I want done this afternoon."
"Of course," Longarm said.
When they were alone, Lucy came over to sit beside him. She took his hands in her own and her eyes were dancing with joy. "Isn't this wonderful news! Can you imagine how happy this makes me?"
"I think so."
"Hal is wonderful to have done so much, and at such great personal risk!"
"He certainly has proved a savior," Longarm said, trying to dredge up enthusiasm. "Now, all we have to do is to get Maria out of your husband's house."
"She's young," Lucy said, "and I can well imagine that she must be terrified. I'm sure this has been a terrible ordeal for her, just as it has been for me."
"Yes," Longarm said.
"But it's almost over, isn't it?"
"If Maria will confirm what Hal just told us, I think that a judge will give me the full authority to arrest Rivera and clean up this mess."
"But what about those women prisoners that you were supposed to be in charge of transporting from Yuma to Denver?"
"Damn," Longarm muttered. "I'd entirely forgotten about them! Well, perhaps I can wire Billy Vail and he can send someone else out to bring them back to Colorado."
"I hope so," Lucy said. "It sure seems as if you'll have enough to do just arresting poor Don Luis's murderers."
"I agree," Longarm said. "The last thing I need on top of everything else is a bunch of crazy, cut-throat females."
Lucy giggled. "Just like you thought I was going to be?"
"You were a very refreshing surprise," Longarm said. "Yes," he admitted as he slipped his arm around her waist. "And what are we going to do about tonight?"
"I don't know," Lucy said, acting very innocent. "Whatever are you talking about?"
"You know damn good and well what I'm talking about."
"Oh, I suppose you mean about the sleeping arrangements."
"That's right."
"Well, I'm sure that you will be very comfortable in the bunkhouse with all the other rugged men."
"The hell you say!"
Lucy laughed, kissed his cheek, and wiggled out of Longarm's grasp. "We'd better behave ourselves or Hal might get jealous."
"Would you marry him?"
"Of course not!" A pause and then a frown. "At the very least I'd want to spend a few more months in mourning before we were married."
Longarm shook his head. Women, he could never really figure 'em.
CHAPTER 10
Longarm and Lucy sat quietly on horseback, hidden in a dense stand of cottonwood trees that were less than a quarter mile from the Ortega ranch house. Several minutes earlier, they had watched as Hal Brodie, accompanied by three of his cowboys, rode up to the ranch house. Brodie alone had gone inside to get Maria Escobar while his cowboys waited for the rancher.
"He's been in there at least fifteen minutes," Lucy fretted. "Do you think that anything bad has happened to him?"
"No," Longarm said. "And it's been more like five minutes."
Lucy expelled a deep breath. "What if they killed him?"
"Now why in the world," Longarm asked, "would they do something that stupid? They don't know that Maria Escobar is a witness to your husband's murder."
"We hope they don't know," Lucy said.
Longarm fussed with his horse's mane, trying to hide his own mounting nervousness. "Look!" he said, pointing. "There's Brodie and a Mexican maid."
"Yes, that is poor Maria. She must be scared out of her wits. And look at how upset Juan, Manuel, and Renaldo appear to be!"
Longarm could see for himself how upset the three Mexicans were at losing their maid. And although he could not overhear the heated conversation, he could see how Hal Brodie was practically throwing the Mexican girl on the spare horse that he had brought to carry her away.
"So far, so good," Longarm said. "It looks as if he is going to pull it off."
"He's acting very brave, isn't he," Lucy said.
"Yes," Longarm had to agree, "he is. Did you know that the man has been in love with you for a long time?"
"Sort of."
"Here they come," Longarm said. "We'll just ease back and keep these trees between us and your late husband's ranch house. Then we're on our way to Yuma."
"Poor Maria. I doubt she had any idea how much risk she would be taking."
"I disagree," Longarm said. "And besides, she has demanded a hundred dollars to come forth as a witness to murder. Don't worry about poor Maria. She appears to know exactly what she is doing."
Fifteen minutes later, Longarm and Lucy were galloping up to Hal Brodie, Maria, and his cowboys.
"I'm so proud of you, Hal!" Lucy said, eyes shining with gratitude.
Longarm studied Maria, who looked very frightened. "Do you speak English?"
"Yes," the small, pretty young woman said. "Not good, but okay."
"It's fine," Longarm said. "Do you know what this is all about?"
"Si. I saw Miguel shoot Don Luis. And now, you wish me to tell this to a judge."
"Exactly," Longarm said. "But the judge is in Yuma."
Maria's face clouded with worry. "Why we have to go so far away, senor?"
"It's a long story, Maria. But the judge here might not be trustworthy. I can't take that chance. I do know the judge who presides at Yuma, and he's honest. You'll also be safer there."
"Okay. But first, the money."
Longarm started to tell Maria that he would have to wire for the money, but Hal must have seen his hesitation because he said, "I brought it in cash, Marshal."
"Fair enough," Longarm said, greatly relieved because he would have been flat broke if he'd paid Maria a hundred dollars. "Thanks. I'll make sure that you are repaid."
"Just getting Lucy's name cleared and seeing her husband's killers brought to justice is all the pay I need."
Longarm nodded and let Brodie pay the young Mexican house servant. She lowered her eyes as if ashamed to take the money, prompting Longarm to say, "Don't be ashamed about that money, senorita. I'm sure that you have a very good use for it."
"Si" she whispered, large, luminous eyes cast downward.
Longarm lifted his reins and gazed back at the ranch. "We could see that those relatives were pretty upset," he told Brodie.
"You damn right they were! Especially Don Luis's brother, Juan. For a few minutes inside, I thought he was going to go hunt up a gun and try to stop me."
Lucy's hand flew to her mouth. "I'd never forgive myself if you'd been killed, Hal."
"It's all right," he said. "Everything worked just fine. But I was thinking that I ought to come along with you to Yuma. You know, to make sure that they don't follow or anything."
"That won't be necessary," Longarm said. "In fact, it would be a dead give-away to them that something was seriously wrong. We want those three to believe that you and Maria are back at your ranch and that everything, as far as you're concerned, is hunky-dory."
"All right," Brodie said, looking as if he had some misgivings, "but I sure don't like the idea of the three of you going on to Yuma alone."
"We'll be just fine," Longarm said. "Yuma is less than two hundred miles. We can ride down to Wickenburg, board our horses, and buy stage tickets. The line runs through Gila Bend and on into Yuma. We can be there three days from now. Probably take a day for Maria to give testimony, and then it's another three days back if everything goes without a hitch."
"A week," Brodie said, "and you can clean this mess up and it will all seem like just a nightmare come and gone."
Brodie turned to Lucy. "My dear woman, I don't know how you've stood up under all this. Losing your husband, escaping, and then being brought all the way back to Arizona expecting to be thrown in a hellhole of a prison."