Finally, when it began to grow apparent that the mourners would rather brave the rain than listen to the preacher talk any longer, he brought the service to a close and indicated by a nod of his head that the pallbearers could now close the coffin and carry the body to the waiting hearse.
It was a measure of the respect that the citizens of the town had for Titus Calhoun that all braved the rain, standing under umbrellas as the coffin was lowered into a grave that was quickly filling with muddy water. After the funeral, many of the mourners gathered in the home of Troy Calhoun, where Troy and his wife had prepared cake, pie, and coffee.
At the gathering, Mayor Coburn; Carl Moore, proprietor of the general store; Harold Denham; Prentiss and Corey Hampton; as well as Travis and Troy Calhoun, all approached Falcon.
“We’ve been talking it over,” Mayor Coburn said. “Falcon, we would like for you to become our new marshal.”
Falcon’s first reaction was to refuse the offer so vehemently that it wouldn’t be repeated, but he knew that they were serious about it, and he knew also that the offer was actually one of honor and respect. He did not want to accept the job, but neither did he want to refuse it in a way that would be discourteous.
“I appreciate the offer,” Falcon said. “But the truth is, if I accept the position, I would be bound by law to acting only within the city limits of Higbee. As it is now, working for General Garrison, I have a much wider range of authority.”
“I don’t understand,” Mayor Coburn said. “What authority could you possibly have working for Wade Garrison?”
“I can explain that,” Garrison said, stepping into the conversation.
“Please do.”
“Although not one mile of track has yet been laid, the Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas Railroad has been granted a charter. And because we are a chartered railroad, I am authorized to hire a railroad detective. By the state laws of Colorado and Texas, as well as federal and territorial laws which cover New Mexico and cross state lines, Falcon MacCallister is granted police enforcement authority. Gentlemen, by accepting an appointment as city marshal, you are limiting his jurisdiction to an area of about two square miles. But as a railroad detective, he has jurisdiction over fifteen hundred square miles.”
“You mean he has jurisdiction over Sheriff Belmond?” Troy asked.
Garrison shook his head. “No, not over Belmond, but he has concurrent authority with Belmond on anything that pertains to the railroad.”
Mayor Coburn laughed. “Why, that’s wonderful,” he said. “Mr. MacCallister, no disrespect meant, but the offer to be marshal of Higbee is hereby withdrawn.”
“What do we do now?” Moore asked.
“I have a suggestion,” Falcon said. “That is, if you are open to it.”
“Yes, we’re open to anything,” Mayor Coburn replied.
Falcon looked up at Travis and Troy. “Both Travis and Troy have been acting as deputies,” he said. “I would suggest that you hire one of them as the new marshal.”
“Oh, no,” Lucy Calhoun said, stepping up beside her husband. “We have two children. I don’t want to take a chance of what happened to Titus happening to Troy.”
“Darlin’, there’s always been that chance,” Troy replied. “Even when I was deputying for Titus.”
“It’s not the same,” Lucy insisted.
Troy shrugged his shoulders and looked at the mayor. “Sorry,” he said. “But I guess that lets me out.”
“I’ll do it,” Travis offered. He looked at Troy. “But that will put more work at the restaurant onto you.”
“I’ll help at the restaurant,” Lucy said.
“I think you’d make a fine marshal, Travis,” Troy said.
“Gentlemen, we have a new marshal,” Mayor Coburn announced.
Chapter Nineteen
Rose Simpson’s breasts were large and sagging. The sagging wasn’t so bad, but what disturbed the symmetry was the fact that her left breast had only half a nipple, the other half having been carved off by a drunken sailor when Rose lived and worked in San Francisco.
Sitting up, she reached for a bottle of whiskey and poured a generous amount into a glass. She handed the glass to Ray Clinton, who was lying in bed alongside her. Like Rose, Ray was naked, but from the waist down Ray was covered with a sheet.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Rose said as she poured a second glass for herself.
“You ain’t as pretty as any of them whores Maggie has, but you’re a heap more friendly.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Rose said as she took a drink.
“Yeah, I mean, Maggie won’t even let Cletus or me near any of her whores.” Ray chuckled. “The only one she’ll let be with her whores is Billy, which don’t make no sense ’cause he don’t want nothin’ to do with any of ’em.”
“I don’t know Billy,” Rose said. “He never comes into the Hog Waller.”
“No, he wouldn’t. He goes to the Golden Nugget from time to time, but he ain’t much of a drinker.”
“He don’t whore, he don’t drink, what does he do?” Rose asked.
“Ha! He sniffs around that Garrison girl is what he does.”
“I thought the Clintons and the Garrisons didn’t get along,” Rose said.
“We don’t, only Billy, he ain’t quite learned that yet,” Ray said. “I guess he sees that little ole gal and thinks she’s so pretty that nothin’ else matters. I reckon I’m goin’ to have to learn him a thing or two.”
“Folks say things is only goin’ to get worse now,” Rose said. “What with the marshal gettin’ hisself killed and all.”
“Did you go to the marshal’s funeral?” Ray asked.
“The funeral was in the church.”
“So?”
“I’m a whore, Ray, remember? I’m not the kind that would be welcome in a church,” Rose replied.
Ray laughed. “No,” he said. “No, I don’t reckon you would be. I ain’t welcome in no church neither, I don’t think. Besides which, I wouldn’t of gone to the marshal’s funeral anyway.”
“Did you go to Virgil and Jesse’s funeral?” Rose asked.
“Hell, they didn’t have no funeral,” Ray said. “Not so’s you could call it one anyway. We just buried both of ’em out on the ranch alongside Deke Mathers and Seth Parker is what we done.”
“Looks to me like your hired hands are gettin’ whittled down pretty good,” Rose said. “That’s four of ’em been killed in the last couple of weeks.”
“Yeah,” Ray said. “It’s that murderin’ son of a bitch MacCallister. What the hell is he doin’ here anyway?”
“The way I heard it, General Garrison hired him as a railroad detective to protect the railroad.”
“The railroad,” Ray said, scoffing. “There ain’t no railroad yet. And truth to tell, I don’t think they’s goin’ to ever be one. You know what I think?”
“What do you think?” Rose asked.
“Well, Garrison, he’s gettin’ a lot of money from investors and such to build the railroad, ain’t he?”
“That’s right, you can’t build a railroad if you don’t have the money,” Rose said.
“Yeah, that’s what I know. So, what if you told a bunch of investors that you was goin’ to build a railroad, and they all started givin’ you money, but then it turns out you didn’t build it? You’d have all that money and you wouldn’t have to do nothin’.”
“Oh, he’s building it all right,” Rose said.
“No, he ain’t. Unless you call buildin’ that depot buildin’ the railroad.”
“Yes, he is, he’s building the actual railroad,” Rose said. “In fact, there’s a work party out right now leveling the right-of-way and getting ready to build a trestle.”
“How do you know?”
“I know lots of things, honey,” Rose said. “It turns out that when men are with whores, they do about as much talkin’ as they do anything else.”