Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{Longarm figured. They cost a tenth what his own fine brand went for. And at that the things were viciously overpriced.}

_{“You aren’t gonna smoke one of them things, are you?” he asked when Aggie took one out.}

_{“Do I shock you?”}

_{“Hell, no, but you disappoint me, not having any better taste than that. Here.” He got out one of his own cheroots and passed it to her. Aggie smelled of it, then sniffed at her own. She raised an eyebrow.}

_{“If you’re gonna do it,” he suggested, “at least learn t’ do it with style.”}

_{She laughed and accepted a light from him, cupping her hands over his and guiding the flaming straw to her thin cigar. Longarm wasn’t sure, but he thought there just might be more heat in the touch of her hands on his than there was in that burning straw tip. She sat there with a cheroot in one hand and a glass of fiery brandy in the other and gave him a lingering look of intense speculation. Speculation? he wondered then. Or promise?}

_{He suspected, though, that Aggie Able wasn’t half as down-deep genuine tough as she wanted to make herself out to be. He kept remembering how timid she’d been when he was pounding on her door in the dark. That image was quite a contrast with this one.}

_{Not that either one was his to worry about. Lawyer Able, quirky though she might be, was welcome to be and to do just as she pleased. She didn’t need his permission for any of it.}

_{“When did you get in?” she asked, obviously wanting to strike up a conversation while they drank and smoked together.}

_{He told her, and added a few bits about the lack of cooperation he’d found among her fellow townspeople. He played the tales for laughs, though; he wasn’t much on complaint.}

_{“It could have been worse,” she said.}

_{“Uh, huh. As it is, no harm done.”}

_{‘Thank goodness.”}

_{“How d’you get along here? I mean, you bein’ a lady lawyer an’ representing the Utes too?”}

_{“Gracious, Longarm, I was already such a pariah that this thing with the Indians hardly added anything. Most of the men in town, certainly all the leading gentlemen of the community, were already convinced that I’m lesbian. Or worse. But I get along. The wives of those same men like me, you see. I’m something of a role model for them. Not that they want to become like me, exactly, but it pleases them to see that a woman can be free and independent if she wishes. So I get by.” She laughed and added, “It helps quite a lot, of course, that I’m rich.”}

_{Longarm couldn’t help but chuckle. And then, involuntarily, he looked around at the small cabin where Aggie lived.}

_{“Comfortable,” the lady corrected herself, obviously guessing what he’d been thinking. “Not dependent on them for my livelihood, anyway.”}

_{“I can see how that’d help.”}

_{Aggie tossed back the rest of her drink and went to fetch the bottle. She poured seconds for both of them and resumed her seat. “I’ve never known a deputy marshal before,” she said out of nowhere. “Are they all like you?” He shrugged. “Mostly, I suppose. More or less.”}

_{“You don’t mind that I’m a lawyer and a woman.” “Nope.”}

_{“I’m a good lawyer, Longarm.”}

_{He nodded agreeably and took a sip of the applejack. The more he had of the stuff the smoother and tastier it got.}

_{“I’m a good woman too.”}

_{He nodded again.}

_{“Do you have hair on your chest?”}

_{“Bound to have. You guaranteed that I would, remember?”}

_{“What if I want to see for myself?”}

_{“Reckon I wouldn’t wrestle you t* prevent it.”}

_{“You know, of course, that you won’t find any place to sleep in Snowshoe tonight. But I could put you up here. I only have one bed.”}

_{He sipped the calvados again. It was really right nice. “A woman in my position wouldn’t dare let her defenses down, Longarm. Not with any of the men here no matter how attractive they might be.”}

_{“No, I can see where that’d be a bad idea.”}

_{“It wouldn’t do me any good with the ladies either if I started sleeping around with the men here. I wouldn’t be an inspiration to them any longer but a threat. They would worry that I might take their husbands away. Better if they think I’m sexless. Or lesbian. Can you believe it? I’ve never been openly propositioned by a man in this town, but two of the women have tried to seduce me. And they weren’t ladies of the night who did that either. Both of them were respectable married women.”}

_{“I’d believe it,” Longarm said.}

_{“I am not carved from stone, Longarm. I have feelings just like anyone. I have needs. I haven’t felt a man’s arms around me since I came here. Not once, Longarm.”}

_{He set his drink down on the table, and carefully stubbed his cheroot out in the ashtray.}

_{“Does that stuff put hair on a lady’s chest too?” he asked.}

_{“We shall have to look and see,” Aggie suggested.}

_{He stood, took her by the hand, and pulled her to her feet. He disposed of her glass and her cigar, then bent and slipped one arm behind her knees, the other behind her back. He lifted her off her feet, cradling her across his chest. Agnes Bertha Able was a much more substantial female than he’d expected. Not enough to buckle his knees or anything close to it, but certainly more than he’d bargained for. Still, he managed to make her think she was feather light and that he could carry her like this indefinitely if he wished. This, he figured, this sort of domination by a man, a possession of sorts, was very likely what she really needed more than anything else.}

_{He could feel that already her breath was coming in short, panting gasps. No priming needed, she was already set to explode. By now he bet her drawers were already soaked. She put her arms around him and buried her face against the side of his neck while he carried her into the bedroom, leaving the office lights burning to be tended afterward if anyone wanted to bother.}

_{‘That was wonderful, Longarm. Marvelous. I haven’t felt this good in ... I can’t tell you when. Never, I suppose. Not like this. Not ever this good before.” She reached down and gave his cock a squeeze.}

_{A slightly too vigorous squeeze, actually. He winced and tried not to show the pain.}

_{Aggie fetched an ashtray from the bedside and balanced it on her chest. Longarm took the hint and lighted cheroots for both of them.}

_{“I think I forgot to tell you earlier, but these cigars of yours are wonderful. Much better than those awful things I’ve been buying. I never would have believed there could be so much difference.”}

_{“Quality,” he said. “It counts in everything.”}

_{“So it does,” she agreed. “So it does.” She smiled. “And now I know what quality in a man is too.” This time he was able to intercept her hand before she got to him. If she missed the cock and grabbed his nuts by mistake she might turn them into pulp. He squeezed her hand, smiled, raised it to his lips, and kissed her knuckles one by one. She liked that well enough that he could see her turning wet and homy all over again. “You are a beautiful man, Custis Long. Marvelous. Has anyone ever told you before that you are beautiful? It doesn’t embarrass you, does it?” “It doesn’t embarrass me,” he said.}

_{“Has anyone ever told you before that you are beautiful?” “No,” he lied. “Never.”}

_{“You’re beautiful.” She turned her head and kissed his chest.}

_{What she was looking for, of course, was some compliments coming back her way. And shit, he supposed there wouldn’t be any getting around it. She’d just keep fishing until she caught something. He might as well do it now and get it done with.}

_{But not the truth. Lordy, Lordy, not the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Shee-it, not that.}

_{Longarm smiled and leaned close so he could look the woman square in the eyes.}

_{“You’re pretty wonderful yourself,” he said, and kissed her.}

_{The flavor of her kisses was nice. Smoke and applejack and homy female all blended together. That was a combination that made for a tasty stew.}

_{And Aggie had herself one helluva nice body. Full and lush and a tad on the plump side. But creamy. Oh, my, soft and creamy.}

_{Proud tits as big as pumpkins. Bright red nipples. Soft mound of belly. Big creamy thighs. Bright pink pussy winking through a veil of copper-colored pubic hair. Aggie had it all.}

_{The only thing wrong was that the poor woman didn’t know what the hell to do with it.}

_{It was just plain damned lucky for her that she found it so easy to reach a climax. Most women couldn’t, not without some patience and a knowledgeable man applying himself to the job of making them scream and go wild. Some women never came, not in their whole lives.}

_{Not Aggie, though. Pinch her nipple and she’d shudder. Touch her clitoris and she’d go into convulsions. Shove a cock—hell, a finger, a toe, probably a banana or any other damned thing—into her cunt and she’d turn herself inside out and shriek loud enough to rattle the shingles on the roof.}

_{Aggie was what a man might think of as being easy to please.}

_{Which was fine, of course. Longarm thought every woman ought to have it so good.}

_{Except Aggie never had learned to keep up her end of the deal .}

_{Once he got in the saddle a guy was on his own as far as Aggie was concerned. By then she’d had her explosion and was waiting for the next impulses to build. Whatever the guy wanted to do to amuse himself in the meantime was okay by her. But she wasn’t going to participate in it.}

_{She just lay there.}

_{A guy could get as much response out of a bowl of warm oatmeal as he could out of Aggie once she’d come.}

_{Come to think of it, Longarm decided, the oatmeal might be the better fuck. Tighter. He had no idea what might’ve happened to stretch her cunt out, but he suspected it was big enough that she didn’t need a handbag. She could just shove stuff into her snatch instead.}

_{All in all, the woman was a disappointment of the first water.}

_{“You’re beautiful,” he said. “Lovely.”}

_{“Was it good for you, Longarm?”}

_{“Wonderful.”}

_{“It was for me too.” She tried to reach for his cock, but he kept a tight grip on her hand.}

_{‘Tell me, Aggie, do you enjoy French style?”}

_{“I don’t understand.”}

_{He explained it to her.}

_{“Longarm! You can’t be serious. In my mouth? But you pee with that. And you want me to put it into my mouth? Ick. How disgusting.”}

_{“It was only a thought.”}

_{“Well, think again. That’s awful.”}

_{“Sorry.” He reached between those magnificent tits and deposited some cigar ash onto the china dish she’d set on her chest.}

_{Helluva body, he thought.}

_{Helluva waste.}

_{“I’m getting sleepy, pretty lady. How ’bout you?”}

_{“One more time first. Please?”}

_{He forced a smile. “I was hoping that’s what you’d}

_{The community’s tolerance for their eccentric lady lawyer did not extend to the federal deputy she’d caused to be there. If Aggie hadn’t been with him, Longarm doubted he could have gotten the clerk at City Hall to look in his direction. Although even at that, her presence was a mixed blessing. Aggie Able in private seemed quite a different woman from Agnes Able in public.}

_“John.”

_{“Yes, Miss Agnes?”}

_{“Answer the deputy’s question, John.”}

_{“Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t hear him ask one.”}

_{“John. Really now.”}

_{“But I didn’t. Honest.”}

_{“Well, we aren’t going to argue about it, are we. Now, please. Answer the gentleman’s question, John, and quickly, quickly.” .}

_{The clerk, John, gave Longarm a pointedly vacant look, but waited without comment for Longarm to repeat a question he’d already asked three times without response.}

_{“Where is the police chief this morning, mister?” Longarm asked.}

_{“If he isn’t downstairs, then I wouldn’t know,” John said. It was a barefaced lie, as was plain in his tone of voice and his smug, smirking demeanor. And there was shit-for-all that Longarm could do about it.}

_{“John!” Aggie chided.}

_{“Sorry, Miss Agnes. I don’t happen to know, that’s all.”}

_{“You know, of course, it won’t do any good for the police chief or the mayor or whoever else to hide from me,” Longarm said. “I’ll serve my writ on whoever is guarding those Indians, and they will be released on the spot.”}

_{“I wouldn’t know about any of that,” John insisted. “You asked me a question, I gave you an answer. Is there anything else you want?”}

_{“No, I suppose not,” Longarm said, conceding an impasse if not exactly a defeat.}

_{The clerk nodded smugly and went back to whatever it was he did on behalf of the good citizens of Snowshoe. “Well?” Aggie asked.}

_{“Let’s go get those people out of custody,” Longarm said.}

_{“Shouldn’t we have breakfast first?”}

_{He thought that sounded like a damned strange question coming from the Indians’ own lawyer. He would’ve expected her to be even more eager to get the paper served than he was. Apparently that wasn’t quite so.}

_{Not that he wasn’t hungry at the moment. It seemed that Lawyer Able had many talents—he was sure that she must, otherwise she never would have made it into the practice of law—but cooking was no more her forte than screwing was. At least she was aware that she couldn’t cook, and therefore didn’t bother trying.}

_{“We’ll have breakfast later,” Longarm insisted.}

_{“A cup of coffee on our way?”}

_“Later.”

_{“You needn’t snap at me like that. After all, dear, it is your own fault that I’m so famished this morning.”}

_{“Quit batting your eyelashes at me, Aggie. You ain’t the type for it.”}

_{She sulked up into a pout, but the expression lasted only for a moment. Then she laughed and took his elbow. “All right, Longarm. I give up. We shall tend to business first and have our pleasures afterward.”}

_{“Fine.” He hoped—but of course couldn’t say—that Aggie’s notions about pleasures after duty weren’t going}

_{to extend to any more sweaty two-party masturbations on that bed of hers. Which was about the way he viewed having to hump the woman. It was no better, and in some ways not so much fun, as screwing Five Finger Mamie.}

_{‘This way,” she said crisply.}

_{Aggie led him not directly to the mine where the Utes were being kept, but to a ramshackle livery bam on the edge of town. “I don’t own a carriage,” she explained, “but I pay a retainer fee for first call against the rigs Marty has here.”}

_{At the livery she acted for all the world like she owned the place. For that matter, maybe she did. She ordered the employees around like they were her own personal servants, and was imperiously precise about which rig she wanted, which horse in the traces, even which set of harness was to be fitted and which whip placed in the socket. Longarm saw that he wouldn’t want to work for this woman. If he’d been Marty or Bill at the livery, he knew he would’ve refused Aggie’s business rather than put up with her shit. It was just as well, then, that he wasn’t either one of them, he supposed.}

_{He made a point to thank both men for their help once the rig was delivered and Aggie was aboard it. The outfit she’d selected was a light two-wheeled cart drawn by a high-stepping gray gelding in fancy harness. There was even a purple plume set atop the headstall, for cryin’ out loud. Longarm felt almost embarrassed to get onto the seat beside Aggie in a turnout so silly.}

_{He felt doubly so because she had quite automatically helped herself to the driving side of the seat and had the reins and whip in hand.}

_{Fortunately, nothing lasts forever. Including embarrassment.}

_{Longarm crawled onto the seat beside her and reached for a cheroot. He winked at the men who worked at the livery, and propped a boot onto the gracefully curved splashboard in front of him. “Wake me when we get there,” he said, and tipped his Stetson down over his eyes.}

_{“I don’t understand,” Agnes Able whispered. She sounded, and looked, completely befuddled. “I can’t... I can’t believe this, Longarm.”}

_{He grunted and jumped down off the cart.}

_{The truth was that he wasn’t half so amazed as Miss Able. Although he would have had to admit to being at least a little bit surprised. After all, not many community leaders were as dumb as these folks in Snowshoe seemed to be.}

_{Longarm stalked across an expanse of flat gravel to the gate and looked inside, even though that was done mostly for the sake of formality. The gate was standing open, and it was plenty obvious that there wasn’t anybody around. Not guards and not prisoners either.}

_{This mine and the newly erected stockade around its shaft opening were empty. Empty and vacant and no sign whatsoever of the Ute Indians who’d been held there.}

_{“They were here... I guess it was the day before yesterday would have been the last time I saw them,” Aggie said. She too had climbed down from the cart, and came to stand beside him. She kept staring with disbelief inside the empty stockade and shaking her head from side to side. “I drove up and talked with Bray Swind and some of the other Indians. That was after I'd received the telegram saying my writ was granted and that you would be coming to serve it. The people}

_{were all so happy. They were anxious to get back into the mountains. Now ... this. I just can’t believe it, Longarm. I truly can’t.”}

_{“An’ I can’t blame you for that neither. Stupid bastards to try an’ pull something like this. How long d’ they figure they can hide out from the Ewe Ess gov’ment?”}

_{“I thought Boo had more sense than this, Longarm. I truly did.”}

_{“I believe you, Counselor.” He pulled out a cheroot and lighted it without remembering to offer one to Aggie. But then it simply wasn’t normal or proper for a man to have to remember to offer a cigar to a lady. “You don’t s’pose ...,” he ventured, then shook his head and allowed the sentence to die uncompleted.}

_{“What is that, Longarm?”}

_{“Nothing,” he said. “Look, why don’t you wait here a minute. I’m gonna take a look inside that mine before we start back down.”}

_{“What’s the matter, Longarm? Never saw inside a mine shaft before?” she asked in a teasing tone. Then she saw the seriousness in his eyes and guessed the reason why he wanted to look inside. One hand flew to her throat, and she gasped. “No. You can’t think ... no.” She shook her head quite firmly. “They may be foolish, Longarm, but they are not maniacal. They wouldn’t have done anything like ... that... to innocent people. Not that.”}

_{Longarm grimaced and turned away to spit. “Nobody’d slaughter innocent folks,” he agreed. “But you gotta remember, Aggie, that these idjits are thinking of your Ute clients as savages an’ murderers. Not as innocent folks who happen t’ be Injins. So I reckon I’ll take a look inside there ’fore we start back again.”}

_{The lady lawyer looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. She spun away from Longarm and went stumbling back toward the waiting cart.}

_{Longarm ambled forward. The upper levels of this mine were obviously abandoned and empty now, and he felt no threat of danger here. His only fear was that somewhere}

_{inside the earth there was a newly made mass grave and a supply of helpless Utes to fill it.}

_{If the town fathers of Snowshoe turned out to’ve been that incredibly stupid ...}

_“Well?”

_{Longarm shook his head. “Nothing.” But he didn’t consider the hour he’d just spent underground as time wasted.}

_{“Thank goodness,” Aggie said. The relief was plain in her expression. She too must have been having thoughts about where the Utes might have disappeared to. And bodies were all too easily disposed of in abandoned mine shafts.}

_{Longarm lighted a smoke for himself, this time remembered to give her one too—he was soon going to have to replenish his supply if this kept up—and pulled his tweed coat back on. It hadn’t been warm down in the mine, not hardly, but it had been stuffy. He’d felt better without the coat.}

_{“Where would you suggest we look for your clients next, Counselor?” he asked.}

_{Lawyer Able frowned and nibbled at her lower lip while she thought about the question. “I don’t know,” she said after taking what seemed a rather long time to come up with so unimaginative a response.}

_{“No idea?” he prodded.}

_{“There are so many places they could be, you see. Old prospect holes. Isolated cabins. There are even natural cave formations in this part of the country. Ancient ruins too if you believe some of the stories. I really wouldn’t have any idea where Boo might have taken them.”}

_{Longarm grunted.}

_{“We have to find them, Longarm. Those Indians haven’t done anything criminal. They are entitled to their freedom. No matter what Boo and his silly male friends may think.”}

_{Longarm grunted. He wasn’t in any position to argue with her. Hell, what she said was exactly what he’d come there to enforce.}

_{Of course Billy Vail hadn’t entirely had it in mind that the subjects of the writ in Custis Long’s pocket would disappear once he got there.}

_{“Do you believe that, Counselor, or are you only wanting to rub those male friends’ noses in something of your doing?”}

_{Aggie stiffened, her shoulders drawing back and her nose hiking skyward. “That is a disgusting thing for you to say, Deputy.”}

_{“It was just curiosity. Nothing personal.” He’d begun to suspect, though, that Lawyer Able was much less interested in the welfare of her clients than she might have been. Otherwise how could she have lost them in the first place? And once they were lost, how could she not be ranting and raving and demanding a confrontation with the police chief and town fathers down in Snowshoe? As it was, fancy sentiments notwithstanding, she seemed content to sit there in the sunshine like they were on a picnic instead of a mission of justice.}

_{“I do not appreciate that sort of curiosity, Deputy.”}

_{“I’m sorry,” he lied.}

_{She sniffed. “Very well then. Shall we start down now?”}

_{“In a minute.” He took a slow loop around the crudely constructed stockade, which he guessed had been recently built for the purpose of containing the Utes, as there wasn’t any reason to put such a rig around a mine.}

_{“What are you doing?”}

_{“Looking for sign. See if I can track along behind them.”}

_{“Really? Can I watch?” She sounded interested in that, and came bouncing over to join him. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything for her to see.}

_{“This is lousy country to try an’ track in,” he explained. “It’s all either rock or gravel, an’ neither one o’ them will take a print. Besides, what with all the wagons that rolled in an’ outta here when the mine was operating, there just ain’t any way to tell what’s new and what’s old. Assuming the people were moved by wagon, that is. If they walked away I’d never be able to find sign of it, not on ground this hard. Not unless one o’ them was leaving a deliberate trail to show where they’d gone.” He sighed. “But I wanted t’ be sure there wasn’t nothing to see before we start back down.”}

_{“We’ll go back now, Longarm, and have lunch. Then we can find Boo or the mayor and get this all cleared up.” “Huh, uh.”}

_{“Pardon me?”}

_{“What we’ll do, Counselor, is go down an’ find the police chief or the mayor or whoever an’ get this business cleared up. Then we’ll think ’bout lunch.”}

_{She gave him a pouting look, which he ignored. “Come along, Aggie.”}

_{He helped her onto the driving box of the cart, then climbed up beside her. She wheeled the gray back in the direction from which they’d just come and set it into a slow lope, its fancy purple plume bobbing with all the monotonous regularity of a metronome. Longarm folded his arms and closed his eyes, trying to catch up on a little more of the rest he’d missed out on the night before.}

_{One good thing, he reflected. Nobody in the vicinity seemed angry enough to start shooting at him.}

_{Of course the locals were having things go all their own way about this so far. Or so they believed. Longarm knew better than to count on things staying peaceable once he commenced getting his licks in. So it likely was a good idea to rest up all he could now. Might not be opportunity for dozing in the sunshine much longer.}

_{The City Hall clerk named John looked up with a start when Longarm came bursting in, Counselor Able at his heels. The man actually stood and took half a step toward a side door before he got control of himself and determined to brazen it out. “Yes, Marshal?”}

_{“Where?” Longarm demanded.}

_{“Where’s what?”}

_{“The police chief,” Longarm said.}

_{“But I already told you—”}

_{“The mayor,” Longarm snapped. He’d reached John’s desk by then, and swept around it so that he was staring the clerk eyeball to eyeball. The difference was that Longarm’s eyeballs were set a good five inches higher off the floor than John’s were. John commenced to look uncomfortable.}

_{“I... don’t know.”}

_{“Bullshit.”}

_{“I don’t. I swear I don’t.”}

_{“Justice of the peace.”}

_{John shook his head. “I don’t know, Marshal.”}

_{‘Town councilmen.”}

_{John’s lips firmed into a thin line and he began to look smug instead of worried. Aggie stood beside Longarm although her presence wasn’t so intimidating as his. The lady lawyer might be tolerated by the men of this town, but she was only liked by the women. John obviously wasn’t much concerned about anything Aggie might threaten.}

_{“Got any other elected officials here?” Longarm asked.}

_{John, feeling much better with the situation now, gave Longarm a shit-eating grin and a loud, derisive snort. “Nope, that about covers the subject.”}

_{“How ’bout appointed officers o’ the town or the country?” Longarm asked.}

_{“Nope. Just them that you mentioned already. And I don’t know where none of ’em is right now, Marshal.” The i lie sparkled in his eyes, and he had to struggle to keep a straight face while he was telling it.}

_{Longarm took a step backward and gave the clerk a long looking over. The man continued to look smug.}

_{“I say you’re lying.”}

_{“Your opinion,” was all John would concede.}

_{“Lying is one thing, mister. Obstructing justice is another. I say you’re obstructing justice. Now d’you want to tell me where I can find them folks? Or d’you want to sit in a jail cell while you think it over?”}

_{“You can’t do that. Hell, it’s only your word against mine.” John glanced at Aggie for the first time. “Tell him, Miss Agnes.”}

_{“I’m sorry, John, but a deputy United States marshal has a duty to arrest you if he believes you are obstructing an investigation. You will have the right to argue your case before a judge, of course. And to apply for bonded release or a writ of habeas corpus. Just like any other citizen.” She hesitated only a fraction of a second, then couldn’t help adding, “Any citizen, John. White or red.”}

_{“But I haven’t—”}

_{“Tell me what I want to know or tell your problems to a judge,” Longarm said coldly.}

_{“Judge Wilkins is out of town,” John complained. “No one knows when he’ll be back.”}

_{“Wouldn’t matter nohow,” Longarm assured him. “D’you insist on going crossways with me, bub, it’s a federal court you’ll come before, not some local yahoo. Think about that a minute, John. Then you work it out what you want t’ do.”}

_{John’s eyes squeezed shut. The expression seemed one of fear and frustration rather than thought.}

_{And Longarm was quite frankly amazed.}

_{The clerk’s decision had been reached even before Longarm’s questions were posed.}

_{“I don’t know where none of them fellows are, Marshal. You can do whatever you want, but I won’t say a word different from that. I don’t know and I can’t tell you.” “You are a poor liar,” Longarm accused.}

_{“You can’t prove that.”}

_{“You surprise me, John. You really do.”}

_{John stiffened but didn’t say a damn thing.}

_{Longarm turned him around and slapped handcuffs on his wrists. Even with steel on him, though, the man didn’t relent. He’d gotten his orders, obviously, and he was carrying through with what he’d been told.}

_{It took a powerful persuasion to do that, Longarm knew. More powerful than a simple thing like the release of some Ute Indians should justify, dammit.}

_{“D’you think you’re protecting this community from a massacre, John? Is that it?”}

_{The clerk didn’t answer.}

_{“What if I tell you that I’ll take the Utes away from here just as quick as I get them released from custody. I’m pretty sure I can arrange that. They know me. They trust me enough, I think, to move if I ask them to. After all, it’s time they start down for the spring hunt anyhow. Once they’re released, mister, they’re gone.” Popular notion, Longarm knew, had it that the mountains in winter were a death trap of snow and ice and were to be avoided. In truth, as the Indians had known for more generations than a man could count, the mountains offered comfort and shelter in winter. Contrary to ordinary belief, the Indians moved to the plains to hunt during the warm months, but spent their winters in the high country. Their regular seasonal movements, therefore, would be taking them away from Snowshoe except for the delays imposed on them by people here. “Now does that make any difference, mister? Tell me}

_{where I can find the elected officials o’ this town ... or just tell me where I can find those Utes ... and I’ll let you go, won’t file charges against you.”}

_{The man didn’t so much as take time to consider it. “You go t’ hell, Marshal.”}

_{“Longarm,” Aggie said. “You aren’t really going to—•” “Watch me,” he growled. He took hold of John’s elbow and guided the clerk toward the stairwell that led down to the basement-level jail.}

_{If the town fathers of Snowshoe weren’t going to take charge of things there, well, Longarm would take over and conduct business the way he saw fit.}

_{“I got a prisoner for you,” he said to a sleepy-eyed, unshaven jailer who was presiding over a row of four empty cells.}

_{“Not without the chief says so, you don’t,” the jailer told him.}

_{Longarm gave the man a smile that had no hint of mirth in it. “Y’know,” he mused out loud, “that’s about the same thing this fella told me. An’ I told him the charge was obstruction o’ justice. You wanta see how that charge fits you too, neighbor?”}

_{“Care to sign your prisoner in, Marshal? I got the book right here.”}

_{“Thank you. Thank you very much.”}

_{“Before you ask, Marshal, I don’t know where the chief nor anybody else has got to. That’s the truth. They didn’t let me know ’cause they know I’ll spill anything if I’m pushed about it. All I was told was if I had any questions or wanted to pass any messages I was t’ do it through John here.” Longarm pulled John around to face him. “That’s corroboration of the charge against you, mister. The Justice Department will see it so. You’re looking at eighteen months to two years. Twelve to fourteen months inside, even with time off for good behavior. And that time won’t be spent strolling around a park. You won’t like what you find inside those walls. You truly won’t.”}

_{John looked away and refused to say anything.}

_{‘Take your prisoner, jailer. And I hope for your sake that you know better’n to allow him loose.”}

_{“I understand, Marshal.”}

_{Longarm retrieved his handcuffs, and watched while John was locked into a cell. Then the deputy completed the paperwork that was necessary. By the time he was done Longarm felt weary. Aggie followed him quietly back up the stairs. She was acting like she was still shocked that Longarm had actually gone through with the jailing and the charge against the clerk.}

_{Neither of them said a word as they went outside and headed for a cafe.}

_{“Paper, mister?” The kid was about ten years old, with carrot hair and enough freckles to share with half a dozen buddies. His clothes said he was poor, but his grin said he probably didn’t realize it. Hell, he had a job to do, and therefore was in possession of all the prospects in the world. All the ones that counted, anyhow.}

_{“Fresh news, son?” Longarm asked.}

_{“Yes, sir. The Snow shoe Independent, sir. It comes out twict a week. This here one was printed just this morning.” “Help out with the printing too, do you?”}

_{The kid’s grin got bigger. “Yes, sir. Sometimes.” He giggled. “When things go just right I’ve helped. That’s how you can always tell.”}

_{“Then I expect I can take your word that things are as they should be, eh?”}

_{“Ye?, sir.”}

_{Aggie became tired of Longarm’s playful conversation with the newsboy. She motioned that she was going on ahead, and swept off in the direction of a restaurant that she favored, leaving Longarm to catch up when he pleased. “How much for this newspaper of yours, son?”}

_{“The usual, mister. Two cents.”}

_{“A man couldn’t hardly pass up a bargain like that.” “No, sir,” the boy agreed.}

_{Longarm handed the youngster a nickel, accepted his newspaper in return, and waved away the offered three cents change.}

_{“Thanks, mister.” The kid sounded sincere, and no doubt}

_{was. But by the time Longarm winked at him, he had already turned away and was looking for his next customer. He wasn’t wasting any time dawdling where all the readily available profits had already been reaped.}

_{Longarm chuckled and wandered off in the direction Aggie had just taken, carrying his paper with him.}

_{The restaurant she’d entered had a menu board outside advertising everything from elk steaks to smoked buffalo tongue and a good assortment in between. The lady lawyer had just walked past two other cafes that served such mundane articles as mulligan stew and cheese sandwiches. Apparently Miss Agnes preferred living somewhat higher on the hog than that.}

_{“You certainly took your time,” she complained once he had joined her at a comer table.}

_{“Didn’t know we was in all that big a hurry,” he responded.}

_{“I don’t know about you, dear, but I happen to be hungry. I’ve already ordered, by the way.”}

_{“For both of us?”}

_{“Yes, of course.”}

_{For some reason it irked him that Aggie was assuming she should, or could, take charge like that. “Oysters on the half shell, I s’pose,” he grumbled. “Or is it a pate?” What he was in the mood for was something solid and meaty, steak and potatoes, sausage and biscuits, something on that order. Definitely not any fancy-prissy crap like truffles and pickled quail eggs.}

_{“I only wish oysters were available,” Aggie said, missing his tone of voice and taking the question seriously. “But we won’t get any fresh oysters in until the railroad is completed, I’m afraid.”}

_{“Such a pity,” Longarm said with no particular sympathy.}

_{“Yes, isn’t it?”}

_{The conversation wasn’t going anywhere. Longarm retreated from it by leaning back and opening the local newspaper. He glanced at a bold headline in the upper left comer of the front page.}

_{Then sat bolt upright with a frown.}

_{“Damn!” he blurted out.}

_{“I beg your pardon?”}

_{“Damn,” he repeated, loud enough this time that heads turned at the adjacent tables to see what was wrong. “D’you see what some sonuvabitch has gone an’ done?”}

_{Longarm went outside and bought another newspaper. It was either that or wrestle Aggie for possession of the first one. By the time he came back to the table she was muttering and moaning and getting red in the face.}

_{“But this isn’t... this is ... but these are all lies ... all of it. Lies. This... this is terrible. Unconscionable. Disgusting. There isn’t a word of truth in it.”}

_{“Hush,” he told her.}

_{“Don’t tell me to hush.”}

_{“Fine. Miss Able, ma’am, with all due respect, ma’am, I do humbly request that you shut the hell up for a minute while I read this. All right?”}

_{She glowered at him, but was too busy reading and groaning to do anything more about it at the moment. Every once in a while she would sit up straighter in her chair and yip a little or maybe squirm.}

_{Longarm hurried through the article as well. And understood completely why she was so unhappy with what she was reading.}

_{Hell, the headlines had been enough. “Wild Indians Threaten Massacre. Government Unable to Control Ute Tribe. Second Meeker Uprising Likely. Expert Warns of Dangers.”}

_{“Shee-it!” Longarm said.}

_{The article beneath the bold headlines was even worse.}

_{According to the author of the fabrications—Longarm knew the statements to be fabrications; probably Aggie knew them to be fabrications; probably they were the only two}

_{people who would ever read this newspaper who would know that, though—the Ute nation was on the verge of a general breakout and bloodletting. And the band of Utes imprisoned at Snowshoe was the advance guard for the war parties that were said to be gathering throughout the mountains.}

_{Women, children, and all. Sure. You betcha. Anybody who would believe that crap, Longarm knew, didn’t know anything about Indians in general or the Ute tribe in particular.}

_{Unfortunately that category, those who knew next to nothing about Indians, included damned near everyone who lived around there.}

_{The warnings were attributed to a “highly placed source with the government.” Who didn’t have his name mentioned anywhere in print, Longarm noted. Convenient. For somebody.}

_{“Anyone who reads this will become hysterical when those people are released, Longarm,” Aggie said. “They are sure to. Why, they will believe they are on the verge of disaster, that all of us are to be slaughtered.”}

_{“That sure seems t’ be the idea,” Longarm agreed.}

_{“Whyever would some government spokesman say things like this?”}

_{“What gives you the idea that somebody official said any o’ this?”}

_{“Well... this, of course. Right here, as you can see for yourself.” She showed him her paper and tried to point to the offending paragraph.}

_{“I read that part a’ready, Aggie. What I’m saying is, I don’t reckon anybody official said anything like that.”}

_“But...”

_{“Aggie, surely you learned by now that some folks will lie now an’ then.”}

_“But...”

_{“No reason why a man who’ll lie to your face won’t lie on paper too,”}

_{“I can’t believe ...”}

_{“You know the fella that wrote all this shit?”}

_{“Certainly.”}

_{“I think I need t’ pay him a visit.”}

_{“I shall go with you. As soon as we’ve eaten.”}

_{“You can wait here if you like. Me, I want t’ get on with it.”}

_{“But lunch is already here, Longarm. That’s ours on the tray coming now.”}

_{Aggie surely did like her groceries, Longarm conceded. And she was just the sort who would refuse to help him find the newspaperman until she’d had her way. Which in this case would involve getting some grub down. He might just as well sit back and fill his own belly while he was waiting for her.}

_{The meal she’d ordered turned out to be something with a foot-long French name. Longarm was fairly sure he’d never heard the term before. On the other hand, he didn’t really need to. Once you cut through the fuss and fancification, what it came down to was a good old mulligan stew cooked and served inside a little bitty pie crust. He wondered if he ought to point that out to the lady, then decided it was probably better not to. Let her enjoy paying half a dollar here for the same kind of mulligan she could get down the street for fifteen cents.}

_{“Hurry up there, would you?” he prodded. “We got work t’ do, dang it.”}

_{“Don’t rush me,” she shot back at him. But she was hurrying in spite of what she said, he saw.}

_{“Ellis Farmer, I would like you to meet Deputy Marshal Custis Long. Marshal Long, Mr. Farmer is the editor of the Snowshoe Independent."}

_{Deputy Marshal Custis Long scowled. Editor Farmer beamed with pleasure, either real or feigned. “How convenient,” he enthused. “I was going to look you up this afternoon, Deputy. I hope to interview you about your, um, business here.”}

_{“Yeah. Real convenient,” Longarm grumped. He felt no inclination to suggest that Farmer join Longarm’s friends in the use of his customary nickname. “Did you write—?” “Pardon me a moment please, Deputy. This will only take a second. Then we can talk as long as you wish.” Farmer smiled and rubbed his hands together, and hurried out of the newspaper “office.”}

_{Calling the publishing site of the Snowshoe Independent an office was putting the best face on things, to be sure. It consisted of a tent, and a rather shabby one at that, with timber reinforcements at the comers and native stone laid down to fashion an uneven floor of sorts. The roof sagged, and in some places the canvas was so thin that the sun practically shined right through. Longarm suspected it would leak like so much fishnet when it rained.}

_{Wooden crates were piled at the front to create a counter of sorts, and more crates and sturdy boxes were used as desks and chairs. Racks of metal type stood on sawhorses at}

_{the back of the tent, and a portable press rested on a stoutly constructed table, the only article of genuine furniture in the whole damned place. Longarm’s impression was that the Snowshoe Independent was not a particularly prosperous enterprise.}

_{Longarm pulled a cheroot out and lighted it. He hadn’t taken time for an after-dinner smoke before now, and the flavor of the tobacco was especially welcome. There in public he didn’t offer one to Aggie, and he thought the dirty looks he was getting from her might have something to do with that. He grinned and winked and blew smoke rings into the air between them.}

_{‘There, that didn’t take long, did it,” Farmer said as he breezed back in from his errand. “Would you care to sit down? This way, please.” He took Aggie’s elbow and guided her to a seat on a crate marked FloEver Ink.}

_{“You can sit there, Deputy. But I would prefer it if you didn’t smoke. Stinking, nasty things, cigars. I detest them.”}

_{“Do tell.”}

_{“Yes indeed. I find them quite vile.”}

_{Longarm took a closer look at the editor named Farmer. The fellow was thin and pale. He was of average height and wore a closely trimmed beard. His hairline was receding badly even though he was probably still in his twenties. There was something about him, though, that wasn’t quite ... normal. Nothing overt. Nothing Longarm could point to and say, “Hey, that’s it.” Just something that wasn’t quite ... right.}

_{Fortunately that wasn’t something that Longarm had to give a shit about. Ellis Farmer’s problems, whatever they might be, were his own worry.}

_{“You wanta know what I detest?” Longarm asked. He kept the cheroot trapped between his teeth and gritted his question around it.}

_{“I take it you intend to tell me?”}

_{“You take it right, Mr. Farmer. What I detest, mister, is newspaper articles that aren’t true. An’ that incite to violence.”}

_{“I agree with you most strongly,” Farmer said. “Most strongly indeed. I certainly would never be able to abide anything like that either.”}

_{Longarm puffed slowly on his smoke for a moment. ‘That story in today’s edition comes t’ mind, Farmer.” “Which one did you have in mind?” The question was deceitfully bland. The man had to know good and well which story was in question here.}

_{Longarm’s eyes narrowed.}

_{“About my clients,” Aggie put in, apparently accepting Farmer’s smart-ass response at face value.}

_{“Oh, yes. My warning about the impending atrocities. Not that I expect any praise, you understand. I was only doing my civic duty to pass that information along. Protecting the life and property of one’s fellowman is what any good newsman hopes to accomplish.”}

_{“Where’d you come up with bullshit like that?” Longarm snapped.}

_{“Surely you can’t mean—”}

_{“Quit your playacting, Farmer. Why’d you print a string of lies like that? You must’ve had a reason, man. But damned if I can work out what it could be. Can’t see any sense in it whatsoever.”}

_{“Lies, Deputy? What lies could you possibly mean?” Longarm glowered at him. It was Aggie who answered the man. “There is no danger from the Ute tribe, Ellis. Certainly there is no danger from the band of frightened, innocent people I represent here. Now why in the world would you print a story saying all those awful things?” “But those were not lies, I assure you. I was given that information by my source. I repeated the warning exactly as it was given to me.”}

_{“Bullshit,” Longarm said.}

_{“We won’t accomplish anything if you insist on being rude,” Farmer said.}

_{“Fact remains, mister. Your story is bullshit. Dangerous bullshit at that. The sorta bullshit that causes trouble an’ gets innocent people killed.”}

_{“Just what part of my story do you claim is, um, bullshit, Deputy?*’}

_{“Roughly speaking, I’d say it’s the part between the first word an’ the last one.”}

_{“I see. For instance then, you dispute what I wrote in my story about the massacre at the agency? About the Rev. Mr. Meeker and those other innocents being slaughtered? Was that bullshit, Deputy? Have I been misinformed? Did those deaths not actually take place?”}

_{“You know that isn’t what I was talking about, Farmer.” “Then perhaps you do not believe that young white women were .. . excuse me, Agnes, I don’t mean to be indelicate in your presence... were raped by savages during that recent uprising. Did that not happen either?. Is that what you disagree with, Deputy?”}

_{“Damn you, you know—”}

_{“But you claim that everything I wrote was false, do you not?”}

_{“Mister, you’re sitting here playing word games. Stupid ones, at that. I’m trying to see that the laws of this country are enforced an’ that no innocent people, not white ones nor red either one, come to harm. Now what I want from you is nothing more than plain truthfulness. In particular, man, I don’t want you getting folks worked up with a bunch o’ lies that can’t do anybody any good. You work folks up an’ get ’em scared, the next thing they’ll be shooting into the shadows. Gunning down the next Indian who walks by, just out o’ the fear that you put into ’em. Innocent people can get killed, mister, an’ all because of your stupid lies.” “And I say my story is not a lie, Deputy. Not the least part of it.”}

_{“That’s a lie right there, Farmer.”}

_{“Prove it.”}

_{“All right, I will. Tell me who this high-placed government source is s’posed to be. If you can. Though you an’ me both know that you can’t.”}

_{“My source of information does exist, Deputy. And I challenge you to prove otherwise.”}

_{“Who is he, Farmer? Let’s you an’ me both set down an’ talk to this guy.”}

_{“I can’t divulge a news source, Deputy, nor can you force me to. Surely you understand that. Why, even suggesting such a thing constitutes ... and I use the term advisedly ... a violation of my First Amendment rights of free speech. I daresay the confidentiality of a newspaperman’s sources of information enjoys every bit as much protection under the law as a priest’s confessional disclosures.”}

_{“Bullshit,” Longarm said.}

_{“Do you know of any specific case law to dispute me, Deputy? Or do you, Agnes?”}

_{Longarm’s only answer was a scowl. Aggie frowned, but had to admit that if there was a case to cite she wasn’t familiar with it offhand.}

_{“You came here to dispute my story, Deputy. As it happens, however, I dispute you. I claim accuracy in my report and a public duty to distribute what I know so that innocent white families will not be taken by surprise and subjected to another massacre by red savages. Now if I may say so, Deputy, I am not in a mood to interview you right now. I frankly don’t believe I could do so objectively. And you know I pride myself on my accurate and impartial reporting. So if you would excuse me, please?”}

_{The son of a bitch stood up and gave Longarm a snooty look.}

_{Lies. Every stinking bit of it lies. And they all three of them knew that it was all lies. Yet the bastard stood right there and looked them in the eyes with his own bare face hanging out and lied some more.}

_{This was crazy, Longarm thought. Crazy as hell.}

_{The really sad part of it was that there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it either.}

_{Even if he could prove that every word in that newspaper story was a lie—and he sure oughta be able to prove that— he still couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. Because for some stupid reason nobody’d ever gotten around to making it illegal for a man to tell a lie. Not even in print. And}

_{wasn’t that a damned shame, Longarm thought bitterly to himself.}

_{He took a few last puffs on his cheroot and blew smoke in the direction of Ellis Farmer, then dropped the partially finished cigar onto the stone flooring and ground it out under his boot. With any kind of luck the smell of it lying there would piss Farmer off.}

_{Longarm stomped out without bothering to tell the bastard good-bye or looking back to see if Aggie was following.}

_{Chapter 25}

_{Aggie was pale and, for the first time, seemed genuinely worried. ‘They could be killed, couldn’t they?”}

_{“The Utes?”}

_{She nodded.}

_{“Ayuh,” Longarm agreed. “They could be. Just as bad, there could be others killed too. Other Indians killed if that article stirs people up too bad. Whites killed if the Indians retaliate. Something like this can run a long, ugly time if it once gets up a head o’ steam, Aggie.”}

_{“I hadn’t thought that. .. until now, Longarm, I’ve been regarding this whole thing as a game. A way I could show off and impress the people of Snowshoe. Oh, I’ve honestly wanted justice for my clients. But I hadn’t ever thought that this, any of it, could be so deadly serious. But it is serious. It really is.”}

_{“Uh, huh.”}

_{“We need to find Chief Bevvy, don’t we?”}

_{“Him or somebody else. The mayor, judge, some-damn- body. We need to get this writ served, or at the very least get those Utes released from wherever they’re being held. Gotta get them the hell outta these mountains for a spell, an’ the quicker the better.”}

_{“Come with me,” Aggie said abruptly. She turned and hurried away, Longarm trailing close at her heels.}

_{The lady lawyer took him off the main street to a maze of narrow alleys that seemed to be passing as streets, with shacks crudely fashioned from packing crate slats pressed}

_{in on both sides, the footing uncertain because of the trash that was strewn everywhere. At night, Longarm suspected, this area would be quite the rat hole.}

_{Snowshoe’s tenderloin swallowed them whole, and he could smell cheap perfume and opium smoke, could hear grunting and weeping and the rhythmic creak, creak, crunch of steel bedsprings.}

_{It occurred to him to wonder how Miss Agnes might have come to know her way around in this particular part of town.}

_{“This way,” she said, turning yet another comer. “In here.”}

_{He had to duck to pass beneath a lintel that still carried writing on it to show it once had been a part of some other object. No telling now what that might have been. He could make out the letters B, A, and N.}

_{The inside of the hovel was dark even in mid-afternoon. Too dark for one’s eyes to readily adjust. He failed to see Aggie stop in front of him, and bumped into her.}

_{“I need to see her,” Aggie said.}

_{“Wait.” The answering voice was deep. Longarm realized there was a man, presumably a guard, somewhere in front of them. It was so dark that he hadn’t seen anyone, or even realized that he and Aggie weren’t alone there.}

_{There was a sound of footsteps, and then a rectangle of light appeared ahead as a door was opened and a burly form passed through it.}

_{Longarm’s Stetson kept scraping the ceiling, and he was tired of stooping. He took the hat off and was able to stand upright without bumping his head. His eyes began to adapt to the poor light.}

_{“What are we doing here?” he whispered. Somehow whispers seemed very much in order at the moment.}

_{“Shh. You’ll see.”}

_{‘Thanks,” he said dryly.}

_{“You’re welcome.”}

_{He made a face, which Aggie couldn’t see.}

_{The wait only required a few moments more. The door was opened again, and this time the male figure stood there without stepping through. “She’ll see you, Miz Able.”}

_{‘Thank you, Parson.”}

_{Longarm had a pretty good notion that Parson, when spoken in this connection, would be a nickname and not a description. Most parsons would keel over in a dead faint if they were ever to get a look inside a place like this one.}

_{“Yes’m,” the voice said.}

_{Longarm followed Aggie to the door and past Parson into the next room. His eyesight had returned well enough by now that he could see the guard. Parson had a face that was bum-scarred and twisted. The effect gave him an evil look, although that accidental appearance didn’t necessarily have a thing to do with the way he really was. He might really be a pussycat. Still, such an intimidating look must have been quite an advantage to him in his present line of work.}

_{Beyond the doorway the ceiling was higher. In fact, the room where they now stood was relatively normal, bordering on being quite nice. There were Oriental rugs on the floor, lamps in sconces on the walls, and furniture that was a trifle shabby now but which had once been quite grand.}

_{Mostly, though, the room was dominated by a bloated old woman who seemed to be all fat and face powder. She was dressed in a fluffy pink lace wrap that enveloped her from her ears to the floor and beyond. She looked like she was floating in a pink cloud, with only her heavily powdered face exposed. Even her hands were lost somewhere inside the gown. Her hair was wispy and white. Longarm couldn’t decide what her age might be. Old enough to call Methuselah sonny, perhaps.}

_{“So nice to see you, dearie,” she said to Aggie. Then she transferred her attention to the tall deputy who stood beside the lawyer. She nodded. “Nice to see you again, Longarm.”}

_Ill

_{“Have we met?”}

_{“Not formally.”}

_{“You have the advantage of me, madam.” He smiled and brought his heels smartly together, bowing slightly from the waist as he did so.}

_{“Always the gentleman, aren’t you. I would refresh your memory, love, but I don’t recall what name I might have been carrying at the time. It was in Tucson, I think. Or was it El Paso? No matter. We were not at cross-purposes. And I do remember that I liked you.”}

_{Longarm was damned well positive he had never laid eyes on the old harridan before this moment. He damn sure would’ve remembered her if he had.}

_{On the other hand, it wasn’t at all impossible that she might have seen him. He could’ve been pointed out to her. People who spent their lives on the shady side of things, as he assumed this woman surely did, tended to pay close attention to the lawmen who might someday come after them.}

_{“What can I do for you two children?” the old broad asked.}

_{Longarm left it for Aggie to answer, as this visit was her idea and she was the one who knew the woman. Longarm still hadn’t heard a name attached to her.}

_{“We’re looking for Boo Bevvy,” Aggie said.}

_{“You might have a long wait then,” the woman said. “He heard Longarm was here and is hiding?”}

_{“There are people who might want to give that impression, but the truth isn’t so dramatic,” the old bat told them. “Boo is off investigating the robbery, dear.”}

_{Longarm found it more than passing strange that neither woman seemed to find it necessary to specify which robbery they referred to. The robbery for some reason seemed to cover it.}

_{“I should have thought of that,” Aggie said.}

_{“You can’t think of everything, dearie.”}

_{“What about the mayor?”}

_{“He’s with Boo.”}

_{“And the judge?”}

_{“At home by now, I should think. Or hiding out somewhere else if he believes our friend Longarm will be coming after him.”}

_{“Why would I do that?” Longarm asked.}

_{“Because he ordered your prisoner released from the jail not ten minutes after you walked out,” the old bawd said, and cackled. She seemed to find that amusing as hell. Longarm did not. “Now he and John and your jailer friend are all laying low. They’re afraid of what you might do to them. But they’ve even more afraid of what might happen to everyone in these mountains if the Indians are turned loose, you see.”}

_{“I don’t understand that,” Longarm complained.}

_{The old woman shrugged. “Rumors. There were rumors long before that newspaper article came out this morning. That fool Ellis Farmer’s story only fanned a fire that was already burning.”}

_{“Do you know how the rumors started? Or who started them?”}

_{“My dear man, I don’t know quite everything that happens here. Even if I do pretend that I do.”}

_{“But the police chief isn’t actually in hiding from me?” “He will avoid you if he can. I doubt that Boo would risk a federal indictment and the loss of his reputation over it. Boo has his weaknesses, God knows ... for which I am suitably grateful... but total stupidity is not one of them. Boo won’t carry his game with you any further than he believes he can justify in a court of law if it should come to that.”}

_{Longarm nodded. “That’s good to know. Thanks.”}

_{“I didn’t go into all this for you, Longarm. I owe you nothing. I did it for my Agnes, bless her sweet heart. And mind you treat her nicely, Longarm, or I shall become cross with you. You wouldn’t want that to happen.”}

_{“No, I don’t believe I would,” he said for the sake of avoiding an argument. The truth was that he didn’t give a shit what this old woman did or did not like.}

_{He was, though, grateful to her for whatever information she might pass along.}

_{“Thank you, Sally.” Aggie went forward and leaned down to give the old bag a buss on the cheek.}

_{“My pleasure, dearie. Anything I can do, you know that.”}

_{“If you hear anything ... like where my clients are being kept now . .. ?”}

_{“Do you want me to find out for you?”}

_{“Yes, please.”}

_{“Consider it done, dearie. My children will locate them wherever they are and get word to you as soon as I know.” “Thank you, Sally.”}

_{Aggie curtsied and left. Longarm nodded and followed her, out past Parson and on into the brightness of the alleys. He waited until they were well clear of that place— whatever the hell it was—before he spoke again.}

_{“Her children?”}

_{“That’s what she calls the, um, people who work for her,” Aggie explained.}

_{“Whores?”}

_{“Some of them, yes. And a few pickpockets, I think. Cheats and sharpies of various kinds. Plug-uglies and bullyboys. Even some genuine children, I understand, although I haven’t any idea what nasty use she puts them to. She controls them all by way of opium.”}

_{“Nice sort o’ friend to have.”}

_{“I defended several of her, um, employees once. Gratis. That was before I understood that Sally could afford to hire anything done she wanted. And I do mean anything. She’s insisted on being my friend ever since. I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever objected.”}

_{“No, I can see how you wouldn’t.”}

_{“Do you recall that I told you I was independently well off?”}

_{“Mm, hmm.”}

_{“Actually, Longarm, you just met my independence.” “Makes sense.”}