“Why, you had to, of course,” she said over her shoulder. “After all, dear, you are the only reason I came to Snowshoe.”
“Mighty flattering, Leah, but you already told me before that you were cornin’ here anyhow. Caught ya.”
“Laugh if you want, but it happens to be true, dear. I told you earlier that I would be coming to Snowshoe to look for a possible business site. Well, I won’t be wanting one of those now. Not here. So why else would I come except to see you.” She continued brushing her hair.
“You really don’t have business here now?”
“Of course not. I may be a silly, simpering female the way you men look at it, but I am no fool when it comes to investment. And the smart money in this county says Snowshoe and these other high-country camps are going to fizzle out just as quickly as they boomed. Unless I want a short-term profit, which would be no profit at all, I’ve been advised to stay along the right of way of the Silver Creek, Tipson, and Glory.”
“Really?”
“But of course, dear. That railroad line will be completed, you see. The other one up here is only a pipe dream. The backers haven’t enough capital to build through. And without a railroad these camps will fail.” She quit brushing and turned to face him, all the lightness gone from her expression now, replaced by a hard- edged, shrewd intelligence. Perhaps, he reflected, poor Aggie couldn’t compete with this woman even in that arena. “Have you heard anything different from that, Longarm?”
He shrugged. “Actually what 1 heard from a local mover and shaker just tonight is that without a railroad these camps will die, all right."
“Exactly,” Leah said.
“Oh th’ other hand,” Longarm said, “this fella wasn’t at all convinced that they won’t get their railroad built. The only reason there’s doubt is because money they were counting on t’ finance laying track was stolen. But he says they can recoup those losses if they hang tough. Tell you the truth, Leah, I believed him. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about.”
“How odd,” she said, “when my sources in Glory told me just the opposite.”
“Aw, rivalry between small towns like these is pretty common. Why, I’ve seen things get s’ bad they started shooting at each other. And county seats? Lordy, you wouldn’t believe what some folks will do t’ get a county seat. Or hold onta one. Town over in Kansas, the people from one town snuck in one night an’ raided the courthouse. Carried off records, files, maps, benches, plat books, everything but the building itself. Come t’ think of it, they took some parts o’ that too. Folks woke up the next morning an’ discovered their county seat was twenty miles away. Never got it back neither, not so far as I heard. The ones that stole it forced an election an’ managed to keep it once they had it.” “That’s crazy,” Leah said.
“Sure it is. Which is what I’m telling you. Folks can be crazy sometimes. So don’t get caught in the middle of some rivalry between two little towns when each of ’em wants you to think theirs is the only one worth looking at. Could be the both of ’em will do just fine.”
“That certainly wasn’t the impression I got from the people in Glory. They were quite positive Snowshoe won’t get its railroad and that I should avoid investing here.” Longarm shrugged. “Makes no never mind t’ me either way,” he told her quite honestly. “My business only has t’ do with right and wrong, thank goodness. I don’t have to care a damn thing about profit or loss.”
“Lucky you.”
“I do agree, ma’am.”
They heard a tapping at the door. Leah was still busy brushing her hair. “Do you want to get it, Longarm?”
“I will if you want me to,” he said. “But it’ll break the kid’s heart if I do.”
Leah laughed. “We wouldn’t want to be responsible for that, would we?” She set her brush aside, glanced down to make sure that the front of her gown was drawn modestly closed—her previous tough talk on the subject aside—and went to open the door so the bellboy could bring their coffee and champagne in.
The look in the kid’s eyes when he saw Leah with her hair just brushed and flowing loose and gleaming made Longarm glad that he hadn’t gone to the door. Leah was the kind of woman dreams were built on. And no doubt this youngster had just received a lifetime supply of ’em. No harm in that, Longarm figured.
“Your supper will be up real soon, ma’am,” the boy managed in a cracking voice. He looked like he was fixing to swoon dead away. “I won’t let nothing get cold, I promise.”
“I shall trust you to take care of everything,” she said in her sultry, throaty voice. “Everything, yes?”
The boy’s face turned red. He spun around and practically bolted out of the room. Longarm and Leah waited until he was gone and well out of hearing before they broke into laughter.
Chapter 34
Leah really didn’t mind if the whole world knew about her interest in the tall deputy. Come morning she insisted that they go down to breakfast together and the hell with anything that might be said about it. It was an invitation that Longarm would have declined if he could, but not the sort a gentleman could reasonably refuse. They parted only long enough for him to go to his own room for a quick shave, agreeing to meet in the hotel dining room in twenty minutes.
When Longarm walked into the dining room, Leah was already there. She was not alone. He would have backed away except that she saw him in the doorway and motioned him forward.
“Deputy Marshal Custis Long, this is Mr. Ellis Farmer. Mr. Farmer is—”
“Oh, Mr. Farmer and I have already met,” Longarm said with a tight smile that was pure politeness extended for Leah’s sake. Longarm hadn’t liked the editor of the Snowshoe Independent when they’d first met, and he hadn’t found any cause to change that opinion since.
“How nice,” Leah said.
Farmer’s expression showed that he was somewhat less pleased with it than the lady was. Apparently he thought about as much of Longarm as Longarm did of him.
“Sit down, dear, before your coffee gets cold.”
Longarm grunted and took a seat directly across the table from Farmer where he could stare some daggers at
the big-mouthed, lying, rabble-rousing sonuvabitch. Farmer didn’t care for that, and quickly began to examine the weave in the tablecloth under his nose rather than meet Longarm’s eyes.
“I can see that I’m interrupting your breakfast,” the newspaperman said.
“Nonsense,” Leah chirped, oblivious to the hackles that were rising on both sides of her. “I have no need to keep secrets from Longarm, Mr. Farmer. Please go ahead with your explanation.”
“I... really, Miss Skelde, I would prefer to do this some other time.”
Leah shrugged. “If you wish.” Her offhanded manner said Farmer’s business wasn’t all that important to her.
“I do, thank you.” Farmer stood, bowing over Leah’s hand and doing his best to ignore Longarm. “Later this morning if that would be convenient?”
“Whatever,” Leah said with another shrug of dismissal. Before Farmer had gotten two steps away she was telling Longarm, “I understand they have fresh roe today, dear. How would scrambled eggs and fried roe sound?” Longarm’s response was that it sounded quite frankly like shit. Except out loud he didn’t say it exactly that way. “Doesn’t quite do it for me today. But don’t you fret. I’ll think of something that sounds good.” He picked up a neatly lettered menu card and began looking it over. “What’s the deal with Farmer if you don’t mind me asking? I thought you’d decided you wouldn’t be doing business here.”