Longarm looked down the coach. “Yeah, how about that, Doc? Or Anson, or whatever it is. You look all different now. How’d you do that?”
The man said with a small smile, “That would be something it takes years to learn, Marshal. Right now I am concerned with Rita talking too much. You’d spoil everything if you did that, dear. I know it looks black right now, but one never knows what prospects might emerge from the dim gloom.”
She said, pointing at Longarm, “Anson, you don’t know this man. He is mean as anything. You already know how he hurt Frank and Wayne and Potts. And I told you how he treated me that second night. Like I was nothing but a piece of meat!”
Longarm said, “Thought you might like to know how it felt. At least I didn’t steal your derringer while I was at it.”
She gave Longarm a fierce glance. “You are a savage. And I cannot allow you to hurt this man, this great actor.”
Longarm laughed slightly. He said, “You ain’t so bad yourself. You fooled the hell out of me, I’ll give you that.”
Anson said, “Rita, I prefer you not to say anything.”
Longarm turned and looked at him. He said, “Anson, you sit back down there. Let’s let the lady talk. Otherwise we are going out of the wagon and I damn well may see how many fingers I have to pull off before you tell me what you know.”
Anson said, “I never have complimented you on your manner of conveyance. I have been chased before, but never by a man riding in a mule-drawn bathtub. Very ingenious. It also means I wasted my time with those miserable Mexicans finding out everything I could about that station. I was assured by them there were no vehicles of any kind you could use to chase us. Most inventive.”
“Let’s get on with it,” Longarm said. “I’m in a hurry.” He turned to Rita. “Who is at that station? How many are waiting for you two?”
Instead of answering she looked at the actor. “Anson? Please?”
He shook his head and folded his arms. “I’d rather you didn’t, my dear. I have not yet given up hope. The game is still afoot. I don’t mind the pain and I think I can hold out until well after dark. By then help might well arrive when they realize we could have had trouble.”
She said, talking in front of Longarm as if he didn’t exist, “I’m not sure it would work. You should have seen him when he beat the hell out of Wayne and them. And you just saw how he can shoot. Anson, I’m afraid we have to cooperate. Perhaps he’ll make us a deal, let us go.” She turned to Longarm. “Marshal, if we help you get what you want will you be fair with us? Will you turn your head long enough for us to get away?”
Anson said instantly, “You can’t bargain with the devil, Rita. No, don’t expect any mercy from him.”
Longarm said, “You might be surprised, Mr. Actor, what I might be willing to do. It’s Carl Lowe I am after. I calculate it was you got the party together and bore the expense to break him out of prison. That right?”
Anson nodded his head modestly. “I think I could say with some degree of fairness that I engineered most of the plot, though I did not finance the project with my own money. Others were involved. By the way, as a sap to your ego, Carl warned us about you from the beginning. He said you had to be thrown off the scent. He appears to fear you more than the rest of the law put together.”
Rita said eagerly, “What will you do for us, Longarm, if we assist you in capturing Carl Lowe?”
Longarm shook his head. “I can’t get over the way you talk so different than you did back at the station. And what you and I did … I mean, was that part of it?”
The actor suddenly laughed. He said, “Don’t disconcert yourself, Marshal. I can assure you that Rita was not acting that part, if I understand you correctly.”
Longarm said to both of them, making his voice firm and earnest, “Look, I got no real interest in the two of you. Carl Lowe is who I want. It looks bad I let him get away from me out there on the desert. You play straight with me and I don’t see any reason why either one of you has to get hurt. In fact I’ll guarantee it.”
Rita looked down the coach at the actor. “Anson? I heard he is a man of his word. They say he is mean as hell, but he keeps his word.”
Anson studied Longarm’s face for a moment. “You propose a deal of some sort, Marshal?”
Longarm studied the man. He had discarded the glasses and his face looked much younger, firmer. And without the tight-fitting coat and vest he was a good deal more broad-shouldered and broad-chested than he had appeared. “I’m after Carl Lowe. I’ve said there is no need for you or Rita to get hurt in the deal, not unless you cause trouble. But I got to know one thing first. Who shot the driver and the guard?”
“That,” Rita said quickly, “was Wayne’s work. And Frank’s. They never even give them men a chance to surrender. Rode up and blazed away. Next thing we had two dead men riding in the driver’s box on a runaway coach. Frank and Wayne got it stopped, and then Anson did the driving from then on.”
Longarm looked down toward the actor. “You handled that team pretty good, Anson. Where’d you learn that?”
Anson smiled smugly. “I once served as the coachman for a rich family in Saint Louis. Drove a four-in-hand.”
“What’d you do that for? No acting jobs available?”
Anson chuckled. “It was the best way to learn the layout of their house and their comings and goings. It was where I met Rita. She did the robbery while I was driving the Mister and Madame around.” He laughed briefly.
“And you didn’t have anything to do with killing that guard and driver?”
Anson shook his head emphatically. “That is not my style. I do not care for bloodshed at all. Only if it is necessary. Absolutely necessary.”
“Then I reckon we can deal.”
Anson glanced at Rita and then at Longarm. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you help me capture or kill whoever is waiting at that station, and as far as I’m concerned you can write your own ticket.”
Anson looked at him hard. “You will let us go?”
“I’m saying I don’t care what you do or where you go. You need it any plainer than that?”
Rita said, “They say he keeps his word. They say he’s tough as hell, but fair.”
Anson said, “Yes, I know.” He pondered for a moment, and then shrugged. “I guess that means we have to pass on the gold. Is that right, Marshal?”
Longarm laughed lightly. “I think we got to draw the line somewhere.”
Anson sighed. “Dammit, I invested a lot of time and not a little money in this venture.”
Rita said, “But we can start all over again, Anson. We’ll be free. The plan is ruined anyway.”
Longarm said, “That’s enough talk. What’s it to be?”
Chapter 10
Rita said, “Besides Carl, there are only two men there. There would have been five, not counting Anson and Carl, but you killed the other three. They were to have ridden out, taken control of the coach, and put the driver and guard afoot.” She looked down. “You saw where it went wrong.”
From the front of the coach Anson said, “And I can tell you who made it go wrong.”
“Yeah? Who?”
“Never mind for now. Go ahead, Rita.”
“Anyway, that’s all that is at that station. We were suppose to arrive there early this evening, switch the gold to a special wagon that has been built, and then head south for Mexico. We figured to have at least a two-day head start, and did not believe anyone could find us. And if they did, we would have enough guns to fight them off. Of course we would have had more if so many of the damn fools who broke Carl out hadn’t gotten themselves killed or captured.”
Longarm said, “The two at the relay station … gunmen?”
“One is for certain.” She looked up the coach to Anson. “What should I say about the other?”