He awoke the next morning to the sound of a battle going on between a screaming woman and some man who was giving her a hard time. Longarm dragged himself out of his bed, stretched, and reached for his six-gun. He heard the woman hit the hallway floor, and then heard her cry of pain cut short.
Longarm jumped to the door and unbolted it, then stepped outside to see that there were two very big and very drunk men standing over a young woman that he recognized as Alice.
“Step back!” Longarm ordered.
“You better mind your own business!” one of them ordered.
Longarm cracked the man across the bridge of his nose with the barrel of his gun. The man reeled away in pain, and the other fella made a play for his holstered gun and also got pistol-whipped for his stupidity.
“Now get out of here before I shoot you both!” Longarm shouted at the retreating pair.
When they were gone, Longarm helped Alice to her feet. She was disheveled and had a nasty bruise across one side of her face, but was otherwise in pretty good shape.
“You’re a little small to be taking on a pair like that, aren’t you?” Longarm asked.
“I thought better of them,” Alice replied. “I don’t usually make that bad a mistake.”
“Well, I hope not,” Longarm told her, “or you could wind up dead the next time.”
“Who are you?”
“Custis. And your name is Alice.”
“How’d you know that?”
“An admirer of yours told me,” Longarm explained. “I didn’t catch his name but he was a lovesick cowboy.”
“That would have been Monte. For some fool reason, he keeps asking me to marry him—even when he’s sober!”
“Maybe you should marry the man. He seems like a fine fella and he adores you, Alice.”
“But he’s a cowboy. I can’t go out and live in some line shack while he nursemaids a bunch of cows. Uh-uh, that’s not the life for me.”
“Maybe he’d change his line of work and get a town job.”
“Maybe,” Alice said, looking doubtful. “But I’m not too sure that he’d be very happy living in town.”
“Yeah,” Longarm said, “but I can’t imagine you’re very happy now either.”
“You got that right. Say, mister, would you mind if I use your room to clean up a little?”
“Not at all,” Longarm said, leading the way.
He stretched out on the bed and watched as Alice used his washbasin to freshen up. She opened a small handbag and applied some makeup in order to partially hide her fresh and angry bruises.
“How old are you?” Longarm blurted out.
“Old enough to know better than to take on two ornery sonofabitches at once.”
“Marry Monte,” Longarm urged. “Then start over fresh.”
She turned and really looked at him. “You don’t look like no preacher but you sure sound like one.”
“I’m a United States deputy marshal.”
“You are!”
“Yes.”
“Lemme see a badge.”
Longarm dug his badge out of his coat, causing Alice to cluck her tongue with surprise. “Well, no wonder you took care of them two sonofabitches the way you did! Why didn’t you arrest and throw them in jail for beating me up?”
“I’m after bigger prey,” Longarm explained. “And I really would appreciate it if you would not tell anyone that I’m a marshal.”
“Sure, if that’s the way you want it.”
“It is.”
“Who are you after, Marshal?”
“Joe and Dave Marble. Do you know anything about them that might help me?”
To Longarm’s surprise, Alice laughed outright. “Why, I know the size of their peckers! And I know that Dave’s is longer than his brother’s, who grunts like a pig when he’s coupling. Tom is slow, but sometimes he gets too drunk to get it up, and once he even fell asleep while I was undressing! Can you imagine?”
“Not hardly,” Longarm said, “but I need to know how to find them.”
“They’re in Cortez.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure,” Alice said. “The word is that they stole some cattle and are peddling them off a few at a time.”
“Thanks,” Longarm said, collecting his gear as he prepared to take up the outlaw trail again.
“Hey, Marshal. I owe you for this. You want a little fun this morning?”
“No, thanks.”
Alice blinked with surprise. “I know I look a little rough, but I can make you howl like a lobo wolf.”
“Uh-uh.”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause I’m betting that you are smart enough to marry Monte the next time he comes to town.”
Alice, despite her bruises and pains, put her hands on her shapely hips and laughed. “Why, I do believe you are the strangest marshal I ever met. All the others either wanted to arrest or hump me, one or the other.”
“Get out of here,” Longarm said with an easy grin. “I’ve seen a lot of pretty young girls like you, and the ones that keep whoring all wind up either dead or diseased. It’s no life for any woman, Alice. You’re smart enough to figure that out for yourself.”
“Well,” she said, going over to the door, “Monte did say that his parents have a little spread over in Arizona. He told me that we could get married and they’d let us build a cabin and give us some cattle to start a herd.”
“Sounds good. Did he say where the ranch was?”
“Near a town called Prescott.”
“One of my favorite parts of Arizona,” Longarm said. “Marry the kid and go there. Let him raise cattle and you start raising children and see how good life can be, Alice.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Gawdamn, Marshal, I think I’ve plumb figured you out at last.”
“Is that right?”
“Yep. You’re a romantic. That’s exactly what you are. A romantic. I bet anything that you can even spout a sonnet or two, can’t ya?”
Longarm blushed, and then he shooed Alice out the door before he started thinking about getting romantic with her himself. Once those bruises healed and she started living clean and getting her rest, that girl was going to be beautiful.
Ten minutes later, Longarm was striding into the livery.
“Why, you look like a new man!” the owner exclaimed with a wide grin.
“How is Splash?”
“I’ve curried him to a shine and grained him. I’d say he’s ready to ride.”
“Thanks,” Longarm said, paying the man and saddling the paint himself. “How long will it take me to reach Cortez?”
“You’ll be there by sundown, if not sooner.”
“They got a hotel and a livery?”
“Yep, but none as good as mine.”
“I’ll be back through,” Longarm promised.
“Marshal, you be careful when you brace the Marble brothers,” the liveryman said, looking concerned. “They’re real bad.”
“How’d you know that I was a marshal and that I was after the Marble brothers?”
“Everyone in town knows it. Why else would you have been asking about ‘em last night?”
“Yeah,” Longarm said drily, “why else? By the way, did you happen to see a carriage pass through town with a couple of horses in tow?”
“There are a lot of ‘em passin’ through Durango every day.”
“This one was real nice with a black top and red fringe.”
“By jingo, I did see that buggy. Was a man and a real pretty Indian girl at his side.”
“I think she is his hostage.”
“I doubt that,” the liveryman said.
“Why?”
“She was all tight up against him with her arm linked around his waist. She looked real happy.”
“Well I’ll be …” Longarm didn’t finish. Instead, he just tightened his cinch before he stepped into his saddle and headed off for Cortez.
Chapter 16
The Assassin was starting to have second thoughts about what was most important in his life. Before meeting Betty, the only thing that held any meaning was revenge. But now, after almost a week with this woman, he was ready to believe that he could again find happiness. That he might live for something more than to kill the last of the men who had caused the death of his wife and son. Revenge was sweet, but it was a sweet poison that starved rather than nourished the soul. The Assassin wondered if he might be able to fall in love once more. To have even considered this possibility a few weeks before would have been completely unimaginable.