Chapter 15
“Custis!”
He awoke with a start. “What?”
Addie had her Winchester clenched in her fists. “There are some horsemen coming!”
Longarm swung his legs off the bed and struggled to shake off a long, deep sleep. He grabbed his six-gun and hurried into the living room still in his stockings. “Four of them. And damned if one of them isn't the big man himself, Wade Stoneman!”
Longarm had a little time, so he went back into the bedroom and pulled on his boots and then gathered his hat. He reloaded the eight-gauge shotgun and said, “Addie, just stay back out of sight and don't make a peep. If shooting starts, then you know how to use that Winchester and don't hesitate to do it, because Stoneman wouldn't dare let you live to tell how he and his men shot down a federal marshal.”
“Do you think they'll do that?”
“When they learn what I've done, they might just try,” Longarm said. “Then again, Stoneman knows that I won't back down or waver for an instant if the bullets start flying.”
“Are you going to tell him about Joel Crawford still being alive and our plans to take him to see a judge in Cheyenne?”
“I'd best not,” Longarm said after giving the question a moment's thought. “But I'm sure he'll figure out that's what I intend to do if he knows the kid has survived.”
“Be careful!”
Longarm finished loading and cocking back both hammers on the shotgun. “You know I will be, and that this big gun almost evens the fighting odds.”
Addie kissed him on the lips.
“What was that for?” he asked with surprise.
“For luck. If you die out there, I'm going to die, and I'd like to see us buried side by side like the Dodsons.”
Longarm was touched by the sentiment. It was something that he hadn't expected to hear from a woman he still did not know all that well, and he didn't have any words to give her back, so he stepped outside onto the porch and waited for the riders.
Stoneman didn't recognize Longarm until he was less than fifty feet from the ranch house, and when he did he gaped, but then quickly recovered his composure and grinned.
“Well, as I live and breathe, if it isn't my old friend and student Marshal Custis Long!”
Longarm nodded. “I'm no student anymore, Wade. I wasn't when you left Denver.”
“Yeah,” Stoneman said, reining in his horse as the three men he'd brought did the same. “I can see that you've really filled out those boots. Are you still working for Billy Vail?”
Longarm nodded. “I am.”
“How is old Billy? Probably fatter than a hog after a few years sitting behind a government desk.”
“Billy is fine,” Longarm said. “He sent me here.”
Stoneman blinked. “Billy sent you?”
“That's right.”
“Why? Did he think you missed your old friend and mentor?”
“I don't think that's the reason,” Longarm answered. “Billy got word that you were doing some things that go against the law.”
Stoneman feigned surprise and hurt. “I can't believe that Billy would think bad of me.”
“He and a lot of other people in this neck of the woods think bad of you, Wade. From what I hear, you've managed to scare everyone into either selling out or making you emperor of Buffalo Falls, or else you've killed them off. Three city councilmen?”
Wade's smile died. He was a big and handsome man, but too much money and good food had put forty extra pounds on his frame and he looked older and dissipated. Under the brim of his Stetson, there was now silver instead of black hair. Yet when Longarm looked into Wade's black eyes, he saw a familiar unyielding intensity and resolve. And the same lack of compassion. Longarm had always thought that gazing into Wade Stoneman's eyes was like staring into the eyes of a mountain lion.
Wade turned away from Longarm for a moment and surveyed the ranch yard.
Longarm knew that he was looking for the men he'd sent to kill Jed Dodson. “Wade, are you looking for something you might have lost?”
“No,” Wade said, still not looking back at Longarm. “I was just thinking that this is a fine little ranch. A ranch I'd like to own. I think I'll buy it from Jed the next time I see him. Make him a fair offer and send him on his way to Cheyenne, where he can sit in a rocking chair and get regular visits from his son. How does that sound, Custis?”
“Sounds kind of like you've made up your mind to have this ranch no matter what Jed wants.”
“Boss?”
It was one of Stoneman's hired guns, and he was looking as if he wanted to go for his gun.
“What?”
“You want me to ride around and maybe look in the barn?”
“No!” Stoneman lowered his voice and said to his men, “Let's all relax and sit tight for the moment.”
His mounted gunmen nodded with understanding.
Now Stoneman turned back to study Longarm. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
“I made friends with Jed.”
“You should be more careful choosing your friends, Custis. I hear that Jed was saying some unpleasant things about me in the saloon last night. I'm afraid that Jed has misjudged me and I wanted to sort of . . . well, clear the air with him today. Is he inside?”
“No,” Longarm said.
“Then where is he?”
“Jed is around,” Longarm answered. “I'll tell him that you came to make him another offer for this ranch, but don't expect him to sell.”
“Why not? Every man has his price. Even you.”
“I don't think so.”
“Why don't I see if that is true or not?” Stoneman suggested. “How much money are you making by now working as a federal marshal?”
“Deputy marshal,” Longarm corrected.
“Ah, you haven't advanced up the career ladder?” Stoneman made a face reflecting disappointment. “Too bad, but to be honest, I'm not really surprised. I know from firsthand experience that you are brave and resourceful, but I also remember you had little or no ambition.”
“I've got ambition,” Longarm countered. “I get real ambitious when it comes to arresting someone for murder.”
Stoneman took a deep breath, and Longarm could see that he had really rankled the former lawman. “And are you here to arrest
me
?”
Longarm lifted the barrel of the huge shotgun so that it was pointed right at Stoneman. “Not yet. But if you or one of your men even drop your hands a little, there won't be any need to arrest you or them . . . because you'll be deader than cans of corned beef.”
Stoneman was fearless and cunning. And he damned sure wasn't going to make a false move and get himself blown to pieces. “Now just settle down there, Custis! That's mighty hard talk for an old friend that saved your life more than once, as you seem to have forgotten.”
“I haven't forgotten,” Longarm told him. “And I also remember saving your life in Santa Fe when you tried to rape that little Mexican girl that had served us supper.”
“Ah,” Stoneman exclaimed, “you do remember a thing or two from our storied past.”
“Most of those memories are bad, Wade.”
Stoneman placed both of his big hands on his saddle horn. “So where exactly is Jed Dodson?”
“Like I said before, Jed is around.”
Stoneman frowned and seemed to think hard for a few moments. Finally, curiosity got the better of him and he asked, “You haven't by any chance seen any of my riders today, have you?”
“What would they be doing on Jed's ranch?”
“Oh,” Stoneman said, broad shoulders shrugging off the question. “Sometimes my cowboys tend to wander a mite.”
“How many of them were there?” Longarm was almost starting to enjoy this cat-and-mouse game.
“Five.”
“Hmmm,” Longarm murmured. “That's a lot of men to lose. Are you sure you sent them over here?”
“I didn't send them anyplace,” Stoneman countered. “But they might have been looking for cattle and ridden in this general direction. One of them was a top hand named Casey.”
“And that would be the new town marshal? Is he one of your lost cowboys, Wade?”
Stoneman realized that he'd made his own trap and now he was angry. “Listen, Custis, don't even start to play games with me! If you have something to say, then say it now and let's get down to brass tacks. You know I'm not the kind of man that likes to put unpleasant things off until later.”
“All right,” Longarm agreed, deciding to lay his cards on the table. “I'm here to take you down, Wade. I can kill you right now, but I'd rather see you go to trial and then the gallows.”
His face flushed with red anger. “That will
never
happen. You know it and so do I.”
Longarm did know that Stoneman would never allow himself to hang. He'd go down fighting if cornered, and he was starting to feel a bit cornered right now even though he had three gunmen who looked tough and capable.
“I believe our conversation is over,” Longarm said.
“Yeah, I think you're right about that. Will you be coming into Buffalo Falls anytime soon?”
“I probably will, Wade.”
“Good! Then drop by my office at the bank and I'll pour you a glass of whiskey or a cup of Colombian coffee . . . whichever you prefer.”
“I'll keep your invitation in mind.”
“You know,” Stoneman said, lifting his reins, “it doesn't have to be this way between old friends. I'll pay you double . . . no, triple . . . what you're earning as a marshal, and there would be bonuses that could make you wealthy.”
“No, thanks.”
“See, you have no ambition.” Stoneman looked at his gunmen. “Custis Long is a formidable man . . . someone not to be taken lightly. But his problem was and still is that he is stupid and has no ambition.”
Longarm had no intention of being insulted. “So long, Wade. I'll be seeing you again before long.”
Stoneman started to rein his horse around, and then he paused and said, “Oh, by the way. I hear that Addie Hudson came back from Denver. She didn't by chance happen to come back with you, did she?”
“She might have.”
He grinned. “Always the ladies' man, Custis. They always loved you the most and the best.”
Stoneman stared at the ranch house. “She wouldn't just happen to be inside there, would she?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering. I like her ranch, too.”
“I'll bet.”
Stoneman laughed a cold, hard laugh. “I wouldn't mind owning the Lazy H, and I'd like it even better if Addie came with it.”
“Dream on,” Longarm said.
“Have you screwed her, Custis? I'll bet you have? Is she as juicy as she looks?”
Longarm raised the big double-barreled shotgun and pointed it right at Stoneman's grinning face. “You've got about two seconds to ride out of here before I blow you all over the yard.”
“Ah, I hit a nerve. It tells me that you have bedded her! Well, good for you!”
Longarm started to squeeze the triggers, but a cry from the house stopped him cold. “Custis, no!”
Stoneman and his riders stared at Addie in the doorway with her Winchester.
“Well, doesn't this just make things even more interesting,” Stoneman said, grinning from ear to ear. “What a stir this is going to cause among the ladies of Buffalo Falls.”
“Git!” Longarm said. “Git while you can.”
“This is just the beginning,” Stoneman warned. “I'll be seeing you in
my
town one of these days real soon.”
“Wade, you can count on it,” Longarm promised the big man before Stoneman jerked his horse around and galloped away.
“So what are we going to do now?” Addie asked after the riders were gone.
Longarm frowned. “Do you think that Crawford is going to make it?”
“I expect he will live. But we can't move him right away.”
Longarm considered their dilemma for a moment. “All right,” he decided. “We'll wait until it gets dark and then we'll take him to your place for a couple of days.”
“And then what?”
“I haven't figured that out yet,” he admitted. “I guess the main thing is that we get him to a judge in Cheyenne. After he gives sworn testimony against Wade, then I'll have grounds for an arrest warrant.”
Addie thought about this for a few seconds, then said, “What about all those horses you hid in the barn?”
“We'll take them and hide them in your barn until I figure out what to do next. Addie, the important thing is to get Joel to Cheyenne alive so he can testify against Wade.”
“And what if he refuses to do that?”
“He won't,” Longarm said. “I promise you that I'll make the kid talk . . . or else.”
Addie looked into his eyes and felt a shiver pass up and down her spine.
Chapter 16
It was three o'clock in the morning by the time Longarm returned to Addie's ranch and put all the horses in her barn so that they could not be seen by Wade or any of his men. Moving the horses had been the easy job, but getting the gunshot Joel Crawford moved had been a bit trickier. Longarm and Addie had hoisted the semiconscious young gunfighter into the saddle, and then Longarm had climbed up behind the man and held him erect all the way between the two ranches. Crawford hadn't regained consciousness, but he also hadn't started hemorrhaging, which was what Addie had most feared.
After a long, difficult night, Longarm tumbled into Addie's bed and slept like the dead until mid-morning. When he awoke, he was surprised to see Addie holding out a cup of coffee and smiling.