by Tabor Evans
“Did he wear high-heeled cowboy boots?”
“Yes, and they were black. And he wore a gun in a nice black holster resting on his right hip. I would describe Casey as a hard and dangerous-looking man. He had very intense brown eyes and when he moved he had a slight limp, but it didn’t seem to slow him down any. Father said he was an excellent cowboy and a complete loner. Said he never talked about his past. Father didn’t mind that he was so quiet. He said he could talk enough for both of them and the main thing was that Casey was sober, hardworking, and dependable.”
“Good enough,” Longarm said. “With that description, I’d recognize him in an instant.”
“It’s late in the day,” Addie said, looking back out the window. “Custis, why don’t we both go into Buffalo Falls first thing tomorrow morning? You’ve had a hard day and I would appreciate your company very much.”
“I really need to go to town, Addie. But I’ll be back tonight. You need to rest and get to feeling better,” he told her. “You cracked your head pretty hard when that roan mare took a spill. I’d rather you stayed here and recuperated.”
Addie’s eyes showed her worry. “But what if you get into serious trouble and need me?”
Longarm went over and hugged Addie. “If I get into something that I can’t handle, then I’ll just hightail it out of Buffalo Falls and come back here for reinforcements. You said it was only five miles away.”
“That’s right. You’ll see the wagon road heading north and you can’t get lost. In fact, you’ll see the town pretty quick once you leave the ranch.”
“Where are your father’s cattle and horses?”
Addie shook her head. “I don’t know. We should have seen some of them on the way here. I . . . I just don’t know.”
“I’ll find out what happened to them and your father.”
“Promise me you’ll be very careful?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I promise.”
Addie looked back out the window. “Keep a close eye on the weather, Custis. In this country and at this time of year, storms can come upon you in a hurry.”
Addie needed a lot of reassuring and that was to be expected. “I’ll keep one eye out for trouble and one eye out for bad weather.”
“Good. I’ll have supper waiting.”
“Don’t bother, Addie. I’ll find a place in town to eat.”
“Dolly’s is a good place. She’s nosy and will try and find out everything she can about you, including if you want a little upstairs dessert to go with your supper.”
He winked and grabbed his hat. “I’ll decline some of that Dolly dessert.”
“You’d better,” Addie warned. “Also, there’s a man that I know you can trust named Rollie Reed. He’s a saddle and harness maker and you’ll see his shop there in town.”
Longarm knew that he would need someone to talk to that he could trust not to be in Stoneman’s pocket. “Would Rollie confide in me about Wade Stoneman?”
“I think he would,” Addie said after careful thought. “So long as Rollie doesn’t think that it would get him shot.”
“I’ll drop by and pretend I’m interested in a new bridle or something. And I’ll damn sure ask him if he knows about your father and about this fella named Casey.” Longarm headed for the door. “Addie, just rest and get to feeling better. I’m going to need your help.”
“I’m still seeing double, but maybe that will be gone tomorrow.”
“I hope so. Otherwise, I’m going to make you use that big double-barreled shotgun. Two images and two barrels, you can shoot one and then the other barrel if we get in an awful fix.”
It was meant as a joke, and it brought a smile to Addie’s lips. That was the best that Longarm could do right now, so he left the house and set about on his way to find out what trouble awaited in Buffalo Falls.
Chapter 9
Longarm was surprised at the size of Buffalo Falls. Its main street boasted no less then two dozen stores and businesses, and there were perhaps fifty or sixty residences, many with large willow or cottonwood trees shading their neat yards. There was also an impressive bank that had Stoneman’s name attached in gold lettering, and a handsome two-storied hotel made of brick. Longarm saw a newspaper office, and even a millinery store for the ladies.
It was clear that Wade Stoneman had made a big impact on the town because several of the most prominent buildings bore his name.
“Wade has come a long way up since I knew him in Denver,” Longarm said to himself, “but I’ll bet his gains here are all ill-gotten.”
Longarm didn’t want to chance upon Stoneman. Not yet. First, he wanted to poke around awhile and see what kind of information he could get on the man and also what the general feeling was about him. If Stoneman was the most prominent landowner in this town and the wealthiest, then he would have his share of supporters as well as detractors.
It was the detractors that most interested Longarm.
He spotted a shop with a sign that read REED’S SADDLES AND HARNESS. Longarm decided that this was probably as good a place as any to stop and try to learn something useful.
He tied his buckskin at the hitching rack and dismounted. Before leaving the Lazy H Ranch, he’d found an old bridle in the Hudson barn that was in sad shape, and now he took it inside the saddlery. If anyone was watching him, it would seem as if he had a legitimate purpose for the visit.
“Hello,” a nice-looking man with brown hair and blue eyes said, looking up from his bench, which was covered with scraps of leather, knives, heavy needles, and other leather-working tools. “What have you got there?”
Longarm held up a bridle that had seen better days. “It’s in pretty bad shape, I’m afraid.”
Rollie Reed got up from his three-legged bench stool and came over to examine the bridle. He frowned. “Mister, does this old bridle somehow mean something real special to you?”
“Nope,” Longarm replied.
“Then I wouldn’t recommend having it repaired. The leather is dried and cracked. I could restitch it and it would work for a while, but I wouldn’t trust it not to break before long. I can sell you a new bridle for not much more than I’d have to charge you to fix this one.”
“Thanks,” Longarm said, taking the bridle back. He spied a trash can in the corner, and pitched the old bridle into the can.
“Good shot,” Reed said. “Want to see what I have already made and for sale, or would you rather I custom-make you a bridle? Maybe a real nice one with your name or initials stamped into the leather.”
Longarm figured it was time to come clean and state the real purpose of his visit. “Actually, I didn’t come here for leatherwork, although I sure admire these saddles you’ve made and are for sale.”
“Then why are you here?” Rollie Reed studied him closely, and then folded his arms across his chest.
“I’m a friend of Addie Hudson and a deputy United States marshal out of Denver.”
Reed started with surprise. “How is Addie—I mean Miss Hudson?”
“I’m afraid that she’s not so good,” Longarm said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was outside and the door was closed. “Addie and I arrived at her ranch yesterday and discovered that her father had been shot to death out behind the ranch house.”
“Oh, dear God!” Reed whispered. “I was wondering why Mr. Hudson didn’t come in on Tuesday. That’s when he told me he was going to pick up a new set of braided rawhide reins that I’d made for him.”
“He was shot twice in the back and once in the head,” Longarm said. “And his dog was shot to death not far from his body.”
Rollie Reed was obviously shaken, and he went back to slump on his stool. “And you came to town find out who did it?”
“When Addie and I left Denver, Mr. Hudson was probably still alive. But someone killed him and drove off all his horses and cattle. I’m here to find out if it was Wade Stoneman.”
“What makes you think it might be him?”
“Our
Denver office got an anonymous telegram saying that Stoneman was taking over this town and its most profitable ranches. That he started out as your marshal, shot four prominent townspeople, and is now not only your mayor, but also the owner of your only bank and a powerful land company.”
“All true,” Reed said, nervously watching his front door. “Wade Stoneman is a very ambitious man, and he makes it difficult for anyone to oppose him.”
“I know Stoneman all too well,” Longarm said. “When I first signed on as a federal officer, I was assigned to work under Wade Stoneman. The man took a liking to me and showed me how he got things done.”
Reed somberly nodded. “And?”
“And how he got things done wasn’t by the book,” Longarm said. “In fact, Stoneman operated by his own rule of law. He was the law unto himself, and pretty soon that got back to the chief marshal’s office in Denver and he was put under surveillance.”
“He’s a killer without a conscience,” Reed hissed, lowering his voice as if there were someone pressing an ear to one of his outer walls. “He can’t be stopped.”
“That’s not true,” Longarm argued. “I’ve been sent to investigate and stop him.”
“You and what army?”
Longarm almost smiled. “Just me. But right now, I’m interested in who murdered Addie’s father and stole all his livestock.”
“That would be Stoneman.”
“You didn’t even have to think about that very hard,” Longarm said. “Do you have any proof?”
“Not unless you find Hudson cattle and horses on Stoneman’s ranch, which adjoins the Lazy H Ranch.” Reed paused a moment. “But even if you did that, Stoneman would just say that the cattle and horses wandered onto his place. He’d feign surprise that Mr. Hudson was dead, and you wouldn’t have any evidence to arrest him.”
“What about the man that worked for Hudson?”
“You mean Casey?”
“That’s right.”
Reed shook his head. “Casey is a tough man. He is someone that you just don’t want to cross.”
“Is he still around?”
“Oh, yes. He works for . . . who else . . . Wade Stoneman.”
“Then maybe he killed Mr. Hudson.”
“He might well have,” Reed agreed. “Casey doesn’t talk much. He doesn’t have to warn people about himself. All you have to do is look into his eyes and you know that he’d kill you without hesitation.”
“Where can I find him?”
“Casey is in and out of Buffalo Falls pretty often. But he’s probably working most of his time on Stoneman’s cattle ranch. It’s about two miles to the west of the Hudson place. But I sure wouldn’t go out there if I were you, Marshal.”
“Why?”
“Well, you look like a man who values your own life, and I’d just hate to see Addie lose another person she cares about. And speaking about her, how is she holding up?”
“As well as you might expect.”
Rollie Reed shook his head. “I was in love with her all the time that we were growing up, but my parents were poor and her family was comparatively well-off with so much good grassland. Anyway, she was above me and when she left to go see if she could learn to be a doctor, I even thought about following her to Denver and setting up a business like this one.”
“Maybe you should have,” Longarm said. “Denver can always use another good saddle maker.”
“I realize that now,” Reed said. “I should have gone to Denver and kept after her until she either told me to drop dead or that she had finally fallen in love with me and wanted to be my wife.”
Rollie shook his head and smoothed the rawhide tree of a saddle he was about to cover. After a moment, he glanced up at Longarm. “I suspect that you and Addie are in love, huh?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t known each other more than a couple of days. Addie was being mugged near my office in Denver and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
“You arrested the mugger?”
“Muggers,” Longarm corrected. “And they resisted arrest, so they got a one-way ticket to the undertaker’s parlor.”
“Jesus!” Rollie Reed whispered. “You sound like you learned pretty well from Wade Stoneman.”
“In the case of those muggers, it was self-defense,” Longarm replied. “You either kill a man or he kills you. Stoneman didn’t operate that way. He shot first, and then didn’t need to ask questions later.”
“Addie should have stayed in Denver where she was safe.”
“If you know her at all, you know that she’s a fighter and she’d never stay away from Buffalo Falls out of fear. And besides, she intends to practice medicine here.”
“Yeah, that was her dream. That and helping her father work their ranch.”
Longarm studied the young man. “After Addie left a few years ago, did you ever get married?”
“No.”
“Because of Addie?”
“Is it that obvious?”
Longarm shrugged his broad shoulders. “It seems that she also has feelings for you.”
“Now what makes you think that?” Reed quickly asked.
“She said you were about the only one in Buffalo Falls that I could trust and that you’d tell me everything you know so long as it didn’t get you murdered.”
“She said that?”
“Yes. And that tells me that she not only likes you, but trusts you.”
Rollie snorted. “Yeah, I know that. But she doesn’t love me.”
“Maybe that will come in time. Both of you are smart and capable young people, and yet neither of you has gotten married. Think about it.”
Rollie picked up a piece of leather and studied it while deep in thought. “I didn’t know that her father had been murdered. When Casey rode into town four or five days ago, I just figured that he and Mr. Hudson had had a falling-out. And given that Casey is a tough man, I wasn’t surprised that Stoneman put him on the payroll.”
“So do you think that Casey is the one that murdered Mr. Hudson?”
“I have no idea,” Reed said, “but he’s sure capable of doing it.”
“Yeah,” Longarm said, “that’s what Addie said, too.”
“What are you going to do now, Marshal?”
Longarm thought about that for a moment. “I guess I’ll go to Dolly’s and get something to eat, then mosey around town for a while. I’ll have a beer or two at the local saloons and learn what I can about Stoneman and his operation.”
“Once people discover that you’re a federal law officer, you’re going to have a big bull’s-eye target stitched to the middle of your back.”
“It’s happened before,” Longarm said. “If you can help Addie or me in any way, I’d appreciate it.”
“I hear things,” Rollie Reed admitted. “Cowboys and townspeople both come in here and like to talk. They sit around my potbellied stove and drink coffee or whiskey from their flasks and watch me work the leather.”
“Have you heard anything I can use?”
“I know that Stoneman is after the Lazy H Ranch. He’s made no bones about the fact that it’s his next priority. It’s got the best water and grass for miles around. And even more important, the Lazy H butts up against his ranch, which makes it even more valuable to the man.”
“I don’t think that Addie would ever sell to that man.”
“She might not have any choice,” Reed said. “Best thing she could do is to take what money she can get and go find another town where they need and will accept a woman doctor.”
Longarm stared at the saddle maker for a moment, then asked, “If you thought that someone murdered your father, would you just pack up and leave with your tail between your legs?”
Reed froze. “No,” he said quietly, “I wouldn’t. I’d get a gun and I’d find a way to kill the sonofabitch before he killed me.”
“Can you handle a gun?”
“Why do you ask? You looking for a posse?”
“No,” Longarm replied. “But it’s always good to know what a friend is capable of in a bad pinch.”
“I’m plenty capable,” Reed said without sounding like he was bragging. “And if it comes to that and it’s you and Addie against Stoneman and his gunnies, then you call on me and I’ll come running.”
“You really do love that girl.”
“Yeah,” he admitted, “I really do. But don’t take that to mean I want you dead, Marshal.”
“I won’t,” Longarm reassured him as he was leaving.
“You watch out for Dolly!”
Longarm turned in the doorway. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I got a strong feeling that Dolly will take a shine to you. Also, she’s got not only the biggest pair of tits in Buffalo Falls, but also the biggest mouth. Anything you say to her can and will be repeated for everyone to hear.”
“Addie told me Dolly loved to gossip,” Longarm said, “but she forgot to mention that Dolly had a pair of big tits.”
“They’re fit for a milking cow, only not so hairy.”
Longarm laughed out loud. “Rollie, are you telling me about those big tits from firsthand experience?”
It was the saddle maker’s turn to chuckle. “See you later, Marshal.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me that. Not yet. People around here will learn who I am soon enough.”
“I understand.”
Longarm closed the door and headed for Dolly’s and some eagerly awaited food.
Chapter 10
“Well, hello, handsome! Where on earth did you come from?” Dolly exclaimed, bold brown eyes raking Longarm’s body from head to toe. “Sit yourself down and let Dolly serve you.”
There were at least a dozen other men in the little café, and Longarm could feel his cheeks burn as some of them chuckled with amusement. But there was nothing to do but sit and endure Dolly, so Longarm took a seat near the front window.
“You look lobo-wolf hungry to me,” Dolly said, brushing back a strand of long dark hair. “And this is the place to get taken real good care of.”
