by Evans, Tabor
“Only instead of the moth getting torched, these idiots drown.”
“Surprisingly,” Billy said, “very few do. I’ve been told on good authority that the boats that take rich tourists through the Grand Canyon are made for that river and handled by experts; they are far more suited to the rapids than Major Powell’s four inadequate wooden boats he used back in 1869.”
Longarm had never been down into the Grand Canyon, but he’d seen the Colorado at flood stage when it came out of the canyon, and he’d also seen it disappear into the great chasm up near the border of southwest Colorado. It was, he knew firsthand, a river not to be trifled with or taken lightly. It was a river that demanded great respect.
“Billy, what exactly would have me do?”
“I’d like you to go to Lees Ferry and find out if Judge Quinn and his wife actually got on a boat to take them through the Grand Canyon.”
“Didn’t someone reliable see them depart from Lees Ferry?”
“Apparently not.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, what I’m told is that the expedition was making ready for the perilous journey. Two boats, three experienced river navigators, and a half ton of provisions were being readied. But then, one morning, a boat was missing and so were the judge and his wife.”
“Just vanished?”
“Just vanished,” Billy said with a solemn expression on his round face. “There was no sign of foul play.”
“Were provisions missing?”
“Yes.”
“Then that crazy bride must have talked the judge into her madness and they went on alone,” Longarm reasoned.
“That could be the case. There could also be other reasons to explain the disappearance of such a prominent couple.”
“The reasons being?”
“The Quinns were wealthy. They probably had a lot of cash and some expensive gold jewelry. They could have been murdered and dumped into the river then an empty boat set free with a few provisions to make it look as if the couple had foolishly struck out on their own.”
“Hmmm,” Longarm mused. “That would be a possibility all right. How long have the couple been missing?”
“Approximately one week.” Billy leaned forward on his desk. “Custis, the request to send my best man comes from the very highest sources. Right from the top of the political heap.”
“From the President himself?”
Billy nodded.
“Maybe you should go,” Longarm said. “It would be a real feather in your hat.”
“I can’t swim worth a damn,” Billy confessed. “And anyway my wife would have none of that. I’ve got three mouths to feed now.”
Longarm sighed. “I know. I know.”
“I’m asking you to do this as a personal favor. My career. Your career. The reputation of this office hangs in the balance. If you go to Lees Ferry and somehow find the couple still alive, it will be a tremendous boost to all of our careers.”
“And if I go and find out that they really were crazy enough to go down that river by themselves without an experienced riverboat guide?”
“Then that is something we have to find out.”
Longarm blew a smoke ring up in the air. “Boss, I have to tell you that the most likely outcome is bad. Either the couple was murdered…or they went off in a boat and soon drowned. In each of those cases, it’s damned unlikely that their bodies will ever be found.”
“I’m aware of that but hoping it’s not going to be the case. In any event, I’ve been ordered to launch an investigation from this office and you are the only one of us that can pull it off. Will you do it for me?”
“Billy…”
“Will you do it for not only me but yourself and the reputation of this office, and for Judge Quinn and his bride?”
“Ah, Billy, I…”
“And for a month’s paid vacation and a promise in writing that you’ll have both a raise and a promotion?”
“No matter what the outcome?”
“No matter what the outcome,” Billy promised.
Longarm came to his feet. He was a tall man and a strong one, but the idea of getting in a boat and going through the Grand Canyon seeking corpses washed up on some sandy shore was very disturbing.
“I’m going to piss off Miss Zalstra.”
“I’ll invite her to my home for dinner and fill her mind with heroic stories of the deeds you have done as a federal officer of the law.”
“You’ll tell her about the time I fought three men bare-handed in a bear’s cave in the Tetons and whipped them all?”
“Oh yeah, and I’ll tell them of the time you were in Monument Valley and had to track down six murderers and save that beautiful Mexican girl named…”
“Best not tell her about that one,” Longarm advised.
“I’ll tell her all the good stories,” Billy vowed. “By the time my wife and I finish, she’ll believe that you are a Nordic god and she’ll be panting with anticipation for your return.”
“Could work.”
“Then you’ll do it?”
Longarm jammed the Cuban cigar into his mouth. “A raise in pay. Promotion. You talk me up to Miss Zalstra?”
“All of those things I swear on my mother’s grave.”
“Last I heard she was still alive, Billy.”
“All right, on my father’s grave, and that bastard is definitely dead.”
“Fair enough!” Longarm extended his massive paw across the desk, and it dwarfed Billy’s small, soft hand. “We got a deal. Put it all down in writing and I’ll sign it.”
Billy’s broad smile faded. “In writing?”
“Sure! Any problem with that, Boss?”
“None at all,” Billy said weakly. “But I’ll want you to leave as soon as possible.”
“Tomorrow,” Longarm said. “Have my travel funds ready and waiting in the morning. Two hundred ought to do ’er.”
“Two hundred? That’s a hell of a lot of money, Custis. Lees Ferry can’t be that far from Denver.”
“Oh, it’s far enough,” Longarm said. “But if I need to hire a boat and boatman to get me through that monster canyon, I want to hire the best that’s available and that won’t come cheap.”
Billy, who was always tight on the office’s budget, sighed and said, “No, I suppose not.”
Longarm headed for the door. “Don’t forget to have those promises in writing and have the two hundred dollars in cash ready and waiting for me in the morning.”
“Have fun with Miss Zalstra tonight.”
“Damn right I will!” Longarm called over his broad shoulder as he hurried out the door.
Chapter 2
Longarm got a haircut and went shopping for a few hours. He bought a box of chocolates for Heidi and then hurried to the Broadmore Hotel, where she was staying. It was one of Denver’s nicest hotels, in a very good neighborhood, and it reminded Longarm that Miss Heidi Zalstra seemed to have an unlimited source of income. She didn’t work and had only been in town a few weeks when he’d met her by chance one Sunday afternoon strolling alongside the banks of Cherry Creek. Although the day had been warm, their paths had fatefully crossed just when the sun was setting over the towering Rockies. The light had been fair, the evening beginning to cool, and folks were out enjoying a little exercise during the most pleasant part of the day.
Heidi had been feeding the ducks that frequented the creek and were so popular to the citizens. Children played, dogs barked and chased balls, and the sunset had begun to christen the highest western peaks. Longarm had been at loose ends, and so when he saw the strikingly beautiful young woman unescorted by any other gentleman, he’d just naturally gone to her and struck up a conversation. And although they had nothing in common, things had gone so well that he’d begun to see her at every opportunity.
Now, as he stood at the door of her hotel room holding the chocolates, he wondered where they would go for dinner and what might transpire afterward. He would, of course, e
xplain everything to her about having to leave on such short notice, and he’d make it clear that he wanted to resume their relationship as soon as he returned from the Grand Canyon.
“Ah, Custis,” she said brightly. “Good to see you again!”
“Likewise. I know that you love chocolates, and these are the best to be found in Denver.”
“How thoughtful of you,” Heidi said, ushering him inside. “Would you like something to drink before we go out to dinner?”
Heidi liked champagne and French Chardonnay wine, but she had started to keep a very good brand of whiskey on hand for his enjoyment. “Sure.”
She removed his hat and gave him a kiss on the lips, then hurried into her kitchen to pour them drinks. Longarm took a seat on an expensive but uncomfortable white couch and considered how he would broach the subject of his departure on tomorrow’s train. Should he tell Heidi right away, or would he perhaps be better off telling her at the tail end of the evening and hoping that she would be so distraught that she would throw herself into his arms and take him to her bed? Longarm considered this to be a difficult and dicey decision not to be taken lightly.
“Well,” Heidi said, bringing Longarm two fingers of Old Kentucky whiskey, “how was your day?”
“Not bad.”
“I see you got a fresh haircut and shave.”
“Just hours ago, Heidi. And how was your day?” Longarm took a drink, admiring how fine she looked in a pink silk skirt and satin blouse, with a matching ribbon in her beautiful blond hair. She was wearing a stunning gold necklace and a dinner ring of at least a one-carat diamond surrounded by blood-red rubies. The ring alone probably had cost Heidi more than Longarm’s annual salary. He took his eyes off of her jewels and asked, “What did you do?”
Heidi sipped her champagne and looked into his gray eyes. “I was offered a very good job at the big jewelry story on Colfax, only a block away from your office.”
“Johnson’s Jewelry?”
“That’s the one.”
“It’s where anyone with money buys their jewelry,” Longarm told her. “I doubt they carry anything in the store that sells for less than a couple hundred dollars.”
“I suppose that’s true. They want me to be a buyer and appraiser of precious stones.”
“Did you accept the job offer?”
Heidi pursed her full lips. “Actually, I was thinking I might take their offer and after a time learn enough about the business to open my own jewelry store next year. I feel that Johnson’s is overpriced for what they sell.”
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Longarm admitted. “I’ve never really been inside the place.”
“You don’t like jewelry?” Heidi asked with real interest and an amused smile.
“Oh, I like jewelry fine on a woman. But I’ve seen men that have worn two or three rings and that looks a little…ah, fey…to me. But I do appreciate a fine pocket watch and chain on a man.”
“Your watch and chain are very handsome,” Heidi said. “And if you would like to wear a gold or silver ring…I could do that.”
“Do what?” Longarm asked, not sure if he understood.
“Buy you a ring.” Heidi laughed. “It would be fun!”
Longarm laughed too, but it wasn’t all that funny. “I’m fine,” he said. “I don’t need to wear a ring.”
“Suit yourself,” Heidi told him, looking a little disappointed. “But that was why I went into Johnson’s Jewelry.”
“To buy me something?”
“Why not? You’ve taken me out to dinner several times, and now you’ve bought me a lovely box of chocolates. I wanted to repay you, Custis.”
“I could probably think of a better way to repay me,” he said, looking straight into her wide-set blue eyes. “And it wouldn’t cost you a thing.”
Heidi was in her early thirties and not a naïve woman. She smiled and sipped her champagne then turned her attention back to him and said, “I know what you want, and it would cost me something. Something perhaps more valuable than a man’s ring.”
“Your virginity?”
She blinked, and he immediately regretted the boldness of his question. But Heidi did not get angry or frustrated. “You know, Custis, I never told you that I was married very briefly to a man in New York City.”
“You were?”
“It was a sad and short-lived marriage,” she said. “The man I married was handsome and quite wealthy. Arthur came from a prominent family, and I thought we would remain husband and wife for many, many years…until one of us passed. Unfortunately, my love was also seeing another woman…a married woman…and three weeks after we returned from our European honeymoon tour, he was caught in the other woman’s bed and shot by her husband, who was even richer than Arthur.”
“Arthur was your philandering husband?”
“Yes, the late Mr. Arthur P. Buckingham.”
“How come your name isn’t Mrs. Heidi Buck-ingham?”
“The Buckingham family was mortified by the circumstances of Arthur’s sudden and unsavory ending. Fearful of a terrible scandal and of their good name being tarnished beyond repair, they offered me a very sizable settlement and a lawyer to effect an immediate annulment of the marriage. In return, I had to sign away any rights to the Buckingham fortune.”
“So you did?”
“Not at first. You see, I had an astute lawyer who was paid on a percentage basis, and he squeezed out every dollar that he possibly could from the Buckingham family. I am, Custis, quite a wealthy woman.”
She swallowed her glass of champagne and went for a refill.
“I’ll also have another,” he called, draining his whiskey and trying to rapidly process the ramifications of what he’d just learned. He had, of course, known that Heidi had plenty of money, but he now realized that she was far wealthier than he’d imagined. So why was this rich and beautiful woman even bothering with a poorly paid federal marshal such as himself?
Heidi returned with his glass and sat down next to him. “You know, Custis, I didn’t intend to tell you about my past circumstances until we got to know each other much better.”
He understood her concern and was not insulted in the least. “You mean until you could trust me not to be interested in your money instead of yourself.”
“That too,” Heidi admitted. “Men do go after women for their money.”
“True, but when the woman looks as beautiful as yourself, money is pretty much the last thing on their minds. Trust me on that one.”
She laughed. “And the foremost thing on your mind is us going to bed?”
“Actually, yes.”
“I love your honesty.” She placed her glass down on the end table and kissed his mouth, but when he tried to embrace her, Heidi slipped away, saying, “Let’s go out to dinner because I’m famished.”
Longarm nodded. “All right, but…”
“But what?” she asked.
“I have something important that I have to tell you, and since you made your past known to me so honestly, I’m going to tell you that I’m leaving Denver for the Grand Canyon on tomorrow’s train.”
“Are you serious?” she asked, smile dying.
“I’m afraid that I am. A prominent couple is missing at a place called Lees Ferry, which is on the eastern end of the Grand Canyon. Apparently, the couple planned to hire boatmen to take them through the Grand Canyon and they’ve completely vanished.”
“In the river?”
Longarm shrugged. “No one saw them leave. No one knows exactly where they went or how they disappeared. The couple is related to the President of the United States and they are extremely prominent in Washington, D.C., so my boss is under a lot of pressure.”
“And it has to be you who goes to solve this mystery?”
“I’m the best choice,” Longarm said. “And I can swim.”
Her eyes grew round with amazement. “Are you supposed to swim in the Grand Canyon?”
“No,” he said, “but I’m sure th
at there are some wicked rapids, and there is always the danger of being tossed into the water.” He took another taste of Old Kentucky and smacked his lips with approval. “Excellent whiskey, Heidi. As good as it comes.”
“Yes,” she said, “I want you to have the very best. But let’s get back to this issue of you leaving tomorrow and going into the Grand Canyon, which I understand is a wondrous and beautiful place but remote and deadly.”
“It is that.”
“Why don’t you refuse to go and stay here with me?” Heidi said, moving closer. “I think we could have something very special together if we had some time.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he told her, “but I have a job.”
“Quit the job! I’ll take care of you until you find something that you like better.”
“There probably isn’t anything I’d like better than what I’m doing right now.”
Heidi got up suddenly. “Do you really mean that?”
“I’m afraid that I do, Heidi.”
She shook her head, suddenly looking troubled. “Custis, I can help you become something much more than a federal marshal.”
This time he was insulted. “I’m proud of what I do, and if you—”
Heidi sat right down in his lap. She kissed his mouth and whispered, “Why don’t we talk about this some other time?”
“And go to dinner.”
She kissed his cheek, then nibbled at his earlobe. “I just thought of something a little more…physical…than dinner.”
“Your bed?” he asked, hardly daring to believe how fast this conversation was turning first one way and then the next.
“Uh-huh.”
Longarm placed his whiskey down with a thump and scooped Heidi up in his strong arms. “I know where the bedroom is,” he said with a broad grin. “And as for the not being a virgin, I’m happy about that.”
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“But I thought…”
“Never mind what you thought,” he said, brushing through the bedroom door and placing her on the bedspread. “Show me how the very rich make love.”
