Longarm on the Overland Trail Read Online Free

Vail!" he protested.
    Vail growled, "Word it your way, then, just as long as you tell 'em to take a flying fuck at a rolling wagon wheel!"
    As Henry left, Longarm chuckled and asked Vail who he wanted to see injured so dreadfully.
    "War Department," Vail said. "Do you remember that prissy Colonel Walthers we had that trouble with down in the coal-mining country a spell back?"
    Longarm lit his cheroot. "Who could ever forget him?" he asked. "You were lucky. You only tangled with him a time or two. I've had even more trouble with the pompous idjet and his military police. What's he done now? Anyone can see he's got you sort of upset."
    "He just warned us the murder of them two army men was the army's case entire, and it seems he remembers you as well. He just mentioned you by name, warning me he'll take it personal if you stick your big nose--his words--into his case before he can get here from Fort Collins with his own team of investigators."
    Longarm asked innocently, "Can the army give orders to this here department, boss?"
    Vail grinned wolfishly. "They cannot. I thought we had that settled the last time that asshole argued federal jurisdictions with me."
    Longarm, who knew his boss better than the pompous Colonel Walthers must have, was already rising to his feet as Marshal Vail roared, "What are you just sitting there for? Go out and git me that murderous midget maniac before the damned old army trips over him!"
    By two in the afternoon Longarm's stomach was growling and his feet weren't too happy about all the circles they'd been walking in on the sun-baked streets of Denver. He stopped at a Broadway beanery for some chili con carne and apple pie, washed it down with plenty of black coffee, and found out the handsome waitress was married to the short-order cook in the back.
    Feeling better, but no smarter, he consulted the list he'd made before leaving the federal building and decided to check out the scene of the crime again, next. He respected the Denver police and the place had surely been combed over pretty well already. But sometimes things looked a mite different by the light of day.
    The whole block looked different as he trudged up the slope with the summer sun agreeing that the suit required for work was a mighty dumb notion. The street was now deserted and it could have used some shade trees as well. He hadn't noticed the night before that the Banes house was freshly painted a sort of baby blush pink with white trim, or that the modest front yard was mowed neat as a green plush carpet. It took a lot of water and work to have even a little lawn like that in Denver after, say, the end of June. He stepped up on the porch and twisted the doorbell. The wan-looking lady of the house opened it to say, "Oh, you were here with those other lawmen last night, weren't you?"
    She had washed her face and fixed her hair, and she wore a fresh cotton print that harmonized nice with her dark hair and sad blue eyes. He smiled reassuringly down at her and said, "I am Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long, Miss Flora. I know I'm intruding and I confess I don't have a search warrant. If you want to slam your door in my face I won't be able to do a thing about it."
    She sighed. "Come in. I don't know what you could be looking for now, but you're welcome to look all you like. Have they caught Joseph yet?"
    As he followed her inside and into her front parlor he saw that she had removed the rug. He didn't ask why. "If it's any comfort to you, ma'am, I doubt they'll hang your kid brother once I bring him in, and I mean to bring him in gentle as possible," he told her.
    She indicated a seat on her leather davenport. "That's a very gentle way of saying you think my brother is insane, and I don't see how you'll ever take him alive. You saw what he did in this very room last night."
    Longarm shook his head. "Not really. It was all over by the time I showed up. I know you say you didn't witness the actual fight, neither. But I'd like to go over what