Read Longarm #399 : Longarm and the Grand Canyon Murders (9781101554401) for Free Online Page B

Wednesday and we can’t wait that long.”
    “That’s only four days off. If I were you, I’d reserve a seat, and between now and then I’d visit—”
    Longarm cut the man off but not in an offensive way. “I’m a deputy United States marshal from Denver and I have to get up to Lees Ferry right away on an investigation.”
    “Oh.”
    “Can you help me and my partner?”
    “They sent
two
U.S. marshals all the way from Denver?”
    “No,” Longarm said, knowing what he was about to say would sound foolish. “I’m traveling with my…uh, wife.”
    Wallace hid his thoughts well. “Marshal, it’s none of my business, but I sure don’t understand why a man would take his wife up there to the Colorado River and that big old canyon. From what I understand, two men just had their throats cut and—”
    “Listen,” Longarm said. “My situation is complicated.”
    “I’d say that.”
    “But here’s the thing, John. We need to go and we need to go tomorrow. Is there any way that you can help us?”
    “I can’t take you up in the stagecoach because I already have passengers booked for next Wednesday. Some of them have money and have come a long, long way to visit the Grand Canyon. But what I can do is rent you a couple of good saddle horses and even a reliable pack animal…horse or burro. You’d have to provision yourself for the journey, of course, but you’d make good time once you were on the road.”
    “If that’s the best that can be done, then we’ll do it,” Longarm decided, knowing that Heidi would not be pleased. He didn’t even know if she was able to ride a horse…especially for over a hundred miles. But she’d either do it or have to wait and take next Wednesday’s stagecoach, which might be the best thing anyway.
    “I can show you a pair of animals that I think will serve you and your wife well. But I’ll warn you right up front,” Wallace said, “this is going to cost you a helluva lot of money.”
    “How much?” Longarm asked, knowing that Heidi would foot the bill…unless she changed her mind and decided not to go north.
    “How about a hundred and fifty dollars?”
    “That sounds
way
too high.”
    “One hundred for the rental and fifty for a deposit that you can have back on my good horses, a pack burro, and the saddles and outfit you’ll need. Oh, and I’ll throw in forty pounds of oats.”
    Longarm knew that he had few other choices other than to wait for the regularly scheduled stagecoach run. “Fair enough…if I like the animals.”
    “You’ll like them,” Wallace promised. “What you won’t like is the travel north. It’s tough and dangerous country. I won’t try to hide it…there are thieves and worse out there, and some of them are desperate enough to kill a man. I don’t even want to speak about what they would do to a pretty woman.”
    “How do you know she’s ‘pretty’?”
    John Wallace grinned. “Hell, this is still a small town. Don’t you imagine that when you two got off the train every man in town heard about how beautiful your companion was even before you got to the hotel?”
    “I never gave the matter much thought,” Longarm confessed.
    “Well, not only does everyone know that she’s a blond beauty, they are of the opinion that she isn’t really your wife.”
    “Why would they decide that?”
    “Because rich and beautiful women aren’t in the habit of marrying poor workingmen like ourselves.”
    Longarm had to smile. “Seems like the people in Flagstaff don’t have much to do but gossip about other men’s business.”
    Wallace grinned. “Like I said, it’s still a small town.”
    “Let’s take a look at those animals you want to make your fortune on.”
    “They’re right out in the back,” Wallace said. “And by the way, I remember you killed Reece Whitfield and done the town a big favor.”
    “I might also have to kill his brother Carl.”
    “That would be another huge favor. The man gets drunk and beats up on smaller