Read Longarm and the Great Divide for Free Online Page A

year . . .”
    â€œI’m sorry ’bout that, Liz.”
    â€œDon’t be. He was a nice man but frankly not everything a woman could want. He did leave me fairly well off, though. I own all of the buildings in Stonecipher now. I live off my rents. And, Custis, when you are done here I would like to speak with you.” There was a twinkle in her bright blue eyes when she lowered her voice a notch and added, “In private.”
    He had known Liz—what was it—five years ago? Six? She was quite the dame then. A handful. Pretty, vivacious, and full of fun.
    On their first outing he hired a buggy and drove down along the Missouri. They found a cool, sheltered glade . . . and the first thing out of Liz’s mouth was that she was going in for a swim. She did, too. Stripped herself bare as a boiled egg and splashed around in the shallows.
    She admitted later that she could not swim a lick. But she did know how to have a good time.
    â€œSoon as we’re done here,” he told her. “Just tell me where.”

Chapter 17
    â€œSo who requested federal help with your law enforcement?” Longarm asked. “And why?”
    â€œThat is simple enough, Custis,” Elizabeth Kunsler told him. “Neither town can afford a full time marshal, and if we did have one there would be the problem of jurisdiction. I mean, a marshal in Stonecipher couldn’t arrest a lawbreaker in Valmere and vice versa. A Nebraska lawman has to stop at the state line, don’t you see. That is where his authority ends. I assume it is the same over on their side.”
    â€œYet you folks got together enough t’ ask for our help,” Longarm said.
    â€œAnd it took two months of very careful negotiation to accomplish that,” Potts put in.
    â€œCouple times there we thought we’d come to shooting over who was to do what,” a gentleman in sleeve garters and a derby hat said.
    â€œCouple times I wanted to pull a gun on those bastards,” another gent said.
    â€œIn the end,” Potts said, “each side laid out our proposed wording and we pulled one out of a hat to decide.”
    Longarm looked at Liz and said, “You were always a sensible girl. I’m surprised you couldn’t ride herd on ’em.”
    â€œOh, I wasn’t permitted in the meetings,” she told him. “Something about me being a woman.”
    He grinned down at her. “Over on the Wyoming side, women have pretty much the same rights as men. Voting an’ everything. You did know that didn’t you?”
    â€œYes, but that is over there. This is Nebraska, and women here do not have voting privileges. Or much of anything else.”
    â€œDon’t start that, Elizabeth,” Potts said. To Longarm he added, “Our Elizabeth wants to act like this is Wyoming. It isn’t, and we are quite happy with the way our laws run.”
    Longarm grunted. “What you all need, I think, is a peacemaker.”
    â€œRight, and that is where you come in. As a federal marshal you can cross back and forth. With you here a man who shoots up my place can’t get away from responsibility for it just by walking across the street. That’s all he needs to do the way things are now; he just walks across the street and he’s free from arrest.
    â€œConvenient,” Longarm said.
    â€œBut bad for business,” another man put in. “The way it is now, a man can run out on a bill and escape paying just by stepping across that line.”
    â€œI can see how that would be a nuisance,” Longarm agreed.
    â€œNuisance be damned. The cowboys all know about it, and some of them deliberately run up their bills over here then scamper across the line to keep from paying what they owe.”
    â€œMakes it hard for an honest merchant to turn a profit,” said the gentleman Longarm thought he remembered as being the proprietor of the general store on the