Longarm #399 : Longarm and the Grand Canyon Murders (9781101554401) (4 page)

“Maybe the pair of rich people have been found, and we won’t be going to the Grand Canyon after all,” Heidi Zalstra said.

“Maybe.”

“Custis,” Billy gasped, coming to a stop. “I’m glad I caught you before you boarded the train.”

“We were just about to,” Longarm replied.

“What do you mean, ‘we’?” Billy asked, looking from Longarm to the beautiful woman at his side.

“Billy Vail, meet Heidi Zalstra, who also has a ticket for Arizona.”

“Oh, no!” Billy said, still trying to catch his breath. “You can’t go with him, Miss Zalstra.”

“Why not? I’m originally from Holland, but as far as I know America is still a free country.”

“It is!” Billy exclaimed. “But this trip is going to be
official business and very dangerous…not to mention hard.”

“I like danger,” Heidi told the man. “And your marshal has already tried to talk me out of going because of the hardships that we might face, but I decided it was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Billy looked to his big deputy marshal, eyes beseeching his help. “Custis?”

“Not a thing I can do about it,” Longarm said with a shrug. “After all, this is a free country.”

“But my god!” Billy exclaimed. “I’ve just received a telegram from Arizona that the bodies of three river guides at Lees Ferry were found dumped in the Colorado River, several miles below the crossing.”

Longarm scowled. “Had they been shot?”

“Throats slit,” Billy said nervously. Again, he looked to the beautiful lady standing close to Longarm. “Really, Miss Zalstra, it would be a terrible mistake to accompany my deputy to the Arizona Territory and specifically to Lees Ferry. Something very evil is taking place and no one knows what has happened to Mr. and Mrs. Quinn. For all we know, they’ve also had their throats cut and their bodies dumped in the river.”

Heidi nodded, lips pursed in thought. After a moment and aware that both men were anxiously awaiting her decision, she said, “Marshal Vail, Custis has only good things to say about you, and so I do value your opinion…and well-intentioned advice. However, I just couldn’t live with the idea of sitting around Denver waiting to hear if Custis either found the missing couple…or was murdered…or what!”

“But…”

“I have to go with him,” she said. “And anyway, we’ve already bought two first-class tickets.”

“You’ve bought ‘first-class’ tickets?”

“That’s right,” Longarm told his boss. “And we’re going to travel in style comin’ and goin’ to the Grand Canyon.”

“This is not supposed to be your vacation,” Billy snapped with clear disapproval. “It’s supposed to be a very dangerous assignment!”

“I know that and so does Heidi. But she assures me that she is an expert shot, and I might just need someone to watch my backside.” He blushed. “And my other…uh…sides.”

“Oh for gawd sakes!” Billy shouted. “I’m beginning to think that you’ve both completely lost your senses.”

“That isn’t all that I intend on losing once we get on that train,” Longarm said, giving the beautiful blond woman a lascivious wink.

“Custis, you rogue!” Heidi giggled. “What fun we are going to have on that train.”

“I’ve heard about as much as I can stomach,” Billy snorted.

“Does that mean you’ve just decided to send someone else to that big ditch in the earth?” Longarm asked, raising an eyebrow. “ ’Cause if that’s the case, I’m delighted.”

“You wouldn’t get all that I promised if you don’t go,” Billy warned.

“Oh,” Longarm said, pulling out the piece of paper. “You mean the promise of a raise, promotion, and vacation?”

“That’s right.”

Heidi slipped her arm around Custis and laughed. “Actually, Marshal Vail, I’ve made Custis a much more attractive offer than you can possibly come up with or even imagine.”

“I’ve a pretty good imagination about what you have offered,” Billy said stiffly.

“That and much more,” Heidi told him, a coolness in her voice. “I’m thinking about offering Custis a partnership.”

“In what?” Longarm asked, as surprised as Billy.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she told them both. “And part of this journey we are about to undertake will tell me a good deal about Custis…his strengths…and weaknesses.”

“I don’t have any weaknesses,” Longarm said.

“Oh, darling, we all have a few.”

Billy had heard enough. “I can see that the news I’ve just delivered has had little or no influence on your decision to go as a pair. It’s insane, of course, but as you said, Miss Zalstra, America is still a free country and so I can’t stop you from going to Lees Ferry.”

“Then don’t waste your time in trying,” she said sweetly.

Just then the locomotive blasted its shrill whistle. “The train is about to leave,” Longarm said. “We’d better get to that special suite you reserved for us.”

Billy shook his head. “A special suite? My gawd, Custis, you haven’t even left Denver yet and I think that woman has already turned you to ruin.”

“No, she hasn’t,” Longarm assured the small man. “Just have some faith in us, Billy. I’ll get to the bottom of those murders and disappearances.”

“Just make sure you and Miss Zalstra don’t get to the bottom of the Colorado River,” Billy warned as he bowed to Heidi and shook Longarm’s hand.

“I’ll see you in about three weeks…give or take one,” Longarm told the man as he helped Heidi up onto the train’s steps and then boarded as the car began to move.

Billy Vail stood at the depot until the train was just a
speck on the horizon. He was very worried and upset about the three corpses whose throats had been slashed and then dumped into the muddy river. He was even more worried about his best and favorite deputy, Custis Long.

“Sir?”

He turned to see a porter standing behind him. “Is there something wrong?”

“Why do you ask?”

The porter was a kid, really. Not more than twenty years old, with a cowlick and buckteeth. But he had a nice face and an honest and earnest appearance about him, and he was big, maybe six-foot-three and strong-looking.

“You ever think of becoming a lawman?” Billy asked, surprising even himself by the question.

“No.”

“Well,” Billy said, reaching into his pocket and giving the kid his business card. “If you ever do, why don’t you get in contact with me at the federal building? I couldn’t promise you a job, but I could make some inquiries in your behalf.”

“Now, why in the world would you want to do that? You don’t even know me, Marshal.”

“I’m a good judge of people,” Billy said, wishing he had never brought the subject up. “And you look to be someone who not only is concerned about others, but who takes a little initiative if something seems amiss.”

“Well thank you! My name is Herman Pawalski and I do like people. But to tell you the truth, I also like staying alive.”

Billy blinked.

“And I have talked to that big deputy marshal several times when he’s comin’ or goin’ to some hellhole that you’ve sent him to. And I’ve seen him return to Denver shot up, cut up, and beat up.”

Billy started to protest. “Now wait a darned minute, Herman!”

“No, sir,” the kid said, “you wait a minute. I ain’t ever goin’ to be famous or rich…but I intend to live a full life and end up in one piece when I resign myself to a rocking chair on some porch with some old lady by my side. Railroad has promised that I’m going to be a conductor someday if I keep my nose clean…but I’d rather be the engineer that runs the show.”

“That’s fine,” Billy snapped. “I’m sorry I even mentioned a career as a law officer.”

“Aw, you was just trying to be friendly and…if I hadn’t seen your big deputy marshal so shot up, cut up, and beat up so often…well, I might have taken your bait.”

“Give me back my damned card,” Billy growled.

Herman Pawalski gave the card back, offered his bucktoothed grin, and headed off down the line.

“Flagstaff! Flagstaff! Next stop is Flagstaff, Arizona Territory!” the conductor of their Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train called as he worked his way through the passenger cars.

Longarm was making love once more to Heidi, savoring the rocking motion of their first-class passenger car and luxurious accommodations. Heidi was on her hands and knees, head down and grinning at the sight between her thighs. “Come on, darling, we’re supposed to be getting off this train in a few minutes!”

“Don’t rush me,” he grunted, tightening his grip on her hips and slamming his manhood in and out faster and faster.

“Flagstaff! You folks in there ready to— Oh, my gawd! I’m sorry to…”

“Get out of here!” Longarm growled as the conductor turned crimson with embarrassment and shut the door to their compartment.

“Oh, dear,” Heidi fretted. “We forgot to lock the door again!”

“Well, maybe he learned something.”

“I doubt it,” Heidi grunted. “Oh, that feels so…delicious!”

“Don’t it though?” Longarm came to his climax and Heidi moaned with pleasure. Moments later, she was on top of him and riding his rod hard. “Oh, I’m going to miss this so much!”

“Me too! But just because we’re getting off the train doesn’t—”

Heidi cried out in ecstasy and then collapsed on top of Longarm, both of them sweaty and panting just as the train pulled into the station.

Longarm and Heidi wiped the sweat and sex off themselves and quickly dressed. They were climbing down from the train in less than five minutes, and their conductor was nowhere in sight.

“We must have shocked him pretty badly,” Heidi said, looking concerned. “I wanted to give the poor man a generous tip.”

“We’ll give it to him on the return run,” Longarm said, “if he has gotten over his embarrassment and can look either one of us in the eye.”

“Poor man! I feel badly about that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Longarm said, obviously not meaning it. “There are our bags.”

Heidi had four pieces of luggage, all of them sizable. Longarm was accustomed to traveling light and had only his one large leather valise with change of underclothing, shirt, and a few other personal things. In addition, he carried his own Winchester, a Colt Model T. caliber .44-40, and, attached to his watch fob, a twin-barreled .44-caliber derringer. The derringer was used only as a last resort, and it had saved his bacon on more than one occasion.

A young man hurried up to them. “Need some help with those bags and a ride to a hotel?”

“Sure do,” Longarm said. “How much?”

“A dollar,” the man said. “Got a nice buggy waiting close by, and I’ll carry your bags right up to the registration desk and not drop ’em off in front like some do.”

“You’re hired,” Heidi said. “And you are worth two dollars to us.”

“Thank you very much!” the man said, swallowing hard and trying not to stare at Heidi. “Very generous of you, ma’am!”

“Hotel Weatherford.”

“Very good, sir!”

“Is that the finest hotel in Flagstaff?” Heidi asked, looking around at her surroundings and looking somewhat disappointed because the town was small, dirty, and raw compared to the far more metropolitan Denver.

“It’s nicer than what I usually stay at when I’m in Flagstaff.”

“It’s a very fine hotel,” the young man said, grabbing up all the bags except the one that Longarm was carrying. “The food in their dining room is as good as you’ll find anywhere in town.”

“What do you like personally?” Heidi asked.

“Huh?”

“Your personal recommendation concerning the hotel’s menu?”

“Uh…well, ma’am, I’ve never actually eaten there myself. A bit too expensive for me. But I’ve heard they serve a fine steak and also that they offer a varied menu and even serve up roasted pheasant!”

“That does sound delicious,” Heidi told him. “And here, a little extra for your good recommendation.”

“
Five
dollars?” he asked, staring at the money she had placed in his calloused hand. “Why, thank you!”

“You are quite welcome,” Heidi said. “Now, if we could get moving, I am anxious for a bath and a nice clean and quiet place to piddle.”

The man blushed and hobbled off with her four large pieces of luggage. Longarm was impressed with the kid and grinning as he followed him and Heidi to a buggy.

“Piddle?” he chuckled with a grin on his handsome face.

The Hotel Weatherford was right up the street from the train station, on Leroux Street in the middle of town. It was a big, multistoried brick building that stood proudly over its shorter neighbors; the registration desk was walnut and the lobby quite elegant.

“A suite,” Heidi said to the clerk. “Something with a view other than a back alley.”

“Of course, Mrs…. ?”

“Mrs. Long?” she asked, looking up at Custis.

“Sure, that’ll work.”

The registration clerk gave them a strange and confused look, but he wrote down the particulars. “May I ask how long you’ll be staying as our guests?”

“Only tonight and maybe tomorrow night. We need to get up to the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.”

“I see. There is a stagecoach that will take you up there, and it leaves this coming Wednesday.”

“That’s four days from now, and we haven’t got that much time to waste,” Custis said.

“We could hire a private coach,” Heidi quietly suggested.

“Or horses.”

“I would prefer our own private coach.”

“Fair enough. A coach it is.” Longarm turned back to the clerk. “Can you tell me where I can hire one?”

The clerk gave him the names of two men who had liveries and who might be able to take them north. “But it will be expensive. It’s quite a trip up to the Grand Canyon and Lees Ferry.”

“How far would you reckon?” Longarm asked.

“Well over a hundred difficult miles. I’d say closer to one hundred and forty miles of hard road.”

“Oh, dear, that far!” Heidi said.

“I’m afraid so, Mrs. Long. And you might want to reconsider the idea of going up there. The canyon is just a big ditch in the dirt, and I’m told the Colorado River isn’t anything to brag about. It’s muddy and dangerous. Maybe you’d rather see our Painted Desert or Petrified Forest. They’re a good sight closer to Flagstaff, and that’s what most of our guests come to see. Really beautiful sight, and those big trees that have turned to stone are something that you’ll never forget. Why, you can buy or even pick up pieces of petrified wood all over the place. Most of us around here have a ton of the stuff. It’s really beautiful when you get it wet and you can see the tree rings, the bark, and everything!”