Longarm #399 : Longarm and the Grand Canyon Murders (9781101554401) (11 page)

Hunt lay still while thinking hard. What was he going to do now? He could ride away and just go back to Flagstaff with his horse and claim he had been given the livery by his late friend and cousin. But if he did that…wouldn’t it then be obvious that he must have been with Carl when the marshal was ambushed?

Of course it would! When the big United States marshal returned to Flagstaff, he would immediately understand that he, Al Hunt, had been the other ambusher at the gap.

Hunt’s mind went through all his alternatives, and he knew that he was in a desperate fix. After giving the matter some hard thought, he decided that the only thing he could do to save his ass and to grab possession of his late cousin’s profitable livery stable was to kill the marshal. Kill him somewhere out in this rough country, and this time make damn good and sure that the man never returned to Flagstaff.

As the sun went down and night fell upon the high desert country, Hunt climbed to his feet, slapped the dirt off himself, and decided that he had one big advantage, and that was that the federal marshal had not seen his face and had no idea that he had been one of the two men involved in the ambush.

“I’ll just circle around that stage stop and go on up to the Colorado River and Grand Canyon,” he decided out loud. “And when that stagecoach pulls in to Frankie
Virden’s Rimrock Hotel, I’ll act like I’m just another tourist. And then I’ll pick my time and kill that marshal and have his rich widow all for myself just as poor old Carl and I had planned…Only Carl won’t be around to have his pleasures.”

That decided, Al Hunt climbed back on his horse and gave wide berth to the stage stop as he purposefully rode on to the north. He would make a dry camp tonight, and tomorrow, when the stagecoach rolled up to unload its passengers, there he’d be looking just like everyone else when those two pretty women arrived. He’d made the mistake of not getting on his horse and going after the badly wounded marshal to finish him off somewhere in the sagebrush.

He’d not make that same mistake a second time, by gawd!

Longarm was damned glad to get out of the coach and onto a cot at the stage stop. He was weak and light-headed, but he knew that he simply needed a bit of time to rebuild his strength and replenish a lot of spilled blood.

“So,” Heidi asked when they were settled into a little screened-off room and had some privacy to themselves. “What
exactly
happened?”

“I told you…I was riding through this gap and I was ambushed. Lucky to get away, and even luckier when a Navajo lad and his father happened to be close enough to get me to their family’s hogan. The Navajo women have some very powerful medicine and they pulled me through.”

“You’re weak as could be,” Heidi told him. “Stay here and I’ll go to the kitchen and bring you back a plate of hot food.”

“Thanks, but I’m not very hungry.”

“You
have
to eat in order to regain your strength.” Heidi leaned over and kissed his lips. “Frankie Virden is no good…I saw that the minute he climbed into the coach with that poor girl he’s dragging along to make himself look good. But Virden does have a new hotel where we’re going, and I’m sure we will be given a private room where you can rest and regain your strength.”

“I just need a couple of days,” Longarm told her. “Just a few days to get back to my old self.”

“You’ll be needing more than a few days,” Heidi told him. “And that’s fine.”

“No, it isn’t fine,” he argued, looking up at her. “I’m a federal marshal, and someone tried, and damn near succeeded, in killing me. And on top of that, I’ve got murders to solve and people to try to find at the Grand Canyon.”

“I understand,” Heidi said calmly, “but if you die, you’re not going to do anything, and you’ll be leaving me in one hell of a bad fix.”

“Is that what you’re
really
worried about?”

“You know that it isn’t,” Heidi told him. “You know that I’m better than that.”

“I do,” he said. “Sorry.”

“I’ll be back soon with a big plate of something good for you to eat,” she promised as she left his side. “Custis, just try to close your eyes and get some rest.”

“Eat some good food yourself before you come back,” he told her. “Because, from the way this is starting off, we’re
both
going to need to be in good form.”

Heidi stopped and turned. “Why do you say that? I’m not in any danger.”

“Maybe you are,” Longarm told her. “You’re rich and beautiful, and those are very rare commodities in this
country. Heidi, you’re going to have to be very careful and watch everyone closely. There’s only a few reasons anyone would ambush me like they did, and you could be one of those reasons.”

“I’ll watch out for us both.”

“I’m sure that you will,” Longarm told her. “This stagecoach is only going to stay at the Grand Canyon overnight and then it will head back to Flagstaff. Maybe you should plan to be on it when that happens.”

“Not a chance. Don’t even talk about me leaving you after what’s happened.”

“You’re sure?”

“Dead sure,” she said, crossing her arms and looking down at him with steel in her eyes.

“All right then. Just remember I tried to talk you into doing the safe thing.”

“I’ve done the ‘safe thing’ before and it’s boring as hell.”

That brought a chuckle. “I know what you mean, Heidi. Now go get us some food before it’s all gone.”

She smiled and left their private little space, and the moment she was out of sight, Longarm pushed himself erect and stood tall. He took several deep breaths and then walked back and forth a few steps, taking measure of his physical condition. To his dismay, he realized that he was pretty unsteady. Hopefully, that would pass in a few days at Frankie Virden’s new hotel. It had better pass quickly, because there were lives at stake and deadly men afoot. And there was an ambusher out there someplace who for some reason wanted him dead. Maybe still thought he
was
dead.

Longarm sat down feeling a bit dizzy. He needed to get stronger all right, and he needed to do it quick.

When the stagecoach arrived at the Rimrock Hotel, on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, Elmer and Emily Potter were beside themselves with wonder because of the inspiring and majestic view.

“My gawd!” Elmer Potter exclaimed. “Emily, would you just look at that!”

His wife, mouth hanging open, simply stared in amazement. Finally, she said, “It’s really, really big, isn’t it, Elmer.”

“Bigger than any old hole I ever saw!”

“And so many colors…Elmer, I just can’t get over the
colors
. And look at that little river way down there just like a ribbon of silver. I thought the Colorado was a big river, but it’s just a creek is all that it is.”

John Wallace left his stagecoach with Carrie Blue so he could join the excited couple. “The Colorado River is low right now, but even so it’s a lot bigger than it appears from up here on the rim. When you get down there, it will seem large and powerful. In the springtime it roars
so loud that it fills the canyon with a sound louder than a thousand locomotives going through a train tunnel.”

Carrie Blue laughed. “Why, Mr. Wallace, you’ve a poetic streak within you near as wide as that canyon!”

“Ah,” he scoffed, “it’s just that every time I see the Grand Canyon it takes my breath away and leaves me feeling like I’m small, insignificant, and blessed to behold such a great wonder.”

“My,” Carrie said, having a little fun with the man, “and I thought you were just a fellow who liked horses and mules.”

He laughed and tore his eyes away from the canyon to gaze down at her. “You’re a mighty pretty sight yourself, Miss Blue. And don’t you ever let anyone forget it.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“Carrie!” Frankie Virden shouted from the porch of his newly constructed hotel. “Dammit, we need some help over here!”

Carrie’s smile died, and she hurried over to the Rimrock Hotel, where several people were standing on the porch. She’d been here quite a few times with Frankie and Seth, and she knew that she was expected to be sort of a hostess to the incoming guests. And if there were any of them that were wealthy, she should subtly make sure they understood that she was discreetly available day…or night.

Longarm and Heidi stood together looking down at the canyon for several minutes in silence, and then Heidi said, “No matter what happens, seeing this makes it all worthwhile.”

“It does,” Longarm agreed. “I’ve been here only twice before, and I still can’t quite wrap my mind around the size of the Grand Canyon. And you’ll soon realize that the lighting and colors are always changing. One of the
times I was here, there was snow dusting the pinnacles, buttes, and steps. Notice how the canyon walls are like stairways instead of just straight up and down in most places?”

“I see that. And where is this Lees Crossing that we have to find?”

“It’s a few miles east of us,” Longarm told her. “We’ll be going there in a couple of days.”

“That river looks narrow and shallow enough to ride a horse across it.”

“It’s a fooler from way up here,” Longarm told her. “Believe me when I say we’ll need to be ferried across and that the water will be swift and treacherous.”

“And you still think we might have to go down it on a raft?” Heidi asked, looking worried.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “In 1869, when the Powell expedition did it for the first time, they almost were lost. Three of the members of that expedition
were
lost.”

“Drowned?”

“No,” Longarm said. “At Separation Rapids they abandoned the group and climbed up the north rim, never to be seen again.”

“Why did they leave?”

“The expedition didn’t realize how close they were to coming out of the canyon. They’d been fighting rapids and the river for weeks and were starving. Their rafts had overturned and they’d lost most of their food and they hadn’t had any luck hunting or fishing. Even worse, they never knew if around the next bend in that river there would be a big and disastrous waterfall.”

“Animals exist down there, don’t they?”

“A few mountain goats and sheep and maybe some lizards and rattlesnakes. Not much, though. It is not a
very hospitable place down at the bottom of that canyon.”

Longarm had to force his eyes from the sight. “Heidi, what do think the temperature might be where we’re standing?”

“In the low eighties I should think.”

“I agree. And down at the bottom of the Grand Canyon it will be a hundred degrees or more.”

She looked up at his face. “Really?”

“Yes. It’s a lot hotter down there.” Longarm forced what he knew was a poor joke. “Reason being it’s closer to hell.”

She laughed and almost jabbed him in the ribs before catching herself. “Custis, it’s clear that you’ve lost a lot of blood, but at least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“No, I haven’t,” he told her. “Now, I think we should check out Frankie Virden’s hotel.”

“The Grand Canyon is far more impressive.”

“Even so,” Longarm said, “we need to get a room, and I’m sure you wouldn’t turn down a hot bath, and neither would I.”

“I want to change your bandage and use those herbs to make and apply a poultice,” she told him. “We have to get you well as soon as possible.”

“Amen to that.”

The Rimrock Hotel was situated about fifty feet back from the rim of the Grand Canyon, and although it was only a single story tall, it was large and well designed, with a small dining room and lobby facing north so that guests could relax and enjoy the ever changing view of the great chasm. The furniture was rustic, made of pine, and boasted a large and impressive fireplace constructed
of the red and yellow sandstone that was so prominent in the canyon.

“Not too bad,” Longarm muttered as Frankie Virden, with Carrie Blue on his arm, regaled the new arrivals with the facts about his Rimrock Hotel.

“I’ve tried to bring a part of the canyon into the hotel for my guests,” he was saying. “Note the décor and the furnishings, all of which were designed and constructed to put my guests in the spirit of this wonderful canyon. We are, of course, a work in progress. To date, we’ve twelve guest rooms, and it’s my intention to build a saloon and gaming hall where friendly games of poker, monte, and other gambling can take place for the gentlemen who have that interest and the means to pursue it with great pleasure.”

Most of the guests gathered around smiled, but some looked away quickly, leading Longarm to think that they had already been fleeced by Frankie or one of his professional gamblers.

“You will find that we have tried very hard to add variety to the meals we serve, but again, this is not the Waldorf Astoria and as you can well imagine it isn’t easy to keep fresh food on hand this far from Flagstaff or other sources of supply.”

“Does that mean you’ll be feeding us jackrabbit and calling it pheasant?” Elmer Potter asked, making his own attempt at humor.

Frankie Virden’s dark eyes flashed with anger. “No, Mr. Potter, it does not. I do have staff that regularly hunt for deer and other wild game that can be brought into my hotel kitchen and prepared with some degree of elegance and taste…which I’m sure you would not begin to appreciate.”

Elmer Potter and his wife were not brilliant, but they
weren’t dumb, and they flushed with anger at the insult. “We’d like to see our rooms,” Elmer managed to say.

“In time,” Frankie Virden replied coolly. “In time.”

Longarm and Heidi were the first to register, because it was obvious that he was weak and needed his rest. When they were shown to their room by Carrie Blue, she said, “Dinner is always at eight. I’m told that tonight we’ll be having fresh trout. Liquor of all kinds is available, but it’s expensive.”

“Champagne and French chardonnay would be very nice,” Heidi said hopefully. “And a bath. A good, hot bath.”

“And whiskey,” Longarm quickly added.

Carrie pointed to a big copper bathtub. “I’ll have someone fill the bath as soon as possible, and I’ll bring your bottles as soon as I can,” she promised, as she straightened a bedcover. “I hope you enjoy your stay at the Rimrock Hotel. I think this particular room is one of our nicest, and it does have that special window view toward the canyon, which only half the rooms have for our guests.”