Tabor Evans (17 page)

"Right now, I feel like Dolly. I'll tell you something I didn't intend to. I don't think I'd have stayed with Lonnie, even if nothing had happened to him. He made me remember how I was when I was Susanna, and I think I like Dolly better."

"I'd say you've made up your mind, then. As long as you're sure you won't regret it."

"I won't. And now that I've decided to be Dolly, pour me a drink out of that bottle of rye, if you will, Windy. Dolly enjoys a drink. Susanna was always just a little bit of a namby-pamby."

Longarm handed Dolly the bottle and she tipped it to her mouth. He said, "I don't suppose you'll be staying here at Younger's Bend any longer than you can help."

"No. For one thing, I don't like Belle Starr. She's a nasty old woman who's pretending to be something she's not."

Longarm chuckled, and his respect for Dolly's good sense rose several notches. Then he grew serious. "When Taylor told you about this job he was coming up here for, did he give you any idea where it was going to be pulled off?"

"No. I-I don't think Lonnie really trusted me to keep my mouth shut about things like that. He didn't even tell me where we were going until after he got shot. Then he knew I had to know how to find Younger's Bend, in case he might not be able to tell me later."

"And he didn't tell you anything about Floyd or Steed, either?"

"Just their names. Except that he didn't mention the young one--Bobby, isn't that his name?"

"Yes. I don't reckon Floyd would put a whole lot in a letter. Letters have got a way of getting lost, or going to somebody they weren't supposed to."

"Why, Windy? Why are you asking me all these things?"

"Just curious, Dolly. But I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll make a dicker with you, if you're interested."

"What kind of dicker?"

"You already said you want to get away from Younger's Bend. I'll see that you do that, tomorrow or the next day, and see you on a train with enough money to pay your way to Texarkana or wherever you want to go, and a little bit extra."

"And what do you want me to do in return?"

"For one thing, I want you to keep Belle Starr off me."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Act like you're getting a case on me, falling for me. If I got Belle judged right, she's not going to be so hot after me if there's somebody younger and prettier than her giving her competition."

"You said that's one part of the deal. What's the rest of it?"

"Pester me to take you to Fort Smith, to buy you some new clothes and pretties."

"Why?"

Longarm shook his head. "If we're going to deal, you've got to take my part of it on trust. I won't say why."

Dolly thought about Longarm's offer for a moment. Then she nodded. "All right, Windy. I'll hang onto your arm and make sheep-eyes at you whenever we're around Belle. That won't be hard to do, but I'll enjoy it all the more because Belle's the kind of woman she is. And I'll certainly keep telling you that I want to go to Fort Smith, because I'd go just about anywhere to get away from Younger's Bend, and the sooner the better."

"We got a deal, then, you and me," Longarm said. "Oh. One more thing. If you'll take special note of any names you might hear Belle or Sam or Floyd or--well, any of them--any names they might let drop when I'm not around, try to remember and pass them on to me."

"Just any kind of names?"

"That's right, Dolly. People or places or whatever."

The request plainly puzzled her, but she nodded. "All right. I guess that's not too hard to do."

"Good." Longarm glanced out the door. The sun was already dropping down the sky toward late afternoon. "Now, I'll tell you what. I don't want to spend any time up at the house before supper. If you'd like to, we could walk down to the river and take a look at it, or throw rocks in the water, or whatever. Or we can stay here in the cabin and talk till supper, whichever you'd rather do."

"Why can't we talk while we watch the river?"

"No reason I can see why we shouldn't."

"Then lets walk down to the river."

They spent two pleasant hours talking of nothing Much, just letting time flow by, sitting on the bluff above the Canadian, tossing in a rock and now and then a twig, just to see what the river's uncertain currents did with it. When the sun dipped below the trees around them and began to shoot horizontal rays through the spaces between the trunks, Longarm said, "We better go on back. I didn't eat anything at noon, and my belly's telling me about it."

"You missed eating on my account, Windy," Dolly said self-accusingly. "I was telling you all my troubles when you should have been up at the house getting your meal."

"You were feeling right low about that time," Longarm said. "It looked to me like you needed somebody to listen to you a lot more than I needed vittles."

"I was still being Susanna Mudgett then. I was feeling sorry for myself. I couldn't quite make up my mind whether I'd stay Susanna or go back to being Dolly."

"I didn't look at it quite that way," Longarm said thoughtfully. "But I sure noticed how you changed when you decided to be Dolly."

"It's made me feel so good, I can even stand going up to the Starr's house to eat, even with Belle buzzing around. And I'm getting hungry, thinking about supper, so let's go."

As they reached the cluster of cabins, the door to Floyd's cabin opened, and Floyd came out and walked toward them. Longarm was just about to tell Dolly to be ready to get out of the way if she saw Floyd going for his gun, when the outlaw stopped and spread his arms wide, his hands at mid-thigh. He was not wearing a gun.

Floyd raised his voice and called, "I want to talk to you a minute, Windy."

Longarm waited until there was only a gap of five or six feet between them before he asked, "You mean, talk private?"

"Yeah. Just you and me." Longarm said to Dolly, "You go ahead up to the house. I'll follow along as soon as Floyd and me get through talking." As the girl moved away, he asked Floyd, "You want to go inside, or just stay here and gab?"

"It won't take long for me to say what's on my mind."

"All right, fire away."

Floyd had trouble getting out the first words. "I-damn it, I don't feel right yet about you gunning down Mckee. you might as well know that from the start."

"I wasn't looking for you to change your mind, Floyd, even if you know what was behind that as well as I do. Mckee wasn't a man to forget taking a whipping."

"He never told me anybody'd wiped him up in a fight."

"You and Mckee partnered a long time, so I guess you'd know him pretty well. Would he be likely to tell you something like that?"

"No," Floyd said slowly. "No, I guess not. Well, anyhow, I've cooled down about you and him. You and Belle both told me it wasn't my affair, and I got to admit you're right."

"Glad to hear that. I wasn't looking to have a run-in with you."

"That ain't what I wanted to say, though. If you're of a mind to join me and Steed and Bobby in this job we've got set up, we'll let you come in."

"That your idea?" Longarm asked. "Or Belle's?"

"It was Belle's idea at the start. You know that damned well. Now that I've come to see things her way, I guess you can say it's my idea, too."

"I don't know, Floyd. I'd just about made up my mind to move on," Longarm said. "I still think I might."

"This is about as safe a place as you'll find, if you're on the prod, Windy. If it was me, I'd stay."

"Well, I ain't decided yet. And I don't know anything about this job of yours, so I can't say yes or no to you about coming in."

"It's a big one. There's going to be a lot of money to split. You might as well have a share of it."

"If it comes off," Longarm put in.

"It'll come off," Floyd said confidently.

"How many ways are you figuring to split?"

"If you come in, five. Me, Steed, Bobby, and you will take a full share each. Belle and Sam get one between 'em."

"How much are you figuring the take will come to? Because splitting nothing five ways leaves all of us with zero."

"Belle say-"

Longarm broke in emphatically, "I don't give a pile of hot cow shit for what Belle says. I'm asking you, man to man."

"Seven thousand, at least. Maybe more."

Longarm squinted as he did a quick calculation. "That'd make the split fifteen, sixteen hundred. That don't hardly seem enough to make it worth my trouble, Floyd."

"Belle says it could go as high as ten thousand. Anyhow, we'll all be taking the same risk."

"Belle talks like shit out of a goose that's been fed green corn--hot and slick and plenty of it." Floyd said earnestly, "Look here, Windy, I know Belle's the biggest liar, but in this part of the country she's money in our pockets."

"I don't see how you figure that."

"Listen, I know as much as anybody does about Belle. I was with Jim Reed when we robbed the Austin mail coach outside of San Antonio. Belle did go out on a job or two with Reed. Then, after she settled down here with Sam, she done some rustling, mostly just buying up the rustled stock and switching brands and selling it up in Kansas or down in Texas. And she does some fencing too, for owlhoots who've picked up watches and rings and jewelry and whatnot, and need to turn it into cash. That's how she got started paying off the marshals and deputies in the little towns just outside of the Nation. She's got a lot of strings that keep the law tied up, that's why Belle's worth something to us."

Longarm studied Floyd's face for a moment, then nodded. "I see what you're getting at, Floyd. Maybe I misjudged Belle. I had her down as a blowhard, all show and no go, riding around with those silver-plated pistols, calling herself the Bandit Queen... And you and me both know Belle nor no other woman ever rode on a job with Frank and Jesse James, like she claims to have done."

"Sure Belle talks too much," Floyd agreed. "But most of her and Sam's split is going to pay for information and for having the marshal and deputies look the other way when we go out on this job."

"Well, that puts another light on it. I might just change my mind about moving on."

Floyd studied Longarm's face for a moment, then he said, "Tell me something straight, Windy. What's your real handle? The one the law knows you by?"

Longarm shook his head. "Not now, Floyd. It ain't that I don't trust you, but if I tell you that, you'll have an ace on me and I won't have a damn thing on you until after we've pulled a job together."

Floyd didn't like Longarm's answer, and showed his displeasure in his expression. Then he grinned wolfishly and said, "I guess that's a reasonable way to look at it. And you sure as hell know your way around. Well, how about it? Are you coming in?"

"Maybe, after I've heard a little more than I know now."

"More, meaning what?"

"If you don't see that, Floyd, you're not as smart as I took you to be. Tell you what. Right now, I'm as hungry as a bitch wolf right after cubbing. Let's you and Steed and the boy and me set down and jaw with Belle after supper. If I like what I hear, I'll tell you then whether I'm in or out."

CHAPTER 11

There were too many at supper for the table to accommodate. Belle put Longarm, Dolly, Floyd, Steed, and Bobby at the table, and held a place for herself. Sam and Yazoo ate, bending forward uncomfortably in their Chairs, over one of the benches that had been brought in from the porch and placed near the stove. Sam pieced out a meal in quick gulps between jumping up in response to Belle's frequent calls for him to replenish the dishes on the table.

Longarm was sure that Belle knew of the talk he'd had with Floyd; the outlaw had held a whispered session with her in one corner of the room before they'd sat down. He'd looked for the air to be cleared by his grudging half-decision to join the gang in their job, wherever and whatever it was, but the atmosphere still stayed taut.

There was very little conversation during the meal, in spite of the tongue-loosing that might have been expected from the drinks poured by Floyd and Steed from the fresh bottles of corn liquor Yazoo had brought with him from the stillhouse. Longarm filled a glass out of politeness, but took only the smallest sips possible. Despite the whiskey they consumed, though, Floyd and Steed were unusually silent.

What talk did pass around the table was dominated by Belle. She had been cheerful until she saw Dolly doing as Longarm had requested, clinging to him and lifting her face to him with admiring glances, then she had frozen up. She chattered at length about her children, Ed and Pearl and their problems with the schools they were attending in Missouri. As though by al consent, unhappy subjects such as the deaths of Mckee and Taylor weren't mentioned.

Longarm grew more and more disgusted as the meal progressed. He'd thought that, with Floyd's unexpected thawing-out, there would be enough table talk to give him a pretty good idea of the kind of outlawry that was in the offing.

"We'll go out on the porch," Belle announced when she saw that everyone had finished eating. "Sam's going to need to clean up in here and wash the dishes. Yazoo, you'd better help him, since there's such a pile of them."