Longarm and Lucky Lucy by Tabor Evans

Author:Tabor Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2012-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Longarm sat up late that evening on Lucy’s front porch, staring up at the stars and trying to figure out what was going on and what he might expect tomorrow when he saddled up the buckskin mare and went out to see if he could find Robert Durham. If he could believe that Lucy had finally told him everything and it was the truth, then it seemed pretty obvious that this was all about revenge.

He hadn’t come from a wealthy or influential family himself, but he’d known quite a few in his time, both when he grew up in West Virginia and then during and after the Civil War. Later in life he’d crossed swords with some pretty important people during his years as a United States deputy marshal, and he’d come to the conclusion that people with money and power often believed that they could write all their own rules. It would not matter to the Horton family that Charles had been a drunken and abusive man or even that he’d tried to rape a child. No, that would not matter at all. The Horton family would blame anyone not of their own blood, and in this case that blame would fall on Lucy and her brother.

It all made perfectly good sense. But something . . . something that Longarm could not quite put his finger on was missing. Some small piece of information that would fully explain to his own satisfaction exactly what was going on here in Colorado.

And then about midnight, it came to him like a blazing star across the dark sky. Money! There was money involved somehow, and that was what Lucy was not telling him.

Was she due to inherit a widow’s fortune? Was there a last will and testament that gave her a great deal of money? If so, where was it and how was it to be implemented?

Longarm didn’t know the answer to that question, but he vowed he would drag it out of Lucy tomorrow. What she had to understand was that he couldn’t really protect her unless he knew the rules of this vengeful, murderous game being played.

* * *

They both slept a little later than expected, and the sun was well up in the eastern sky when Longarm plodded into the kitchen to find Lucy sipping a cup of hot coffee while stirring some fried potatoes and pork.

“Sorry, we don’t have any chickens, so there are no eggs,” she said, forcing a smile as she worked at the stove. “Eggs in Cortez are very expensive, and it’s nearly impossible to get out here without breaking at least half.”

“I’ll be fine with whatever you’re cooking, Lucy. How about some coffee?”

“Hope you like it strong and black.”

“I do.”

They ate a hearty breakfast, and when it was finished, Longarm said, “We need to talk about Robert.”

“What do you need to know about my brother?”

“Why did he come out here?”

“He was afraid of the Horton men. He was, in that family’s eyes, guilty by association.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.