Longarm Double #2 by Tabor Evans

Author:Tabor Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

They had to lay over in Billings for a grotesquely routed train that promised to take them close enough to the Blackfoot reservation. Gloria said they’d be able to hire a buckboard for the last few miles, and Longarm’s saddle, Winchester, and other possibles were riding with him to where he could commandeer a government mount from the army. The local train connecting up with the line north wasn’t leaving Billings before morning and they got in a little after nine-thirty. They spent an hour over steak and potatoes before Longarm had to deal with the delicate matter of hotel accommodations.

It wasn’t checking in with a woman he was worried about. He had enough cash to pay for separate rooms. But even in the dim light of a gaslit town, Gloria’s Indian features drew stares, and some of them weren’t friendly. Billings was only a few miles from the old battleground of Little Big Horn and the local whites had long memories as well as buried kinfolk in the vicinity. As they entered the lobby of the Silver Dollar Hotel, he murmured, “Should anyone ask, remember you’re a Spanish lady from Sonora.”

“I’ll do no such thing!” she murmured, adding, “I’m a Blackfoot and proud of it!’

“Maybe, but I’ve got to do the fighting, so I reckon you’d best just hush and let me do the talking, hear?”

He strode over to the hotel desk and flashed his federal badge at the night clerk. “We need two rooms. I’ll take one with a bath.”

The clerk nodded impassively and shoved the registration book toward the deputy. “I can fix you up with adjoining rooms, bath between. This lady, uh, your missus?”

“Of course not. What would I want with two rooms if we were married up? Do I look like a sissy?”

The clerk laughed as Longarm registered for them both, signing Gloria in as “Miss Witherspoon.”

Unfortunately, the girl glanced over his shoulder to protest, “That’s not my name, damn it!”

A couple of sleepy-looking gents lounging among the potted ferns of the lobby sat up to stare with greater interest as Longarm sighed and said, “Now, Miss Gloria, let’s not make a fuss about it. You said your mama’s name was Witherspoon, and—”

“I am Gloria Two-Women. My mother abandoned me and I’ll not bear her name, even for a night.”

The clerk raised an eyebrow. Longarm quickly touched the side of his forehead and confided, “She’s a federal witness I’m taking up to Fort Benson. She’s a mite, uh, confused.”

“She says her name is ‘two women,’ Deputy.”

“There you go. I told you how it was. She’s only one woman at a time as anyone here can plainly see.”

One of the lobby loafers got slowly to his feet as he said, “I can plainly see she’s Indian, too! What are you, mister, a squaw man?”

“Paying for two rooms, friend, I don’t reckon it’s your concern. I am also a deputy U.S. marshal and you are stepping on the tail of my coat, so why don’t you

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