Longarm and "Kid" Bodie (9781101622001) by Tabor Evans Read Free Book Online Page A

deputies in the office were now all ears. “What do you need to know from me?”
    Miller’s contemptuous smile faded. “I want to know
everything
. And after I’ve heard your version of the shootings, I’ll decide if I’m going to arrest you or not.”
    â€œArrest me?” Longarm asked with genuine amazement.
    â€œYeah.”
    Longarm laughed, and it wasn’t a nice sound. “Sheriff, if you’re really dumb enough to try to arrest me, you will either wind up in the hospital or the morgue. Do I make myself clear?”
    Miller’s beefy face turned scarlet red and he nearly choked with anger. Finally, he gained control of himself and managed to say, “Just give me all the damned facts.”
    Longarm spent the next ten minutes telling the sheriff and his two nosy deputies exactly what had happened out on Colfax. He omitted nothing but did not go into any great detail. When he was finished, he didn’t wait to answer questions but came to his feet and headed for the door.
    â€œI’m not through with you!” Sheriff Miller yelled.
    â€œYes you are,” Longarm called back over his shoulder.
    â€œI want that boy in my custody!”
    â€œCan’t find him right now,” Longarm said, turning back with a cold smile.
    â€œCustis, if you’re hiding him for some gawdamn reason, I’ll have your balls sliced off and fed to the hogs.”
    â€œIf you don’t stop threatening me and my job, I’m going to kick your fat ass up between your shoulder blades right here in front of your two worthless deputies.”
    Miller’s jaw dropped, and his deputies, probably feeling they had to make some kind of show of loyalty, came out of their chairs and moved toward Longarm as if they were going to give him a fight.
    â€œDon’t even think about it,” Longarm warned, his words bringing the pair to a standstill.
    Longarm turned and headed out into the street. He’d looked everywhere he could think of for Bodie yesterday, and now he had to think of some new places that the kid and his dog might be hiding. For the sake of Bodie’s welfare and immediate future, he needed to find the kid before Sheriff Miller, or else the boy would be caught up in a legal and jurisdictional situation from which he might never recover.

Chapter 6
    Two frustrating days later, Custis stepped out of the barbershop and heard his named being called. “Marshal Long!”
    He turned to see the mortician, Mr. Dudley Swilling, rushing across the street. Longarm immediately figured that Swilling wanted money for his services and perhaps considered that the big federal marshal had some responsibility for the cost of burying at least one of the three men.
    â€œI’ve been looking for you,” the mortician said, catching his breath. Swilling was a tall and older man, always somber-faced and looking as if he had just lost his best friend; Longarm suspected that was because Swilling had been an undertaker all his adult life. He was bent and thin and always outfitted for his professional duties with a worn black coat, white shirt, black pants shiny with age, and unpolished shoes. Swilling usually wore a black derby that was ten years out of style, but today that was missing and Longarm realized the man was almost completely bald.
    â€œHell, Mr. Swilling,” Longarm said with resignation. “Have the three men been buried?”
    â€œOf course. And I was wondering if we might have a few words in private.”
    Longarm knew that Swilling would hound him until he agreed to talk, so he said, “And that would most likely be about your compensation?”
    â€œYes, that and more.”
    Longarm was irritable after searching two days for Bodie and having nothing to show for it. “I’m pretty busy, Mr. Swilling, but we can talk for a moment. Let’s just walk over here where we can speak privately.”
    â€œGood idea,” the