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

undertaker agreed, following Longarm to a place beside a horse trough where no one passing by would overhear their conversation.
    â€œI have something very important for you,” Swilling said, removing a thick envelope from an inside coat pocket.
    â€œDon’t tell me that you are presenting me with a bill for your services, because I’m not paying it. The city—”
    â€œMarshal, that’s
not
what I’m here for,” Swilling interrupted. “I’ve long had a formal agreement with Denver that insures they will reimburse me twenty-five dollars for every deceased indigent person I prepare to have buried. Twenty-five dollars gets the deceased a cheap pine box, no flowers or service, and not even a headstone, but instead a cheap wooden cross on which I have a man carve the deceased name and date of birth and death, if they are available. Nameless paupers are buried in the paupers’ untended section of the cemetery, and no one will likely ever visit their graves.”
    â€œI see.” Longarm looked down at the envelope in Swilling’s hand with more than a little curiosity. “What is this?”
    â€œIt’s a letter that I assume is from that boy’s mother. I found it on the body of John Stock. I took the liberty of reading it and I think you should do likewise.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWhen you read the letter you’ll immediately understand, and there are also a few valuable possessions included in that envelope.”
    â€œAll right,” Longarm said. “I’m looking for Bodie and having no luck at all. But sooner or later I’ll find the boy and deliver this envelope. Is there any money to be passed on to Bodie?”
    â€œVery little cash, but there are a few small gold nuggets that should bring the orphan several hundred dollars. There is also a woman’s gold locket, with what I assume is a cameo of the boy’s mother inside, along with a diamond ring and necklace.”
    Longarm was stunned. “
Real
diamonds?”
    â€œI’m not a jeweler, but yes, I’d say the diamonds are real and their value is considerable.”
    â€œThat’s pretty hard to believe.”
    â€œAnd why is that?”
    â€œBecause Bodie led me to believe that his mother was always facing hard circumstances. And as you could see from the dress and appearance of the dead man, John Stock, he looked to be in equally bad straits. So, Mr. Swilling, I’m confused as to why Mr. Stock would have anything of real value on his person.”
    â€œI understand your confusion,” the mortician said. “The man’s shoes were worn out, as was his clothing. He had no watch and, as I said, very little cash. But it is the letter that will really set your head to spinning.”
    â€œLetter?”
    â€œYes. But before you open and read it, I should warn you that it will be very upsetting . . . even to someone as accustomed to murder and treachery as you are in your dangerous line of work.”
    â€œThanks,” Longarm said, very distracted by what he’d just been told. “Was there anything else of value or interest on Mr. Stock’s body?”
    â€œNo.” Swilling hesitated. “But, if I may be so bold as to suggest, I really hope that you or someone will offer up a modest remuneration in order that John Stock at least be given a modest marble headstone. One with his name and date of death. The wooden crosses last only a few years, but even a small marble headstone will last for the ages.”
    â€œYou just said that no one ever visits the paupers’ section of our Denver cemetery.”
    â€œThat’s true, but the boy might want to visit his stepfather’s grave someday. And by the way, I saw the boy this morning.”
    â€œYou did!”
    â€œYes, he was shoveling manure and feeding horses at the Rocky Mountain Livery. I know the man that he works for, Otis Redman, and he is a good