Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{“Indeed I am that,” he agreed.}

_{Leah went to the dressing table and began brushing her hair. Longarm pulled out a cheroot and lighted it. “You said you didn’t go t’ supper for waiting for me? How’d you know I’d show up?”}

_{“Why, you had to, of course,” she said over her shoulder. “After all, dear, you are the only reason I came to Snowshoe.”}

_{“Mighty flattering, Leah, but you already told me before that you were cornin’ here anyhow. Caught ya.”}

_{“Laugh if you want, but it happens to be true, dear. I told you earlier that I would be coming to Snowshoe to look for a possible business site. Well, I won’t be wanting one of those now. Not here. So why else would I come except to see you.” She continued brushing her hair.}

_{“You really don’t have business here now?”}

_{“Of course not. I may be a silly, simpering female the way you men look at it, but I am no fool when it comes to investment. And the smart money in this county says Snowshoe and these other high-country camps are going to fizzle out just as quickly as they boomed. Unless I want a short-term profit, which would be no profit at all, I’ve been advised to stay along the right of way of the Silver Creek, Tipson, and Glory.”}

_{“Really?”}

_{“But of course, dear. That railroad line will be completed, you see. The other one up here is only a pipe dream. The backers haven’t enough capital to build through. And without a railroad these camps will fail.” She quit brushing and turned to face him, all the lightness gone from her expression now, replaced by a hard- edged, shrewd intelligence. Perhaps, he reflected, poor Aggie couldn’t compete with this woman even in that arena. “Have you heard anything different from that, Longarm?”}

_{He shrugged. “Actually what 1 heard from a local mover and shaker just tonight is that without a railroad these camps will die, all right."}

_{“Exactly,” Leah said.}

_{“Oh th’ other hand,” Longarm said, “this fella wasn’t at all convinced that they won’t get their railroad built. The only reason there’s doubt is because money they were counting on t’ finance laying track was stolen. But he says they can recoup those losses if they hang tough. Tell you the truth, Leah, I believed him. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about.”}

_{“How odd,” she said, “when my sources in Glory told me just the opposite.”}