Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{“Yeah, I guess you did. Farmer, though ...”}

_{“Is something wrong, Longarm? You look so serious.” He shook his head and tried to force a smile. He suspected it turned out to be a pretty weak one, but he gave it his best shot. “Just thinking. That’s all.”}

_{Leah shrugged again, obviously not much giving a damn who did business or where it was done just so long as she could manage her own affairs in peace.}

_{A waiter came and they ordered breakfast—Longarm was able to resist Leah’s suggestion about the fish eggs— and idly chatted about the changes taking place in Denver while they waited for the meal. It turned out that they had several acquaintances in common both there and in Kansas. Leah was a woman of wide travels and great conviviality. She was very careful, though. No one she mentioned by name could possibly have been hurt by the acquaintance. Longarm suspected there were many others who enjoyed the lady’s friendship but whose names would remain in confidence with her.}

_{The talk diminished while they ate, then resumed once the plates had been exchanged for final cups of fresh coffee. Longarm leaned back and lighted a cheroot. This wasn’t a bad way to start one’s day, he figured.}

_{“Miss Leah?”}

_{Longarm turned his head to see a wildly grinning Parson George rush into the dining room.}

_{“Miss Leah, is it really you?”}

_{Leah jumped up and gave Parson a hug as the big, ugly night stalker reached her. She looked to be just as happy as Parson was about this meeting, and from what Longarm could gather from their conversation, they were friends of very long standing.}

_{“Haven’t seen you since ... but did you hear about... someone told me that she . .. five years, but he’ll be out in two ... no, but I was told that she ...”}

_{Longarm smiled and crossed his legs. He leaned back and drank some coffee. Parson and Leah would get around to remembering him eventually.}

_{The explanations came when they did. Parson and Leah went as far back as Leah’s first shyly hesitant, frightened forays into “the life,” as they called it. It was the woman called Sally who’d “turned out” Leah. Parson had been working for Sally even then. He had befriended the beautiful but scared young girl, and was her protector as well as her friend for as long as Leah remained with Sally. Now Leah was especially}

_{pleased to discover that Parson and Longarm were already friends too.}

_{“But, darling, I can’t wait to see her again. You will take me, won’t you, dear? At once?”}

_{“Quick as I do what she sent me here for,” Parson agreed.}