Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{“Boo, you heard the man. Have some of your boys take him outside and search him.”}

_{“Hey!” the fellow yelped.}

_{“Just remember where we can find Mr. Monroe, did you?”}

_{“I think, uh, I think maybe I did.”}

_{Longarm smiled and stepped forward.}

_{Once again Longarm had Boo Bevvy and a posse of men from Snowshoe at his back. The difference was that this time there were fewer of them. Most of the posse members had been left at the smelter keeping the workmen under guard while the comptroller examined dry, dusty business ledgers line by line. Now only the Snowshoe police chief and four of his best officers were backing the federal man.}

_“Ready?”

_“Go.”

_{Longarm’s boot smashed into the door. The lock shattered, and the door was flung back on its hinges.}

_{Longarm was inside, gun in one hand and badge in the other, before the door had time to rebound.}

_{“Nobody move. Federal marshals.”}

_{As a collection of conspirators these fellows were a disappointment. They looked like any other bunch of smalltime businessmen.}

_{Except maybe a little more nervous than most.}

_{There were five of them at the table. The only one Longarm recognized was Ellis Farmer. Farmer blanched even paler than usual when he saw who had burst in. The other men at the table seemed mostly interested in gaping at the gun muzzles. Farmer kept staring with a certain degree of horror at Chief Bevvy and the other individuals who had been his neighbors in Snowshoe. And whom he had betrayed on behalf of these other men.}

_{“This is an outrage. This is—”}

_{“Shut the fuck up, Andrew.” Longarm might not know all the men at the table, but Chief Bevvy knew this one at least.}

_{“You have no right to barge in here like this,” another squawked.}

_{“Bullshit,” Longarm said. “Lawman has every right to make an arrest.”}

_{“We haven’t done anything.”}

_{“No? Then you won’t care that we’ve impounded the records from that smelter you set up.”}

_{“Jesus!” someone blurted out.}

_{“Keep trying, mister. Maybe He’ll help you.”}

_{“We haven’t done anything. Really, Boo. We haven’t.” “Cut the crap, Jasper. Deputy Long figured it out. Me and my boys have been going crazy looking for your tracks from where you got away with our gold. Hell, the tracks were in plain sight all the time. Railroad tracks.”}