Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{Longarm marched to the door of the cabin and lightly rapped on it. There wasn’t any light showing inside, and the place remained dark and silent now. Longarm began to get angry again. That bartender had said Able lived there as well as having his office there. So where the hell was he? Off getting drunk someplace while his clients languished? Laying up with whores while the Utes suffered? That sort of conduct was about what Longarm would expect from anybody in Snowshoe, Colorado. Even from the lawyer who was supposed to be on the high side of things there.}

_{The more he thought about that the madder he got. And if some polite knocking on the door didn’t produce any result, maybe what he needed was a more vigorous summons.}

_{He reared back and began bashing on the damned door. Not trying to knock it down exactly. But not much interested in being gentle with it either.}

_{He finished off by giving the sonuvabitch door a couple of kicks just for good measure.}

_{That didn’t make him feel much better, but he’d damned well wanted to do it and so he had.}

_{Now, he supposed, he could turn around and go look for a place where he could spread his blanket for the damned night. What was left of it. He quit pounding on the lawyer’s door.}

_{“I... have a gun,” a quavering, timorous female voice called softly from inside the cabin. “G-go away or I’ll shoot. I will.”}

_{Just that quick Longarm went from feeling pissed to feeling like nine kinds of an idiot.}

_{Nobody’d told him that Lawyer Able had a wife, for God’s sake.}

_{Not that he’d asked.}

_{But even so ...}

_{“Ma’am? Mrs. Able? Lordy, ma’am, I do apologize. I’ve woke you up and scared you and... well, I don’t know what all else I’ve gone and done. Made a fool of myself, that’s for sure. This is Custis Long, Mrs. Able. Can you hear me? My name is Custis Long. Deputy U.S. Marshal Long, ma’am. I’ve come here to see Mr. Able about those Ute Indians, ma’am. Could you ... if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, ma’am, after I’ve gone and bothered you like this, could you please tell me where I might find Mr. Able? Please?”}

_{“You say your name is Long?” He was pleased to note that the lady’s voice sounded better now, more in control of herself. At least she didn’t sound like she was in immediate fear for her life this time.}

_{“Yes, ma’am, it is.”}

_{“Would you mind verifying that, please?”}

_{“Glad to, ma’am. I have my credentials right here.” “Would you do it without me having to open my door, please?”}

_{“Ma’am, I don’t know how I’d manage that.”}