Longarm #399 : Longarm and the Grand Canyon Murders (9781101554401) Read Free

couple.”
    “The reasons being?”
    “The Quinns were wealthy. They probably had a lot of cash and some expensive gold jewelry. They could have been murdered and dumped into the river then an empty boat set free with a few provisions to make it look as if the couple had foolishly struck out on their own.”
    “Hmmm,” Longarm mused. “That would be a possibility all right. How long have the couple been missing?”
    “Approximately one week.” Billy leaned forward onhis desk. “Custis, the request to send my best man comes from the very highest sources. Right from the top of the political heap.”
    “From the President himself?”
    Billy nodded.
    “Maybe you should go,” Longarm said. “It would be a real feather in your hat.”
    “I can’t swim worth a damn,” Billy confessed. “And anyway my wife would have none of that. I’ve got three mouths to feed now.”
    Longarm sighed. “I know. I know.”
    “I’m asking you to do this as a personal favor. My career.
Your
career. The reputation of this office hangs in the balance. If you go to Lees Ferry and somehow find the couple still alive, it will be a tremendous boost to all of our careers.”
    “And if I go and find out that they really were crazy enough to go down that river by themselves without an experienced riverboat guide?”
    “Then that is something we have to find out.”
    Longarm blew a smoke ring up in the air. “Boss, I have to tell you that the most likely outcome is bad. Either the couple was murdered…or they went off in a boat and soon drowned. In each of those cases, it’s damned unlikely that their bodies will ever be found.”
    “I’m aware of that but hoping it’s not going to be the case. In any event, I’ve been ordered to launch an investigation from this office and you are the only one of us that can pull it off. Will you do it for me?”
    “Billy…”
    “Will you do it for not only me but yourself and the reputation of this office, and for Judge Quinn and his bride?”
    “Ah, Billy, I…”
    “And for a month’s paid vacation and a promise in writing that you’ll have both a raise and a promotion?”
    “No matter what the outcome?”
    “No matter what the outcome,” Billy promised.
    Longarm came to his feet. He was a tall man and a strong one, but the idea of getting in a boat and going through the Grand Canyon seeking corpses washed up on some sandy shore was very disturbing.
    “I’m going to piss off Miss Zalstra.”
    “I’ll invite her to my home for dinner and fill her mind with heroic stories of the deeds you have done as a federal officer of the law.”
    “You’ll tell her about the time I fought three men bare-handed in a bear’s cave in the Tetons and whipped them all?”
    “Oh yeah, and I’ll tell them of the time you were in Monument Valley and had to track down six murderers and save that beautiful Mexican girl named…”
    “Best not tell her about that one,” Longarm advised.
    “I’ll tell her all the good stories,” Billy vowed. “By the time my wife and I finish, she’ll believe that you are a Nordic god and she’ll be panting with anticipation for your return.”
    “Could work.”
    “Then you’ll do it?”
    Longarm jammed the Cuban cigar into his mouth. “A raise in pay. Promotion. You talk me up to Miss Zalstra?”
    “All of those things I swear on my mother’s grave.”
    “Last I heard she was still alive, Billy.”
    “All right, on my father’s grave, and that bastard is definitely dead.”
    “Fair enough!” Longarm extended his massive paw across the desk, and it dwarfed Billy’s small, soft hand. “We got a deal. Put it all down in writing and I’ll sign it.”
    Billy’s broad smile faded. “In writing?”
    “Sure! Any problem with that, Boss?”
    “None at all,” Billy said weakly. “But I’ll want you to leave as soon as possible.”
    “Tomorrow,” Longarm said. “Have my travel funds ready and waiting in the morning. Two hundred ought to do