“So who requested federal help with your law enforcement?” Longarm asked. “And why?”
“That is simple enough, Custis,” Elizabeth Kunsler told him. “Neither town can afford a full time marshal, and if we did have one there would be the problem of jurisdiction. I mean, a marshal in Stonecipher couldn’t arrest a lawbreaker in Valmere and vice versa. A Nebraska lawman has to stop at the state line, don’t you see. That is where his authority ends. I assume it is the same over on their side.”
“Yet you folks got together enough t’ ask for our help,” Longarm said.
“And it took two months of very careful negotiation to accomplish that,” Potts put in.
“Couple times there we thought we’d come to shooting over who was to do what,” a gentleman in sleeve garters and a derby hat said.
“Couple times I wanted to pull a gun on those bastards,” another gent said.
“In the end,” Potts said, “each side laid out our proposed wording and we pulled one out of a hat to decide.”
Longarm looked at Liz and said, “You were always a sensible girl. I’m surprised you couldn’t ride herd on ’em.”
“Oh, I wasn’t permitted in the meetings,” she told him. “Something about me being a woman.”
He grinned down at her. “Over on the Wyoming side, women have pretty much the same rights as men. Voting an’ everything. You did know that didn’t you?”
“Yes, but that is over there. This is Nebraska, and women here do not have voting privileges. Or much of anything else.”
“Don’t start that, Elizabeth,” Potts said. To Longarm he added, “Our Elizabeth wants to act like this is Wyoming. It isn’t, and we are quite happy with the way our laws run.”
Longarm grunted. “What you all need, I think, is a peacemaker.”
“Right, and that is where you come in. As a federal marshal you can cross back and forth. With you here a man who shoots up my place can’t get away from responsibility for it just by walking across the street. That’s all he needs to do the way things are now; he just walks across the street and he’s free from arrest.
“Convenient,” Longarm said.
“But bad for business,” another man put in. “The way it is now, a man can run out on a bill and escape paying just by stepping across that line.”
“I can see how that would be a nuisance,” Longarm agreed.
“Nuisance be damned. The cowboys all know about it, and some of them deliberately run up their bills over here then scamper across the line to keep from paying what they owe.”
“Makes it hard for an honest merchant to turn a profit,” said the gentleman Longarm thought he remembered as being the proprietor of the general store on the Stonecipher side of town.
“Or a dishonest one,” someone at the back of the room added, which made the storekeeper’s head snap back around but too late for him to see who made the comment.
“I think I see the problem,” Longarm told the crowd.
“The problem is them,” the storekeeper said. “They need to move their town away from us.”
“And they need to quit stealing our water. That’s another thing. We developed that spring. The water is ours.”
“Right. The water belongs to us. We should make them stop using it. That would certainly get some results. Do that and they would have to move away from here.”
Longarm looked down at Liz and raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t look at me, Custis. I’m just a woman. I have no right to say anything. About anything.”
“Frustratin’, ain’t it,” he said.
“You wouldn’t know the half of it,” she said.
“We’ll talk ’bout all o’ that later. Right now, I’m hungry. I assume you got a café over on this side,” Longarm said.
“No café meal for you this evening,” Liz said. “You’re coming home with me for supper. We have a lot of catching up to do.” She hooked her arm into his and announced, “This meeting is over. I’m taking the deputy home for a good meal. We can worry about business tomorrow.”
With that she turned him around and dragged him toward the door.