A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2)(16)

“I wouldn’t call them my friends,” I said, just to break my silence, which had lasted too long. “I like Maddy, though she’s not real bright. But she’s steady. Rogelio is an ass. Good-looking ass, but an ass.” I shrugged. “But they’re my crew for now, they got hurt while they were working, and I should make sure they’re getting good treatment.”

“I noticed that,” Eli said out of the blue. “That Rogelio was what you’d call a handsome man.”

“What?”

Eli had focused on the least important part of what I’d told him. But when he looked off into space, obviously wanting me to forget he’d made that remark about Rogelio, I was confused. And I was slow enough to say something about it. “I didn’t think you looked at men that way.” I cocked my head. Something was going on that I didn’t understand. With my wizard buddy, that seemed to happen often.

Eli flushed red. “It’s not a hard-to-see thing. His looks.”

“Okay. I guess.” But I didn’t understand. “That Harriet Ritter is a good-looking woman,” I said, just to give him some company.

“This is the third time you’ve mentioned this Harriet Ritter.” Eli’s voice was sharp. “Can you describe her?”

Eli seemed to be listening to a different conversation than the one I thought we were having. I said, “Blonde, in her thirties, built trim. Sharp clothes. Made up. She and Travis Seeley were on the train, same car as us. They were armed. We could tell they knew how to use their guns. And they stuck to us for a couple of days. I figured… well, I figured someone had sent them to make sure we were doing our jobs. As backup.”

Eli had his thinking face on. I gathered my new clothes and went in the bathroom to dress. I was tired of sitting around in a towel.

I put on the garter belt and the brassiere, then the hose, then the panties, then the slip. Though I’d seen garter belts and hose before, I’d never put ’em on. I felt I was already wearing a lot of items, and I hadn’t even finished yet.

Next I put on the blouse. The saleswoman had called the color “rose pink.” I guess some roses were that color.

As “accents”—that was what she’d called ’em—the blouse had a white collar, white trimmed pockets, and white cuffs on the puffy sleeves, which came halfway to my elbow, covering the bandage. The skirt was full and to my knees, and it was covered in flowers, some of them the same pink as the blouse. At least the material was cotton and the shoes were tolerable, though not real practical.

I hated to think what Eli had spent on all this gear. For a mean moment, I hoped it was a lot. If I had to wear this, he should pay for it.

I wanted to strap on my gun belt, but I knew it would look ridiculous on top of the skirt. Also, going armed openly would spoil the whole point of the… costume. I was wearing all this to blend in, which Eli had assured me was absolutely necessary in Dixie.

I told myself that several times.

I stood in front of the mirror while I combed my hair as much as I could. My curls were spring-loaded. I could only see myself down to the waist, but that was enough. I made a sour face. I looked like I was going to a fancy-dress party.

I made myself leave the bathroom. Eli glanced up, looked down, then looked up again with the funniest expression on his face. “You look very nice,” he said.

“I know you’re trying not to laugh,” I said, sounding just as snippy as I felt.

“Far from it.”

Then I correctly interpreted the look he was giving me. “No, sir,” I said. “It took me a long time to put on all this rig, and I’m not getting out of it anytime soon.” Our past history had not always been what my mother called “platonic.”

“There’s always later,” Eli said, sounding hopeful.

“Later is not now.” I didn’t want to promise anything. I didn’t know how this new Eli was going to act compared to the old Eli. If I had changed a bit, he must have also.

“So where to, Eli?” We needed to get out of this room, away from the bed.

“Just remember,” Eli said as he stood, “we’re married now.” He gave me a sly smile.

I could not forbear laughing. “Let’s get to work on that list of jobs.”

“If you insist.” His accent was right at the front. “First we will find out what we can about the chest.”

I had no idea how we were going to do that, but he sounded as though he had a plan in mind. We went down the stairs together and toward the front door. I had the gratification of seeing Mr. Mercer, who had a narrow face and receding dark hair, actually drop his jaw. I gave him a cool look to let him know I had registered his presence. I was tempted to raise my ring finger and waggle it at him.

We swept out the front door.

“That was fun,” I murmured.

“Yes,” he said, smiling broadly. “It was. Of course, we now have to walk all the way around the building to get the car.”

“It was worth a walk.”

Eli drove west out of town. We were returning to the site of the derailment.

I thought of it as a battlefield.

When we got out of the car, Eli insisted I put my hand in the crook of his arm, as if I needed support to walk on the grass. It went contrary to common sense, but I managed to match my pace to his.