Any Other Name

216 Pages·2016·1.22 MB·English

by  Craig Johnson

Also by Craig Johnson
The Cold Dish
Death Without Company
Kindness Goes Unpunished
Another Man’s Moccasins
The Dark Horse
Junkyard Dogs
Hell Is Empty
As the Crow Flies
A Serpent’s Tooth
Spirit of Steamboat

VIKING
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First published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA)
LLC, 2014
Copyright © 2014 by Craig Johnson
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Johnson, Craig, 1961-author.
Any other name : a Longmire mystery / Craig Johnson.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-698-16353-9
1. Longmire, Walt (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Sheriffs—Wyoming—
Fiction. 3. Mystery fiction. I. Title.
PS3610.O325A74 2014
813'.6—dc23 2013047845
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or
locales is entirely coincidental.
For Lola, Act I
CONTENTS
Also by Craig Johnson
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on
those that would harm us.
—WINSTON CHURCHILL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First off I owe an apology to Campbell County, Wyoming, for getting all
noir whenever Walt heads over there; it seems as though it’s always the dead of
winter when I cross the Powder River country, but I promise that someday I’ll
do a bright and cheery book that takes place in the spring or summer. Honest.
Speaking of summer, thanks to the fine folks at the State Game Lodge in Custer
National Park for the ghostly tour.
Finally, this novel sprang up with the fertile assistance of Dr. David
“Nasturtium” Nickerson as well as the numerous train experts who helped me in
spreading the fertilizer and Auda “Snap Dragon” DeLeon and Marlen
“Larkspur” Larson for the Spanish language lessons.
Not much grows in the high plains winter, but I had more than a few
hothouse beauties helping me up on this one like Gail “Hydrangea” Hochman
and Marianne “Magnolia” Merola. The pruning and cutting was ably handled by
Kathryn “Columbine” Court, Lindsay “Star of Bethlehem” Schwoeri, copyeditor
Barbara “Chrysanthemum” Campo, and Scott “Cactus” Cohen. The bouquet that
makes the road smell sweet is Carolyn “Calendula” Coleburn, Ben “Plumeria”
Petrone, Maureen “Dahlia” Donnelly, and Angie “Indian Paintbrush” Messina.
And, most of all, my rose by any name, Judy “Sweet-Pea” Johnson.
1
Joseph Conrad said that if you wanted to know the age of the earth, look
upon the sea in a storm; if you want to know the age of the Powder River
country, just be on the wrong side of a coal train. A guy who worked for the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe once told me that the trains in northern Wyoming
are about a hundred and forty cars and a mile and a half long, but it sure seems
longer than that when you’re waiting on one.
Lucian Connally, my old boss and the retired sheriff of Absaroka County,
reached into his pocket and pulled out his beaded tobacco pouch the Cheyenne
elders had given him along with the name Nedon Nes Stigo—He Who Sheds His
Leg. “Damn, this is a long one.” He also pulled his briarwood pipe from the
inside pocket of his light jacket, much too light for the weather, and fingered a
small packet of wooden matches along with it. “We used to get calls from the
railroad detectives, what a useless bunch, wanting us to come down and identify