Chapter Ten
Dallas cornered his younger brother on Wednesday morning, before Patrick even crawled off the couch where he’d spent the night. For once, Dallas was determined to have a normal Saturday instead of pouring beers. “Patrick, would you be able to cover for me on Saturday—not this one but the next, for the day and night shifts?”
“Huh?” Patrick blinked at him, his sleepy expression clearing when Dallas waved a coffee mug under his nose. “Why? Are you going out to the cabin?”
“No, I want to go to the beach.” No harm in telling Patrick what he intended to do with his time off.
Patrick gaped, his mouth dropping open in an unattractive manner.
“Better shut your mouth,” Dallas said. “It’s a welcoming haven for bugs.”
“Fuck you,” Patrick said without heat. “Why do you want to go to the beach? I don’t care what they say on TV about it being the start of spring. It’s bloody cold. There’s still snow on the Desert road.”
“So they say.” Dallas remained unperturbed. He wanted to take Laura away for the weekend. They’d stay at a cute bed and breakfast farther down the coast, if he could get a booking or— No. A better plan fell into place. One of the guys he’d worked with years ago owned a luxury lodge. Better for privacy. Some of the owners of bed and breakfasts were nosy old men and women. “Will you do it? Will you cover for me?”
“No problem. I don’t have anything better to do.”
“A sad statement of your love life.”
Patrick scowled. “Tell me about it. And you’re off for a dirty weekend. Who are you taking? The mystery blonde?”
Everything inside Dallas softened, and he felt a goofy smile take possession of his lips. “Yeah.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Maybe.” Dallas shrugged, not intending to say more. “I’d better go and finish stocking the chillers before Gloria gets here.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll help before I head off. Least I can do for the hospitality.”
With Patrick’s aid it didn’t take long to ready the bar for the first customers of the day.
“See you later, and thanks.”
“No prob,” Patrick said, heading for the rear door.
Dallas opened the windows to help air the place, and glanced up when Patrick reappeared minutes later. “Did you forget something?”
“You’d better come outside and see this.”
Mystified, Dallas followed his brother outside, and he came to an abrupt halt once he exited the alley running down the side of the pub. Neon green spray paint covered the painted black bricks on the front of the pub, to the left of the door.
A message.The debt will be paid.
“What debt?”
“Fucked if I know,” Dallas said, but his mind leaped to Laura. Her family—they wouldn’t do this. Would they? Sneaking around didn’t seem their style, and not in this area. “I need to clean this off.”
“I’ll help.”
“It’s okay, bro. You go. I’ll sort it.”
Patrick hesitated before leaving. Dallas went for cleaning supplies and gave mental thanks he’d paid to get the front of the building treated with graffiti guard. It would make the cleanup easier.
Laura rang him during her lunch hour, and he told her about his upcoming day off and the graffiti.
“What do you think?” he asked, going for blunt confrontation of the Drummond-O’Grady feud. “Your family?”
“I don’t see any budding artists in my family, although they’re capable of paying someone to commit the crime.”
