Fred spit tobacco juice into a can.“Whoop-de-doo.”
Quinn was liking this guy more every minute.
“The thing is,” Jo continued, “I told Mr.Doobie at the bank that Brian Hastings definitely would use the ranch, and we’d be able to make a big payment on our loan soon, so he gave me an extension.Only Brian Hastings hasn’t ever come here.”
“But he did,” Benny said.“We were all in your bed together.”
Fred almost swallowed his chaw.“What did you say?”
“Benny, this is not Brian Hastings.He just looks a lot like him.”She glanced quickly at Fred, who had developed a dangerous gleam in his eye.“Now don’t look like that, Fred.This very nice man is Quinn Monroe, from New York.”
“I don’t give a damn where he’s from.He’d better stay the hell out of your bed.Benny, you and me need to have a talk.You ain’t ever been to the big city, and these city slickers got some tricky ways about them.You gotta be on your guard.”
Judging from Fred’s expression, Quinn was afraid he’d just lost his new best friend.And if he valued his life, he’d shelve his fantasies about Jo.“I was only trying to save her,” he said.
“Yes, that’s true,” Jo said.“He saw Benny coming into my room tonight, and he didn’t know it was about Clarise.He thought Benny was Dick, up to no good.So he tackled him, and we all ended up rolling around on my bed until Emmy Lou arrived with the shotgun.”
Fred glared at Quinn.“Likely story.”
Quinn tried to salvage Fred’s goodwill.“Would you believe I’ve agreed to impersonate this Brian Hastings character so the bank will get off Jo’s back?”
Fred pointed a gnarled finger at Jo.“Don’t you be getting too grateful, Josephine Sarah.You see what gratitude got you with a Dick Cassidy type.”
Benny jumped into the conversation and pointed at Quinn.“But he’s not a Dick,” he said brightly.
Fred scowled at Benny.“Go up to the house and help Emmy Lou bring the coffee and cookies down.”
“Okay.”Benny opened the stall door, and Quinn stood aside to let him out.Benny peered at Quinn.“Who are you, anyway?”
“Benny, I’m losing track of that myself.”
Benny nodded as if he understood the problem completely and sauntered out of the barn.
Jo turned to Fred.“I haven’t wanted to worry you, but we’re not in good financial shape.”
“I could figure that out on my own.If I coulda done more riding this winter I mighta been able to catch Cassidy doing some of his dirty work.We shouldn’ta lost all them cattle.But the only way to catch him would be sneak up on horseback.The truck makes too much noise, and that’s all I was using this past winter.”
“I tried to catch him,” Jo said.“Never could.But that’s water over the dam.Right now, Quinn is my best hope.If Mr.Doobie believes Quinn is Brian Hastings, then he won’t heckle me for money.If I could get Doobie signed up as an extra in the movie, he might not ever heckle me again.”
“So I’ll sign him up,” Quinn said.
Fred held up his hand.“Wait a minute.You’re not a movie star or director or nothin’, but you’re gonna sign Doobie up for a movie?”
Quinn shrugged.“Sometimes movies don’t get made.The money dries up.I don’t know much about it, but I figure a lot can go wrong when you’re trying to raise millions of dollars to make a picture.”
Fred’s eyes widened.“Millions?”He turned to Jo.“If this Hastings really rented the ranch, how much would you get?”
“I don’t know.The important thing is that Doobie doesn’t know, either.He’s willing to let my note ride until after the movie’s shot.”
“But Hastings never came back.”Fred shifted his wad of tobacco to his check.“There might never be a movie.”
“I know, but Quinn’s agreed to buy me some time.So for the next few days, if anybody asks if Brian Hastings is staying on the Bar None, say yes.”
“I can do that, but this may be way too complicated for Benny to figure out.”
Jo nodded.“I realize that now, but I can’t lie to Benny.If I’d told him Quinn was a movie star and Benny found out later it wasn’t true, I’d feel awful.”
Fred patted her shoulder.“Yeah, we all feel that way about Benny.I’ll see if I can explain it to him.”
