“It’s your call,” Harry murmured.
I glanced at his very shiny, very wide gold wedding band.
“Is that the call you’d make if your wife lived out there, before she was your wife?”I queried.
He smiled a smile that made a handsome man breathtaking.
“Even if we haven’t been married long, I can’t think of Lillian as not my wife, so…no.I’d probably go in there, itching for a fight, do something stupid, and we’d be holding another election for sheriff because I’d get canned.”
I laughed and made the firm decision I liked this guy.
If it could be believed, he seemed to be one of the negative one percent of men who was one of the good ones.
“Though, sitting here, looking at you,” he continued, “knowing how far you are from our help, I think it’s the wise decision to have this on record, but at this juncture, let it slide.”
And again, I was nodding.
“That said, even if you get an inkling they’re messing with you, Mabel, I want you right back here in my office, yes?”he pushed.
More nodding from me.
He stood.
Rus stood.
I stood.
He indicated the paper in my hand.“Give Hutch a call.He doesn’t normally have animals available.They’re usually spoken for before they’re even trained.But he can give you good advice.”He put his hand on the note.“And we’ll keep this with your file.”
“Thank you,” I said.
We shook and it was Rus who escorted me to the front door.
He even opened it for me.
But as he was holding it open with a long arm, he caught my elbow when I was about to walk out.
“Anyinkling, Mabel,” he reiterated.
“Okay, Rus,” I replied.
He let me go and smiled.
I walked toward The Groove thinking, either this assertion from both of them was because they weren’t taking any chances due to the fact they’d been through hell and high water with Ray Andrews (the psychopath who’d pulled his shenanigans), Carrie Molnar and Ezra Corbin (the copycat killers), Richard Sandusky (the actual Crystal Killer), the Whitaker fiasco (long story) and Karl Abernathy (the dirty cop who’d killed a number of people to hide the fact he was filthy).
Or it was because The Lion and The Lamb was flipping their shit, an unknown but possibly explosive situation they were waiting, with all that had already befallen that town, to combust.
I already had an inkling.
And that inkling was, the answer to that was door number two.
FIVE
The Groove
Mabel
Iwalked into my store, which I had, for reasons unknown (as a constant reminder?self-flagellation?), named The Groove.
