“Everybody here has a purpose,” she said quietly. “We’re where we’re supposed to be.”
“Damn. Well, it’s too early in the day for philosophy. Out you go.”
“I hope you won’t mind if I call your mother once in a great while to check on JJ.”
“As long as you don’t entertain any ideas about grifting them.”
She gave him a hot glare. As if she’d ever do something like that. Then she remembered the part she was playing. His windows were open and his voice carried. And her cultivated partner in crime was hearing every word.
“There’s nothing wrong with people helping other people in need,” she said sweetly. “And I won’t turn down anything that’s offered,” she added haughtily.
“I make a bad enemy.” He said it softly, but the words stung.
She cocked her head and smiled at him through the open window as she slammed the door. “Oooh, look at me, I’m shaking!” she drawled.
He bit off a nasty word in Spanish.
She threw a nastier word in Spanish right back at him and stomped off to her door.
He left tire marks getting out of the parking lot.
As she put her key into the lock, her partner and his partner joined her at the door. John was just pulling out onto the highway, and they were in plain sight. He saw them. He let out a torrent of other words as he sped down the highway toward home.
Josie let the other two into the room.
“How’d it go?” the taller one asked. “What did you learn?”
“A lot,” she said. “Sit down and I’ll fill you in.”
It was all going to be careful lies, of course, with just enough truth to make them sure she was telling them the truth. She had a couple of phone numbers that belonged to colleagues who would back her to the hilt if she had to give them to the two lawbreakers sitting at the table with her.
John Everett would think badly of her. She hated that. In some other world, things might have worked out very differently. But she had a job to do and he was going to be part of it. Whether she liked it or not.
JJ was having the time of his life on the Big Spur. Cole had arranged a hearing so that he and Heather could get custody of the boy. They’d also arranged for a memorial service for JJ’s dad. The boy was still sad at losing the father he’d loved, but he was grateful for having people in his life who would take care of him, until he could take care of himself.
Tanner and Stasia came over for supper to be introduced to the newest member of the family. JJ was fascinated by the life Tanner had lived, which he’d gleaned from some of the cowboys he palled around with doing chores. He sat and listened, spellbound, to tales of espionage.
He was truly fascinated when they began to talk about Stasia’s boss, Tony Garza, who’d been a real mob boss. JJ was looking forward to meeting him. There were holidays coming up so the whole family would gather at Big Spur; there was some expectation that Tony might show up as well. Or so Stasia said.
Heather laughed, ruffling JJ’s thick hair. She glanced at John. “I don’t guess your friend Josie would like to spend Christmas with us...?”
John said a bad word in Spanish.
Heather caught her breath.
JJ stared up at John, who’d embarrassed himself and felt bad about it. “You shouldn’t say words like that,” he said softly to the big man. “My dad used to say that we should never cuss around ladies on account of we should treat them with respect.”
John grimaced. He sighed and picked up the boy, who was slight for his age. “You’re absolutely right, and I apologize,” he told his mother.
Heather just stared at him worriedly.
“I won’t do it again.” He smiled at her. “I promise.”
She shook her head. “I should have used that peach tree switch more often,” she said firmly.
“Yes. Or maybe a baseball hat, to get through his thick skull,” Tanner teased.
“And there’s a man who has no room to talk,” Stasia said with twinkling eyes as she smiled at her husband. She was noticeably pregnant now, but still a few months away from the birth of their child. “Tanner can say bad words in six languages, one of which is impossible to learn. Well, for me, at least.”
