“Why do I get the feeling that Leonard is here playing more than poker?”
“Because he is,” Seth said. “I’m not telling you anything that those boys haven’t already figured out. Hell, I told Sheriff Ray I’d talk to Tom on Monday.”
“Sheriff and his boys are back there, too.”
“Are they building a fire, roasting marshmallows, and singing camp farewell songs, too?”
“Maybe they should be if you’re planning on sending them down the river.”
“I don’t want any trouble,” Seth assured her.
“Then this is one time that you’d better listen to me, Seth. Turn around and walk away. If you can’t do that, at least go home and get your brother. They’re packin’, hon. And if I know Bonzo, he’ll draw on you as quickly as he’ll draw on any other.”
“He may want to think that through. The sheriff in town owes me a favor.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I heard.”
“Word travels fast around here.”
“How long will it take for the sheriff to work off this favor?”
Seth smiled. “I have a feeling he’ll be wanting to scratch my back for at least eighteen years or longer.”
“You think?” She shook her head. “Man doesn’t have a lick of sense.”
“Apparently his wife doesn’t either. Whole town knows what’s going on.”
“Honey, she knows what’s going on. She’s waiting for the proof. That’s why you’ve got an ace in the hole. Sheriff Ray doesn’t want his wife to see pictures because she’s the one with the money. She inherited a chunk from a great uncle here a while back. Apparently, the uncle thought the world of Sheriff Ray, too. He was mentioned in the will and receives as much as she does each and every month.” She leaned over the bar in a conspiratorial fashion. “And get this—the only way that the money is cut off—even if they divorce—is if proof emerges and an adulterous relationship can be proven.”
“Well what’d ya know?”
“That’s right,” she said, nodding and grinning. “You never know just how hard you can put the screws to someone until all the evidence is on the table, huh?”
Seth took a deep breath and stared at the closed door. “Believe it or not, but I’d rather make a friend than earn an enemy.”
“Then hon, you’d best keep right on walking. The men back there in that room, all they care about is the almighty dollar. You can trust that. They don’t give a shit about you. They damn sure don’t care about me. If you learn anything from me in this lifetime, learn this—there’s something to be said for the adage of money is the root of all evil. It is. I should know. I work for the kind of man who would slice a woman’s throat before he would let her go.”
“Then he’s met his match,” said Seth. “He will let Lindsey go. She came here because she thought she didn’t have any other options. Turns out, she had two right next door and didn’t know it.”
“You’re like your daddy,” Sharon said. “He’d be real proud of you boys.”
“I hope you still feel that way in about fifteen minutes,” Seth said, thumbing the door. “Buzz me back?”
She reached under the bar and winked. “It’s my pleasure. Give ’em hell, kid.”
Chapter Nine
“So then in walks Seth Stallard. And I look at him and think, ‘Shit, here comes trouble’ and then I remembered somethin’ my old lady said once and I thought to myself, ‘Trouble would’ve been in front of ya if Beck had been walking this way’ and I gotta tell you boys, that was a bloody damn fact. Now don’t get me wrong, Seth ain’t a walk in the park, but he ain’t his brother Beck.” Sheriff Ray rambled on and on.
Seth crept along the wall and then peered around the corner. Sheriff Ray, his attorney Tom Leonard, Deputy Bright, and Bonzo were crowded around the poker table. A few other fellows were playing pool.
“I reckon if you’d dealt with Beck, you wouldn’t be here to tell about it,” Bonzo said, puffing a cigar. “Some say the fucker is so obsessed with Lindsey that he only dates women who could pass as her double.”
Seth had heard that rumor, too. Since he’d met some of Beck’s exes and his one-night stands, he called bullshit on that lie.
“So are you planning on letting her out of her contract?” Tom asked, throwing in his hand.
“What contract?” Bonzo laughed until he snorted. “Hell, I misplaced that damn thing soon after she signed it. I swear I’ve looked high and low for it. I reckon she’s got a copy, but she doesn’t know I don’t have one so…yeah buddy, I’m holding her to it.”