Lone Calder Star (Calder Saga 9)

“Tillie said I wanted to talk to you?” Again she sounded surprised.

“She just said I had a phone call.”

“I can’t believe this,” Kelly Rae declared in disgust. “I told her I wanted to speak to Alice. Alice Mitchell. That old fool needs a hearing aid. If I wasn’t so furious right now, this would be funny.”

Dallas remembered the two girls had been almost inseparable during high school. “Let me see if Alice is here.”

“No! Wait,” Kelly Rae rushed. “Maybe you can help me. I’m trying to find out if Bubba Franks is there. Have you seen him?”

“I don’t remember seeing him here, but I wasn’t really looking for him either.”

“What about the Poindexter brothers? Bubba usually hangs out with them.”

“I definitely don’t remember seeing them,” Dallas answered with confidence. Both men, former defensive line standouts in football, topped six feet and three hundred pounds.

In frustration Kelly Rae launched into her tale of woe about a family get-together Bubba was supposed to attend, complete with a threat to return his engagement ring if he didn’t walk through the door in the next ten minutes. A promise from Dallas that she would send Bubba on his way if she saw him finally satisfied the girl, and Dallas hung up.

The loud music and raucous voices hit her the minute Dallas exited the relative quiet of the back room. She hesitated, briefly toying with the idea of slipping out the rear door, avoiding any further attempts by Quint to persuade her to stay. But it smacked too much of cowardice.

Squaring her shoulders, she set out for the far end of the bar. As she passed the pool tables, John Earl intercepted her.

“Hey, Dallas.” His avid gaze devoured the close fit of her cotton top. “Don’t you look sweet tonight?”

“Thanks.” But he was easily the last man she wanted to notice that. Dallas continued past him with hardly a break in stride.

He quickly caught up with her. “Not so fast. I was just going to buy you a drink.”

“Sorry, but I’m with someone.” Even as she made her claim, her glance skipped ahead. Her steps faltered when she failed to see Quint sitting at the far end of the bar.

“If you’re talking about that stranger, he left.”

Dallas wanted to take issue with that, but the evidence seemed to be all on John Earl’s side. Quint was nowhere to be seen. She hadn’t expected him to walk out without waiting for her to come back. She told herself that it was just as well he had. It saved her from having to deal with any attempts by him to get her to stay longer.

“Good,” she said. “I have to be leaving anyway.”

“You can’t go yet,” John Earl protested, catching hold of her arm before she could walk away. “I want to buy you a drink.”

“No, thanks. I have to go home and study.”

“And I said you’re going to stay,” he insisted with an angry scowl. “Forget about those damned books for a while.”

“Why?” Dallas was suddenly suspicious. He seemed more anxious than eager for her to stay.

“Because I want to buy you a drink. Why do you think?” He turned a big smile on her, but there was an edge of desperation in his voice that was impossible to ignore.

“What’s going on, John Earl?” she demanded.

“Nothing.” The denial came a little too quickly. And the pause was a little too long before he remembered to say, “I just want to buy you a drink.”

“Where exactly did Quint go?”

“I told you he left.” John Earl tried to appear cocky and indifferent, but only succeeded in looking nervous and uneasy.

“And rather suddenly, too. Did you have anything to do with that?”

“Me? Whatever put a crazy thing like that in your head? I don’t even know the guy. Forget about him, and have a drink with me.” He tucked a hand under her elbow and tried to turn her toward the bar.

Dallas pulled her arm free and bolted for the door.