Cimarron Rose (Billy Bob Holland 1)

'So get fucko back on the phone. I told him the truth. I didn't come all this way for y'all's bullshit.'

In the background, Temple cocked her head and looked at me.

'My friend thinks you might have had contact with a few pharmaceuticals before the test,' I said.

'You had us both UA-ed. You tell that asshole I have an IQ of one-sixty and I remember everything I see, like in a camera. Also tell him I think he's probably a needle dick.'

'I'll try to pass it on,' I replied.

'Do we get some expense money for gas and meals?' Virgil said.

'You bet. The secretary's got it. Y'all have been real helpful,' I said. I didn't look at Jamie Lake.

'Kiss my ass,' she said.

Just then, my secretary buzzed me on the intercom.

'Billy Bob, it's Lucas Smothers,' she said, and before I could respond, Lucas opened the inner office door and walked inside.

'I'm sorry. I didn't know you was in here with anybody,' he said.

'It's all right,' I said.

Jamie Lake's eyes seemed to peel Lucas's clothes off his skin. Then she turned her glare on me.

'Ask him what other time he had that shirt on,' she said.

'Excuse me?' I said.

'The night we saw him in the picnic ground. That's all he had on. His pants were around his knees and he was passed out, and he had that blue-white check shirt on, with the little gold horns on the shoulders. He was passed out, with his underwear down on his moon, and she was puking in the bushes,' she said.

Lucas's face turned dark red.

'Yeah, she's right. But I don't understand what's going on,' he said.

Temple walked from behind Jamie's chair and put one hand on Jamie's shoulder, her fingers stroking the tattoo of a winged dragon.

'Let's talk about long-sleeve blouses, kiddo. What do you wear, like a medium or a ten?' she said.

After Jamie and Virgil had gone, Lucas sat down in front of my desk.

'It's my dad. He don't usually drink. But last night he sat out on the windmill tank and drunk durn near a pint of whiskey,' he said.

'This has been hard on him,' I said.

'That ain't it.' He turned around and looked at Temple.

'Go ahead. It won't leave this office,' I said.

'He wouldn't come in. He slept out there on the ground. This morning he showered and ate some aspirins and I fixed him some breakfast, and he sat there eating it like it was cardboard.'

I waited. Lucas pulled at his shirtsleeve and snuffed down in his nose, as though the room were too cold.

'He was talking about getting even with Vanzandt. I go, "You mean Darl, 'cause of what he done at the country club?"

'He says, "Darl does them things 'cause his father lets him. His father gets away with it 'cause he's rich. That's the way this county works."

'I said, "It's Darl. There's something wrong with him. It ain't his daddy's fault."