She knocked at the heavy door of the Mill, and someone peeked around the edge of the door, hesitating for a moment before stepping aside and allowing Royal entrance.
The interior was dark and heavy with smoke and the smell of tobacco. Royal nodded at a few of the men she knew as she crossed the room toward a table at the back. Small clusters of men stood or sat along the wall; some leaned back at an angle in straight-back chairs. Low voices and indecipherable murmurs surrounded her as she stepped up to the long plank table where her grandfather and her uncle Wade were seated.
Royal scanned the room one more time as she pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Drink?” a buxom woman who was tending to the patrons asked.
“No, thanks, June. Nothin’ for me,” said Royal.
“Okay, sugah, just let me know if you change your mind.” June’s round form swept past her as she gathered a few empty glasses onto a scuffed tray.
Royal placed her hands on the table, waiting to find out why she’d been summoned. She hadn’t spoken with Wade or her grandfather about the conversation she’d had earlier with Boyd Cotton, and she didn’t relish the thought of calling Wade out on it in front of her grandfather.
Her grandfather sat across from Royal. His hat hung on a peg along the wall over his shoulder. He seemed older somehow, and tired. Royal wondered for a moment when he would step aside and hand things over to Wade. Royal watched the dynamic between father and son play out across from her. Wade, always challenging, always demanding attention by being the loudest voice in the room. Insistent that other men respect him, while the senior Duval carried himself as a man who knew he was respected. Men stood up when he entered a room. They sought his counsel. Duke Duval was universally liked and admired, whereas Wade was tolerated.
Wade finally spoke. “Where you been all day?”
“Around.” Royal was intentionally vague. She wondered if the sheriff had run across Wade already, in which case Wade likely already knew where she’d been.
“We got a big a delivery tomorrow night. I wanted to make sure you came by the farm early to load up.” Her grandfather took a sip of the brown liquor in his glass. “It’s a full load. Ned will need to pull the backseat out, so get there early enough to do that.”
Royal nodded. “Is that all?”
“Yeah.” Her granddad studied her from across the table. “What’s the rush? You got somewhere else to be?”
“No, I’m just feelin’ a bit beat. I thought I’d head home.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Wade stood up.
Damn. That didn’t sound good. He never did anything for the sake of politeness or good manners. He wanted her alone for a minute. Well, she’d already announced she was leaving, so there was nothing to do but stand and allow Wade to follow her to the door.
It took stepping out into the clear night air to realize how poor the air quality had been inside the old mill. Royal stopped a few feet from the door and turned to face her uncle.
“You avoiding me?” Wade stepped close, looking down at her.
Yes. Royal rocked back on her heels. “No.” Maybe now was the time to mention her encounter with Boyd Cotton. “The sheriff said you need to pay him a visit.”
“What?”
“I ran into Boyd Cotton earlier today and he said that you owed him something.”
Wade seemed agitated by the message.
“You paid him, didn’t you?” Royal had been having suspicions lately that Wade had been making decisions that he wasn’t sharing with her grandfather. The deal had always been that her grandpa paid the local boys to not necessarily look the other way, but at least not try very hard to interfere with their moonshining. Prohibition had gotten repealed a while back, but that didn’t mean anyone was ready to pay taxes on home brew. Not by a long shot. As a result, lately, the hills had seen an influx of federal revenue officers, and it only made sense that Boyd and his crew would expect payment now more than ever if they were going to run any sort of interference for the Duval clan. Boyd was probably after a raise to compensate for the extra hassle.
At the same time, she knew Wade to be greedy, and she’d seen him argue more than once with his father over the amount they paid the sheriff and his boys. Royal figured the minute Wade had his way, he’d keep all that payoff cash to himself. She suspected that was already beginning to happen and that’s why Boyd wasn’t happy.
“Well? Do we owe Boyd or what?”
“Listen, Royal, you drive. That’s all you do. And try not to break any glass jars while you’re doing it. And then collect the money. That’s all you need to worry about.” He poked a finger into her chest just below her collarbone for emphasis. “You understand? I’ll deal with Boyd.”
“No, you won’t, Wade. If you start messing things up we’ll all be dealing with Boyd and probably worse.” The federal boys had no connection to the local community. They’d smash your still, riddle your car with bullets. Hell, she figured they’d shoot your dog just for barking at them.
“You’re gonna have to get used to dealin’ with me soon enough, Royal. You best come to terms with it. I ain’t gonna be runnin’ things as loose as Pop does. I can tell you that.”
“Well, you’re not running anything yet, Wade.” She wasn’t trying to bait him, but her words got an instant reaction. He grabbed the front of her shirt with both hands, jerking her forward.
“We’re gonna come to an understanding, Royal. One of these days—”
“Hey, Royal.” She turned to see her friend Frank walking toward the Mill with another fellow that worked at the feed store. His
