“I thought you didn’t know what guitar lessons were,” Natalie said.
“I didn’t, but your friend’s zipper is unzipped,” she shot back. “And there’s lipstick on his chin.”
Harvey let out a hoot, tugging up his zipper before wiping off his face. “I like Kate. She’s a spunky monkey.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Natalie looked at her cousin. “You mind more company?”
“Nope. We could use a lookout.”
Natalie frowned. That didn’t bode well. “For what?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
As they neared the General Store, Henry tugged on the leash until Kate let him go free. The beagle raced up onto the porch, ducking inside the doggie door Gramps had installed while Natalie was home in South Dakota.
“Hold up there, Crazy Kate,” Chester called from the porch swing.
Kate pointed her car keys at him, switching to rabid dog mode in a blink. “Call me that again, Chester, and I’ll castrate you with a butter knife!”
“Whoa there, pelvis puncher.” He raised his arms in defense. “I apologize, Porn Star. I forgot about your ‘nut’ allergy.”
Harvey leaned closer to Natalie. “Your cousin’s banjo seems to be strung a little tight this mornin’.”
“Yeah. She’s thinking about joining the circus.”
“Really? Sword swallowin’?”
“Knife throwing.”
Harvey winced. “Remind me to wear my metal codpiece around her.”
Natalie raised one eyebrow. “You have a metal codpiece?”
He nodded once. “Well, I should smile.”
She actually did smile. “What do you wear it with?”
“My birthday suit. It makes for fun knock-knock games with the ladies.”
Before Natalie could groan, Kate ordered, “Let’s go, you two. In the car. Now!”
“She’s bossy, too,” Harvey said, grinning at Natalie. “I have a weakness for bossy women.”
“You have a weakness for women, period.” She pulled open the passenger-side door.
“Where you off to in such a rush?” Chester asked, hurrying down the porch steps.
“Yuccaville,” Kate said, climbing inside.
Chester blocked her door from shutting. “You thinking of serving more jail time?”
Kate glared up at him. “What if I am?”
Natalie buckled her seat belt. “Kate, I don’t have time to sit in jail today.”
“We’re goin’ to the hoosegow for New Year’s Eve,” Harvey sang from the backseat, rubbing his hands together. “Sounds like I’ll be startin’ the new year down where the pancake tree grows beside the honey pond.”
Natalie frowned back at Harvey. “We are not going to jail.” She turned back to Kate. “Are we?”
“That depends.”
“On what?” Chester asked, still standing between Kate and the door handle.
“If we get caught.”
Chester scowled into the morning sunshine, which now lit the desert in a golden glow. “Well, if you’re going to do some troublemaking, I’m coming along.” He smirked. “Jail sounds more fun than the lovefest going on inside.”
What was going on in the house? Natalie peered out the windshield at the General Store. She hoped Aunt Deborah and Manny were keeping their love romps to their camper, because she had a deck to build today and didn’t feel like listening to their love cooing again.
“If you’re coming along, Chester, get your ass in back. We need to move this train out of the station.” Kate shoved him out of the way and pulled her door closed. She waited for Chester to crawl in behind her before shifting into gear.
After Natalie introduced Chester and Harvey, she turned back to Kate. “Okay, Ms. Mysterious, now that you have us all captive, what in the hell is going on?”
Kate shot Natalie a worried look. “You remember Tank from the other night?”
“Who’s Tank?” Harvey butted in.
“A giant ex-college football player who runs a tow truck service in Yuccaville,” Kate told him.
“What about Tank?” Natalie asked, remembering Tank well. A good-looking man of his size with a smile to match was hard to forget.
“Ronnie called me early this morning.” Kate hesitated.
Natalie huffed. “From where? A beach in South America?”
Last she’d heard, Kate’s phone tracking device seemed to have worked. Ronnie was sitting in the desert somewhere between Jackrabbit Junction and Yuccaville—at least her cell phone was. Natalie hadn’t heard back from anyone if Grady had actually found Ronnie or Claire’s Jeep. She’d tossed and turned in bed for a bit, cursing Ronnie for driving off one minute and making her worry the next. Eventually, exhaustion had stepped in and shut her down.
“She called from the hospital in Yuccaville,” Kate said, the lines on her forehead deepening. “The diamond killer blindsided Tank last night.”
“Oh, God,” Natalie whispered.
It was one thing to hear about a murder happening far away to someone she didn’t know. But she’d served Tank a double bacon burger and mozzarella-topped sliced tomatoes on the side, and he’d had her hold the caramelized onions because they always gave him a “whoppin’ case of heartburn.” Tank wasn’t just another faceless victim. Finally, the weight of the danger Ronnie and Claire were in plopped down on her chest.
“Did she say diamond killer?” Natalie heard Harvey ask Chester.
“Yep. Ronnie and Claire have managed to get themselves into a bit of a pickle over somebody else’s stolen diamonds.”
“A bit?” Natalie laughed without humor. “Why Tank?”
Kate stopped at the U.S. Route 191 junction. To their left, Butch’s red pickup sat in the parking lot of The Shaft. Kate touched the window, a small smile forming on her lips for a moment. Then it faded.
She turned toward Yuccaville and then hit the gas. “The camper where Ronnie and Claire found the diamonds sat in Tank’s tow yard until the investigation wrapped up and the feds took it away. The killer must have thought Tank might have found and stashed the diamonds, so he was next on the hit list.”
Natalie was afraid to hear Kate’s answer to her next question, but she asked anyway. “Is Tank okay?”
The killer hadn’t left anyone alive to date, but there was always a chance.
Kate took too damned long to answer.
“Kate!” Natalie growled. “Enough with the pregnant pause.”
“I can’t help it. I am pregnant. And no, Tank’s not okay. Now if you want to know if he’s alive, then yes, he is. At the moment, anyway. He’s in critical condition, but
