Ronnie swore under her breath. “How did Natalie stop her?”
“She didn’t. Kate Tasered Harvey by accident.”
“Harvey is Coop’s uncle, right?”
“Yep. After Harvey recovered, Kate snapped back to normal.”
“Lord love a duck! Butch needs to handcuff himself to her before she really hurts somebody.”
“Handcuffs wouldn’t hold her. Kate would dislocate her thumb and slip free.” Claire scooped up another handful of gravel, looking over at where the others sat drinking and talking, sharing laughs. There was a time when Ronnie, Kate, and she were like that—no threats lingering over their heads every damned day. She missed those days. “I’ve been thinking, Ronnie.”
“Uh oh.”
“Kate is onto something.”
“You mean by carrying a Taser gun?”
Claire dumped the handful of gravel. “I mean by going after the killer.”
Silence filled the line. “That’s probably a bad idea,” Ronnie said in a low voice.
“I know.”
Another pause came and went.
“But I like it.” Ronnie sighed. “I’m so tired of being hunted. Ruby slammed a kitchen cupboard door the other morning and I nearly peed my pants.”
Claire snorted. “I can’t walk around this place without feeling like I’m being watched through the crosshairs of a sniper’s rifle.”
“Going on the hunt will be dangerous,” Ronnie said.
“Yep.” Claire picked up a piece of gravel with quartz in it, turning it so it sparkled in the sunlight. “One of us could get hurt, maybe even killed.”
“How is that different than the position we’re in now?”
Ronnie was right. Better to go down shooting than running away with her tail between her legs.
Claire tossed the piece of gravel into the air, catching it as it came back down. “Mac and Grady aren’t going to like this idea at all.”
“They’re putting themselves in the line of fire for us and I don’t like that.” Ronnie groaned. “I feel so guilty about Tank, and the others who’ve lost their lives. This is my fault, Claire. I’m the one who kept the mules’ diamonds. What in the fuck was I thinking?”
“You kept them, but I was the one who found them and showed them to you. Like I said before, we’re in this together.”
Ronnie sniffed. “Okay, but we can’t let Katie and Natalie get in the middle of this, posse rules be damned.”
“I agree.”
“So what now?”
“We get your ass home. Tonight, we’ll help at The Shaft and bring in the New Year like normal. Tomorrow, when we sober up, we turn the tables and start hunting the hunter.”
* * *
Ronnie said good-bye to her sister and pocketed her cell phone. She leaned back on the couch where she’d crashed after spending most of the night at the hospital with Grady as bits and pieces of Tank’s story came together.
Afternoon sunshine made the small frosted window opposite her glow, bathing the office in a warm light. Grady’s sister was kind enough to let Ronnie take over her office for the morning. The smell of baked bread had made her dreams happy instead of terror-filled. Pharmaceutical companies should take note—instead of sleeping pills, create air fresheners in scents of baking sourdough and whole wheat.
She looked around the room, trying to make connections between the décor and Grady’s sister, Penelope. Although, he said, she preferred to go by the name “Penny.”
Ronnie had expected the mule knickknacks and wall art in the diner to extend to Penny’s office, but instead the room was filled with framed pictures of the Sonoran Desert. She walked over to a trio of cholla cacti pictures next to the door—diamond, teddy-bear, and chain-fruit cacti. The photographer had used a magnifying lens, picking up details on the cacti’s spines and flesh, including a tiny beetle clinging to the tip of one of the sharp needles.
Ronnie smirked, feeling like the beetle at the moment. Life was nothing but a series of sharp points. The risk of her and her loved ones being impaled grew greater each day. Even now, she was putting Penny’s life at risk just by being here.
Claire was right. It was time to take control of her life, one hunter at a time. She stared down at her palms, wondering if she could kill someone if the situation required it.
Months ago, Ronnie had taken on a bounty hunter in the parking lot at The Shaft, but there’d been no intent to kill then, only disable. This could be different, even if they intended to maim. Going head to head with a serial killer could end in a kill-or-be-killed scenario, FBI bullshit be damned. Could she pull the trigger if it came down to it?
She didn’t doubt Claire could kill when backed into a corner. Her track record was rock solid.
Claire had taken on Joe’s first wife and then that lying slickster who’d come looking for one of Joe’s treasures. Both times she’d come out on top. Ronnie just hoped she could be as brave as Claire if the time came.
Someone knocked softly on the office door.
“Come in,” Ronnie called.
Grady’s sister stepped inside the office, bringing in the smell of pan-fried meat and potatoes with her. She closed the door behind her.
“How are you doing?” Penny asked, crossing to lean against her desk.
With hair as black as Grady’s and long legs to match, she stood about an inch taller than Ronnie. They sure grew ’em tall like the saguaros down here in southeastern Arizona. Penny shared her brother’s amber-colored eyes, too, but where Grady’s face was rigid and craggy, Penelope’s was soft and round, with a smile that lit up her whole face.
Ronnie had liked Grady’s sister at first sight this morning, but that could have been because she was holding a freshly baked cherry pie straight from the oven when Grady had led Ronnie into the kitchen via the diner’s back door. It was hard not to like someone with a warm smile and hot pie.
“I’m good,” Ronnie said, rubbing her arms. She’d be even
