“Well, where’s the fun in that?” Chester asked. “Even Willis here got some hokey pokey-ing in last night after the euchre tournament in Ford’s rec room, didn’t ya?”
“Sure did, and a fine dance it was. She turned herself around and I showed her what it’s all about.”
The two dirty birds broke into another fit of wheezes and snorts, clinking their beer cans together.
Claire shook her head, and then winced as a bolt of pain shot through it. She was getting too old to over-imbibe like she had last night. Her attempt to escape the stress of the diamond killer’s hunt via drowning in the bottom of a bottle had worked temporarily, but she was paying for it and then some today.
“Come on, Natalie.” Claire pointed her drill at the ledger board. “Let’s get this done so we can get the joists into place before we head over to The Shaft.”
Natalie nodded, wiping her face with her shirtsleeve.
“Later,” Claire continued as she pulled a couple of wood screws from the pouch of her tool belt, “you can tell me what really happened last night between you and Romeo when you two disappeared at midnight.”
Natalie hit Claire with a scowl. “You’re not getting your money back.”
“Fine. You’re buying dinner tonight with our money.”
“Deal.” Natalie stuck the hammer drill bit into the shallow hole she’d been pre-drilling earlier. “Have you heard from Ronnie or Kate this morning?”
“Yeah. Kate texted that she was going to go pick up Ronnie at Grady’s place and then run some errands before opening the bar.”
Natalie looked up, her gaze wary. “What sort of errands?”
“I don’t know.” Claire winced. “Honestly, with Kate’s fluctuating level of insanity, I was afraid to ask.”
* * *
“I thought you said we were going to run some errands,” Ronnie said to Katie as she parked her Volvo in front of The Mule Train Diner in Yuccaville.
“We are, but there’s something we need to do first.”
Ronnie leaned closer to Katie. “Did your cheek just twitch?”
“It itched.” Katie shoved Ronnie back to her side of the car. “Stay out of my face and I’ll be just fine.”
“Yeah, you say that, but then you do something cr—”
“Don’t say the C-word!”
“I was going to say ‘creative,’ you loony.” She dodged Katie’s pinching fingers, giggling. “Seriously, I’m not hungry.” Especially after last night’s binging on gin, tonic, and more gin. “What are we doing here? Did you order some pies for the games today?”
In the past, Penny had made pies for The Shaft for different occasions. According to Katie, Butch planned to have the bowl games on the television screen throughout the afternoon and evening for locals who wanted to stop by for food and drinks.
“We’re having a meeting.” Katie looked around, scanning the street. “Do you see any of Grady’s deputies?”
Ronnie checked. “No. Why would they be following us? What did you do on the way to pick me up?”
“Nothing, but there was one parked outside of Grady’s place when I came to get you. He drove off when you opened the front door for me. I suspected Grady was worried about you being alone at his house and keeping extra eyes on you. Guard law dogs, you know.” Katie opened her door. “That or he’s having you followed day and night.”
She followed her sister outside, checking again for a Cholla County Sheriff’s Department vehicle, but finding none. If Katie was right with her guard dog theory, Ronnie had mixed feelings about being babysat by Grady’s crew—cocooned yet under a microscope.
She stepped up next to Katie. “What kind of meeting are we having? A pie-meeting?”
“You’ll see. And you have pie on the brain.”
When they reached the front door, it was locked. The lights were off in the front part of the diner. Ronnie pointed at the closed sign. “You sure you have the right day and time for this clandestine meeting?”
Katie knocked on the glass. “I’m positive.”
Penny stepped out from the kitchen, waving at them through the glass. She unlocked the door and held it wide, closing and locking it again behind them.
“Sorry we’re late,” Katie said to her. “Ronnie has a hangover. I had trouble dragging her ass out of your brother’s big bed.”
Ronnie gaped at her sister’s back as Katie followed Penny to her office. “Hold on a second!” She caught up with them. “If you’d have told me we were going to some ‘secret’ meeting with Grady’s sister, I would have moved quicker.”
“No worries,” Penny said. “Besides, you timed it perfectly. Grady stopped by a short time ago on his lunch break and made himself a sandwich in the kitchen. If you’d been here earlier, he’d have a bunch of questions for us now and we’d be up shit creek.”
“Does he do that often?” Ronnie asked, curious to know more about the family man side of Grady. “Stop and eat here, I mean?” She’d run into him here eating lunch one day when she was dodging the FBI, back before they’d started dating.
“Sure.” Penny answered her question. “I make sure he eats healthy. Otherwise he’d skip meals and the stress of his job would be extra hard on him.” She looked back at Ronnie as they passed through the kitchen. “When Elizabeth finished raking him over the coals years ago, he was skinny as a rail from barely eating at all.” Penny’s mouth tightened. “And now the cheating bitch has the gall to return to town like nothing happened, leaving her lover’s kid back in Nevada for whatever reason.”
Spoken like a true-blue pissed-off sister, Ronnie thought with a smile. She looked around at the darkened kitchen, focusing on the prep counter, picturing Grady standing there. She could almost smell his bay rum cologne in the air.
Wait. She lifted the collar of her shirt and sniffed. Oh, his scent was on her since Katie had rushed her so much this morning that
