Chapter Twenty-Seven

Two nights later, I had dinner with Darrell and his family at the 126. It was all-you-can-eat fried chicken night, and hot, greasy chicken legs were one of the more normal things I’d been craving lately.

Ever since my father died, Darrell had sort of adopted me. He’d always treated me like a daughter, but he seemed to make it official at that point. His oldest was just a few years younger than me—she was twenty-four—and he had two younger girls, one who was eighteen, one who was sixteen. I felt honored that they included me as part of their family, since I didn’t really have a family myself. But I also felt guilty, because Darrell had other things to worry about. His wife, Marilyn, was in her early fifties, but it only took one look to realize she wasn’t doing well. She’d been battling lung cancer for two years, and the disease was winning. She was rail thin and pale, and her curly black hair had been replaced by a wig. I could see in Darrell’s face, in his forced smile, that he knew what the future held. He was a strong man, but losing a spouse could bring the strongest of men to their knees.

I didn’t want to add to their burden with any worries of my own, so I pretended as if nothing was wrong with me. We ate chicken, and we laughed. The 126 was a madhouse, as it usually was, raucous and rough. Here, even the best of friends were one bad joke away from a fistfight. The A-Team played on the television over the bar, but no one could hear it, because the jukebox blasted “A View to a Kill” so loudly that you had to shout at the person next to you. There was new artwork on the wall, a huge painting of The Last Supper with Jesus and the Apostles smoking cigarettes and drinking pitchers of beer. Some of the local churchgoers had complained, but at the 126, nobody cared.

I knew everyone there. Norm and Will played rotation at one of the pool tables. Ruby sat at a corner table with her high school friends, her face hard and drawn. Ben Malloy was back in town, going from table to table to talk up his new Ursulina special. The show was scheduled for a prime time debut on the Saturday after Halloween, and Ben had a big party planned at the 126 for the whole town to watch. Everyone was invited. He’d announced a cash prize for the best Ursulina costume, which meant the event was going to be a monster mash.

Sandra Thoreau sat at the bar, nursing a beer and a Merit. She raised her mug at me in a toast. She wore a fraying sky-blue turtleneck, faded jeans, and American flag cowboy boots. She faced outward on the stool, making eye contact with the men around her, assessing who she was going to bring home tonight.

I excused myself from Darrell’s table and brought my basket of chicken to the bar.

“Hey,” I said to Sandra as I squirmed onto the stool next to her.

“Hey, yourself,” she replied with a sympathetic chuckle at my condition. “Looks like you’re getting close.”

“I’m a couple of weeks away, but it feels like it could be any day now.”

“You ready?”

“As ready as I’m going to be.”

“Got names picked out?”

“Actually, I was thinking about Shelby,” I told her.

“Shelby. That’s cool. It’s different, I like it. Works for a boy, works for a girl.”

“It’s a girl.”

Sandra smiled. “Well, you say that now, but prepare to be surprised. I was sure Henry was a girl, until the doc held him up in the hospital and showed me his little dick.”

“It’s a girl,” I said again.

Sandra shrugged and puffed on her Merit. On one level, I knew she was right, because everyone had been telling me the same thing for months. Feelings don’t matter, and God doesn’t care what you think you’re having. But you were you, Shelby. You were always going to be a girl. I never had the slightest doubt.

“So, Ajax,” Sandra commented. “That’s awful, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“That makes four now. The Ursulina’s been busy. Not that I have a problem with his taste in victims.”

“You shouldn’t make jokes like that,” I advised her. Then I added in a hushed voice, “I do need to ask you something. Have you heard any rumors at the mine about Gordon Brink paying Ajax?”

“Paying him?”

“Five hundred dollars a month.”

She whistled. “Wow, nice gig.”

“We’re not absolutely sure it was Brink, but the payments stopped after Brink was killed.”

Sandra took a long swallow of her beer. “Norm told you about Ruby getting harassed at the mine, didn’t he?”

“Yes. He also said she denied that it ever happened.”

“Exactly. There you go. The little liar. Brink and the mine bought her off. There’s your five hundred a month.”

“You think?”

“Sure. They tried it with me, but I told them to stick it.”

I didn’t offer any opinion on Sandra’s theory, but it had a plausible ring to it. I had no trouble imagining Ajax trying to squeeze the law firm for cash. On the other hand, if they’d been paying Ruby to stay quiet about the harassment, I didn’t know why Ajax would have been keeping the money in a separate account that Ruby didn’t seem to know anything about.

“Speaking of Ajax,” Sandra murmured.

“What?”

She gestured at the entrance to the bar, where I noticed Penny Ramsey standing underneath a big moose head mounted above the door. The legal secretary looked around for an empty table with an awkward, uncomfortable smile on her face. Even after a year in Black Wolf County, she looked out of place, a city girl in Reagan country.

“You know about the two of them?” I asked.

“Well, that’s the hot gossip.”

“Do you think Ruby knows?”

Sandra shrugged. “I can’t believe she doesn’t.”

I watched Penny. She was alone, but women who came to the 126 alone didn’t stay that way for long. I wondered if that was her plan. Drown her sorrows over Ajax. Pick up a boy. When she took off her coat, I saw that she was spilling out of a seriously low-cut blouse and push-up bra. If she wanted attention from men, that outfit would get her plenty.

She was wearing the necklace, too.

Not a good idea.

I thought about going over and telling her to take it off. Anyone who looked at that necklace knew it was expensive, and there were people in the bar who would happily swipe it and hock it. But that wasn’t the real problem. If Ruby knew about Penny and Ajax, she was going to spot that necklace in a heartbeat.

“I don’t get it,” Sandra went on. “Ruby’s way hotter than her. I mean, I could see Ajax getting hung up on you, but why horn around with Little Swiss Miss over there?”

I was flattered by Sandra’s comment, but it reminded me that rumors had been flying about me and Ajax all year. “Penny had a thing for Ajax. I doubt he had to ask her twice.”

“Well, to screw, sure, but not to spend money on.”

I frowned, because Sandra was right. Penny would have been fine for a no-strings-fling, but she didn’t look like the kind of woman who would pull Ajax away from his wife. And yet he was buying her expensive gifts.

“Think she did it?” Sandra asked. “Sometimes it’s the quiet ones, you know.”

“Actually, I think she loved him,” I said. “Ajax probably let her think he loved her, too. She was naive enough to believe it.”

Sandra sucked on her Merit. “Men. If I didn’t like what they had between their legs, I’d give them up for good.”

I laughed. “Not likely.”

“No. Not likely at all.” She gave me a penetrating stare. “What about you? You got your eyes on anybody?”

“Yeah, because I’m a real catch looking like this.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a catch in any condition, honey. I just mean, you’re going to be a single mom like me. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to join the club. Life’s a lot easier with a man around.”

“Not always.”

Sandra frowned. “Well, I mean the right man. If there is such a thing. You got the wrong one, that’s for sure. At least he’s long gone. Good riddance to that son of a bitch.”

I glanced around to make sure no one was listening to us, not that they could have heard us over the noise of the bar. “Actually, Sandra, that’s something else I wanted to ask you. Have you heard any talk about Ricky lately?”

“What kind of talk?”

“About him being back.”

“Ricky?” Sandra hissed, with genuine concern in her voice. “Are you serious? Is he in town again? Have you seen him?”

“No, I haven’t seen him. I could be completely wrong. I don’t know, it’s just a feeling. On Sunday night, I could swear someone had been in my house.”

“Jesus.”

“Nobody’s said anything to you?” I asked.

“Not a word, and that would be a tough secret to keep. If he came back, he’d have to be bunking with a friend, right? I think the boys at the mine would know, and I’d hear about it fast.”

“Well, keep an ear to the ground, okay?”

“I will. Have you told Darrell?”

I shook my head. “He’d want me to come live with them, but he’s got enough to worry about with Marilyn.”

“If Ricky’s back, you’ve got shit to worry about, too,” Sandra replied. “This isn’t the time to be proud, honey. You’ve got a baby to think about.”

“I know.”

“That little prick should be in jail for what he did to you.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you need a gun? Are you packing?”

I patted the purse that was slung over my shoulder. “Always.”

“Well, good.” Sandra smiled at me, but then her face darkened. I saw her staring over my shoulder. “Uh-oh. Here comes trouble.”

“What?”

I turned around. Penny Ramsey had found a cocktail table by herself. She sipped from a glass of white wine in front of her, and she primped her hair and smiled nervously as the men in the bar whistled at the display of her cleavage. But unbeknownst to Penny, Ruby had spotted her, too. Like the black clouds of a storm front coming, Ruby stalked toward Penny across the 126, and silence fell over the bar, table by table, as Ajax’s widow zeroed in on Ajax’s mistress.

Penny didn’t notice Ruby until the two women were eye to eye. By then, it was too late to leave. When Penny tried to back away, Ruby grabbed her wrist and held it while Penny struggled. Ruby twisted the chain of Penny’s necklace around one of her fingers.

“He gave this to you?” she asked, tightening the necklace like a knot around Penny’s throat.

“That’s none of your business,” she retorted. “Let go of me.”

“You were sleeping with my husband. That makes it my business.”

“He didn’t love you anymore.”

“And you think he loved you? You’re a fool.”

“He did love me. He told me. You’re just jealous.”

“Jealous of a nothing little wallflower like you? The only thing that makes me jealous is this necklace. I want it, and you’re going to give it to me.”

Ruby bunched her fist together and yanked the necklace off Penny’s neck. Penny tried to grab it from her, but Ruby held it out of her reach, letting the chain dangle from her hand.

“Give that back,” Penny snapped.

“If my husband bought it, then it’s mine. Now be a good tramp and go away.”

“Give it back!”

“I said, stuff your boobs back in your coat and get the hell out of here.”

“No, I won’t. I want my necklace.”

“It’s mine now, so you can just go. Understand?”

Penny leaned into Ruby’s face as she swiped at the necklace again. “Ajax said it was over between the two of you. He was going to leave you.”

Ruby growled from deep in her chest, an animal cry of rage. “You. Little. Liar!”

Her face flushed deep red, practically matching the fire of her hair. With a scream, she flung the necklace into the crowd. Then she grabbed Penny’s wineglass and smashed it down on the table, making jagged edges like teeth. With a swish of her arm, she scored Penny’s cheek with the broken glass, cutting deep, bloody gashes into her skin.

“See how many men you get with that face, you home-wrecking bitch,” Ruby sneered.

Penny stared in silent shock as blood flooded onto her hands.

Then, with a wild scream, she toppled the table, and the two women attacked each other.