Page 47 of Snake

“I know she is,” Cox told him. “But plenty of assholes like fuckin’ with nice people most of all.”

“He’s right,” Bart added. “Pick any harmless post online, even something like a litter of puppies rolling around, and see how many people jump in just to tear the poster down. That impulse happens in real life, too. Some people just need to ruin other people’s happiness.”

And that right there was why Cox hated people. As a group. Some were bearable, a few were good, but most were selfish shitheads. Cox hoped to see the day humans got the same extinction special the dinosaurs got.

“I don’t care why,” Badger finally said. “It happened. It needs correction, and this is a good lead. Unless anybody has an angle that changes my view on this, my call is we bring Gary in and find out what he has to say.”

Nobody had a different angle. When the table was quiet long enough to be clear no one would speak, Badger nodded. “Good. Tommy, bring him in—and make it today. We need to get this settled up fast, if we can. We got just more than a week before the groundbreaking, and of course we got a honey-do list from the women long as my arm.”

With the shift in topic, Autumn Rooney strolled into the center of Cox’s head. She’d been spending way too goddamn much time in there for the past several weeks, but he generally managed to keep her shoved off to a back corner.

Autumn had won. The Horde were going to build her ‘Heartland Homestead,’ and he knew he’d been a factor in the club’s change of heart. That damn crack about Signal Bend being a company town had dug into him and impelled him practically against his will to talk to Badger.

Maybe he had been instrumental. There was a good chance he’d live to regret that.

But it was done. The contract had been negotiated, the ink had dried, and in about a week and a half, there would be an actual groundbreaking ceremony.

The women in this town loved any excuse to throw a party. The ‘honey-do’ list Badger was currently reading sounded as involved as one of the seasonal fairs: they’d hired a band, so they wanted the outdoor stage put up on what was left of the old Keyes parking lot. They wanted speeches and lights and concessions and games and balloons and confetti and ... the list went on so long, Cox tuned it out. He didn’t need to listen; somebody would give him a job, and he’d do it.

He thought it was stupid to make a big deal out of this. For months the Horde, and all of Signal Bend, had fought against this project. Turning it into a party made it seem like they’d gotten exactly what they’d wanted.

Maybe that was the point: make it a party so Autumn and her company’s win was diminished. Well, that was a little better, if it was true. But it was still another stupid party.

At least this one wasn’t being advertised across four states. It was a hometown event, for hometown folks. And Autumn, who Badger had just announced would be attending.

Cox did not like the weird twist he felt in his chest when he heard her name.

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~oOo~

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“Cox!” Tommy called as the patches filed from the Keep.

Among the first from the room as usual, Cox slipped his phones into his pockets and turned to the SAA.

“Come with.” Tommy grabbed his phones and headed toward the front door without waiting for Cox to respond.

Badger had told Tommy to collect Gary Prentiss, so Cox didn’t have to ask where he was going. It was also pretty common for Tommy to want him at his side for that kind of work. However, Cox hated getting orders thrown at him like that, so normally he’d’ve ignored such a terse directive or fired a shot back. He wanted in on this one, so he followed Tommy without a word.

“I’m comin’, too,” Mel said.

That was unusual; Mel preferred to stay clear of the more violent work. But he was fired up over what had happened at Abigail’s, so all bets were off on the man’s good nature.

Almost at the door, Tommy stopped. “No. That’s too many. I don’t want it lookin’ like we thought we needed numbers to take that fuckin’ worm. But you can get in when we bring him back. We’ll bring ‘im back pretty so you’re here for all the fun.”

With a grin and a nod, Mel backed off.

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~oOo~

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Gary and Leigh Prentiss’s place was about a mile deeper into the woods on the same road Abigail lived on. The road petered out with their property, ending at a stand of white pines a hundred feet or so after their gate. Though the road had been paved over, it had been years since a resurfacing crew had gone all the way to the end, and the Horde van bounced over asphalt so broken it was barely more than plus-size gravel.

Tommy was behind the wheel; he turned through their open gate and drove over a badly rutted dirt road.

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