Page 19 of Stone Cold Sinner

“Shit. Okay. Uh, I don’t really know anything other than they aren’t from here. Met them at the bar…”

“Oh great, so you did a drug deal with strangers in a bar who were just passing through,” Cut fumed, frustration evident as he tossed his hands in the air before standing and pacing opposite of Nash.

“It wasn’t like that. I know they aren’t from around here, but they’d been coming in just about every weekend. They play darts, pool, and chat with just about everyone. Friendly even. Not the murder-people-and-hide-bodies-on-random-properties-under-our-pot-plants type,” Nash said. “They’re just some young surfer types. They said they were looking for property to lease, and it sort of went from there…”

“Names?” Coy asked as he tapped away at his phone screen.

Nash looked everywhere but at his brothers. “Names?”

Coy’s jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide. “You don’t know their names? How do you contact them?”

“Contact? I… uh…”

“Damn it, Nash. Are you serious? No names, no contact… How were you supposed to make this deal?” Coy asked. “Back to your question about bringing in the sheriff… They’re going to want a list of names of these people, and when you come up with nothing, it all lands on you, brother.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah. Major shit,” Coy fired back. “Start talkin’.”

“I’d see them at the bar and let them know when the plants were ready, they’d… come get them.”

“Do you even know how to tell when a plant’s ready?” Cut asked.

“Not exactly, but I thought I’d, you know, look it up or something. Maybe show them progress pictures.” Nash shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not like I have experience with this.”

Cut tossed his hands in the air. “Progress pictures? C’mon Nash. My wife takes a profile picture of her pregnant belly every week, on the same day, like clockwork. That’s a progress picture. You… You’re just…”

“C’mon. Don’t hold back, Cut. Say it. Say I’m the screw-up. Nash is always fucking shit up. Can’t get his life together. Say it.”

Cut stared at Nash, took a deep breath, and let out a deep sigh as his shoulders dropped. “I’m afraid, baby brother. This time you really did fuck shit up. My family lives here, man. My children. My pregnant wife. Didn’t you think of that?”

“Oh gee. No. Not at all, Cutler, because I was too busy thinking of myself trying to find ways to save this farm, and fast, not because our Mama was dyin’ or because those babies need a roof over their heads…” Nash’s words were dripping in sarcasm and what sounded like resentment. “It was simply for shits and giggles. All for me because heaven forbid I lose that crawl space of an apartment above the tractor barn or my fancy job shovelin’ cow shit and plowin’ fields. All for me, brother. That’s all I was thinkin’ about because who doesn’t want to learn to grow weed for strangers to make a buck?”

Ransom laid a hand on his shoulder. “Nash…”

Nash quickly shrugged it off. “It’s fine, Ran. I got it. I know my place in this family. Always have. Just glad to know my reputation and the disappointment haven’t wavered. I’d hate to be inconsistent. You know, maybe I could’ve taken my time and come up with a better solution, got a second or third job to bring in some money. But my time was pretty tied up takin’ care of Mama because everyone else around here has their heads so far up their own asses they couldn’t be bothered to notice that she was dyin’.”

Nash turned on his heels, but he was met with a visitor.

“Oh, good. You’re all still here,” came a familiar woman’s voice, and the men all turned. “I was hoping none of you’d left town.”

The men began to move in closer, shoulder-to-shoulder, to protect their secret.

“I thought I’d drop by and pay my respects,” she said, studying each of them. “I tried to make Lilah’s service, but a truck versus cow over on Highway 20 kept me busy.”

Coy grinned. “Who won?”

“Excuse me?” She smirked.

Coy snickered. “Cow or truck?”

“Do you even need to ask, or have you been gone that long?” She laughed. “Cow. Always. Good to see you, Coy.”

“You as well, Sheriff.”

“Delilah Stone was a pillar of this community and one of the best women I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. She’ll be greatly missed around here. My condolences to the family.”

“Thank you, Sheriff,” Cut said and nudged Nash.

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