Page 16 of Fire Peak

“Who’s this gal you’re huntin’ for?” The man next to him swung around to face him, tilted his straw hat back, wiped his hand on his pants, then offered it to Nick. “I’m Solomon, been around here since Fangtooth days.”

He gestured with his head toward some old framed photos tacked up on the wall behind the bar. Nick looked more closely at one photo of three grinning men with their arms around each other’s shoulders…was that the same straw hat?

Solomon hadn’t quite gotten all the grease off his hand, but Nick shook it anyway. “I’m Nick, just visiting. What do you do around here?” he asked.

“This and that, you know. I’m a miner by trade. A trader too.” He gave a rattling laugh that spoke of loose tobacco and abnormal lung scans. “I drink for free here cuz I traded my old truck to Bear. So who ya looking for?”

“She’s tall, long blond hair, stylish clothes…”

He trailed off because Solomon was already shaking his head. “Ain’t no one like that around here. We got Molly, she has stylish clothes but she’s a redhead. A blond came to visit a while back, but she’s long gone. Could be her?”

It was her.

“Where’s the best place to find Molly?”

Solomon wagged his finger back and forth. “Uh uh. I’m a trader. Watcha got for a trade?”

“Cash,” Nick said simply.

Cash usually worked, but Solomon shook his head in disappointment. “That’s not trading, man. Don’t you know what a trade is?”

Before Nick could answer, Solomon got distracted by the arrival of a woman at the opposite end of the bar. Bear emerged from the prep area behind the counter and the two plunged into a quiet conversation.

“Now that’s a woman,” Solomon muttered. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

Nick took another look at her. She was older, though not quite Solomon’s age, more like mid-sixties, at a guess. With her slender frame and perfect posture, she commanded attention just by standing at the bar. Even though she wore simple corduroy work trousers and a blue denim overshirt, her queenly bearing gave the outfit a certain flair. As she strode out of the bar a moment later, she caught Solomon’s eye and gave a short nod. He scrambled off the bar stool and trundled after her.

Hopeless crush, Nick decided. Either that or an irresistible trading opportunity.

With his barstool companion gone, Nick settled into a state of quiet listening. From experience, he knew that some of the best leads could be gleaned from eavesdropping in bars. Everyone seemed to be talking about the Chilkoot family, but he tuned that out because he didn’t see much connection between that case and Charlie.

Except for one link—Molly.

Occasionally her name would come up. That was how he learned that she had been staying with Lila in an old hardware store, of all things, but now she and Sam Coburn were “hot and heavy,” according to the woman with the porcupine.

That gave him two places to check out, Lila’s hardware store and Sam Coburn’s place. Not only that, but he picked up the fact that Lila Romanoff also worked at The Fang. She wouldn’t be able to avoid him forever.

He’d find Charlie. It was just a matter of time. And when he did, he’d make sure he was present for whatever happened next. He wouldn’t throw her to the wolves, no matter what she’d done or hadn’t done to Hobbs Financial.

What exactly did a multinational corporation with seventy-two subsidiaries want with Charlie Santa Lucia? He’d really like to know the answer to that. She was fascinating to him with her wry humor and her caginess. He’d enjoyed every second of the time he’d spent with her. In another situation, another universe, maybe…

But if life had taught him anything, it was that you had to play the hand you were dealt. For instance, what would his life have been like if he’d known fifteen years ago that he was a father? Maybe he would have a different type of job, something more settled, less secretive.

No point in “what ifs.”

Charlie might have liked him back in Barlow, but she probably despised him now. He couldn’t blame her for that. And if he completed his mission, she’d probably hate him even more.

8

“He’s still here.”

Every day since Charlie had arrived in Firelight Ridge four days ago, Lila delivered a report on Nick Perini, either from her own eyes at The Fang, or from town sources.

“Damn it. What’s he doing, just hanging out until he finds me?” Charlie flopped onto Lila’s bed, an antique four-poster left over from the copper mine days. Lila lived in what had been the original settlement’s hardware store. Genuine artifacts like iron anvils and whiskey barrels and crates of nails were still stashed here and there.

It was pretty cool, Charlie had to admit, but she hadn’t left the place since she’d used the hours between two and three in the morning to sneak away from Gunnar’s auto shop. That was the only time “cover of darkness” was available this time of year.

“I’m sorry.” Lila sat next to her, sympathy darkening her eyes to the color of pansies. “I tried to ask him what his plans were, but he kept flipping it around so I was answering questions.”

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