Page 79 of Small Town Hunter

“Very funny,” the other woman replies.

“Well, both of you need to fill out this paperwork before anybody goes anywhere.”

“This is like ten pages!”

“Rules are rules, ladies.”

McCall leans against the bars, his gaze fixed intently on the direction of the voices. I put out my hand. “Hey.”

He crosses the cell and pulls me to my feet...

Bad.Oooooh, doggies.I clutch my head like a teenager gone three sheets to the wind at a country dance. My skin burns but my bones are ice cold. McCall’s ugly mug doubles and triples before me in time with the deep throb in my skull.

Infection.

“You should really get that looked at,” McCall tells me, tapping his own head where mine hurts the fiercest. “And if you make it out of here remember I did my part for your sorry hide.”

“Motherfucker—”

“Tell Roman I drove off a bridge with the gold,” McCall says quickly. “Or I had it stolen. You’ll get your share. All you have to do is make it look convincing.”

“I gave him my word to bring you down.”

Out front there’s the sound of a cash register opening and both women talking at once. I realize this might be the last time I can speak openly with McCall.

“You betrayed Roman,” I tell him. “I know he’s a son of a bitch but he took you in after you got out of jail, gave you work and steady pay. I heard he even paid the taxes on your house while you were locked up, which was more than you deserved for crippling my cousin.”

“Roman McCall isn’t the hero you think,” McCall says, smiling grimly. “But what you need to be concerned with isn’t Roman at all. It’s what’s watching him through the trees. Get me?”

“I don’t keep up with mountain politics.”

“Well then you wouldn’t know that there’s been Feds lurking around ever since Duke McCall got shot. And who do you think they’re studying? It ain’t Bubba and Larry and Joe. The Boss knows you stay out of our business. You do your own thing. You don’t know what’s bubbling around Florin. He betted on you being the only one fool enough to go after me. He’s paying you from the gold, I suppose.”

I hesitate. “Yes.”

“Untraceable. Feds won’t know. Of course, if you try to sell it…That’s another story. Quite possibly with charges attached.” His eyes narrow. “I give you clean gold. A small share. Nobody has to get hurt. Or you take Roman’s dirty money and go down with the ship.”

“Motherfucker, how do I know you ain’t lying?”

“Because I haven’t killed you,” says McCall bluntly. “But that fever will if you don’t get medicine. So maybe I ought not to waste my time.”

I touch the throbbing bulb of pain at the back of my head. It’s no longer crusted with blood. A tidy line of stitches marches under my fingertips.

“Why do this?” I demand.

“We might stand on the other side of things but I don’t have personal beef with you,” McCall shrugs.

I study his face for any tics, any indication he’s lying. But he’s good. Too good. “That’s really your reason?”

“Really,” he says.

“You might have more in common with Roman than you thought,” I grunt. “He could have sent an assassin instead of me.”

“I wonder why he didn’t. Dee should be finished with that paperwork. This is your last chance.”

“I can’t trust a man who would betray his own kin.”

“So be it,” he says.

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