Page 34 of The Killing Plains

“Oh Lord, she invited the judge.” Brenda parked a little away from the others and killed the engine.

“Who’s that?”

“Iris’s arm candy.”

“Herwhat?”

“Russ didn’t tell you? Iris has been seeing someone, though she swears they’re just friends. He was a judge in Odessa, but he retired out here.”

“Heavens. How’d they meet? Please don’t say eHarmony.”

Brenda laughed. “Ballroom dancing society—a hundred-percent geriatric. They get together in the fellowship hall of some church in Big Spring twice a month.”

“What’s he like?”

“Nice enough.” Brenda checked her makeup in the visor’s mirror, dabbing at her lip with her little finger. “Mild-mannered, a tad smarmy. Your basic lapdog.”

“Doesn’t seem like Iris’s type.”

“I don’t know. Bryant was an alpha male, and he treated her like dirt. Makes sense she’d want someone she can control this time around.”

Colly unbuckled her seatbelt as she absorbed this information. She’d always seen Iris as something of an archetype—the cool, judgmental mother-in-law, the cunning spider in the center of the family web—not a fully rounded human being. Not someone who might be lonely. Colly felt a twinge of shame but reflexively pushed it away. She needed to stay focused.

“Oh, there’s Russ,” Brenda said.

Colly looked around. Her brother-in-law had emerged from the breezeway between the house and garage and was stridingtowards them, a half-dozen ranch dogs at his heels. He had changed out of his uniform into Wranglers and a pastel-yellow Oxford. His sleeves were rolled up, and she glimpsed the tattoo on his inner right forearm—Randy’s name in a simple, flowing script.

Colly took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Hey,” Russ said. “Saw y’all through the—wow.” His eyebrows shot up as Colly climbed out of the van. “You look great.” He winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to sound so surprised.”

Colly laughed, stooping to pet a half-grown border collie. “Thanks, Russ. I knew what you meant. You look nice, too.”

He checked his watch. “The kids aren’t back from riding yet. Come around and say hi. Then we can run down to Willis’s cabin before supper.”

He led them through the breezeway to a stone patio encircling a pool landscaped to look like a tropical lagoon, with areca palms clustered around the edges and a waterfall burbling into the deep end. Nearby, Iris, Lowell, and a plump elderly man with a white goatee sat on lounge chairs in the fading light, sipping cocktails. Iris and the goateed man stood when they saw the new arrivals, but Lowell remained seated, glowering sullenly into his glass.

He’s in a fine mood, Colly thought.Going to be a long evening.

Iris, tall and elegant as ever, approached with open arms. “Ah, Columba, welcome.” She was dressed in linen slacks and a gold lamé blouse. Colly was startled to see how much she had aged in two years. Her cheekbones, always prominent, now stood out like sharp ridges, and her eyes seemed more sunken than before, an impression accentuated by her dark mascara. Only her hair was unchanged—silver-gray and cut in a fashionable shag.

They hugged, and Colly could feel the bones in her mother-in-law’s shoulders and spine. “Hello, Iris. You look beautiful as always.”

Iris’s eyes narrowed, as if she were trying to determine whether the comment had been meant sarcastically. “You, as well. Retirement agrees with you.” She held Colly at arm’s length. “What a lovely dress. You’ve expanded your repertoire.”

Over Iris’s shoulder, Colly saw Brenda roll her eyes.

“I appreciate your coming out here, dear,” Iris was saying.

“Happy to help.”

As Iris turned to greet Brenda, Colly noticed Russ gesticulating angrily for his brother to get up and join them. When Lowell ignored him, Russ strode across the patio, and the two men whispered furiously together. There had always been antagonism between Russ and Lowell, but this seemed to be about more than the usual sibling friction.

Finally, Lowell swallowed the rest of his drink and pulled himself to his feet. He was a few years younger than Russ, stocky and bull-necked, with a blunt, slightly crooked nose and thinning hair, for which he compensated with a full, dark beard. He’d made no effort to dress for dinner and wore ratty jeans and a work shirt with “Newland Wind Industries” stitched on the pocket.

Lowell gave Colly a perfunctory hug, and nodded, stone-faced, to Brenda before dropping back into his chair with a grunt.

Oblivious to the familial drama, Iris took Colly’s arm and introduced the goateed man as Judge Talford Maybrey.

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