Page 64 of Hell's Kitten

She smiles sincerely at us. “Good,” she says with a nod. “Now that’s settled, it looks like the Durhams are walking down from the house, if you want to come see what they have to say.”

I raise my eyebrows and share a look with Jessie. “Oh, hell yeah,” he says, tugging on my hand so we can make our way up to the closed gate.

The Durhams arrive at about the same time we do. From the look on Mrs. Durham’s face, I’m guessing they’ve seen the contents of the leaflet themselves. Mayor Durham is holding up his palms, trying to wave us down as the crowd’s booing gets louder. I notice his eyes flicking to the news camera for a fraction of a second before he plasters on a big smile for his audience. It feels as if almost everyone has their phones held up now, but the mayor isn’t daunted, apparently.

“Hello, everyone,” he says in a clear voice that carries through the air.

The booing dies down as I assume people want to hear whatever it is he has to say. It’s easy to see why he’s popular. He’s classically handsome in that strong jaw, thick hair, suited and booted sort of way. But once you know he’s a lying bastard with a black heart, it’s a lot harder to be fooled by his appearance. As usual, his wife is dressed like a Jackie Kennedy wannabe in a light-green fitted dress suit, pearls around her neck, and white heels that are fighting her to stand still on the gravel driveway.

“I understand there are a lot of heightened emotions right now,” the mayor continues. “But I assure you, this is all just a storm in a teacup.”

“We didn’t come down here to get gaslit by you!” the cheer captain, Lakelyn, shouts at him. Despite being half his size, she sure is fierce.

“You can’t just make up stuff and play with people’s lives,” Candy adds.

“Yeah,” Donna says with a smirk as she folds her arms. “This is called fucking around and finding out. Kids these days can discover anything on the internet if they look hard enough.”

“It really wasn’t that hard,” someone mutters by my elbow. I turn and see Sheriff Chancey’s teen girl. She flicks her eyes to me, looking worried. I give her a wink, and she grins.

Ahhhh. That makes sense now. Jessie said something about Chancey’s niece being on the cheer squad. I’m assuming she teamed up with her cousin, and now here we all are.

Mayor Durham’s phony smile is looking strained as more and more people start yelling at him. “There’s no need for this,” he’s saying. “I’m sure we can straighten out these investigations with the authorities. There is nothing more important to me than this town, and I will do everything I can to keep it safe.”

“You mean y’all will do everything you can to swindle votes!” an older, immaculately dressed lady shouts with a strong Texan drawl. She shakes a skillet in the direction of the Durhams, who take the smallest step back in alarm.

Mrs. Durham recovers quickly. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves!” she cries, pointing a finger out at the crowd. “My husband has run an honest campaign and kept his promises about lowering crime rates! And this is how you repay him? I think you should?—”

All of a sudden, she pinwheels her arms and almost goes crashing to the ground. Her husband lunges for her, catching her necklace in the process, sending pearls flying in every direction as they immediately get lost among the stones of the driveway. As she rights herself, she lifts her left foot, showing that the heel has snapped clean off her shoe.

As people gasp, I catch a flash of movement from someone a little behind me to the left. It’s that pale woman with the dark hair who Leah is so interested in. Call me crazy, but I swear I see her put a doll away in her purse that looks just like Mrs. Durham. It’s like a larger version of the tiny one she snuck into Durham’s own purse.

Except this one is missing its left shoe.

When she catches my eye, she raises a single finger to her black lips, and gives me a “shh” with a sly smile.

Before I can think about it too much, the sound of a car engine draws my attention, as it does many people in the crowd. I worry it’s a resident. This might not be a thoroughfare, but other people do live here. However, when I crane my neck and see that it’s a shiny black limousine, I figure something else might be going on.

The gentleman who steps out makes Durham look like chump change. I know nothing about fancy clothes, but his suit is obviously insanely well-tailored. I’d guess he’s in his fifties with thick salt-and-pepper hair and broad shoulders. He’s undoubtedly in great shape for his age, and when he throws a smile filled with perfect white teeth toward the crowd, I hear more than one person sigh wistfully.

“That’s Rafferty McKenna,” a young man says near us. He’s got sandy blond curls and a pearl hanging from one ear. I get the impression he’s a friend of Jessie’s.

“The guy who owns half the town?” Jessie asks.

The young man nods but Alannah slaps her forehead and groans. “I knew I knew the name,” she says, looking around at us. “He’s Logan’s dad.”

“You know Logan McKenna?” the young man with the pearl asks in a slightly alarmed tone.

Alannah nods and looks at Jessie. “That’s Tara’s boyfriend. The one who brought us the letter from the cheer board. I bet you anything he’s the one who ratted you out!”

Jessie gasps, and I tighten my grip on him, tempted to give this rich asshole a piece of my mind.

“Raff, thank goodness,” Durham cries as McKenna approaches the gate. McKenna, however, totally blanks him, instead slipping his hands into his pockets and addressing thecrowd. He subtly makes sure the TV crew is giving him their full focus before he speaks.

“It has been brought to my attention that the current mayor of Paddle Creek has used my name and abused my good faith in an attempt to gain votes and secure his re-election. In no way do I endorse the witch hunt that has been targeting certain individuals over the past few weeks. I certainly had no idea about the accusations leveled at the mayor regarding embezzlement. Therefore, effective immediately, I will be withdrawing my endorsement of Lyle Durham as mayor in favor of Maurice Sanchez, and I will also be assisting authorities in getting to the bottom of any genuine illegal activity. Thank you.”

Even though people explode with questions, he just nods once, then walks back toward his limo. “Raff!” Durham splutters, his face red and his clenched fists trembling. “You’re really going to throw me under the bus like that? We had a deal! Raff!”

But McKenna slides into the back seat of his ride without acknowledging the mayor once.

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