Page 64 of Snow in Texas

But the sticks mocked her:Oh, but you are. What are you gonna do now, genius?

Twenty-Five

Jenny

“You’re leaving?” She couldn’t have heard him right. There was no way Derek Snow would go flying off to Tennessee while the Riley brothers were still breathing down their necks.

But Candy nodded, settling into his favorite chair with a little wince that betrayed his age and the effect of the road on his body. “Yeah, we are. In a week or so; gonna be there in time for Halloween.”

Okay, don’t panic. Now was so not the time for that. She sat down across from him, gripped the arms of the chair, and tried to tell herself that her brother wasn’t an idiot. “Really? But Halloween’s my favorite holiday.”

He snorted. “Nice try.”

She sighed. “You must have a plan, then. Or else you hit your head. Or,” she continued, “you’ve decided I’m as annoying as hell and you want to get rid of me. One of the three.”

He grinned. “Right the first time.”

Jenny relaxed her grip on the chair. Her brother’s plans were rarely without their dangerous points and implausibility, but he always managed to execute them. She pulled her legs up beneath her in the seat and pushed her own news to the back of her mind.Fill me in, she said with a glance.

“Fox has been asking around for me,” Candy said, “and he found out our old friend Mickey’s still in business.”

Jenny nodded; she remembered him. Mickey had dealt all sorts of things, including prescription drugs, like the Viagra and Percocet he’d agreed to provide for Riley’s then-budding porn business. He was small-time, a middle man between the larger dealers and street customers. He’d been a favorite of Riley’s; Jenny recalled his greasy face, shining under the lamp above the clubhouse bar. Recalled the gleam of his yellow teeth as he leaned forward and assured the Lean Dogs’ VP that he knew a guy who knew a guy, who knew something.

“And apparently,” Candy went on, “ol’ Mickey’s still a voice in Riley’s ear.”

“He’s still dealing to him?”

“And providing him with good leads. In this case, he’s gonna feed him the lead that Fox planted.”

“Which is…?”

“That in three days, a major shipment of prescription pain meds is gonna be ripe for the stealing outside of Odessa. If I know Riley, he’ll take the bait.”

Jenny lifted her brows. “Odessa’s a long way south.”

“Yes it is.”

“And I’m guessing the cops down there already know about the deal.”

He grinned. “Yep.”

She chewed at her lip in thought. “Let’s say he and his crew get picked up. Won’t his brother get him out?”

“Drug charges while he’s on parole? Not unless he’s got more sway than I think. If nothing else, it’ll buy us a little time while we run to Knoxville and back.”

“What if it doesn’t pan out?”

He made an impatient sound. “Then I’ll think of something. I can’t tell Ghost I won’t come. He’s got major shit brewing up there.”

“I know, I know.” She showed him her palms, a display of not arguing. “You have to go, and if Riley’s out of the picture, we’ll be fine down here.”

And when she said “we,” did that include the child growing inside her?

~*~

Colin

Evenings were the worst, in his new state of self-imposed celibacy. When he let the day’s exhaustion swamp him, and he poured himself a drink behind the bar, that was when he wished Jenny would come to him, to ease the strain of living.

---