Page 52 of Ava
“Keep this up, and you’ll be a great cook out on the range when we do the fall roundup. We’re gone from the house for two solid weeks. The cook we’ve had for thirty years retired in the Spring.”
“Oh,” Alex said, both excited to be out on the range, but scared that he might have to cook for everyone.
“I’ll go with you,” Justin volunteered, and it was agreed that the two of them would stop into Tom’s office around two on Friday afternoon to get wired up, and head to court at six that evening.
“I’m surprised they had you show up on a Friday of a holiday weekend,” Tom said as he frowned at the ticket, and reviewed the video again. “Let’s just hope you’re not walking into an ambush. I know I’m probably talking out my ass here, but what if Tanner’s one of the preppers, and he does this to get the woman alone? You know late, alone, perfect way to snatch her and take her over the border.”
“That’s why Justin’s going with me, and I never thought of that.” Ava stared at the other man in shock.
Everyone sat around with their own thoughts, until John spoke up with a grin around his muffin, “So, Wyatt, what type of meat are you having at Saturday’s party?”
“Beef brisket, ribs, steaks, hot dogs, and hamburgers for the kids. And because scuttlebutt.” He grinned as everyone moaned around him when he used that word. “But, rumor has it that we’ll be having up toward six hundred people. Oh, not all at once, because people will be coming before, then after their chores, but we’ll be having a whole pig too.”
“Pig?” Seven men asked with grins on their faces, and they rubbed their hands together in excitement. Wyatt only frowned at them. “What?”
“We’ve been known to cook a pig before.” John laughed when his brothers snorted at him. “Dad and the club we are members of had a pig roast every year, and it was our job.” He pointed to the seven of them, “To pick it up, kill it, gut it, hang it, then stuff it and get it on the spit by a certain time. We like to cook them for twenty-four hours. Low and slow.”
“I’ve been promised the pig will be killed the night before, and gutted. I have to pick it up around ten that morning. Do you think the seven of you can get it on the spit by noon? If you said twenty-four hours, then that would make it noon on Saturday. I want to start serving by one. This way, if people have to, they can go home and do their night-time chores. Plus, in the past the older folks in the community like to come out around lunch time, gossip, then make an early night of it. We’re usually done by midnight.”
“We’d love to help.” Chuck said, and the others agreed.
Tom spoke up then, “I’ll be there, so will Bonnie.” At their confused looks, he grinned. “My wife.” Then, he chuckled. “I think it might be time for another dance-off.”
“Oh no, I won that fair and square.” Morgan cried out, and glared at the two Erwin brothers when they agreed. She then had to tell her brothers what it was all about.
Justin laughed, and looked at Ava. “Do you dance?”
“Nope, I have six left feet when it comes to dancing.”
“Shame, I was going to challenge you.”
“You dance?”
“Who do you think taught Morgan?” Justin threw his head back and laughed when Wyatt, Dillon, and Tom hung their heads and moaned.
CHAPTER21
“When you’re done at court,”Tom said Friday afternoon in his office at the police station. “Take this equipment I’m giving you to Morgan’s office. She has a safe, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t have the combination.”
“Then take it to the ranch. Have Wyatt put it in his safe. I know he has one. I’ll come back out on Sunday afternoon and view it, unless something happens, and you want to tell me about it when you get home tonight. If you do, call my cell, and I’ll meet you back here.”
“Thanks, Tom,” Ava said, and stood there with her arms out as a woman officer reached beneath her button-up shirt and started hooking up wires.
“Will this be undetectable?” Justin asked. “If they have a modern court house where they scan people, or they have to go through a scanner?”
“Yes,” the female officer said. “It’s state of the art.” She finished, then stepped back and picked up a wand that Justin had seen used in airports. She waved it over Ava, especially the bust area, and nodded. “Now you’re wired for video and sound. The camera is attached to this button.” She pointed with her finger to the button.
“Is there any way to turn the sound off?”
“No, it’s voice activated.” She grinned as she looked between Ava and Justin. “So, if you don’t want us to hear anything, keep your traps shut.”
“What about when this is over? Is there any way to turn it off?”
“I’d wait until you got the hell out of that county, pull over and take it off. The courthouse is about ten miles further into the county from where you were pulled over. I’m not telling you what to do, but if I was you, I’d travel the way you came home, and go into the county the way you did when you were pulled over,” Tom said. “What vehicle are you taking?”
“My truck,” Justin said as he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the female officer continue to work on Ava. He turned when the front door of the police station opened, and a man dressed in a suit entered, but his tie was loosened, and he looked harried.
