Page 32 of Montana Mystery

“I mean there’s nothing weird in here. People dancing. Drinking. Playing poker. But this party could be in anyone’s basement. The only thing that’s weird here is that this barn is in the middle of nowhere.”

Noah swore softly. “Well, that alone is enough to make me think they’re hiding something.”

“Right,” I said quietly, aware that if I talked to myself too much, someone was going to notice. “But nothing I can see right now. But I’ll keep looking.”

“Kate—”

“I’m in now. Can’t back out when I told Max I’d be here. Too much on the line either way, especially when he went out of his way to get me here.”

“He threatened you,” Noah said flatly.

“Glad you could make it,” a loud voice said behind me.

I turned. Max was walking toward me. Same clothes, same gun, completely different attitude. “I said I would.”

He reached out and yanked me toward him, embracing me and patting me down at the same time. The scent of alcohol was obvious. “I thought you might chicken out.”

“Of course not.”

“Well,” he smiled, “I’m certainly glad that you’re here.”

The glint in his smile told me he was glad for a very different reason than I wanted him to be glad. “Here. Give Aaron your coat, and I’ll get you a drink.”

So the bouncer’s name was Aaron. I made a note as I handed him the coat, wishing that I could keep it on. The shirt I’d bought when Jude had taken me to the store was pretty, and not revealing, but Max was drunk enough that I didn’t think it would matter either way.

I was right.

A low whistle landed in my ears as he came back with a red plastic cup. “You clean up good, Katie.”

I fought the nausea in my stomach and smiled. “Thank you, but my name isn’t Katie.”

“It is here,” he said with a laugh. “Come on, I’ve got money on this game, and I’m not about to lose. You’ll be my lucky charm.”

He watched as I pretended to take a sip of the drink he’d handed me. There was no way in hell I was actually going to drink it. Even if I could use the alcohol to steady my nerves, I wasn’t about to take that chance.

We walked around the dance floor to a poker table all the way in the back and nearly hidden. If there was a VIP section in this place, this was it. The men sitting around the table were like Max. More guns and dark looks, but they mostly ignored me.

A couple of other girls were standing behind chairs, watching the men play. I had to fight not to roll my eyes at the obvious sexism. But Max hadn’t lied. A huge pot of money was in the center. Enough that the four grand I’d given him earlier seemed like pocket change.

“Wow,” I said. “That does look like a lot.”

“And when I win it, I’ll use it to take you out on the town.”

I smiled and pretended to take another sip.

“Remind me to make sure he gets arrested,” Noah muttered in my ear.

Max downed the rest of a glass that looked like whiskey. He was clearly already drunk, and that wasn’t going to help matters much. “This,” he said with a gesture back at me, “is Brandon’s sister. Told her we would have kicked him out a lot earlier if we’d known how hot she was.”

The guys around the table laughed as they looked me up and down. I tried to react like it was a compliment. “How could I resist an invitation like that?”

Max burst out laughing, as if he hadn’t threatened me with violence to get me here. Had he forgotten that? He forgot something. As soon as the cards started to move again, I was invisible.

It was a relief, but also a trap. I couldn’t leave without him knowing, and I couldn’t go poking around for stuff they might be hiding without getting myself into trouble. But then again, it really didn’t look like there was anything to find.

“Yes.” Max roared the word so loudly every person at the party looked over. He’d surged out of his chair, knocking it backward and nearly into me. “Read them and weep, you fuckers.” He tossed his cards down on the table. With the cards already on the table, he’d managed a full house. Not bad.

The other men rolled their eyes, but they started to toss their cards and get up to leave.

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