Page 88 of The Talk of Coyote Canyon

“Good. What...what’s going on?”

Shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, he took another step back so he wouldn’t come across as too strong or overpowering. “Something’s come up. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by to talk about it.”

“Of course not. What is it?”

“Do you know a dentist from Libby by the name of Jordan Forbes?”

Her expression grew less open and more suspicious. “Yes...”

“Did he tell you his version of what happened at Ellen’s the other night?”

She blinked several times as, he guessed, she was trying to determine how he might be connected to Jordan, Ellen and this line of questioning. “He said she talked him into coming all the way from Libby to make some dude jealous. Whoever it was blindsided him with a punch that almost broke his nose.”

“Almostbroke his nose...” That was news. Jordan had obviously portrayed his injury as worse than it was.

“Yeah. It’s swollen and has a cut on it right here.” She pointed to the bridge of her own nose. “I saw it. And considering what I know about Ellen, I believe she’d set a guy up like that, don’t you?”

Averil didn’t knowhewas the guy who’d punched Jordan? Why not? Jordan knew his name. They’d played pool together. He must’ve chosen not to include it in his story for some reason. Maybe he’d kept the tale as vague as possible so he couldn’t accidentally relate something she might not believe or could easily verify—and that meant leaving as many details out of it as possible, including Hendrix’s name.

Hendrix had to hand it to Jordan. He was smart. He’d focused his revenge on Ellen alone—and in Averil he’d found the perfect person to believe everything he said about her. That had to have taken a little bit of luck, too. “He didn’t tell you who hit him?”

“He didn’t know. Said some guy sprang out of the bushes when he dropped her off.”

“He didn’t drop her off, Averil. He followed her home after she tried to end the date, forced her to kiss him and looked as though he was ready to do a lot more.”

“How doyouknow?” she asked, almost belligerently.

“BecauseIwas the guy who hit him.”

Her jaw dropped. “What wereyoudoing at Ellen’s?”

Since he and Ellen weren’t known to be great friends—or friends at all—he could see why she might ask that. “I wanted to talk to her. She’d just taken a job I thought we’d be getting, and I’d reacted by doing something I regretted.”

Understanding dawned on her face. “Is that why you were helping her drill that well? Charlie told me the two of you were right next to the land he just listed, working together all day, but I didn’t think anything of it. I assumed the owner must have stipulated you do it that way or something.”

She knew he’d helped Ellen drill the Haslem well? He hadn’t realized anyone who would bother to take note had seen them. “The owner didn’t stipulate it. I was trying to make up for what I’d done, yes.”

“Are you two friends now?”

He’d just slept with Ellen. They certainly weren’t enemies. But he felt it was in their best interests—especially for the purposes of this conversation—to seem as neutral as possible. “She and I are still competitors, right? We both own a well business and will go head-to-head on more jobs in the future. That might make it hard for us to be friends. But I wish her the best. And we’re cordial when we see each other.”

She swatted away a moth drawn by the porch light. “So...why are you here?”

“Two reasons, actually.” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to warn you about Jordan. He’s not a good guy, and I’m afraid for you or any other woman I know to get involved with him.”

“He seems pretty nice to me,” she said, growing defensive.

“He comes off that way. I was at Hank’s when Ellen and Jordan came in. Kurt knows Ellen through Talulah and asked them to play pool with us. Like you, I thought Jordan seemed normal—until I saw him start to get rough with her later on. I’m telling you, she was doing everything she could to fight him off, and he wouldn’t let her go.”

“That’s not how he tells the story,” she said. “Besides, it’s hard to feel too sorry for Ellen.”

Hendrix had to swat away the same moth that’d been bothering her. “I’m telling you the truth. And the problem is...if he’d do something like that to her, he might do it to someone else. I think he has anger issues. Or he can’t bear to hear the word ‘no,’ or feel criticized in any way.Something.”

She still seemed reluctant to accept what he was saying. Maybe she was planning to see him again. He’d obviously won at least some of her loyalty. “What’s your other reason for coming?” she asked.

“Last night, someone sabotaged the well Ellen just finished drilling. The one I helped her with. It’s on Jay Haslem’s property on Stockman Road. And I was wondering... You don’t think it could’ve been Jordan, do you?”

He realized she’d most likely say no. Saying yes would suggest she might’ve had something to do with it, too. After all, Jordan would’ve needed help to locate the well. It wouldn’t be easy to find a piece of empty land after dark, especially since he was unfamiliar with Coyote Canyon in general and the more rural parts surrounding the town in particular. Hendrix was looking for the little telltale signs in Averil’s face and body language that might indicate she knew more than she was saying, but she seemed perfectly composed when she said, “There’s no way he’d do that. How would he even know where she was drilling?”

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