Devil’s Claw

Halfway up the winding road that led to the house, Joa

She was relieved to see Butch’s Subaru was still parked near the gate. Knowing Je

The lights were on in the living room as she parked the Blazer, but as soon as she opened the car door, the back porch light came on and Sadie and Tigger came tumbling out of the house. Behind the two dogs walked Butch, in stocking feet, gingerly picking his way across the yard.

“You shouldn’t be out here without shoes,” she scolded. “Don’t you know there are sandburs in the yard?”

“I do now,” he said, hopping gingerly on one foot. “How are things?”

“It’s late, and I’m tired,” she told him. “How are things with you?”

Butch wrapped one arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her against his chest. “We had some company,” he said, leading her toward the house.

“Not your parents!” Joa

“Not my parents.”

“Who then?”

Butch waited until they were all the way inside the house before he answered. “Dick Voland,” he said.

Joa

Since then, Joa

“Dick wasn’t drunk, was he?” Joa

At six-four, Voland was a massive bear of a man who outweighed Butch by a good fifty pounds. “Not that I could tell.”

“What did he want?”

“He didn’t say. I offered to take a message, but he said he needed to talk to you. He wanted you to call as soon as you got home tonight. I left the number there on the table.”

Joa

“Come on, Joey,” Butch said, using the private nickname he had bestowed on her. “Don’t be upset. He didn’t cause any trouble, and he didn’t say anything out of line.”

“He should have told you what he wanted,” Joa

Butch laughed aloud at that. “You don’t understand very much about men, do you?”

Joa

“I mean Dick Voland and I were in a contest, and I won. Dick’s the big loser here. I’ve got you, and he doesn’t. Believe me, Dick Voland isn’t ever going to sit down and have a long, heart-to-heart discussion with me. He hates my guts, and he’s going to do his best to pretend I don’t exist.”

“What about you?” Joa

“I feel sorry for him, but not that sorry.”

“Regardless,” Joa

“Good enough,” Butch said. “Now, did you have any di

“No,” Joa

“After that big, late lunch, all Je

“Please.”

While Butch scrambled eggs, Joa

“Not a very happy story,” Joa

“Which reminds me,” Butch said, getting up to clear the table. “George called, too. Just a little while ago. He said it was something to do with Clayton Rhodes, but he also said that he and your mother were going to bed as soon as the news was over. He said he’d talk to you about it in the morning.”

Joa

“You go on, if you want to,” Butch said. “I’ll clean up the kitchen and then shove off for home.”

“You mean you’re not staying?”

“Waking up naked this morning with Je

“It’s all right. Je

“Well, I’ll come fix you breakfast, then. We have to build up our strength so we’ll be ready to clean that oven tomorrow afternoon.”

Joa

Firmly Butch moved her away from him, leaving her standing in the middle of the room and safely out of arm’s reach. “And I love you, but no more thanks like that,” he said. “If you’re not careful, I’ll end up changing my mind and I’ll stay over after all.”

It was late in the afternoon before Lucy once more ventured out of her hiding place among the gigantic boulders scattered across the Texas Canyon landscape. Emotionally and physically exhausted, she had slept most of the day. Now chilly, lonely, and longing for the comfort of a soda or candy bar from a vending machine, she approached the fenced freeway rest area.

There were half a dozen eighteen-wheelers parked in the designated truck parking area, but there was only one car-an SUV-parked near the entrance to the rest rooms and the vending machines. There was a man standing leaning against it, talking on a cell phone. When Lucy was close enough to distinguish his features, she gave a gasp of dismay. It was the same man she had seen the night before-the man who had shot her mother.