Devil’s Claw

“I’ll be a son of a bitch!” Joa

“I wouldn’t be too hard on the man if I were you,” Frank said.

“Why not?” Joa

“Butch didn’t say a thing,” Frank answered. “He didn’t have to. If I were about to inherit your mother as my mother-in-law, I’m sure I’d jump when she said so, too.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Joa

For a time after ringing off, Joa

That should settle that hash, Joa

CHAPTER 16

By the time Joa

She came over the divide and down into Bisbee’s Tombstone Canyon just at sunset. There would have been plenty of time to run by the department, change into the specified outfit, and still be at Eleanor and George’s house within five minutes of the appointed hour. Instead, Joa

Joa

As soon as Joa

“A barbecue?” Joa

When it came to the Eleanor Lathrop Winfield Joa

Once he was gone, his widow never once deigned to use the thing, and she hadn’t allowed Joa

Just then the front door slammed open and Je

Je

“What’s the matter with what I have on?” Joa

Je

“We’re having a picnic?” Joa

Je

“What are they like?” Joa

“Okay, I guess,” Je

“They’re from Chicago,” Joa

“Maybe,” Je

“Who hired the mariachis?” Joa

“They’re not real. That’s just a tape on Butch’s boom box. He said it would add atmosphere.”

Butch met them just inside the door. “You didn’t change,” he said, frowning. “Didn’t you get my message? Frank said he’d be sure to tell you.”

Joa

“It’s not that,” Butch said. “It’s just that everyone else is dressed a lot more casually than you are.”

“Don’t worry,” Joa

Outside, Joa

Halfway down the yard, Eva Lou Brady sat at Eleanor’s cloth-covered picnic table engaged in subdued conversation with a heavyset woman with thi

“Come on,” Butch said to Joa

They met Eleanor Winfield halfway to the barbecue. She looked her daughter up and down, pursed her lips, and said nothing, but Joa