Page 67 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin's Duet

“If it’s too late?”

“Jesus, Tanya.” Saverin’s lip twitched. “No, I never had a thing for Sweet Lorriane. Hungry, poppet?”

“Starving,” Tanya snapped. “And you don’t sound too convincing when you keep calling her that.”

Saverin kissed her fingers. “When we get home I’ll cook us some steaks. To celebrate.”

Celebrate what? Staying alive? It had been a terrible day from top to bottom. Tanya thought of the poor Wilks Johnny dying in her arms. Saverin told her he’d been the one to find him, and the coroner had taken him away to the funeral home. Saverin was going to pay for the old man’s burial. He’d get a fine white marble headstone and put out a search for any relatives the old man might have had. It was too sad to think about.

He said he’d make it right, Tanya thought, watching Absalom Green Tree.Yeah, right. They can just kill people up here and get away with it. Nobody is safe.

But last night Saverin had killed Colton, and got away with it without so much as an interview at the station. Why? Because he was a Bailey, as Absalom had so nicely reminded her. Saverin had shot Amari’s father in self-defense, true. But what if he’dbeen just a regular Joe Blow? Or a different color? Facts didn’t matter in Florin County— only reputation did. The regime might be changing, but many things would stay the same up on the mountain.

Absalom was a good-looking man, tall and neatly dressed. Earlier when he’d talked to Tanya she’d noticed how good he smelled, too. If Saverin kept harping on about Sweet Lorraine maybe she’d tell him that. Although literally nobody and nothing on earth smelled better than Saverin. He smelled good enough to eat sometimes.

I really am hungry, thought Tanya, amused by her own crazy thoughts.

Absalom was armed with a pistol at his hip and a Winchester across his back. Two hard lines beside his mouth made him look older than he was. He clearly spent most of his days in the sun, and it had tanned his skin and bleached his hair, making his eyes appear almost colorless.

Suddenly Absalom took Sweet Lorraine’s hand and led her around the room. Not in a sisterly way, either. Whispers broke out in chorus with the whoops of greeting from other Green Trees.

“Well that solves one mystery,” said Tanya.

“What mystery?” Saverin watched Absalom make his rounds, but his eyes always fluttered back to Hiram and the Snatch Hills.

“I see why he was late.”

“Eh?”

“Knocking boots,” Tanya mused. “Doing the deed. Bumping buttons. Boom boom.”

Saverin turned a laugh into a cough. “You sure about that?”

“A woman can tell.”

Absalom said something in his girl’s ear. She looked down at the table of food, then back to Absalom in confusion before putting up her chin and retreating quietly into a corner of theroom, not touching anything on the table. Hiram and his thugs were staring at her the way they had stared at Tanya outside of Wilks-Johnny’s house. Nobody came to talk to Lorraine and she stared wordlessly ahead, as if thinking very hard.

Absalom gave a whoop that drew all eyes in the room, the redneck version of silverware striking a glass. Somebody turned down the music. The chatter died; thirty-odd men and women turned their attention to the tall young man standing at the head of the table. He held a slice of cornbread in his hand as he spoke. “I just wanted to thank y’all for coming and say I appreciate your support,” he said. “While we enjoy our stay in Roman’s beautiful house, I would ask you all to avoid, ah, unnecessary damages.” His eyes lingered on the shattered vase on the floor before resuming their path around the room. He continued, “As we all know, the Harvest has supplied our income for the past twenty-five years. With the Federal legalization on the way, I have my hopes we can move forward in the business to great success. All that we need is unity and togetherness. We don’t make unity by dividing ourselves into McCalls and Green Trees and Snatch Hills. For that matter, into Black and White. These old divisions won’t serve us any more. We’re all Florin folk at the end of the day.” Murmurs met his words, but Absalom gave no reaction, merely allowed them to dissipate. “Unity,” he repeated. “That’s how we win. That’s how we keep Florin going. Let’s all remember that. Anyway, if anybody’s got a problem, you can come to me. If you want to talk about your feelings, go to Shadrac.” He raised the piece of cornbread in a mock toast, which made some people laugh, and finished, “Roman has so politely surrendered his home to us, and for that we ought to thank him. And I thank all of you for your support in our very peaceful transition.Sláinte!”

Bottles raised in a toast, with laughter from all except the little posse in the corner, which Tanya found it difficult to takeher eyes off. Any trouble tonight would come from that section, no doubt about it.

“Interesting,” said Saverin.

“What?”

“The Green Trees are all drinking out of cans,” he said.

“So?”

“Just an observation.”

Not bothering to solve that riddle, Tanya surveyed the room, her eyes landing on Absalom’s girl, who stood apart from everybody, looking uneasy. She wasn’t laughing, either.

“I should go talk to her,” Tanya decided.

Ignoring Saverin’s protests she made a beeline towards the nervous-looking girl. Before Saverin showed up Tanya had been in the exact same position with all these hillbilly women glaring at her like something the cat dragged in. It seemed bold of this Absalom to show up with his girlfriend hanging on his arm, but given how his wife had been acting maybe it was just that kind of marriage.

“Hi,” Tanya said, getting Lorrie’s attention.

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