Page 1 of Deputy Brand Gets Her Man
Chapter One
When Willow bellied up to an open spot at the curved hardwood bar early on a Thursday evening, Cat Shaw was handling the beer taps, two teenagers were waiting tables, and the guys she was looking for were nowhere in sight.
He was, though. Gringo Sombrero. His eyes had been on her since she’d walked into Two Lilies Honky Tonk. She’d felt him tracking her as she’d wound amid tables full of folks enjoying the food. He’d ditched the big sombrero he used to hide behind but not the bushy blond beard. She supposed she ought to try to think of him by his given name, since he was family, though not by blood. He was her adopted cousin Ethan’s half-brother. And he still came in some afternoons to sit at his favorite table and people-watch.
He acknowledged her with a nod, and she replied with a smaller one and looked away wondering why her stomach was all churned up.
“What can I get ‘cha, Deputy?” Cat asked. A purple paisley scarf tried but failed to tame her sable and gray curls. Behind her, a wall-sized mirror backed shelves full of liquor.
“Sweet tea’ll do me, Cat. I’m on duty. You seen the Barker Boys around?”
“Those three.” She rolled her eyes. “Ethan’s…discouraged ‘em from bringin’ their business here.”
“Yeah. He’s out of town for the night, though,” Willow said. “Had a gig in San Antone. I figured they might get brave.”
“Not so far.” She delivered a tall dewy glass of sweet tea on ice with a lemon wedge, and spoke softly, leaning in. “What’ve the Quinn County Creeps done now?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.” The three were jumping from one crime to another—vandalism, theft, random beatings. Always three guys, and one of them considerably larger than the other two, but that was it. She needed more.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Cat said. “I’ll wait for the grapevine. Should light up any time now.” She turned her wrist as if checking a watch she wasn’t wearing, then winked and headed for another patron.
Willow turned on her barstool, glass in hand just as Stu Barker’s rusty yellow pickup truck, jacked up with extra-big tires, rolled in. It stopped in the strip of pavement right next to the “No stopping. Park in Rear” sign, on top of the painted arrow pointing the opposite way. Stu shut the rumbling vehicle off and got out. His two brothers got out, too—the wiry one from the passenger door, and the big one jumped down from the bed.
The front of Two Lilies was all glass, and there were outdoor tables on the patio beyond, but the glass partition was closed at the moment.
Willow set her iced tea down, slid off her stool, headed out through the single glass door as they approached, and pulled it closed behind her.
“Hey, boys, why don’t you sit out here with me for a minute? I got some questions for you.”
“Nobody’s mannin’ the bar out here,” Stu said. He’d have argued no matter what she’d opened with, though. His chin was jutting, jaw set. He’d come here looking for trouble.
“I’ll buy,” she said. She held up three fingers, not even looking behind her. “Cat’ll bring ‘em. That’s a nice spot, right there. Corner table in the shade.”
The two lesser Barkers looked to their leader, Stu. Tank was a big, mean bull, pawing the dirt and blowing, waiting for the chute to open. Tuck, his twin, was more like a scrawny terrier with patches of exposed skin—he was twitchy and nervous. There was not a complete set of brain cells between them.
Stu rolled his eyes but slogged to the table in the shade.
Before all three asses had made chair-contact, Cat was coming out with the beers and Willow’s sweet tea. No tray, just hands. She was a pro.
“Anything else for you fellas?” she asked.
They grumbled non-answers. Cat scurried away with a quick, worried look at Willow. Will gave her a subtle “it’s fine” nod.
“So,” Willow said, after they’d each taken a pull from their foamy mugs, “three fellas dressed up like cops and robbed a man at gunpoint. Masked, but they match your descriptions.”
“Wasn’t us,” said Stu.
“Yeah. We was with Dad last night,” said Tank.
“How’d you know it was last night?” Willow asked.
Stu kicked Tank under the table, then said, “Because you’re questioning us today.”
“You guys order some cop uniforms off the Amazon, did you?” Willow watched them and wished she could use their faces as evidence in court.
“Maybe you’ve got ‘em out in the truck right now?” she asked, glancing at the yellow pickup.
Stu said, “You ain’t gettin’ in mah truck without a search warrant, lady deputy.”
