“Someone like Stuart?”

She felt her eyebrows jerk up. “That was fast.”

“You ask twenty different people in Bordertown and you’ll get the same answer. It’s no secret that Stuart hates Rod. Always has.”

True and yet…Starkey had spoken with such certainty. “Maybe so, but you’ve heard something, haven’t you?”

“I’ve heard Stuart talking trash around town ever since Rod came back. That’s it.”

“You’re positive.”

He stepped close enough that she could smell the alcohol on his breath. “Would I lie to you?”

“If it served your purposes, yeah.”

He laughed. “Come back to me, and I’ll never lie to you again. I’ll change, get a real job, become respectable.”

Maybe he would. If he didn’t get himself killed first. He wanted to change, but the partying had too firm a grip. His taste for drugs and alcohol always drew him back. “What am I supposed to say to that?”

“You could say yes.”

“That wouldn’t work, and you know it. I can’t imagine you really want to be with me. We’ve been apart for nine years. We’re not even the same people anymore.”

“All I know is that I can’t get over you.”

She backed away when he tried to touch her. “Starkey, please. It’s been a hell of a night.”

Breaking eye contact, he sucked in a hissing breath as if her words had stung. “Yeah, right.”

“Is that why you came by? So we can go through this again?”

“No, I don’t know what I’m doing. Sometimes I see you and I realize what I could’ve had, how the past decade could’ve been different for Rafe.”

“You can change your life without me. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, maybe.” He didn’t sound too convinced. “If I wanted to spend the rest of my life going to AA meetings. Anyway, I came to tell you I’ve got a bead on a guy who’s selling silencers out of his garage.”

At last, a possible break. “Who is it?”

“Name’s Jackson Riollo. Lives in Sierra Vista.”

“Has he sold one to anybody in Bordertown in the past six months or so?”

“Don’t know yet. Got an appointment with him. Told him I’m in the market. Figure I’ll see if he’ll tell me anything about his clientele once I get there.”

“When’s the appointment?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“Good. Tell me how it goes.” Planning to drive out to the Simpson ranch to see if Kevin, Alma or James was monitoring UDA activity tonight, she opened her car door. She also wanted to go over to Charlie Sumpter’s. Since she had to perform her usual duties and had fallen behind, the SAC had given her a light assignment—get hold of Charlie to see if there was anything backing up his blistering diatribes against illegal aliens. That was it. But she’d placed two more calls without success.

She’d have to look up his daughter, see if she could reach him that way. Until then, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to drive out and take a look at his place, see if it appeared to be shut up for an extended period. If he’d left his dog behind to be cared for by the neighbors, he’d probably be coming back fairly soon.

But Starkey made no move to leave.

“Is there something else?” she asked when he caught her door so she couldn’t shut it.

“I have a question.” He hunched over so he could see her face.

She didn’t bother inserting the key into the ignition. “What is it?” Surely he wasn’t going to come up with more nonsense about getting back together….

Leaning close, he lowered his voice. “Is it true?”

She searched for clues in his face but couldn’t see where he was going with this. “Is what true?”

“What I heard at the Firelight?”

His mention of the bar put her on edge. The Firelight had come up a lot lately…. “What did you hear?”

“That you and your…er…stepfather are…you know…having an affair.”

“What? When did you hear this? I was there earlier, and nothing like that was being said. I didn’t even see Leonard.”

“It was right before closing.” He tapped the side of her car. “So…are you going to tell me?”

She couldn’t believe he’d need to ask. He knew what had happened in the past, how abhorrent she’d found Gary’s advances. “Starkey, I’d never have an affair with my mother’s husband. He didn’t get away with anything even when I was a teenager. That’s why I moved out, remember?”

He seemed to breathe more easily as he straightened. “Okay. Good. I wanted to be sure. Leonard was flashing around that picture and, well, it made me wonder.”

Leonard?

Sophia gripped the keys so tightly the jagged edges cut into her palm. “What picture? Did you see it?”

He nodded. “You’re naked.”

“What?” Leonard had said Gary had the picture. Was it the same one? If so, how’d he end up with it? “You’re sure it was me?”

“Positive. Had your tattoo sleeve and everything.”

A hard knot formed in her stomach. “But…where was it taken? How long ago?” She hadn’t gotten her tattoos until after she’d left home. There was no way her mother would’ve allowed it when they were living together. Anne would’ve kicked her out even before Sophia chose to leave. To this day, she hated Sophia’s sleeve.

“Hard to tell. Looked like it was taken in a bedroom, maybe, somewhere in the past couple years.”

Sophia shook her head. “That makes no sense. Where could Leonard have gotten hold of such a thing?”

“He said he got it from someone who works at the feed store. Wouldn’t say who. Claimed he didn’t want to get the guy in trouble.”

“That makes me sick! I can’t even imagine…” Her mind reeled, but she couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation for what Starkey had just told her. “You’re sure it was me,” she said again.

“No question. And…”

That and didn’t sound like good news. Was there more? “What is it?” she asked.

“Liz Torres was at the bar tonight.”

Liz was a member of city council. “What was she doing there? She doesn’t even drink.”




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