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“Devo? That’s an odd name for a girl.”

“Why does everyone keep callin’ me that? I’m twenty-seven years old. I’m a woman.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “But you’re about the size of a peanut. Sorry. Didn’t mean to offend.”

“It’s fine,” I said, finally realizing that Rye could give me the answers to all my questions. “Hey, so maybe you can help me understand. Why’s Red such a jerk? Abey said there’s stuff I don’t know about him. I got the feelin’ she meant he’d been through somethin’ and that’s the reason he’s an utter jackass.”

Rye sat on the stool behind the cash register and flipped through a gun inventory book on the counter. “You know Abey? How’s she doin’? How’s her mama?”

“I know her, yes. I haven’t met her mom though. But Abey’s fine, I think. She was just here.”

“Cool,” he said. “I haven’t seen her in a couple years. Last time I came to town, she’d just made deputy, so maybe it’s been a few more than a couple. We used to go muddin’ together. Me, Abey, her brother, Bax, and some of our friends.”

“Muddin’? Abey?” My eyes drifted to the side as I tried to imagine her crouched over the handlebars of some bulky four-wheeler, racing guys up a mountain. Yeah, that really did check out. I could see it.

“Yeah, you know, four-wheelin’ through the mud. It’s fun as hell.”

I hadn’t known Abey was into that kind of thing, but I supposed there was a lot I didn’t know about her.

“Anyway, dunno what you mean about Red. Who specifically has he been mean to? Besides humanity.”

“He’s been givin’ us a hard time. There’s a lot of LGBTQIA+ people who come to Ace’s House, and Red seems to have an issue with us.”

“Ohh. Well, that doesn’t surprise me. I’m sorry you have to deal with that, but it’s probably nothin’ you did.”

“Okay, well then, who did? And what did they do?”

Rye’s eyes strayed from mine. He’d seen something through the front door windows. He stared hard at whoever had just walked by, and then he popped off the stool and jogged toward them. “Was that Aubrey? Uh, the, well, you know, the woman who owns the bookstore down the street?”

Stepping beside him, I looked out the window, too, and saw the sway of Aubrey’s strawberry blond waves as she walked toward her store. “Yeah. That’s her. Why?”

He backed away from the door and looked at the floor. Easygoing changed to closed up in an instant.

“How do you know her?”

“I used to know her late husband,” he said, “before he passed. He was my older brother’s best friend.” He shook his head, and I got the feeling he was trying to shake a thought away. “Anyway, Red’s wife, my aunt Connie, she left Red. My cousin, Junior, went with her when she left, and Red’s never been the same. The rumor was that she left him for a woman.”

“Was it true?”

“Dunno. Besides when Red calls to ask me to help him here at the store, I don’t really talk to him much. He’s a lot older than my dad. They’re not very close. I’ll ask though. I doubt they sit around talkin’ about how they feel, but he might know somethin’.” Suddenly, a wry smile broke across his face. “I’d give my left n—” He coughed, still smirking. “I’d pay a lotta money to see him workin’ over at the community center.”

“It’s killin’ me! All I can think about is what he’s sayin’ to those young people.”

“Aw, I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said. “Red’s a prick, sure, but he’s harmless. He wouldn’t really hurt anybody.”

“Yeah, but he probably won’t help them either.”

And those people needed help, which was the real reason I was worried.

CHAPTER TEN

ABEY

The new deputies, Dan and Roxanne, were like Olive Oyl and Popeye, if Popeye were five foot eight and Olive Oyl was a flippin’ giant. Jesus! She had to be over six feet tall if she was an inch. They bickered like siblings, and I was already fed up with the both of them.

“Just follow me and observe today,” I said. “Wisper’s a small town, and you’re not from here. It may take a little while for people to warm up to you.”

“I don’t really need people to warm up to me, ma’am,” Dan said. “I can do my job without bein’ involved in the town gossip.”