Page 80

“But for me, seventy would be too little, though you might be content.”

“Not very.”

“Content enough, though, or significantly more than I would be. So what about eighty? I’d be desirous of a larger sum, but I could take the pain. You’d have wished to pay less, but you still might have paid more. Eighty it is.”

He extended a hand. Little Lyman, despite himself, took it, and they shook on the deal.

CHAPTERLV

Donnie Ray Dolfe and his daughter drove back to the main compound together, leaving Roland and the others to follow behind in their truck. After a time, Clemmie couldn’t take the silence any longer.

“That’s a message,” she said.

“Really? You think so?”

Clemmie ignored the sarcasm.

“Why didn’t they just come?” she asked. “Why leave Emmett Lucas displayed like that?”

“There are too many of us to strike at directly, and we’re well armed. Urrea wants to avoid a confrontation because of the risk of harm to the children. But if we don’t take precautions, next time it could be one of us tied to a pole with a hole in our chest and our balls in our mouth. Well, not you, obviously, but I’m sure they’d find an appropriate variation.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Devin has set Aldo Bern to work. If Bern can strike first, we’ll have more time, and time is what we need. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be for Urrea to maintain his authority.”

“Or you could just give them back your child and leave the others to make their own choice.”

“I could, if I thought it would satisfy these people.” Donnie Ray chewed a piece of skin from his lower lip. “It wouldn’t, though. Further reparation would have to be made.”

“Money?”

“I doubt money would cut it.”

Clemmie stared out the window, watching their land roll by. This was their kingdom, and she had always felt secure here. She had never known what it was to be frightened before, not like this.

“You don’t believe Vaughn will return his child, do you?” she asked.

Donnie Ray turned right, taking them onto the dirt road that led to the main house.

“No, I don’t believe he will, just as I won’t, nor our other major partner. Is this the point where you tell me again that I should never have become involved?”

“I didn’t understand it then,” said Clemmie, “and I still don’t. We could have found another supplier and left Vaughn to drown.”

“The beef with Blas Urrea was only some of the reason. Yes, by taking the girl and her siblings, Devin and I have weakened that Mexican, because what was done to Devin also damaged us. But I admit that I desired the child. She’s an adornment to our family—or will be, once it’s safe to bring her into the fold.”

Clemmie shook her head.

“I don’t want her in the house.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

“It’s my home, too.”

“It may be your home,” said her father, “but it’s my house, and you just live in it. But the girl stays where she is, especially after what happened to Lucas. I’ll warn the Swishers to be on the lookout. I don’t know how much Lucas revealed before he died. By rights, he shouldn’t have known anything about the Swishers, but he always did conceal more than he revealed, him and Riggins both. It made them good at their jobs.”

“Not good enough to avoid being killed—not Lucas, anyway.”

“True, but nobody’s perfect. And I’ll tell you one more thing: Riggins will keep himself well-hidden until all this is over. He likes his balls just where they are.”