Page 27 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin’s Duet (Sins of the South)

TWELVE

TANYA

Don’t eat anything, don’t drink anything .

Saverin had been insistent. Before he showed up Tanya hadn’t been tempted to take any food from the great table anyway, since the women in charge of it were giving her stares that seemed to warn of dire consequences if she so much as breathed near the potato salad.

Pride made her ignore them and their dry-ass food, but now two hours later her stomach was in a very different condition and her pride was on time-out.

Saverin seemed unbothered. His huge arms lay folded across his chest, and he death-stared at anybody who looked their way.

If he was hungry he gave no sign at all.

“Something ain’t right,” he muttered. Not for the first time.

Or the fifth. His eyes scanned the room back and forth, back and forth.

The couple were postured in a corner with the wall to their backs.

A good defensive strategy, but Tanya was keenly aware that they’d been pushed deeper into the house, away from any real exit.

All the windows were guarded by men Saverin called “Green Trees.”

“Like Rory?” Tanya had asked.

“Like Rory,” Saverin confirmed. “He’s Absalom’s second cousin. Mother’s side.”

Absalom. Tanya wondered when Mister High and Mighty would show up, since to leave this place she and Saverin apparently needed his permission.

Tuh! The deputy’s pretty manners hadn’t fooled her one bit; he was no different from the seedy characters cavorting around here tonight, drunk off their ass on sour-smelling hooch.

“They’re saying that Absalom is going to start up the marijuana growing again?” she asked Saverin, to distract herself from the food. “But I thought Roman owned all the land.”

At Saverin’s amused expression she muttered, “What? I heard the men talking.”

Saverin said slowly, “I reckon that Absalom thinks that Roman will make contact with him at some point soon. Negotiate terms. Yes, Roman legally owns the Harvest land and most of Florin. But if he’s not here, then…

” Saverin shrugged. “I wouldn’t count my cousin out yet.

Absalom took this hill too easily. I doubt this is the last we’ll hear of Roman McCall. ”

Tanya bit her lip. “You think this all could be a trap?”

“Likely as not,” said Saverin grimly.

The Grandfather clock in the hall struck for seven, barely heard over the blasting country music.

Was Saverin right? Would the other shoe drop tonight for Roman’s revenge?

Or would the first explosion come from the Snatch Hills, who were sneering and looking over at Saverin like they wanted to start something.

Let them. Tanya knew Saverin had something in store for those murderers, but he whatever it was, he wasn’t saying a word.

They were all waiting for Absalom to show up.

But Tanya also realized that even with all their guns they were wary of Saverin, which was definitely interesting.

“They think I dabble in the dark arts, like Roman,” Saverin told her wryly. “There’s many folk who thought that Roman was some kind of sorcerer, and I was his apprentice.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.” Saverin’s mouth made a hard line as he stared Hiram down.

“What if he stashed the ticket somewhere?” Tanya fretted.

“I doubt,” was the short response.

Hiram was obviously getting drunker by the minute.

The flush on his cheeks now matched the dirty crop of red hair on his head.

How the hell were they going to get the lottery ticket off him?

Saverin had no guns, and Tanya for damn sure didn’t have so much as a butter knife to defend herself.

And it wasn’t as if they could go announcing to the room what they were after!

Where the hell is Absalom?

“That’s Absalom’s wife, I hear,” Saverin pointed out the inebriated couple who stumbled into the room.

The woman was short and heavy-set, drinking freely from an unlabeled bottle while another man of the same height and build had his arms around her neck.

The pair romped all around the room to Merle Haggard’s I think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.

“She look familiar?” Saverin prompted.

“No, Saverin. I’ve never seen that woman in my life.”

“She was at Gwen’s this morning,” Saverin hinted.

It clicked and Tanya’s eyes shot open. “Don’t you owe her money?”

“Ha. Think she remembers?”

“Right now? I doubt.” Tanya pushed her lips to the side as the woman ran into a shelf and toppled a vase, to annoyed cries from many. “Absalom’s wife ?”

“Some idiotic Snatch Hill scheme,” said Saverin. “Christ, I never wanted to be back here, Tan. These people…this house…it belongs in the past. Buried.” His green eyes went hazy. “It was all so different. I was different.”

“I can’t believe Roman would just leave without a fight,” said Tanya. “He just let these people rampage all over his nice house. It’s crazy.”

Saverin shrugged. “Truth is that Roman’s got money all over the place. Offshore. He may have left the country. Maybe he won’t try to come back. Maybe he doesn’t even care about revenge— I could be wrong. Starting a family may have changed his priorities.” He looked down at Tanya. “I get it.”

Tanya took his arm. Absalom’s wife Dinah and her boyfriend (??) spun around the room, drunk as bees.

“And I hear she’s pregnant,” a woman said to another in disgust. “Drinking like that! The woman has a problem.”

“She’s also Hiram’s twin sister. From what I hear they hate each other,” Saverin added to Tanya in an undertone.

“Hm.” Tanya eyed the laden table regretfully. Much of the food was gone. Her throat stayed parched. She wished for a cup of juice, or something.

“It can’t be that bad if everybody’s eating it,” she whispered to Saverin, who shook his head.

“One bite, Saverin, come on. Everybody’s had some of that cornbread.”

“Don’t trust it,” said Saverin grimly.

“Be for real. I saw them bring it in from outside. Somebody cooked it. Somebody they obviously trust. I mean…It can’t be that bad.” Tanya fanned herself. “I’m about ready to faint.”

But Saverin still refused. “Give it a minute and if nobody drops dead we’ll eat some cornbread,” he amended. “But you heard what they said at the door. Don’t drink anything.” His eyes narrowed. “Something ain’t right.”

“Can you stop saying that? And look at those ham biscuits. Is that a honey mustard glaze?”

Saverin suddenly took her hand and squeezed it. “Tanya, forget the food for a second. I want to ask you something.”

“What?”

“It’s about your mother. Do you think that—”

“THERE HE IS!”

Crashing, hooting, and hollering, and Absalom walked into the room…followed by a doe-eyed mixed race girl Tanya didn’t recognize . But Saverin did.

“Smokes,” he said. “Is that Sweet Lorraine?”

“Who?”

“She used to sell candy at the Harvest. She’s with him? ”

Tanya squinted. “Is that a ring on her finger?”

“Just like a woman to notice.” Saverin rubbed his jaw. “Sweet Lorraine’s engaged? I wonder…”

“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’d been 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.”