Page 146 of The Lonely Road

“Noted.”

“Two meatloaves, Eunice,” Hugh calls out. No one cares whether I want the lard-soaked—and granted—best thing on the menu.

“I was thinking about the house salad.”

“You keep on thinkin’ about it.”

Eunice brings two plates and places them in front of us without banging anything. It’s its own complicated form of grace.

We eat silently for a while. When half of our food has been eaten, and half our beers have been drunk, the Sheriff leans back. “You’re here.”

“Yes, I am.”

“You stayin’?”

“Yes.”

“For her?”

“For her.” I drop my fork on the plate. “And myself.”

“Good answer.” He eats some more and then finishes his beer.

I follow suit.

We both decline a second beer and ask for coffee. We’re driving. And I’m not drinking with a sheriff who is angry with me and would find it amusing as fuck to make me spend the night in a cell.

“What do you know?” I ask.

“Everything.”

I roll my eyes.

“It’s my county—and I know everything that goes on in my county.” He pushes his empty plate to the side. “I also know considerably more about the situation than most people have been kind enough to tell me officially.” He gives me a level look. “Kaz has been operating here for fourteen months. I’ve been aware of about eleven of them. We came to an understanding.”

Eunice brings coffee for us and gives me a dirty look. “It’s good coffee, be a waste to pour it on your head.”

“I appreciate you, Eunice.”

She scoffs and walks away.

“What kind of understanding do you have with Kaz?”

“The kind where he tells me what I need to know to keep my county safe, and I don’t file paperwork that would alert Jessup’s people that there’s a federal investigation running.” He picks up his coffee. “A working arrangement.”

I drink some of the coffee.

Eunice is wrong. Her coffee is crap, which is why Wild Coffee does good business. But this time of night, your choices in Wildflower Canyon are limited. This ain’t New York City.

“So, you’re keeping Jessup out of it.”

“Yeah. But we gotta investigate, so we talked to Tannenbaum and Aldridge about Trafton. They did the whole never heard of him business.”

“So, legally, you treat this as a guy who just showed up to harass Clara and broke into Taya’s office and hurt Mac?” My voice rises as I go through the list of Trafton’s sins. I should’ve broken the motherfucker’s jaw. His legs, too. Next time, I intend to.

“Yep! And when we find him, we will process him like we would any other person who commits a crime here.”

I set my elbows on the booth counter. “I will be contacting Jessup.”