At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(16)

“When the shooting starts, stay down,” Culhane whispered between bites.

She shot him a look. “Would be nice if I had some idea before that.”

He cut a bite of pancake with his fork. “You’ll know when I put my hat on.” He winked. “So how’s your breakfast?”

“I’m not—”

“Eat, otherwise they’ll think something is wrong,” he said.

“Something is wrong,” she whispered back. But she picked up her fork again. “I’d ask if you had a plan, but I know you too well.”

He didn’t look at her as he took a big bite of his pancake. It could have been sawdust in his mouth.

“You two are pretty cozy,” Gene said, suddenly appearing in front of them.

Culhane hadn’t heard him move from the hallway. He looked up and grinned. “Just trying to use this time to my benefit, but I don’t think the lady is having any of it.”

Gene’s gaze shifted to Alexis. “That’s funny. I got the impression of the two of you knew each other.”

Alexis snorted. “My mistake sitting next to a cowboy.”

Gene’s gaze swung back to him and his Stetson lying on the counter next to him. “Cowboy, huh?”

“This one seems to be all hat and no cattle, though,” she said contemptuously. She took a bite of her pancake and mugged a face in his direction.

Culhane laughed. “She’s definitely got my number. But I was raised on a ranch, if that counts.”

Gene smirked. “I grew up on a farm, but it didn’t make me a farmer.”

Earl Ray came out from the men’s room and went to join Bessie in the booth again where she sat with the young waitress.

Gene frowned, his gaze following the man for a moment before he stepped away and raised his voice. “We need medical supplies. I understand someone here has the key to the store?”

No one spoke. Culhane heard a whispered, agitated “Mother.” He turned to see Earl Ray looking at the older woman sitting in the circular booth along with her daughter, Tina, and the baby and Lars, the man who’d quieted the infant.

“Vi,” Earl Ray said quietly. The older woman’s face became more pinched, her eyes narrower and colder. “Why don’t you give me the key?” Earl Ray suggested. “I can go with them to get what they need.” There was no urgency in his tone, but Culhane felt it none the less.

“Give him the key, Mother,” her daughter said, a hard edge to her voice.

Vi shook her head and glared at Gene. Clearly she hadn’t forgiven him for threatening her grandbaby, let alone pushing her down into the booth. But did she realize just what she was dealing with? Apparently not, Culhane thought.

“Give him the keys,” the older man sitting with his wife closest to the door called to her. “For the love of God, Vi, just do it.”

She bristled. “Who’s paying for these supplies?” she demanded as she looked around the café. “Easy for all of you to say,” she said, anger making her words clipped. “It isn’t your store. It isn’t your money.”

“Mother, just do as they ask,” her daughter Tina pleaded again. Vi slid back in the seat, a stony determination in every line of her body as she glared at Gene again.

Gene was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. He laughed and, raising his gun, he aimed at her head as he approached the booth.

“Vi,” Earl Ray said calmly. “We need to help these men so they can get on their way. Now isn’t the time for stubbornness.”

Vi pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “If you think I’m going to open up my store for these—”

“I have a key to the store,” said the young man who’d settled the baby.

Vi let out a cry. “Lars? You’re fired!” she yelled. “I should have known you’d turn on me. Just like you did my daughter. But the joke’s on you. You don’t have a key to the pharmacy, so there.” She gave him a smug smile.

Lars handed the baby to Tina, and the infant began to cry again. “Vi, don’t be a fool,” he said quietly. “We can break into the pharmacy for what we need. Or you can give us the key. Either way, we’re going to get what is needed.”

Vi spun on him. “You’re the fool, Lars Olson, for sleeping with that...that woman.” She pointed across the café at the woman sitting alone in the booth. “Shirley Langer is a loser just like you. I’ll never forgive you for breaking my daughter’s heart and telling people—” the woman’s voice broke “—people that this precious baby isn’t yours.”

“Now isn’t the time to talk about that,” Lars said, still keeping his voice down.

“Lars is right,” Earl Ray agreed as he got to his feet. “He and I will go over to the store and get the medical supplies we need with or without the key to the pharmacy.” He stepped between Gene and Vi.

“I’ll be going with you,” Gene said as if they had forgotten him.

“Of course,” Earl Ray said and looked to Lars. The younger man was staring down at the baby in the young redhead’s arms. He seemed to shake off whatever thoughts he’d been having and rising, started toward the door.

Vi began to cry, sobbing and beating her fist against the back of the booth seat for a moment before she reached into her purse. Finding the keys, she hurled them at Lars. “You make a mess and you’ll clean it up!”