Texas Tall Read Free Page B

she could count on to follow her orders while she kept her own hands clean. But such people tended not to last. Former sheriff Hoyt Axelrod, Slade Haskell, and Sky Fletcher’s young cousin, Lute, were all dead, tripped up by their own failings. The last and smartest candidate for the job, Lute’s sister, Marie, had betrayed her, killed the hit man Stella had hired to take her out, and vanished without a trace. Good riddance, Stella thought. Still, it made her nervous, knowing the woman was out there somewhere, itching for revenge.
    Finding the right person would take time. And right now, Nicky, her only living kin, was all she had.
    A light rap on the bar’s front door broke into her musings. For a split second she hoped it might be Nicky. But she would’ve heard his bike as he rode up, and he would’ve come in the back. This was somebody else.
    â€œWe’re closed,” she shouted, not bothering to get up.
    â€œStella, it’s Abner.” The familiar, nasal voice came through the thin wooden door. “I saw your car outside. Let me in, I need to talk to you.”
    Stella got up to unlock the door. The sheriff was a friend. They’d done each other a few favors, but she didn’t own him like she’d owned Hoyt Axelrod. Abner valued his job too much to break the law by taking bribes. And, although Stella hadn’t lost her powers of seduction, Abner was faithful to his wife, a dumpy woman who seemed to be perpetually pregnant.
    Still, if he’d arrested her brother tonight, chances were she could talk him into letting Nicky off.
    Wincing with each step, she made her way to the door and opened it. Abner plodded into the bar, moving as if his feet were weighted with cement. At the table nearest the door, he stopped and pulled out a chair. “Sit down,” he said. “Trust me, you don’t want to hear this standing up.”
    Stella closed the door and took a seat. Talons of cold dread clutched her heart. Even before she heard the news, Abner’s grave expression intimated what it would be. But when the words came, she still wasn’t prepared to hear them.
    â€œYour brother’s dead, Stella,” he said. “We got the call about eleven-thirty and found his body, along with his bike, about ten miles up the north road.”
    She went cold. Nicky was the one person on this miserable earth she truly cared about. She tried to tell herself that Abner’s news was a mistake. But she knew better. Now the only thing she could do was extricate herself from the mess. Even as grief and shock slammed her, Stella’s survival instincts kicked in. As far as the law was concerned, she knew nothing about her brother’s activities.
    She forced herself to respond. “The north road? But what was Nicky doing out there, so late at night?”
    â€œWe found a packet of cocaine on the bike,” Abner said. “I’m guessing he was on his way to make a drug deal.”
    â€œOh, Lord, no!” Stella shook her head in mock disbelief. “I warned him to stay away from dealing drugs. If only he’d listened to me, he could still be alive.” She dabbed at her eyes. “Do you know how it happened?”
    She waited for Abner to collect his thoughts. Maybe the drug deal had gone bad and the customer had pulled a gun. Or maybe Nicky’s bike had been hit by some fool drunken cowboy. However Nicky had died, she’d have to face the truth and deal with it. “Tell me,” she said.
    â€œHe was shot,” Abner said. “A thirty-eight bullet through the heart at close range. At least you can go forward knowing he didn’t suffer.”
    Stella’s jaw tightened, holding back a cry of rage. Whoever had pulled that trigger was going to pay. “Who did it?” she demanded. “Who murdered my brother?”
    â€œIt was Will Tyler.”
    â€œWill Tyler.” Stella uttered the name like a curse. Of all the families