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His call to Grant Winston had ruffled the hted to be; these days let him stay open for the rest of the year But Sloan was insistent, and Grant proet his staff functioning s the street and he listened to their conversations

So Lily then and there, despite all the festivities planned for the day; the news services had carried information about the murders that had occurred in the desert But soue that the murders had taken place out in the desert and in a -related, obviously!" one person said

"We’re not that far fro!" another woested

Then they would stop to chat with him

People asked him about the outlaw Trey Hardy, and he played his part whenever they did, telling them he wasn’t a bad sort at all There were those who’d profited by war and those who’d been iht for people toIt will always happen," awo around with the replica Western gunslinger pistols they’d bought at Desert Diaun he saw that day

As he’d pro the kind of apron an old-fashioned shopkeeper would wear

"Sloan, what the hell? It’s the busiest day of the year!" Grant was obviously flustered and annoyed

"I would have come to you," Sloan said

"I don’t want to talk in the store!" Grant protested

"Because I want to ask you about a dead ot hio"

That was a coument Want to tell me about it?"

Grant Winston frowned and seeuy never came to my shop The wife and kid did--Zoe loves a cappuccino, and the kid cah the h never darkened o he comes in and asks about h a numbskull could’ve found theI told him I owned collectible books that no, I didn’t sell He wanted to see them I said no Then I come in one day and he’s just let hih et the hell out--that everything I have has been republished over the years He told me he’d pay me some ridiculous sum of money for my collection and I said, ‘No!’ I collect books because I love them He told me that if I had any sense, I’d accept his offer or he’d see that I wound up being closed down I said he could take his money and stuff it where the sun don’t shine and that I’d take my chances That was the last tio crawl into a mine and kill someone because he was an idiot, you’re crazy!"

"What books did he buy?" Sloan asked

"The same books that stupid tourist did--and that you took the other day You had a worse argument with the bastard than I did, Sloan You told your deputy to keep his kid in jail overnight He exploded over that!"

"How did you know?" Sloan asked "Thought you hadn’t seen him"

"I haven’t seen him," Grant said, exasperated "This is Lily--you sneeze and everyone knows it!"

"All right, Grant, thanks" Sloan paused "But I’ to need to see your collectible books soht if you want I have the original of the book Fogerty wrote after it all happened and he’d retired, and I have some of the newspapers froet out of theo through the as you don’t stop !"

As Sloan let hi

It was bizarre that a local had been killed--viciously murdered, his throat slashed--and that no one in town seemed to mourn him

But then, neither did his wife

"What’s the smile for, Mike?" he asked

"I just had some people check out of the B and B," Mike told hi?"

"The as all freaked out She said she saw the ghost of Trey Hardy sitting in the chair by the bed when she woke up She et thehway"

"But don’t you want people staying in Trey Hardy’s cell?"

"Sure, but the ets, theto stay there The wife is soer Now I’ll have reservations for every night of the year!" Mike said happily

It hile he was talking to Mike that Sloan saw Jane walking on the raised sidewalk from the theater to the Old Jail Her costume today was crimson, and the color of her hair and eyes seemed to be enhanced by the color She looked e was pleased She waved and made her way over