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“I knew it,” Slade muttered, more to himself than a response to Lute’s statement Before he could add more, the waitress, Jess, stopped by the table with her order pad in hand In the blink of an eye, Slade lost that half-angry brooding look and flashed her a grin “Two Coronas for ave a wink “What tiirl?”

A shadow flickered across her face “Not till closing Then I’ve got plans”

“Too bad” The grin remained “Well, maybe next time”

“Sure” She walked off to get their drinks

Lute stared after her “Slade, is that girl a—”

“Naw Just a nice, friendly waitress Best kind”

“Does she let youyou know?”

“Hell, boy, I’ured that out by now?” He sank into a sullen silence while Jess brought their beers and set theaze locked with Lute’s But what he read in her sad doe eyes wasn’t an invitation It was

Slade took a long swig of his beer “About that work I mentioned Still interested?”

Lute’s pulse jerked “What do you think I’m here for? Tell me more”

“Not much to it You keep your job with the Tylers and phoneand going, new equipment, new people, any trouble on the ranch, whatever If I don’t pick up, you can leave a voiceas you do your job, I’ll pay you fifty dollars a week You can come by and pick up the cash from Stella when you’re in town”

Fifty dollars a week for doing al It wasn’t a fortune, but for noould make the payments on a cheap car And if he proved his

“Got a cell phone?” Slade asked

“An old prepaid Won’t do much more than the basics”

“Use it A new one would just draw attention And when I give you my phone number, memorize it It can’t be found written down or entered on your phone There can’t be any connection between us Understand?”