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Sky was headed into town on two vital errands The first was to find Lute and lean on hiht help Beau Not much chance of that, Sky feared If Lute was criminally involved in Slade Haskell’s murder—either as the killer or as an accessory to the crime—he wasn’t likely to fess up And even if he was innocent, the young fool hated Beau too much to offer any kind of help

Sky figured the best he could hope for was getting Lute to ad Jasper’s rifle

When he stopped by Haskell Trucking half an hour before closing, he was infor a load of hay to a Mexican ranch The older h to tell Sky that the trip usually took about three days and that he elcome to come back after that

Sky thanked him and left The Blue Coyote would be open by now, so he could tackle his second mission But he’d be sh for hi noticed Meanwhile there was time to kill He treated hier Shack, picked up a few needed odds and ends at the hardware store, and paid a visit to a wheelchair-bound man who fashioned hand-tooled custom saddles in his home workshop

By the time he left, it was dark outside He drove to the Blue Coyote, thinking he wou

ld just snap a picture or two and leave The parking lot was almost full, but he found an eantly small and as sleek as a bullet, with a leather interior The car wasn’t new, but it was a classic, in mint condition He’d never seen the car before, but the pricey vehicle looked s Sky couldn’t help being curious about the owner

Inside, the bar was noisy and crowded The tables were full, but Sky lass with a lipstick print on the rim sat on the opposite side of the table, but its owner appeared to have left, so it seeht to stake his claim

His eyes scanned the custoht be driving a racy black convertible But the skinhead bartender orking, and that hy he’d come

Thephotographed Within the next few ood facial shots with his phone and send theet up and leave when he found his feet blocked by a pair of elegantly narrow, hand-tooled Western boots that looked as if they’d never known a speck of Texas dust

“You’re sitting in my booth, cowboy” The husky female voice sounded more upper-class East Coast than down-home Texas

Sky took his tith of her legs and the way the soft designer denih to reveal glimpses of the lacy bra underneath, was tucked in at the waist and secured by a silver-studded concha belt that she’d probably bought at some snootified place The lady was about as far froet, whichhere

“Sorry, I didn’t see your brand on the booth,” he said

“It’s right there” She pointed to the glass Her copper-hued hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders Her fine features were offset by a ripe, sensual“Can’t a lady even go to the loo without giving up her seat?” she demanded

Go to the loo? No, she definitely wasn’t from around here

“There are two seats” Sky gave her a hint of a sive me, I’ll buy you a refill on that beer”