“Hard to have a heart attack if your feet are up at the beach or you’re working behind a desk,” she shot back.
“You can challenge your heart by shoveling snow and you can challenge it by stressin’ it out havin’ a job you fuckin’ hate. At least he had a short time doin’ somethin’ he loved, sharin’ it with his family. Instead of a long time doin’ somethin’ he hated because his sister is a greedy cow who wanted to go to law school but didn’t want it enough to pay for it herself but ride through on the lost legacy of her family,” Mike returned.
“Oh my God, were you this much of a dick when I was dating you?” she asked, her voice pitching high.
Jesus, was she serious?
“For fuck’s sake, Debbie, I dated you when I was seventeen. That’s more than half my life ago. I wasn’t a dick but considering you were a manipulative bitch even back then I should have been,” Mike fired back.
“Right, this is gettin’ us nowhere,” Sully broke in, stepping between Debbie and Mike. “Someone wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
“I see a badge on four belts. I’d like it explained why he’s here,” Debbie demanded, eyeing up Cal.
“Mostly ‘cause there’s nothin’ on TV,” Cal replied, Debbie’s eyes narrowed and Merry chuckled.
“Considering you’re not an officer of the law, I’d like you to leave the premises immediately,” Debbie commanded.
“I’ll take my orders from the pretty one who looks like she actually belongs here,” Cal returned, jerking his chin up to the porch and Mike’s eyes went there to see Dusty in cowboy boots and a jacket smiling at Joe Callahan.
Jesus, fuck.
“I don’t know who you are but you’re welcome to stay as long as you like,” Dusty invited.
Cal grinned at her.
Jesus, fuck.
“That’s Vi’s husband, Dusty. Joe Callahan,” Mike explained, Dusty blinked and her grin faded.
“Yup, I’d say she knows all about Vi,” Merry muttered under his breath.
“You’re still welcome here,” Dusty announced, just like Dusty, powering through it and straightening her shoulders. “And your wife’s welcome here. In fact, the entirety of The ‘Burg is welcome here,” she added magnanimously if dramatically then she looked down at Bernie McGrath and his boys. “Except, not to be a bitch or anything, you. This land is not for sale. Not any of it.”
“I beg to differ since a quarter of it belongs to me and my quarter is for sale,” Debbie returned.
“Okay,” Colt stepped in. “Readin’ this situation, Darrin left family land to family. You got a disagreement about what to do with that land. You can’t sort it amongst family, you sort it in front of a judge.”
Colt looked to McGrath and his men and Mike saw Colt had the same concerns as he did. All cops knew McGrath. He’d got rich fast with no one knowing where the initial money came from since McGrath sure as fuck didn’t have it. But he was so slick he was slippery and even though rumors of his primary investors who could still be involved in his business and his tactics were troubling, they’d never had a complaint or anything to go on.
“Until that happens,” Colt continued, “there’s nothin’ you can do. So we’ll be askin’ you to wait until that time comes, take your equipment and leave. We’ll also ask you not to return and disturb this family until this has been sorted by the Hollidays or the courts.”
“It takes four plainclothesmen to ask two developers and two surveyors to leave?” Debbie asked Colt cuttingly and Colt looked at her.
“Miz Holliday, you might not have been payin’ attention a minute ago but this situation is hostile. These men can do nothin’ here today but waste their time. They can’t survey what they don’t know they can purchase. And the occupant of this land does not want them here. I see you got a family fight goin’ but the bell has been rung. You need to be smart and take your corner.”
Debbie glared up at Colt.
McGrath shifted and said quietly, “It would appear Lieutenant Colton is correct. Why don’t you contact us, Ms. Holliday, when plans for this land are more firm?”
Debbie transferred her glare to McGrath and Mike knew she had no idea who she crawled into bed with, the hassle she’d opened up to her family. But McGrath missed her glare as he was giving chin jerks to the others to clear out.
They moved. No one else did.
As car doors were slamming, Dusty spoke.
“You knew that was a total waste of time and you brought them here hoping to fuck with me and, probably, Rhonda. You’ve stooped low, Deb, but not this low. Even I’m surprised your belly is so close to the ground. I feel like asking you to stick your tongue out just to see if it’s forked.”
That was a throw down if he ever heard one so Mike instantly moved to the foot of steps at the porch to position himself between the two sisters and he did this stating, “We’re not doin’ this.”
“Fuck you, Mike. She had her words, I’ll have mine,” Debbie snapped.