“Personally I don’t want him anywhere near her. But I see what you mean.”
“Keeping her in hiding’s not exactly sustainable,” Duncan agreed. “Plus the longer we put off brokering some sort of meeting, the more upset he could get. We don’t need a frustrated ex-convict roughing up the customers.”
“Unless it’s me,” Vince said, smirking. He got excited about fights like a kid gunning for a trip to the waterpark.
Casey knew they were both right—Abilene had to face the guy sometime. “I’ll talk to her, but don’t hold your breath.” She’d been putting up a brave front as her ex’s release loomed closer, but he could sense the fear behind it.
“Has to happen. Even assholes deserve to meet their children,” Vince said, “until they prove otherwise.”
Casey felt his insides sour, thinking of their own dad. It burned him something nasty to know Mercy might have that kind of disappointment in store for her—a deadbeat, or maybe even worse, if Ware was the hothead Vince and Abilene had both made him out to be.
Duncan’s striped cat came strolling through, bashing itself bodily into Casey’s shins. He nudged it away. “Back off. I’m allergic to you.”
“Talk to her,” Duncan said, pouring steaming water into a cup and bobbing a tea bag. “It would be helpful for us to be able to tell this man that she’s willing to talk, in time, if that’s true.”
“Yeah, fine.”
“And I’ll make it a point to be a regular downstairs until he shows up,” Vince said.
Duncan nodded. “That sounds wise. I can’t imagine anyone would take me seriously as a bouncer.” He turned to Casey. “Is Abilene on tonight?”
“Yeah, her last shift. I told her I could handle it by myself, but she’s desperate for the money.”
Vince rubbed his chin like he wasn’t happy about this plan, but held his tongue.
“You can try to talk her out of it, but I don’t recommend it,” Casey said. “Plus the poor girl’s basically in witness protection as of tomorrow morning. Three C’s roomy but it’d still feel like a prison if you weren’t allowed to leave.”
“Make sure Miah talks to all his ranch hands again—they’re in the bar often enough, and we don’t need one of them running into Ware and spilling the beans.”
Casey nodded.
“Right,” Vince said, standing. “I’m supposed to be at Petroch for a half day. See you fuckers later.”
Duncan inclined his head and Casey said, “Bye.” As Vince thumped down the steps, he asked Duncan, “What are you up to now?”
“I’m trying to have a late lunch with Raina before I open, so I thought I might get the delights of sweeping and mopping and toilet scrubbing out of the way now.”
“Glamorous. Guess I’ll be on my way, then.”
They headed downstairs together and Casey snagged Raina’s motorcycle helmet off the coatrack. “Tell your better half I’m stealing this. Just for the night.”
“I doubt she’ll notice. She’s got two more appointments after lunch. I daresay no joyriding will be happening today.”
Not for you, Casey thought. But he intended to give Abilene everything she had coming to her, on her final night of freedom.
Chapter 4
From down in the Churches’ den came Casey’s shout. “You about ready?”
Abilene checked the clock—twenty minutes of seven. Oops.