Strum Again? Book Three of the Songkiller Saga by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Page B

Don't let them waste the rest of
their lives. I'm sure Gussie Turner mentioned that she came into
some money before she met you—"
    "Yes, ma'am, she surely did."
    "I guess you realize that if the tax people
should decide she owed them a bigger cut than what they took out at
the casino—and I guess you also realize that it could be arranged
that they do decide such a thing—she could lose the rest of it and
her house and all, whereas if they don't come to such a mean,
unfair decision, well, she could use it as a stake for all of you
to get started again in new lives. Am I makin' any sense to you,
honey?"
    “ You going to give me the twenty-two
fifty or not?"
    She dug into the bosom of the tank top and
pulled forth a warm twenty and a warm five. "Think it over, tiger,"
she said, and sauntered off, hips switching.
    He walked back into the bar. The bartender's
unshapely rear was to him, and he saw her hard face reflected in
the mirror as he put down his money. Another old, hard,
disillusioned face was right beside it, looking straight back at
him.
    Back in the van Lazarus was gently
thrumming, a vaguely familiar melody.
    Julianne was awake and asked, "Well, did you
and Torchy or whoever she is this week have a nice talk?"
    "Yeah, she said if we'd go home, all is
forgiven, and we can take up new careers." To avoid going into it
any further, he asked, "What is that tune? I used to know it pretty
well."
    "You know, it's the Stan Rogers song about
the ranch wife who's afraid she's getting old, and every time she
looks in her mirror, she sees all these lines and can't quite
decide if the mirror is lying to her or not."
    "Would you drive for a while? I'll pick
somethin' on Lazarus and keep you company."
    That was the most companionable Willie had
been since they'd crossed the border, so Julianne slid over and
Willie took up Lazarus, running quietly through all the American
banjo and fiddle tunes and songs he could think of as they crossed
the Oklahoma border and drove toward Tulsa. Lazarus finally
insisted on playing, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and
Out."
     
    * * *
     
    As the van drove away, the man who had
called himself Bob Beezle followed by the rest of the occupants of
the bar, danced out the door and into the parking lot, threw his
tractor cap in the air, grabbed the Debauchery Devil, and whirled
her around, exulting, "I've still got it, DD! Still the Great
Deceiver! Did you see his face? No, of course you didn't, but it
was priceless, wasn't it, gang?"
    The mixed group of devils and minions
absolutely agreed, all but the Stupidity and Ignorance Devil, who
said, "Yeah, the music was real purty, but he wasn't talkin' very
clear."
    "He was singing in Spanish, Stu," another
devil informed him.
    "Oh."
    The Chairdevil hugged the cowgirlified
Debauchery Devil to him and said, "I think this is the trick! This
is how to handle 'em! We've been giving them too much big-time
attention, making them feel too important. I believe this sort of
thing—indifference, I mean, negative reinforcement, will be even
better. You'll have MacKai in the bottle quicker than Aladdin's
genie, DD. If there's anything this show-offy type of person can't
stand, it's having nobody pay any attention to him."
    "You're going to call off the murderer
then?" she asked cautiously.
    "I wouldn't go that far," he said.
     
     

CHAPTER 8
     
    Ellie wasn't quite as worried as the others
about having a home to go to. Her dad had tracked her all over the
British Isles, Scandinavia, and parts of France and Germany, and if
she forgot to send postcards, he sent cards from Tulsa. Whenever
possible, she phoned home—collect—and whenever possible left her
parents a number they could call. So she was looking out the
window, drinking in the familiar sights she remembered from her
girlhood. ("There, look there, y'all! That park over there is where
Faron and I got married.")
    She'd phoned ahead from the last gas station
and took the wheel for the last leg of the trip.