The Devil You Know by Jo Goodman

around unintelligible words. She kissed Annalea on her perfectly smooth brow and whispered a prayer for pleasant dreams. Annalea did not stir when Willa turned down the lamp, or when she backed out of the room and every board creaked under her boots.
    Happy was not in the front room, but his flask was. He had left it behind, lying on its side next to the book he had been reading, or pretending to read, when she took Annalea to bed. Willa picked up the flask, shook it, and realized it was full. Returning it to its place, she made straightaway for the bunkhouse, wondering if he was sharing a bottle instead.
    They were all there sitting around the table when shearrived. Someone had thought to move it closer to the stove. Happy and Cutter were perched on stools, Zach reclined in a chair, and Israel sat at the foot of his bunk, his long legs stretched under the table, one elbow resting on top, the other in the sling resting protectively against his ribs.
    Relieved to see that there was no bottle on the table and none at Happy’s feet, she removed her coat and dropped it on the closest bed. “You haven’t started, have you?”
    â€œWaiting,” said Zach. He dragged the empty chair beside him away from the table. “Saved it for you.”
    She thanked him, thanked them all, and sat. She looked directly at Cutter. “I didn’t think I’d have to send Zach after you. What happened? What did you hear?” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Israel McKenna lean forward. The wait for him must have seemed interminable. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the predominant Adam’s apple in Cutter’s neck bob once as he swallowed. “Well?”
    â€œI stopped at my ma’s first ’cause it’d strike her odd if she heard I was in town and didn’t take the time to see her. She’s sewing dresses for Mrs. Hardesty and her daughter and doing the smocking on a christening gown for Tabby Meredith’s new baby, and naturally I had to hear about that.”
    â€œNaturally,” Willa said dryly.
    â€œI gave Ma some money I’ve been saving to help her along, and then I asked, real casual like, if she heard about any new arrivals in town. I told her you were lookin’ to hire a man since Dave Huggins took ill and left.”
    â€œImpressive,” she said, and she meant it. She also was suspicious. “Did you come up with that on your own?”
    If Cutter contemplated lying, even for a moment, it wasn’t clear. Everyone saw his eyes dart in Happy’s direction.
    Unconcerned, Happy shrugged. “The boy needed guidance. I stopped him before he rode out this morning and then I went back to bed.”
    Willa stared at her father, openmouthed, and then looked around the table and saw a similarly slack-jawed expression on Zach’s face. That made her clamp her lips closed.
    Cutter went on. “But Ma said that except for Mr. and Mrs. Cuttlewhite returning from Denver, she hadn’t heard anything.She told me to check with Mrs. Abernathy because she had rooms to let and it seemed a cowman would go there to board instead of the Viceroy, the hotel being pricier and all.”
    Willa leaned into the table and stared hard into Cutter’s guileless eyes. “I swear, Cutter Hamill, you move your story along or I am going to put my foot so far up your behind that you’ll be able to chew on my toenails for breakfast.”
    The threat seemed reasonable to everyone at the table. They nodded, Cutter hardest of all.
    â€œMrs. Abernathy didn’t have any new boarders so I checked at the Viceroy just in case. There was a fellow that came by to inquire about a room not long after the train arrived, but Mr. Stafford said the hotel was full up. He said the man didn’t leave a name and suggested I try the boardinghouse or the saloon. I asked him how I would recognize the man if he was hanging around the saloon because I sure was interested in making