teeth. He’d added a few pithy adjectives to the sentence, which had Winnie’s eyebrows arching toward her hairline.
He was gone in a flash. She connected the photos he’d mentioned to Keely’s sudden departure and then to the private detective that Boone was going after. Clark walked in while she was mulling it over in her mind.
She turned to him. “Do we know any bail bondsmen?” she asked in an almost conversational tone.
* * *
KEELY HAD BEEN failing, but she rallied when they added the relayed antivenin to her drip catheter. She wasn’t conscious, but she was groaning. Coltrain kept her under while they worked to stabilize her vital signs.
It was very late when he came out into the waiting room, smiling.
“She’ll make it,” he told them wearily. “But she’ll be here for a few days.”
“Thank God,” they said almost in unison.
“We should send the boys out hunting rattlers,” Clark suggested.
“Boone’s already out after one of them, I’m afraid,” Winnie said. She smiled at Coltrain. “Thanks.”
“I like her, too,” he replied. He smiled. “You’d both better get some rest. I’ll have one of the nurses phone you if there’s any change.”
“Thanks,” Winnie said again.
“It’s why I’m a doctor,” Coltrain said, grinning as he left them.
Winnie tried to phone Boone, but he didn’t answer. She was about to try again when Sheriff Hayes Carson came into the room, his brown-streaked blond hair shining in the ceiling light. His dark eyes were turbulent.
“Have you been trying to reach your brother?” he asked Winnie. “Sorry, but they don’t allow cell phones in detention.”
Winnie groaned. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes,” Hayes replied. “Don’t worry about calling anybody. I went and bailed him out myself while I was off duty.” He put a hand to his ear. “I swear to God, the guards were writing down the words as he ripped them out. I’ve never heard such language in my life. At least the detective isn’t pressing assault charges, however…”
“He ran for his life. His employers weren’t so fortunate.” He actually smiled. “Detective Rick Marquez and I have been doing a little sleuthing of our own, after office hours, and with a little help from some friends. It turns out,” he said in a low tone, wary of eavesdroppers, “that Boone’s girlfriend, Misty, and her father are up to their necks in the regional drug traffic network. They ran for it when Marquez sent a DEA agent to their detective agency with a search warrant to have a look around. Last I heard,” he added with a chuckle, “there was a statewide BOLO for them. I don’t think we’ll be seeing them again anytime soon.”
Winnie was almost breathless. “Poor Boone. He and Misty were dating….”
“I asked him to do it,” Hayes said quietly. “He was mad as hell, too. He said it was interfering with something very personal. I hated to strong-arm him into it, but he was the only person who had any sort of access to her.”
Winnie’s eyes lit up. “He didn’t really care about her, then?”
“No. He couldn’t stand her. He did it to help me cut off one of Jacobsville’s top drug suppliers.”
And Boone didn’t want to because of something personal. Could it be Keely? She thought about the photos Misty’s father’s detective had dug up for him…
“They faked the photos,” she burst out.
Hayes frowned. “What photos?”
“Never mind.”
“How’s Keely?” Hayes asked gently. “I heard about the snakebite from Boone.”
“She’s going to be fine. I still can’t get him on the phone,” she added worriedly.
“By now, he’s made it to the nurse’s station,” he said. “He didn’t stop cursing until we got to town. He’s in the hospital somewhere. He’ll turn up directly.”
Even as they spoke, Boone walked in the door. He was disheveled, red-eyed and bruised.
“I know,” Winnie said when he held up a bruised hand. “The other guy looks worse. Are you okay?”
He shrugged. “A little ragged, that’s all. I called Coltrain. He says she’ll be fine. The minute she can be moved, she’s coming home with us,” he added.
Winnie hesitated. “She’s not going to want to do that.”
“She’s doing it, anyway. Has anybody called her mother?” he asked.
Clark came in from the soda machine with two Cokes. “Do you want something to drink?” he asked the two men. He frowned at Boone. “What in hell happened to you?”
“A slight altercation,” Boone said nonchalantly. “I’d like a black coffee, if you’re taking orders.”
Clark grinned. “Anything for my big brother,” he murmured, and left again.