Sally grinned at Hawk. But she was hardly off the hook. Maude Stark was bearing down on them. Sally hadn’t seen her since before they’d found Charlie. Maude probably wasn’t too happy that Sally and Hawk had let her teenage niece maneuver them into taking her along on that nearly lethal escapade.
She looked around, wondering if there was any way she could escape. No hope. So she decided to go on the offense.
Maude was using her steeliest gaze, one of her best weapons, generally guaranteed to freeze adversaries in their tracks. But Sally countered by walking up to her with a huge smile and giving her a strong hug. Hawk, taking the cue, followed with a hug of his own. “Great to have something to celebrate for a change, huh, Maude?” Sally said.
“As luck would have it,” Maude said, glaring right through and beyond the hug.
“I mean, Burt and John Boy’s wedding. The happiness of the loving couple. That kind of stuff.”
“And the fact that Bea Preston’s sitting in jail, instead of picketing the reception,” Hawk added. “Take a look outside.”
They all looked. One forlorn picket stood on the sidewalk, holding a sign that said, “Queer Marriage Is No Marriage. Get Out of Laramie.”
“Pathetic,” Maude said. “Thank God.”
Sally gave up. “Hey, look. I’m really sorry about the other night. I know we should have made Aggie go home, but we felt like we had to stick with Billy, and I was pretty sure Aggie wouldn’t stay put. We really couldn’t figure out what else to do.”
Maude’s eyes narrowed fractionally. And then she sighed. “I don’t know what the hell else you could have done. One thing about us Starks. We’re so stubborn that when we make up our minds about something, you couldn’t shake us loose with a hydrogen bomb.”
“Aggie,” said Hawk, “appears to be a chip off the old block.”
Maude laughed. “So they tell me. Although as a teenager, I was too much of a goody-goody to get into the kind of trouble that girl managed. If nothing else, this whole thing taught her a lesson she badly needed to learn. I doubt she’ll be sneaking out to wild parties any time soon.”
“Are her parents freaking out?” Sally asked.
“They’re teachers, remember? They’ve seen it all. They were just surprised that Aggie had gotten around as much as she has. They’re dealing with it,” Maude said. “She’s grounded until she’s sixty-five.”
“Are they sure that’s long enough?” Hawk asked.
Just then, the sounds of guitar, bass, and fiddle tuning up wafted over the crowd. Burt and John Boy had taken tables out to clear a small dance floor in a corner, and they’d hired a trio to provide music. John Boy had been pushing for a disco DJ, but Burt had insisted that he was a down-home Wyoming boy, and he was going to dance to down-home music at his own wedding reception.
“I wonder what song they’ve picked for the first dance?” Sally murmured to Hawk.
She’d never have guessed, though the choice was perfect. Burt and John Boy walked out onto the dance floor, smiled into each other’s eyes, took each other by the hand, and showed that they knew pretty much all there was to know about country swing dancing as the band struck up a lively rendition of the Carter Family’s “Hello Stranger.”
For the first time in her life, Sally really understood that song, about two people who could be strangers and rounders and friends and lovers, all at the same time.
Hawk smiled at Sally. She smiled back. They moved onto the dance floor. He pulled her close. She nuzzled his neck.
“Now let’s see,” said Hawk softly in her ear, as more couples began to dance. “About this calm, quiet, normal life we’re going to lead.”
“Maybe later,” said Sally. “ For now, I’ve got some other ideas.”
“Nothing involving guns. No violence of any kind. No lawyers,” said Hawk.
“Oh yeah. I agree. But how about this?” She pulled his head down, put her mouth close to his ear, and began to whisper. Then she drew her head back to watch his reaction.
She’d never seen him blush like that.
Acknowledgments
As the Grateful Dead used to say, it’s been a long strange trip. But thanks to wonderful friends and family, when the going got weird, the world kept going. Sam and Annie Swift were wise and loving and provided always useful, occasionally alarming information of various kinds. Trey Cole offered timely expert advice on firearms, and Miguel Gandert explained the revolution in photography. Dr. Jim Scharff and Dr. Mike Crossey answered my medical questions. Kudos to the folks who keep it all going: Yolanda Martinez, Helen Ferguson, Barbara Wafer, Dana Ellison, Cindy Tyson, and especially the saucy and convivial Scott Meredith at UNM; John Gray, Steve Aron, and Carolyn Brucken at the Autry.
As always, I rely entirely on Elaine Koster, my patient and supportive agent; Carolyn Marino, my patient and illuminating editor, and Jennifer Civiletto, Tim Brazier, Pat Stanley, and John Zeck at HarperCollins. Thanks, too, to the amazing people who have brought my books to the public: Kay Marcotte, Bonnie and Joe at Black Orchid, Barbara Peters, Chris Acevedo, Cindy Nye, Lauri Ver Shure, the great crew at Bookworks, and the very understanding Kat McGilvray.
Peter Swift and Hal Corbett have been my best readers and gentlest, most meticulous critics. The Scharff, Levkoff, Swift, Broh, and Bort families weathered the storms with grace, cheer, and love, and little Benny Scharff provided inspiration and faithful companionship.
There’s nothing like girlfriends. Melissa Bokovoy, Jane Slaughter, Beth Bailey, Katie Curtiss, Harriet Moss, Laura Timothy, Wendy Conway Schmidt, Mim Aretsky, Nancy Jackson, Kathy Jensen, Marni Sandweiss, and María Montóya have been there for me, for years, through all of it. I do mean all.
Hal Corbett and Katie Curtiss, and Kathy Jensen and Audie Blevins have made me very joyously and comfortably at home in Wyoming for years. Steve Aron, Amy Green, and Daniel and Jack Aron have welcomed me in Santa Monica on my new southwest commute.
Chris Wilson has made me see things in new ways, to my amazement and delight. Okay, Chris. What’s next?
About the Author
“In Hello, Stranger, Virginia Swift deftly orchestrates a complex cast of vivid characters with shadowy motives. As always, Mustang Sally Alder is firing on all cylinders in this politically charged tale of corruption, kidnapping, and murder.” Bill Fitzhugh, author of Highway 61 Resurfaced
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
Praise for
VIRGINIA SWIFT’s
MUSTANG SALLY Mysteries
“A sparkling new series.”
New York Times Book Review
“Virginia Swift threatens to do for Wyoming historians
what Janet Evanovich has done for
New Jersey bounty hunters.”
Stephen White, author of Warning Signs
“Perceptive and entertaining. . . . Swift has a lot to say,
some of it quite funny. . . . But [her] characters come
across not as caricatures but as real people, filled with
nuances and internal contradictions.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Frank, funny, and erudite, [Sally’s] a woman to watch.”
Denver Rocky Mountain News
“Readers should enjoy the ride.”
Publishers Weekly
Books by Virginia Swift
HELLO, STRANGER
BYE, BYE, LOVE
BAD COMPANY
BROWN-EYED GIRL
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2006 by Virginia Scharff
ISBN: 978-0-06-054334-1
ISBN-10: 0-06-054334-5
EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062133564
All rights reserved under International and Pan-Amer
ican Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
First Harper paperback printing: April 2007
First HarperCollins hardcover printing: March 2006
Visit Harper paperbacks on the World Wide Web at www.harpercollins.com.
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