Crystal smiled up at her. “Pour a drink and join us.”

She did so, then slumped in the upholstered chair adjacent to the corner of the sofa in which Crystal sat. She toed off her shoes and propped her stocking feet in Crystal’s lap.

“You were talking about me? What about me? My pink stripe?” She shook her platinum, pixie-cut hair, showing off the neon strip in her bangs.

“Fetching,” Ledge said. “I’ve thought about having Crystal paint one in my hair.”

“Not your color. It would clash with that bloody cut on your face.”

Ledge merely gave her wry smile. Under her breath, Crystal warned her partner that it would be best not to pursue that topic.

Ledge had come to like Marty Camp. She was one of the few people he was comfortable teasing with, but one had to tease back in order to survive her acerbic jibes.

She had moved to Penton after suffering through a contentious divorce. The root of the marital problem had been Marty’s sexual dubiety. With her impeccable credentials, she had been readily hired by the county’s largest and most reputable hospital, but was still living out of a suitcase in a motel when she’d gone into Crystal’s salon for a haircut.

Meeting Crystal had been the end of her sexual incertitude. In a matter of weeks, she’d moved in with Crystal. Marty had made Crystal more content than she’d been in her life, and for that Ledge liked Marty a lot.

She had a repertoire of salty language, a droll sense of humor, and, while she was a more caring individual than she let on, she also took no shit from anybody. She understood the nature of Crystal’s friendship with Ledge and was tolerant of it. But that acceptance could come to a screeching halt with the request he was about to make.

“Marty, I’m going to put you in a very awkward position.”

“Crystal puts me in awkward positions all the time,” she said, giving him a naughty wink. “But I draw the line at threesomes. Even if I were game, you don’t have the right equipment.”

“My equipment is right enough, thank you.”

They all smiled, but Crystal laid her hand on Marty’s arm to let her know that the subject wasn’t conducive to cracking jokes.

“The hospital keeps records. For how long?” Ledge asked.

“Patient records? I’m not sure. Since I’ve been on staff, the ones I’ve had to access were fairly recent.”

“How far back was the oldest?”

“Hmm, two, three years.”

“Could you do some sleuthing in the records department?”

Crystal said, “Without getting into trouble or crossing your personal ethical line.”

“How far back?” Marty asked.

Ledge gave her the month and date. “Easter Sunday of two thousand.”

She raised her eyebrows. In contrast to her hair, they were stark black.

“He would have come in shortly before dawn.” He went on to tell her Rusty’s full name. Crystal gave her a general description of the injuries he had suffered, then Ledge picked back up. “There must be a chart detailing his injuries. Can you get it?”

Marty pursed her lips. “You’re asking me to violate patient privilege?”

“Yeah.”

Marty looked at Crystal. “Is this important to you?” Then she waved her hand. “Strike that. Anything concerning Ledge is important to you.” Going back to him, she said, “I’ll think on it and get back to you.”

“That’s fair.”

“Fair or not, that’s how it’ll be. Right now, I’m beat. I’m taking my whiskey into the shower with me, then I’m going to hit the sack.” She stood and, carrying her shoes and drink with her, headed toward the bedroom hallway. “’Night.”

Crystal called after her that she would be right in.

Ledge stood. “I can take a hint.”

“Stay and finish your drink.”

“Thanks, but no. Earlier tonight, I was on my way to a full-blown binge.”

“You won’t go back to how you were when you first got home.”

“That’s right. I won’t, because I’m taking no chances.” He went to the front door.

She joined him there and said, “The next time you run into Rusty, flip him the bird for me.”

“Don’t make light of this, Crystal. And don’t underestimate him.”

“I don’t.”

“He hasn’t changed his spots since that night he climbed through your window, and I can’t always be around to protect you.”

“You protect me every day.” She looked toward the hallway that led to the bedroom. “As long as everyone thinks that you and I keep the sheets smoking, Marty and I are free to—”

“Why do you care what everyone thinks? Why don’t you two just go public?”

“I’ll have to work up to it. It took me years to go public about Morg.”

“Well, whatever you do, I’ve got your back.” He pecked her on the cheek and reached for the doorknob.

She put out a detaining hand. “Ledge, I’m sorry you had to hear about that night from Rusty. I’m sure he gloated. I know how much you would have hated that.”

“I did. He’s a hyena. But I accept your apology. I can’t stay mad at you for long. In all the time I’ve known you, I’ve only been mad at you once.”

“When was that?”

“When I groped your boob, and you slapped me. Hard.”

She laughed. “I had told you that no man was ever going to touch me that way again.”

“I’d’ve been less than a man not to test you.”

“You were sixteen.”

“Still.”

“Did I convince you?”

“I haven’t tried since.”

They smiled at each other, then she said, “You always alert me when you’re having a thing, so that I’ll be prepared when someone tells me, as a friend, of course, that you’re cheating on me.”

“A thing?”

She gave him a you-know-what-I-mean look, and he did know.

“Which makes me wonder why you haven’t said a word to me about Arden Maxwell.”

“Nothing to say. There’s no thing. She consulted me about doing some handiwork. I’m working up an estimate.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

Crystal regarded him with the intuitive shrewdness unique to a woman, then she laughed. “If you say so.”

“I just did say so.”

“What about her baby’s father?”

He raised his shoulders. “How would I know?”

“But she seems unattached?”

“As far as I can tell.”

“And she’s cute.”

“I didn’t say she was cute.”

“You didn’t say she wasn’t. So…?”

“So nothing. I can’t go there.”

“How come?”

“It’s difficult.”

“How so?”

“Just difficult, all right?”

“Ooooh, touchy. That itch must be baaaad.”

He shifted his stance. “Okay. She’s attractive, and I’m…”

“You’re…?”

“Curious. You know. I’m in that ‘what if?’ stage.”

“Yes, I know that stage, but you’re way beyond it.”

“This coming from someone who knows nothing about how it works between boys and girls.”

“I know about attraction. To hell with ‘it’s difficult.’”

“Spare me.”

“Have you kissed her?”

“None of your damn business.”

“Definitely yes. Have you seen her naked?”

“No.”

“But you’re dying to.”

“Good night, Crystal.”

“Another definite yes.”

“Let me know if and when Marty comes through.”

This time, she didn’t stop him from leaving, but she was laughing lightly as she saw him on his way.

Rusty was in a bitch of a mood when he let himself into his house. Discovering that the alarm wasn’t set pissed him off even further. “Stupid cow,” he muttered, shooting a glance upstairs, where Judy was no doubt sleeping.

Alarm set, he made a beeline for his study. He locked himself inside, poured himself a drink, and flopped back into his easy chair. He didn’t boot up his computer. Not even live-streaming sex shows held appeal in his present mood.

Burnet had been with Crystal tonight.

For a long time.

On his way home from a dinner with some pals, Rusty had spotted Burnet’s truck at the curb in front of her house. He’d driven a circuit through town. When he went past again, the truck was still there. And it stayed, even after Marty had come home.

To add insult to injury, Rusty had seen them together as Crystal was waving him off at her front door. The bitch had been laughing, as though she knew Rusty was watching her enjoying herself with Ledge Burnet. He’d wanted to kill her. But not before fucking her ten or twelve times.

“Cunt,” he muttered and shot his drink.

His cell phone rang.

He didn’t recognize the number. But he never knew when a call would be about something he needed or wanted to know. Like maybe Burnet had driven his pickup into a tree on his way home, and it had burst into flames, roasting him alive.

He answered. “Dyle.”

A man identified himself as a deputy sheriff. “I worked for your daddy, and you after him. You may not remember me, though. I was low on the totem pole.”

Still are, Rusty thought. His name had rung no bells. He snarled, “It’s after hours, Deputy.”

“I’m aware, sir.”

“So this had better be damned important.”

“It came down through the pipeline that if Dwayne Hawkins was caught engaging in dogfighting again you wanted to hear about it ASAP.”

“That’s right.”