Some days I went to the hospital with Leslie. But other days, I let her go on her own. I was still uneasy about her out of my sight, but I had work to do at the would-be ranch. Carter said her dad would likely spend the winter in the hospital, and even after that, an after-care facility on the campus. But we still had winter coming. If we didn’t want to freeze to death, I had stuff to do. Chores.

I’ll be goddamned, chores. Living in a city my entire life, this was hilarious to me, that I had chores.

I put up a fence, repaired the roof, and learned what needed to be done on the fly. I’d always been good with my hands but never had a chance to do much with it. Now I had all the time in the world, except for that winter thing. That was a concern.

Leslie had spent the last two days in town with her father. He’d had a bad few treatments, and she wanted to be there. Carter had set her up with a place to sleep at the hospital, but she was headed home after his breakfast.

 I planned to surprise her with the fact I had a satellite dish installed. She could now watch her shows. She loved watching her shows. I liked seeing her laugh her head off at “I Love Lucy,” so it worked out for me too.

We’d hooked her up with a Jeep. I didn’t want her in a little car, so we got her a Wrangler that I could use to tow if I needed. She insisted on using her own cash to do it, so the thing had a bunch of ridiculous upgrades that no Jeep needed.

I was on the roof when I saw the Jeep wind into the property. I always felt a weight lift off my chest when she drove up. It was tough not to hover over her, but that was also a sure way to get people to run away, smother them. That protective streak of mine was no less in effect, but hers was too, for her dad. So I did what I could to stay out of her face about security. Of course, the shack was fully equipped with every kind of lock I could buy.

“Up here.”

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure your new satellite dish is bolted down.”

“WOOHOO! Nick at Nite here I come!” She popped into the house and I headed down on the ladder.

Watching her put a few groceries into the fridge, for some reason, was better than porn, and I put my arms around her from the back. I lifted the hair off her neck. It was starting to get long.

“If I don’t put the milk in the fridge, it will go bad.”

“Right.” She put the milk in while I reached around under her sweater and undid the front clasp of her bra. I felt her breasts, loose now underneath buttons. She’d returned to some of her more retro habits and often wore a sweater and skirt into the hospital. She looked innocent to me and a lot like something straight out of her 1950s sitcoms. Lucy could be her neighbor.

She arched her back and her soft round cheeks pressed into me.

“I’ve got a little surprise for you in there baby.” Her voice was sexy as hell.

“Yeah.” And I bunched up her skirt to find she, in fact, had nothing under that skirt. So not retro. I lamented that I hadn’t leaped off the roof instead of taking the ladder step by step. She reached back and wound her hands around my neck.

“Isn’t this fucking domestic,”

She screamed as I whipped my head around. Who the hell?

It was Donny Barchek. He was in our kitchen, and he was fully armed. I’m guessing he was pissed off. The fucking little douchebag had found us.

“I hate your hair, Leslie. It’s very unbecoming.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I slid Leslie behind me and tried to figure out what was next.

“Well let’s see. I’m going to kill you like I should have in the first place, McCall. I got other plans for you, bitch. First stop a bottle of peroxide. Then I’m going to take all the money you’ve got because I can’t seem to convince Lorenz and Dom Maldonado that I was working with Franco and didn’t have a goddamned reason to kill him.”

“Yeah you did, I know you owed him a lot of cash. Motive enough.”

“I know you did it, Lincoln. You were down there with him because we put you down there.”

“Yes, well aren’t you the genius.”

“I was on the damn phone with him. I know you were down there too, bitch. You’re going to tell Dom what happened so I can stop hiding. Got it?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I also know where your daddy is. Does HE know what you did to get him out of the clink? To pay for that fancy hospital? I’m sure he’d be really proud of his baby girl.”

I felt Leslie start to shake behind me, Dom had tapped into her worst fears, that her Daddy would find out what she’d done to save him. Finding out might kill him. I tried to lay a still hand on her behind me, but my focus had to be on Donny.

“Goodbye McCall...,” And I had no play, the fucker was about to shoot me in the head.

But instead of a gunshot noise, there was a dull thud, and Donny Barchek collapsed on the old Linoleum floor in front of me. It was completely silent in the room.

I looked at a clearly unconscious Barchek and then scanned back up to a pair of Crocs, a house dress, and the roundest, best face I could possibly have conjured up.

Leslie burst from behind me and shrieked. “Retta! Retta! You made it?” And Leslie’s neighbor opened her arms wide, one hand still holding a cast iron pan. It appeared Leslie had been expecting company.

“Where are the boys?” I asked her. I hoped they hadn’t seen anything.

“I made ‘em wait in the car with the doors locked, handsome.” Good. Leslie was still hugging the hell out of her old neighbor.

Retta looked beyond Leslie’s head at me. “Looks like you got here just in time, Retta.”

“Sure as shit I did. This pan needs to be seasoned before you fry anything in it.” I didn’t laugh much but that did it.

But it was a quick bit of mirth.

I bound up Barchek and dragged him out the back door to the barn. I didn’t want the boys to see him. Leslie and Retta made sure they were occupied.

I’d like to say he was dead accidentally, in self-defense via Retta’s pan to the head.

I’d like to say that. If anyone had asked me, I suppose that is what I would have told them. But it isn’t the truth. Because Barchek wasn’t dead, yet.

Once I got in the barn, with the unconscious Donny Barchek, I killed him. If you’re counting, that’s the first kill I’ve made in this little story.

You don’t need to know how. I will say he was out cold so it didn’t hurt.

You see, I wasn’t going to have him threaten Leslie, blackmail me, or any of his bullshit ever again. So I killed him.

Somewhere out here on my ranch is a ghost of a gambler, but I have a thousand acres and a mean streak. The ghost doesn’t scare me.

So yes, now I am a killer. It was inevitable when I took the Marilyn job. But that job is done.