“What the fuck!” Dwight shouted, jerking backward. “You could have cut my fingers off!”
“Only if I’d intended to,” Max said. “Trust me, I know what I’m doin’. Now state your business. Then you and your crew get the hell out of my bar.”
“Her!” Dwight shouted, pointing a finger at me. “I want her! She got me fired! I need that job or I’ll have hell to pay! I’m gonna let her pay it for me!”
What did that mean? Did he plan to hurt me? Kill me?
I swallowed my fear and said, “Seems to me your less-than-charming disposition got you fired. Mobley told Hank that today was just a long list of problems he’s had with you.”
His brow arched. “Hank? He had something to do with this too?”
Tiny was now standing behind me and Max, but Dwight didn’t seem to care.
“Seems to me,” Max said in his slow drawl, “that mortuary work is better suited for the meek and mild, Henderson. Perhaps it wasn’t a good fit for you.”
“It was a perfect fit for me, and now it’s gone.” His crazed eyes swung between the two of us. I wondered if I’d been wrong about him being drunk. Now I suspected he was high. “But I’ll tell you what’s not a good fit,” Dwight shouted. “That bitch isn’t a good fit for this town, and she needs to go! Everyone knows she got Seth Chalmers killed, and now she’s using her siren ways to rob Hank blind, only he’s too grief-stricken to realize it. It’s up to us to protect ’im.”
Tiny brushed me to the side and grabbed Dwight’s arm, then began dragging him to the door. “Rule number one in Max’s Tavern is you treat the help with respect, and I’ve listened to your nonsense long enough. You are no longer welcome here.”
He opened the front door and gave Dwight a hard shove.
Dwight, the fool, tried to shove his way back in. Tiny pulled back his arm and punched him in the nose with one smooth movement.
Dwight let out a howl and covered his face. “You broke my fucking nose!”
“You were warned,” Tiny said, then turned his hard gaze on Dwight’s two friends. “Gentlemen.”
They hurried past Tiny like rats scurrying from a fire, and Tiny slammed the door on their protesting faces.
Max called out, “A round of beers on the house!”
A cheer broke out and several men complimented Max and Tiny on their intimidation tactics. Another told Max he hadn’t seen his knife skills on display since a bar brawl a couple of years prior. Max promised to give another demonstration soon, and not on a belligerent customer.
Tiny stopped next to me on his way back to the kitchen. “You okay?” he asked in a quiet voice.
I nodded, unable to speak.
“Chin up, Little Bit,” he said. “You could have taken ’em.”
I laughed, still in shock. “Thank you.”
“You bet. I haven’t had to break anyone’s nose in a few months.” He grinned from ear to ear. “Felt good. Thanks.”
I followed Max behind the bar. He turned his back to the customers. His face was red, and he was shaking.
“Max, I’m so sorry,” I said, scared to death he was going to fire me on the spot.
He swung his gaze to face me, his eyes wide with surprise. “What the hell are you sayin’ you’re sorry about?”
“It’s my fault he came in here. I should have gone in the back with Tiny, but I figured if he didn’t say his piece now, he’d find me later, and then I might be alone.”
Concern filled his eyes and he put his hands on my shoulders. “Carly. I’m not mad at you. God, no. This wasn’t your fault. Do you hear me?”
I nodded.
He dropped his arms and pressed his back into the counter again, fisting his hands in front of him. “I hate fuckers like him. You have no idea how much I wanted to stab that knife into his hand.”
His anger caught me by surprise. I started to say I would have cleaned up the mess, but Ruth came rushing through the back door, Franklin with her.
“What the hell just happened?” she asked as she approached us. “I saw Dwight Henderson storming to his truck, covering his face and dripping blood all over the parking lot. He was cursing Tiny and Carly up a blue streak.”
Max took off toward the back, so I gave them a quick recap of events.
“Why do I always miss the good stuff?” she asked in a huff.
“It’s likely for the best,” Franklin said with a chuckle. “You tend to stir up enough trouble on your own.” He leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. “If you feel unsafe when you get off, call me at the house and I’ll pick you up.” He gave me a warm smile. “You too, Carly.”
“Thanks, Franklin,” I said.
He gave us both a wave as he walked out the back door.
“You’ve got a good man there, Ruth,” I said as I followed her behind the counter.
“Don’t I know it,” she said. “We better start handing out those free beers Max promised.”
“Why don’t you fill the mugs, and I’ll pass them out?” I suggested. It would give me a chance to make the rounds through her section and maybe pick up on some loose talk about Seth’s murder. I hadn’t heard anything in my section, and I was wondering if I should start asking questions because eavesdropping wasn’t cutting it.
“Okay,” she said with a bright smile, then grabbed a mug and started filling it. We worked silently for a few moments before she said, “We’re in good shape now, but Franklin and I have had our share of rough patches.”
“Everyone does,” I said, taking the beer from her and putting it on a tray. “It’s all about how you handle those patches, and if you’re in a better place when you get to the other side of them.”
“True. I’ve been through my share of men, but unlike my momma, I never let ’em beat me. They minute they laid a hand on me, they were out of my life. But Franklin, he ain’t never laid a hand on me.” She leaned closer and winked. “Not that I didn’t want, anyway.”
I chuckled.
“What about you? I take it you don’t have a man in your life right now.”
“No,” I said softly. “I haven’t had much luck with men.”
“It’s the way of the world, honey,” she said, handing me another mug. “Did they beat you?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve been lucky in that regard, but there are plenty of other ways for a man to hurt a woman.”
“Did a man send you runnin’?”
I studied her out of the corner of my eye. She was obviously fishing for information, but was it friendly questioning or something else?
I hated that I distrusted nearly everyone, even Ruth, who’d been nothing but kind to me.
“No,” I said truthfully. “I had that nasty breakup a few months ago, and I decided it was time to shake things up. Hence my decision to go on an extended vacation and look for somewhere else to live.”
“Have you ever lived in a house?” she asked wistfully. When I gave her a curious look, she said, “Can you keep a secret?”
“I’m a vault with secrets.”
She gave me a strange look, but it quickly faded, and a smile lit up her face. “Last weekend Franklin told me that he’s been savin’ up money. He nearly has enough for a down payment on a house.”