He suddenly had no trouble at all.
“You were my high school girlfriend. You put out at fifteen. I put up with a lotta shit back then I would not put up with now. You had eyes on your sister at least the last fifteen minutes. I think you can see why I’m pretty f**kin’ pleased I got the chance to make the switch twenty-five years later.”
“Harsh,” he heard Sully mutter from behind him. “True, but harsh,” he added.
“You didn’t just say that to me,” she snapped.
“You opened it up, I walked in. I find out this whole thing you’re pullin’ with Dusty, Rhonda and the boys is you bein’ pissed your sister’s in my bed,” he leaned in, “twenty-five years later,” he leaned back, “this is not gonna make me happy.”
He saw it then.
Fuck him, he saw it.
She tried to hide it and failed.
This whole f**king thing was that she was pissed he was with Dusty.
“You’re shitting me,” he whispered, staring at her hard.
“This land is worth a fortune,” she hissed to cover. “Rhonda would be fool not to sell it. Those boys would be set up. College paid. Residuals in trust, interest payments would significantly augment earnings. Life would be good.”
“Fin wants to work this land,” Mike informed her.
“Fin’s seventeen,” she stated dismissively. “He has no idea what he wants.”
“You don’t know your nephew very well,” Mike returned.
“I know Darrin filled his head with the same garbage Dad filled Darrin’s with. We sold back in the day when the developers started looking at The ‘Burg, I wouldn’t have had college loans to pay off.”
“Working this land made your brother happy. He built a family on this land,” Mike reminded her and she leaned in.
“Yes, and it killed him.”
“You’re jacked,” Mike murmured, still staring at her and seeing the real Debbie Holliday for the first time in his life. It was written all over her, the bitterness that twisted her mouth, shone from deep in her eyes. She’d made it her religion and she wasn’t just devout, she was a fanatic.
“You think I’m wrong?” she threw out. “How could that be? He was dead at forty-four.”
“Rhonda approved an autopsy, Debbie, and they found he had a heart condition since birth. Undetectable unless you know what you’re lookin’ for but usually by the time you figure it out, it’s too late. He was dead the minute he hit the snow,” Mike stated. “I’m pretty sure the way you stuck your nose in everything after he died, you learned that.”
“Hard to have a heart attack if your feet are up at the beach or you’re working behind a desk,” she shot back.
“You can challenge your heart by shoveling snow and you can challenge it by stressin’ it out havin’ a job you f**kin’ hate. At least he had a short time doin’ somethin’ he loved, sharin’ it with his family. Instead of a long time doin’ somethin’ he hated because his sister is a greedy cow who wanted to go to law school but didn’t want it enough to pay for it herself but ride through on the lost legacy of her family,” Mike returned.
“Oh my God, were you this much of a dick when I was dating you?” she asked, her voice pitching high.
Jesus, was she serious?
“For f**k’s sake, Debbie, I dated you when I was seventeen. That’s more than half my life ago. I wasn’t a dick but considering you were a manipulative bitch even back then I should have been,” Mike fired back.
“Right, this is gettin’ us nowhere,” Sully broke in, stepping between Debbie and Mike. “Someone wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
“I see a badge on four belts. I’d like it explained why he’s here,” Debbie demanded, eyeing up Cal.
“Mostly ‘cause there’s nothin’ on TV,” Cal replied, Debbie’s eyes narrowed and Merry chuckled.
“Considering you’re not an officer of the law, I’d like you to leave the premises immediately,” Debbie commanded.
“I’ll take my orders from the pretty one who looks like she actually belongs here,” Cal returned, jerking his chin up to the porch and Mike’s eyes went there to see Dusty in cowboy boots and a jacket smiling at Joe Callahan.
Jesus, f**k.
“I don’t know who you are but you’re welcome to stay as long as you like,” Dusty invited.
Cal grinned at her.
Jesus, f**k.
“That’s Vi’s husband, Dusty. Joe Callahan,” Mike explained, Dusty blinked and her grin faded.
“Yup, I’d say she knows all about Vi,” Merry muttered under his breath.
“You’re still welcome here,” Dusty announced, just like Dusty, powering through it and straightening her shoulders. “And your wife’s welcome here. In fact, the entirety of The ‘Burg is welcome here,” she added magnanimously if dramatically then she looked down at Bernie McGrath and his boys. “Except, not to be a bitch or anything, you. This land is not for sale. Not any of it.”
“I beg to differ since a quarter of it belongs to me and my quarter is for sale,” Debbie returned.
“Okay,” Colt stepped in. “Readin’ this situation, Darrin left family land to family. You got a disagreement about what to do with that land. You can’t sort it amongst family, you sort it in front of a judge.”
Colt looked to McGrath and his men and Mike saw Colt had the same concerns as he did. All cops knew McGrath. He’d got rich fast with no one knowing where the initial money came from since McGrath sure as f**k didn’t have it. But he was so slick he was slippery and even though rumors of his primary investors who could still be involved in his business and his tactics were troubling, they’d never had a complaint or anything to go on.
“Until that happens,” Colt continued, “there’s nothin’ you can do. So we’ll be askin’ you to wait until that time comes, take your equipment and leave. We’ll also ask you not to return and disturb this family until this has been sorted by the Hollidays or the courts.”
“It takes four plainclothesmen to ask two developers and two surveyors to leave?” Debbie asked Colt cuttingly and Colt looked at her.
“Miz Holliday, you might not have been payin’ attention a minute ago but this situation is hostile. These men can do nothin’ here today but waste their time. They can’t survey what they don’t know they can purchase. And the occupant of this land does not want them here. I see you got a family fight goin’ but the bell has been rung. You need to be smart and take your corner.”