Page 121 of The Widow and the Wanted

My ears go hot.

Behind me, Okee makes a noise.

“Oh, both of her handsome lovers.”

Before she can finish her sentence all of us crowd her doorway. Me in my robe. Lula with her chin set. Okee looking like he would rather be shot than stand witness to whatever this is.

Goldie’s smile does not falter.

“Well now,” she says, leaning back in her chair, taking in the sight of us in our night clothes. “The whole delegation. Is the house on fire?”

I step farther into the room. “Ma’am, I know you ain’t got cause to trust me.”

“On the contrary,” Goldie says. “Men are easiest to trust when I know precisely what they want.”

“Well, that’s convenient. I want your ledgers.”

The room goes so still, I hear the lamp hiss.

Okee closes his eyes.

Lula whispers, “Boone.”

Goldie only looks at me.

No anger. No surprise. That is worse, somehow. She folds her hands atop the desk, all those rings flashing soft in the lamplight.

“My ledgers,” she says.

“Yes, ma’am. Between your ledgers and Lula’s notebook, we reckon we might have enough to make Hollister answer for what he done. Clear our names.”

Goldie listens without moving.

When I finish, she looks past me to Lula.

For the first time since I met the woman, something soft shows in her face. Not much. Just enough to prove there is blood under all that brass.

Then it vanishes.

“No,” she says. I wait for her to say something else, anything else, until I realize that was the whole sentence.

Lula’s expression doesn’t just say I told you so, it says I told you so, but damn if I ain’t wished I was wrong.

That look sets my blood to boiling.

I glower at Goldie. “No?”

“No.”

“With respect, ma’am,” I say, my respect on its dying breath, “I don’t think you understand. This’ll set things right for Lula.”

“I understood before you finished your first sentence.”

“Then why⁠—”

“Because the only reason I am in a position to help anyone is discretion.” Goldie’s voice stays calm. “Men speak in this office because they believe what they say here remains here. They boast. They confess. They bargain. That trust is my inventory. The moment one of my ledgers is held up to the world to damn Hollister, that all disappears.”

Lula’s jaw tightens but she doesn’t argue. I glance at Okee, hoping he can do one of his smart speeches and admonish her into doing what we want. But Okee is watching Goldie like he agrees with her.