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Mrs. Applegate chuckled, and shook her head. “That’s not the way I see it. It seems to me you’re just as sweet on her, only you don’t like it. Come to think of it, Candy isn’t all that pleased about it neither.”
Carl snorted loudly. “I’d rather be skinned alive than have anything more to do with that woman. She’s unreasonable, irrational, pigheaded, and that’s just for starters. If I never see her again, it’d suit me just fine.” Having said that much, Carl leapt up from the chair and headed out the door. He turned back abruptly and reached for the cinnamon roll. “I’ll be buying the feed elsewhere,” he said in a way that challenged Zane to defy him.
“Get it wherever you want,” Zane told him.
Carl cast a triumphant look toward the housekeeper and headed out the back door. To his surprise, Mrs. Applegate burst out laughing. “Life’s too short for green bananas.”
Baffled, Zane studied the older woman. She had a habit of saying the most nonsensical things, and then looking for him to agree with her.
Zane raised both hands. “I’m staying out of this,” he announced.
The housekeeper didn’t seem to mind.
One thing she’d said did make sense. Life was too short, and for him, it was getting shorter every day.
CHAPTER TWO
“ISAY HE’S LIKELY A GANGSTER.”
The words struck Lesley as odd, and captured her attention. She’d stopped to fill up her car with gas in Sleepy Valley, the community closest to Zane’s home.
The gas station attendant filling the vehicle in the space next to hers slowly shook his head. “Just because he’s up there in that huge house all alone doesn’t make him a hit man.”
“It ain’t normal, living up there the way he does.” The middle-aged man in the car parked in the space close to Lesley wasn’t so easily swayed. “Makes me wonder if anyone asked the right questions before letting him move into our community. We’ve got a responsibility to the good people in this town.”
“He isn’t alone,” the attendant contradicted. “Martha Applegate is keeping his house, and from what Candy Hoffman said, there’s another man there, as well.”
“Yeah, but it isn’t anyone we know.”
The station attendant scratched the side of his head. “I can’t say that I’ve talked to him, but he minds his own business, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, but exactly what type of business is he minding?” the man standing by the car asked. “That’s what worries me.”
The men exchanged knowing looks.
“When was the last time he came into town ?”
“I haven’t got a clue. Personally I’ve only seen him the one time.”
“That’s what I thought. He mostly keeps to himself. It ain’t natural—that’s all I’m saying.”
The attendant who took Lesley’s credit card paused in the middle of his task. “My guess is he’s involved in drugs.”
“Drugs,” the customer repeated as if this were a new thought.
Lesley managed to smother a giggle. She could well imagine what Zane would say if he were listening in on this conversation himself. He’d be as amused as she was. Amused or outraged, she wasn’t sure which.
“Some people say he’s a monster,” Lesley said, unable to keep quiet any longer.
The man in the space opposite hers turned and stared at her. “It makes one wonder what happened to his face, doesn’t it?”
“I can’t understand why he doesn’t have reconstructive surgery,” the attendant said. “Seems to me that someone who could afford to live in that house wouldn’t be hurting for money.”
“Maybe he likes the idea of frightening children.”
“Children, nothing. He makes my blood run cold every time I see him.” The customer closed his eyes and cringed.
Lesley finished paying for her gas. It was difficult to keep a straight face, but she managed. And people thought women gossiped!
