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someone else noticed her talking to someone."
"Is it always this crowded?" Max asked.
Sam was shaking her head, even as Elaine said, "No, things are building up for
the roundup."
With that Elaine hurried off again.
Max caught the look on Ukiah's face and laughed again. "Kid, you're fated to
be thought of as much younger than you really are."
"Well, it's starting to really suck," Ukiah said. "What did she mean about
White Russian?"
"Milk, vodka, and Kahlua," Sam said with a grin.
Max threw Sam an amused warning look that said "cute, but don't confuse the
boy." "White
Russians are a political party, like Republicans. Kraynak's grandfather went
afoul of them in
Czechoslovakia during the Russian civil war. I'm not sure if I followed the
whole mess, but it's the reason the Kraynaks are in Pennsylvania instead of
the old country."
"Chinese, Hawaiian, Russian? That's one mutt puppy you date," Sam said. "She's
probably pretty,
though. It's like God is trying to tell us something when the most beautiful
people in the world are racially mixed."
"Like yourself," Max quipped, and then seemed to regret it. "Let's split up.
If we descend in a herd, we'll spook people."
So they scattered, hoping to find anyone that saw Alicia the week before. More
people were drifting in through the front door, making the place even more
crowded as the private investigators drifted apart. Ukiah had worked his way
into another room, flashing Alicia's photograph and getting no answers.
"Did you see this woman last week?" he asked a tall, dark-haired man with a
scar running up from his eye like an exclamation point.
"Hey!" The man grabbed Ukiah by the front of his shirt, and shoved Ukiah
sideways into a knot of men and women; who parted and regrouped to surround
Ukiah and his captor. "This is the guy, Peter!"
Peter Talbot perched on a bar stool, flanked close by the watching locals,
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
like a king and his court.
"What the hell are you talking about, Ricky?"
"Sam's Harley was parked outside of the Red Lion all night, and then she came
out with this guy."
Ricky was heavily muscled and putting it to use to hold Ukiah still. "Sam and
him were all lovey-dovey and kissy-face in the parking lot."
A howl went up from Talbot's court, a dangerous sound, promising trouble. It
attracted the attention of more men and women, who formed a second rank of
onlookers.
"Sam finally got nailed," Ricky laughed. "Looks like you're going to be eating
sloppy seconds, Talbot."
"Asshole!" Peter Talbot breathed a fog of whiskey in Ukiah's direction. "I
told you to leave my wife alone."
"She's not your wife," Ukiah started to protest.
Ricky gave Ukiah a shake. "Shut up, adulterer!"
"I'm amazed that you can put that many syllables together, Ricky." Sam made
her way to Ukiah's side, earning a laugh from some of the crowd.
"Shut up, slut!" Ricky pushed her back into the crowd. "You act so prissy, but
you spread for the first pretty-boy Indian that came sniffing after you."
Sam hauled back and punched him.
Ricky went down and was pulled to his feet by his jeering friends. "You're
lucky, slut, that I don't hit women."
"Well, then, this fight should be easy for me." Sam punched him again.
A second laugh went up from the onlookers, and one man called, "Get him, Sam!"
but a woman plunged through the crowd, shouting, "You bitch!" to launch
herself at Sam. Ukiah ducked a grab from
Peter and a punch from Ricky but caught a jab to his left eye from one of
Peter's court. There were simply too many hands to dodge them all.
There was a deep, menacing growl from behind him, and the smell of wolf hit
him. The men facing
Ukiah caught sight of what was coming and suddenly scrambled backward.
Ukiah turned.
Rennie Shaw towered over most of the men around Ukiah by a head. Black-haired,
dressed in leather pants and a long, leather duster, he blended into the
shadows except for the doglike gleam of his eyes. He stalked forward, men
parting as if shoved back by an invisible shield. Ukiah knew there was no
power there except fear. The leader of the Dog Warriors exuded menace that had
even Ukiah backing up.
"Rennie!"
In a grab faster than any man could move, Rennie caught Ukiah by the throat,
thumbs crushing down on his windpipe, and lifted him up off the ground.
"Wait!" Ukiah tried to say, but it came out as "Urk!"
"Did you sleep with his woman, cub?"
"I'm not his woman, and it's no one's business but mine who I slept with," Sam
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