Forty-TwoSeb was going to be fine but he wasn’t going to be up to deputy duties today, and John couldn’t afford to wait. For Lily, every minute was precious. He had to get answers fast, and the only one he knew who could give them was Virgil Hale.
No one answered the door at Hale’s house when he returned, and he wasn’t at the jail or the deputies’ office. John had trawled several of Grass Valley’s most popular workingmen’s bars when he caught sight of the paunchy lawman in a plaid shirt and fringed jacket in the doorway of a low dive on Cemetery Road. He caught up with him as he was about to ride off on a big, feisty-looking roan.
“Hey, Hale. I’ve got some questions.” He stepped into the street ahead of Hale’s horse and caught the roan’s bridle under the animal’s jaw. The horse pulled ba
