“No, sir, I do not know these folks.”
“Then what in the world are you doing here?” he asked.
“I had an accident down the road apiece. My car wound up in a ditch at a real uncomfortable angle, so I called my daddy and told him I was coming to this farmhouse, because it was the closest,” I lied. Surely it wouldn’t hurt if Pete thought a sheriff would be arriving soon. “What are you doing here? What do you want from these people?”
“None of your damn business.”
The farmer raised his thick eyebrows. “He thinks we have a pot full of money hidden on our property. But we don’t.”
Pete raised his fist, as if he would clobber the man. With a stern gaze, he slowly lowered his arm.
One of the chickens came back on the scene, clucking like a crazed creature. Pete picked up his gun from the firepla
