Something More Read Online Free PDF

drooling in anticipation, Fargo made straight for an empty booth along the wall, its cushioned seats covered in patched and faded vinyl. Tobe followed him, with Dulcie bringing up the rear. Luke branched off, wending his way around the tables to a vacant stool at the bar. Ima Jane had his glass of Wild Turkey and water waiting for him when he slid onto the stool.
    â€œHi, handsome.” Her smile offered its usual warm welcome. In Ima Jane’s case, it was genuine. “You’d better let Fargo know that Griff fixed his fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs tonight.”
    Luke grinned. “His nose told him that when he walked in the door.”
    Ima Jane laughed. “If he wants some, he needs to get his order in quick. They’re flying out of that kitchen like they had wings.”
    â€œDon’t they always,” Luke replied, watching over the rim of his drink while she tilted a frosty mug under the beer tap and pulled a draw.
    â€œYou’ve got that right.” She worked as she talked, never missing a beat and always smiling. “And why not? Griff is the best cook in a hundred miles. The first time I tasted his cooking, I knew he was the man for me.”
    At forty-nine, Ima Jane Evans was a slender and attractive woman, with short, curly hair, its color a rich, gleaming brown. Clairol brown, Ima Jane called it with a laugh. By nature, she was a people lover who loved to listen as much as she loved to talk. An inveterate gossip she might be, but everyone agreed there wasn’t a malicious bone in her body.
    A waitress sailed past the bar, calling, “Two Cokes, one Bud, a bourbon and branch.”
    â€œComing right up,” Ima Jane acknowledged, then slid another glance at Luke, her dark eyes all bright and knowing. “Have you heard from Beauchamp in the last day or two?”
    â€œNope,” Luke drawled in disinterest and downed another swallow of diluted whiskey.
    But the mention of Beauchamp caught the ear of Doug Chalmers, a cowboy at the Cross Timbers Ranch, west of Glory. “Sam Hunt told me that Beauchamp finally got the report from the crime lab. They said the body was that of a white male in his mid- to late-twenties,” he said, quick to volunteer the information and eager to learn more. “The way I heard it, they couldn’t determine a cause of death.”
    â€œMid- to late-twenties, you say?” Another cowboy poked his head around to peer along the bar at Doug.
    â€œThat’s what I heard.” Doug glanced uncertainly at Ima Jane, seeking to verify his facts. He relaxed a little when it became clear no correction was forthcoming. “Why do you ask?”
    The other man frowned. “It just struck me as kinda young for a man to lose all his teeth.”
    â€œI wouldn’t go saying that around Johnny Fayne if I were you,” Luke advised, his mouth twisting wryly. “He might take exception to that.”
    His observation drew a round of laughter from the others gathered at the bar and brought a sheepish look to the cowboy’s face. Between bulls, broncs, and a penchant for brawling, Johnny Fayne had lost all his teeth before he reached the ripe old age of nineteen. He was forever handing his dentures to someone for safekeeping before he climbed on a rank one or jumped into a brawl.
    â€œWith Johnny, those choppers spend more time out of his mouth than they do in it, that’s for sure,” Doug remarked.
    For a moment, Luke thought the talk might get sidetracked into a discussion of Johnny Fayne. That hope proved to be short-lived.
    â€œIf that fella was in his middle twenties, then he must have been in the ground sixty-seventy years or more.”
    â€œHow do you figure that, Joe?” Doug turned to the rancher who had offered the thought.
    â€œI was going by the date on that class ring he was wearing,” the man explained, then fixed his gaze on the woman behind the bar. “Did they ever find out what school