“Before you what, Mrs. Shipley?” Gaines interrupted her. “Tell your husband?” He spat again and laughed. “Your husband is in Kansas City, puttin’ chips on the table and whores on their backs. And my boss, the honorable Sheriff Horace Foster, is there gettin’ his wick dipped right along with him. Which leaves me, as chief deputy, the man currently in charge of Jackson County. So, if I want to talk to your daughter, I’ll damn well do it. What do you think of that?”

“Forgive me, Deputy,” Dovie said, casting her eyes downward. “I apologize for being so disrespectful.”

“Mama!” Idelle protested. “You don’t have to take that from him!”

“Quiet, Idelle,” Dovie commanded. “We’re being impolite. Would you gentlemen care for some peach pie?” Dovie asked, reaching into the basket.

“Why, sure,” Gaines said, pleased to have submitted Dovie. “That’s more like it. I expect in the future, you’ll remember your place and show me a little more respect.” He began to dismount.

“Of course, Deputy Gaines,” Dovie said demurely.

Dovie came out of the basket not with pie, but with a sterling silver fork from the Atherton Arms Hotel. She struck out and jabbed Gaines’s horse in the flank. The horse reared and began to buck violently, tossing the skeletal deputy from the stirrups. He landed in the grass with a thud, as his hat flew off and his horse ran away.

Idelle couldn’t keep from laughing, but Dovie’s face remained hard and flat. She held the fork like a weapon as Gaines slowly got up. He was furious. His face was crimson, and his anemic body trembled with rage. He started to draw one of his pistols.

“Take it easy, Eli,” Moss said, afraid of what the enraged deputy was about to do. He was fully aware of Gaines’s well-deserved homicidal reputation. “There’s folks watching.”

“Shut up,” Gaines told him. He took a step toward Dovie, who shielded Idelle behind her.

“Go ahead,” Dovie said. “Shoot me. Gun down an unarmed woman, like the coward you are.”

“Wouldn’t be the first Pritchard I’ve shot,” Gaines said.

“Eli,” Deputy Moss said, nervously glancing around. “Think about what you’re doing.”

“What did you say?” Dovie asked.

Gaines’s rage suddenly dissipated. He grinned and holstered his revolver. “Nothin’ worth repeating,” he said.

“Let’s get out of here,” Moss said. “I’ll fetch your horse.”

“You do that,” Gaines said as the deputy rode off. He picked up his hat and began to dust himself off.

“That was a pretty good trick,” he said, “offerin’ me pie and then spookin’ my horse. Hope you both got a good laugh out of it.”

“I surely did,” Idelle blurted.

“Enjoy it while you can,” he said. “Because pretty soon, Mrs. Shipley, what Ole Burnell is doin’ to you, I’m gonna be doin’ to your precious Idelle. We’ll see how loud you laugh about that.”