“Don’t do anything stupid,” Henry growled. “Or you’ll die right here, right now.”

“Whoa there cowboy,” Chad slurred. “You’ve got me mistaken for someone else.”

“You sorry son of a bitch.” Henry cracked Chad on the back of the head with the butt of the pistol, knocking him to the ground. “As you can see, I ain’t in a mood for your crap. Now stand up and turn around.”

Chad slowly stood up and turned to face Henry. The look on Henry’s face was cold and unforgiving, and Chad knew he wasn’t going to talk his way out of this situation. Henry raised the .45 caliber Colt to Chad’s head until the barrel was only an inch from his right eye. Sheer terror crossed Chad’s face.

“The only reason you ain’t dead already is because it’d take too much time to get rid of your body.” Henry’s voice was low and unwavering. “So you better listen real good or by God, I’ll make time.” He moved the pistol even closer to Chad’s eye. “You climb in that piece of shit truck of yours, and you start drivin’ and you get as far from here as you can get. If you come back, I’ll kill you. If you ever go anywhere near Jessica King again, I’ll kill you.” He put the barrel of the pistol on Chad’s forehead and shoved him with it. “From here on out, you watch your back, because you’ll never know where I might show up and you’ll never hear the shot. You can consider this your only warning. You won’t get another.”

Henry briefly glanced down at Chad’s jeans.

“Now look at that. You pissed your pants.”

Chad looked down, and when he looked back up Henry hit him so hard between the eyes Chad’s feet lifted off the ground and he landed four feet from where he had been standing.

Henry stood over the unconscious Chad. “No more warnings,” he repeated ominously.

CHAPTER 34

Henry slept in the chair next to Jessie’s bed that night, and woke her every hour as Mrs. Rodriguez had instructed, making sure she didn’t drift into a coma from her head injury. When the early morning sun shone through the window, it did so directly into Henry’s eyes. He woke suddenly and slightly disoriented, looked around the room and remembered where he was. He pushed himself from the chair, but had trouble straightening up. He stretched his neck to work the kinks out, then went over to Jessie and gently touched her face. Her eyes opened slowly, and she smiled, albeit painfully.

“Good morning, Henry.”

“Mornin’ Jess,” Henry smiled. “How you feelin’?”

“Like someone pulled me through a keyhole,” she tried to slide herself to a sitting position, but quickly relinquished the thought.

“Well, you had a pretty rough night. You’re gonna be all right, though. You’ve got a few busted ribs and a pretty good knock on the head, but other than that, nothin’ too serious.”

Jessie reached out, gently took Henry’s hand and squeezed it. “Do you know who did it?” she asked quietly.