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Back The Heathens
Chapters (33)
  1. ALSO BY ACE ATKINS
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  33. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Once or twice,” Pratt said. “Didn’t think too much of it. She’d gone over to some craft store in Tupelo. You know she’s been working over at that flower shop in town? DG’s Creations. She’s been making these fancy painted door hangings for Miss Donna Grace. I got one right there on my front door. See that wood and glitter thing that says Hotty Toddy? That woman sure had more than one talent.”

Pratt patted a little rhythm on his thighs, jangling at the keys in his pocket, and rocking up and down on his front toes. “I hope I’m not in any trouble,” he said. “When I called, I may have been drinking just a little. Sampling my own product. Maybe I was a little hurt she might’ve run off with a new man after we shared that romantic dinner at my house.”

“Watching sad movies and eating those T-bones?”

“Yes, sir,” Pratt said, grinning. “Sure was a special date. Set out candles by the hot tub and everything. I guess I’m just a romantic old fool.”

“Any idea who this mysterious other man might be?”

“You’re gonna have to ask Gina Byrd that question,” Pratt said. “Or maybe one of her girlfriends.”

“You have some names to check with?”

“Oh, hell,” Pratt said. “I don’t know. Miss Donna Grace. Diane Tull at the feed and seed. I think she kept in touch with Lillie Virgil. Did you know she’s now a damn U.S. Marshal?”

“Yeah,” Quinn said. “Might’ve heard something about that.”

“Now that’s a nasty woman right there,” Pratt said. “She once pulled me over for speeding and gave me a talking-to with words I never heard coming out of a white woman’s mouth. She actually called me a rich, spoiled son of a bitch and to slow down or she’d put me in hot pants and send me along Highway 49 to pick up trash. I figure she was trying to tell me that truckers might get a real kick out of it.”

Quinn stood there and waited, not saying another word, letting Pratt fill in the silences and maybe offer a better explanation of why he had been so worried about Gina Byrd. Quinn didn’t know much, but he was pretty sure there wasn’t any mysterious boyfriend who took her away from the fast-paced life in Tibbehah County to race tricked-out Mules down in Louisiana.