I held up my hand and said, “Save it.”

That brought Natty up short. “Why? What’s wrong? Is it Mom?”

“Where’s Bailey Mae?”

“Bailey Mae? I haven’t seen her in a couple of days. Why?”

“She’s missing and I heard she’s been hanging out around you. You’re a shithead so I came here first.”

“How could you suspect me of doing anything to our own cousin? I love that girl. She’s got dreams.”

“We all do.”

Natty stepped closer and said, “Look, Mitchum, I know you don’t like what I do, but it’s only a little pot and I don’t force anyone into anything.” He put his arm around my shoulder and started to lead me back toward the front door.

I stopped short and grabbed his arm. The bartender saw his chance at some payback, stepped forward, and took a swing at my head with his ham fist. It might as well have happened in slow motion, given all my years of preparation and the months of Navy training. It was almost an insult. I bobbed back a few inches and the big man’s fist passed me. Then I swung Natty into him like a bag of potatoes, and they fell back into the barstools and got hopelessly tangled together on the grimy floor.

Another guy who’d been sitting at Natty’s table grabbed a pool cue and stepped forward. In an instant I had my Navy knife out of my pocket and flipped open. I needed to blow off some steam and had just now realized it. As I’d expected, the jerk focused all of his attention on the knife, so I landed a perfect front kick in his gut, knocking him off his feet. To give the guy credit, he was upright and holding the pool cue again in a flash, his face beet red from the shock of being kicked and the momentary lack of oxygen.

Natty scrambled off the floor, his hands up, and jumped between me and the guy with the pool cue. Natty yelled, “Wait, wait!” He turned toward the other man and said, “Chuck, chill out!” He changed tone and attitude as he turned toward me. “Mitchum, just calm down and put the knife away. I want to help.”

I had never heard my brother say that to anyone. Ever.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I had to fight the lunch crowd at Tina’s Plentiful but somehow managed to grab my regular booth in the back. I needed to calm down and get some perspective before I even tried to get Mabel’s attention. Contemplating fratricide is exhausting. At least it looked like I had one more relative in on the search. Natty had jumped in his hot convertible with his dullard girlfriend and raced back here to help our cousin Alice look for her daughter.