Sandra shrugged and puffed on her Merit. On one level, I knew she was right, because everyone had been telling me the same thing for months. Feelings don’t matter, and God doesn’t care what you think you’re having. But you were you, Shelby. You were always going to be a girl. I never had the slightest doubt.

“So, Ajax,” Sandra commented. “That’s awful, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“That makes four now. The Ursulina’s been busy. Not that I have a problem with his taste in victims.”

“You shouldn’t make jokes like that,” I advised her. Then I added in a hushed voice, “I do need to ask you something. Have you heard any rumors at the mine about Gordon Brink paying Ajax?”

“Paying him?”

“Five hundred dollars a month.”

She whistled. “Wow, nice gig.”

“We’re not absolutely sure it was Brink, but the payments stopped after Brink was killed.”

Sandra took a long swallow of her beer. “Norm told you about Ruby getting harassed at the mine, didn’t he?”

“Yes. He also said she denied that it ever happened.”

“Exactly. There you go. The little liar. Brink and the mine bought her off. There’s your five hundred a month.”

“You think?”

“Sure. They tried it with me, but I told them to stick it.”

I didn’t offer any opinion on Sandra’s theory, but it had a plausible ring to it. I had no trouble imagining Ajax trying to squeeze the law firm for cash. On the other hand, if they’d been paying Ruby to stay quiet about the harassment, I didn’t know why Ajax would have been keeping the money in a separate account that Ruby didn’t seem to know anything about.

“Speaking of Ajax,” Sandra murmured.

“What?”

She gestured at the entrance to the bar, where I noticed Penny Ramsey standing underneath a big moose head mounted above the door. The legal secretary looked around for an empty table with an awkward, uncomfortable smile on her face. Even after a year in Black Wolf County, she looked out of place, a city girl in Reagan country.

“You know about the two of them?” I asked.

“Well, that’s the hot gossip.”

“Do you think Ruby knows?”

Sandra shrugged. “I can’t believe she doesn’t.”

I watched Penny. She was alone, but women who came to the 126 alone didn’t stay that way for long. I wondered if that was her plan. Drown her sorrows over Ajax. Pick up a boy. When she took off her coat, I saw that she was spilling out of a seriously low-cut blouse and push-up bra. If she wanted attention from men, that outfit would get her plenty.

She was wearing the necklace, too.

Not a good idea.