He studied her unconsciously. He noticed, for the first time, that her clothes weren’t new. She was neat and clean, but she pretty much wore three different outfits to work and changed around the shirts and jeans. She had an old ratty jacket that she wore when it was cool, as it was today. Autumn was chilly, even in San Antonio, which was far enough south that palm trees grew and thrived all over it.

“I should sign up tomorrow and let you replace me with some lazy man who can’t even spell,” she muttered, uneasy at his long silence and that curious stare.

He’d already tried that. There weren’t any male applicants for this job. There had been four women who applied for it, three of whom were dressed like women who occupied street corners. Hence, Clancey.

“Men don’t like dark basements,” he said.

“I don’t know why not,” she said, ignoring him. “Don’t men like caves?” She looked around at the dark paneling and lack of light fixtures. “This would surely qualify.”

He wouldn’t laugh, he wouldn’t laugh... He turned the chuckle into a cough. “I’ll be back in an hour or so, if anybody comes looking for me.”

“If it’s somebody from the mounted unit, I’ll send them right along.”

His high cheekbones took on a faint ruddy color. “I did not steal his horse,” he said indignantly. “I appropriated it in pursuit of a fugitive!”

“I never said you stole it,” she replied. Her eyes twinkled. “But he did.”

“We straightened it out.”

She pursed her lips. “Did you, really? I understand that he loves to park his horse right in front of your car anytime he sees you near his post.”

“I’m sure it isn’t deliberate.”

She laughed softly. “Oh, I’m sure,” she drawled.

He shoved his hat down over his thick dark brown hair. “I’m leaving.”

“I noticed.”

He went out and actually slammed the door behind him. Clancey fell into gales of laughter.

She and Tad never went out at night. It was far too dangerous, and Clancey was nervous because there were usually men hanging around the bars that were near the theater where she and Tad occasionally had enough money for a matinee. Today, Saturday, was one of those days.

The film they went to see was Haunted Halloween, an animated film based on the famous R. L. Stine books that Tad loved so much. They laughed with the rest of the audience as a bevy of impossible creatures were loosed on the town by two adventurous boys in a haunted house.