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and cuffed him, had a ponytail brushing the back of his collar. “Bailed out, did you?” Penelope said aloud. “Wonder what they found in your car?”
    Buddy Hall answered her question. The K-9 unit brought to the scene located a cache of drugs, though officers aren’t saying exactly what or how much. Hopefully, we’ll have an update in the morning.
    “I’ll just bet…” She stopped, listening, wondering if she’d heard footsteps on the stairs. Throwing back the cover, she reached for her robe, and opened the door. “Anybody there?” Silence. “Hello?”
    Stepping into the corridor, she switched on the lamp beside the stair railing that defined the L-shaped hall and padded down to the front room. No light came from under the door, but she knocked anyway. I’d probably have a heart attack if he opened the door in nothing but his birthday suit. She started back for her room but turned and went half-way down the stairs instead. Plunking herself down on the rose-strewn runner she’d had installed only last year, she settled down to wait. “Come on if you’re coming,” she said.
    Almost on cue, she heard the familiar creaking of the back door as it opened and closed, and the muffled sound of footsteps drifting through the dining room toward the foyer. Tiny Sam almost stumbled over her.
    “What the hell…?”
    “It’s about time,” she said, folding her arms across the front of her robe.
    “I didn’t know I had a curfew.” He sounded amused.
    “Somebody was poking around in the shed tonight. Good thing I found your bike and decided to lock up.”
    He sat down on the step above her. “Did you see anybody?”
    “Just a shadow wearing black leather and metal. Parnell Garrett came out and looked around, but he didn’t find anything.”
    “Okay.”
    “But the ten o’clock news had a story about state troopers stopping a car on the Oklahoma border, and I recognized one of the guys who stayed here Thursday night. Well, I thought I recognized his ponytail anyway. The other one got away.”
    “You’re sure about that? The ponytail, I mean.”
    “I’m sure.”
    “Interesting.”
    “Listen, Tiny…or Sam…or whoever you are, I know what’s going on. The police found drugs in the car. Those guys probably delivered some to the Sit-n-Swill Friday night, and somebody fired that shot to create a diversion, and…”
    “Anybody but your daddy call you Nellie?” Sam interrupted.
    “Don’t change the subject. No, Daddy’s the only one.”
    “What did your husband call you?”
    “That’s none of your business. And how do you know about my ex?”
    “It’s not classified information.”
    Penelope rolled her eyes. “He called me Opie. He used to watch Andy Griffith and little Opie in Mayberry.” She swallowed. I didn’t mean to tell him that.
    “I like Penelope better.”
    “My mother named me for a cousin, a sister, and her mother. Penelope Corinne Louise. She was a British war bride, you know.”
    “I didn’t know.”
    “Then you don’t know everything, do you?”
    With one oddly gentle finger, he tucked the perpetually errant lock of hair behind her ear. “You’re pretty feisty.”
    “You’re pretty infuriating.” When she realized he was still touching her cheek, and that she liked it, she swatted his hand away like a gnat. “So are you going to tell me what you’re involved in or not?”
    “Not.”
    “Then I’m going to bed.”
    “Good idea. I’m going, too.” He gave her a hand up and didn’t turn loose right away. “Sleep well, Penelope Corinne Louise.”
    She glared at him—or tried to, anyway.
    “By the way, you need a better lock on the back door. I got in with a credit card.”
    “How’d you…”
    But he had already disappeared down the hall toward the front room, leaving her to stare at his broad back.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    (Monday)
     
    Penelope overslept the next morning, but she took time to put herself together before she went downstairs: unfaded,