Read Online The Winslow Incident by Elizabeth Voss - Free Book Online

decided to head out of town and grab a
bite down Yellow Jacket Pass in Stepstone Valley. Those with more pressing
hunger wandered back to Prospect Park and the Holloway Ranch barbecue tent,
where they ate beans and brownies and Maggie Clark’s cornbread. Nobody felt
much like eating burgers.

Saturday Night
Mother Lode Saloon
Matherston Ghost Town
    O utside the Mother Lode Saloon, Hazel parked her
motorcycle next to the other two—horse-style in front of the hitching
post. The waxing moon slung low over Silver Hill illuminated the tumbledown
buildings on Prospectors Way, while the stagnant air trapped the day’s heat.
Still feeling disturbed over all that had happened at the rodeo, Matherston
seemed to Hazel—for the first time—genuinely ghosty.
    She scooted off her bike and
hustled up to the boardwalk, worried that dallying would enable a pack of ghouls
to descend upon her as surely as a swarm of mosquitoes.
    Unlike
downtown Winslow’s ornate Italianate architecture, the old miner’s section of
town consisted of simple wood-frame structures bleached gray by the sun. Some
of the buildings leaned left, some right, or as with Holloway Harness and the
Chop House Restaurant, caved in straight down the middle. Long-faded signs and
advertisements had been painted directly onto siding and overhangs.
    Hank’s
Boarding House
    Hot Baths ~ 10¢
    Towel & Soap Free
    No fussing or mussing here , Hazel thought as she pushed her way through the saloon’s
batwing doors. Matherston had been all about business, once: mining and
assaying, shoeing horses and repairing wagons, and the serious business of
boozing, gambling and whoring.
    Hazel
joined Sean, Patience and Tanner at the long pine bar, where a hand-painted
sign above the rifle rack ordered:
    Check all Guns with Bartender
    Sean lit a lantern with his lighter
while Tanner doled out warmish cans of beer.
    Holding a can toward Patience, Tanner
said, “Quite a show you put on today.” When she didn’t take the beer, he
slammed the can onto the bar and slid it her way. “Drink up—carbonation
helps when you’re sick to your stomach.”
    She groaned and pushed the can
away.
    “You’re one to talk, Tanner,”
Hazel said. “Who made a bigger ass out of himself today, really?”
    He scowled. “I don’t want to talk
about it.”
    “Okay, so quit hassling her.” She
turned to Patience. “How do you feel now?”
    “Better. Not great.” Putting a
hand to her forehead, she tilted back her head and in an overdone southern
accent declared, “Ah’m sufferin’ a toucha the vapors.”
    Hazel laughed.
“Seriously—did you eat something that made you sick?”
    “I’m not sure. It could’ve been
the heat and the smells and Indigo screaming like that.” Patience sighed in
disgust. “I still can’t believe I barfed in front of our whole town.”
    Tanner slowly shook his head.
“Eating a burger was a big mistake. Why’d you do it?”
    “She didn’t.” Sean sounded fed up.
“Veggie burger, maybe.”
    “I don’t eat anything that has a
face,” Patience said.
    Hazel had been weighing whether or
not to broach the subject with Tanner. Finally, she said, “I wonder how
everybody in town found out about the cattle so quick.”
    Tanner stared at her as if she
were dense. Then he stuck his finger on her upper chest. “Um, that would be . .
. you.” Hazel’s heart stuttered as his hand moved past her to point at Sean.
“And you.”
    Sean smacked his hand away.
“Bullshit.”
    Patience shrank back as if worried
the accusatory finger would taint her next.
    “Does Uncle Pard think that?”
Hazel asked, her heart refusing to settle into a steady beat.
    “Hell if I know.” Tanner was
scrutinizing her face. “You didn’t blab?”
    “No.” She grabbed the sleeve of
his t-shirt. “So don’t ever say that we did.”
    “Why didn’t you?” He flicked away
her hand, then narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s Uncle Pard got on you, anyhow?”
    Hazel avoided looking at Sean