If looks could kill, Phil was preparing to launch a nuclear warhead. I hop from the platform and start for the station. Isabel is outside now, and she joins me, still in her wrapper, legs and feet bare.
“So you snuck your sister in,” she says as we walk. “Well played.”
I make a noise under my breath. “I’d rather not need to play games at all.”
“I know. But you’re so good, it would be a shame to deprive us of the entertainment. Eric’s performance yesterday was breathtaking. Even I never suspected he was distracting us while he snuck your sister into town.” She pulls her wrapper tighter. “Phil will be fine. He just needs to learn his place. Which is not with the big girls and boys. A shame really. He’s terribly pretty.”
“Enjoy.”
“I still might. I sense a great deal of repressed anger in that one. If properly channeled, it could make for excellent sex.”
I shake my head and turn toward the station, but she catches my arm.
“Let’s detour to your old house, Casey,” she says. “Introduce me to your sister. I’ll take over her care from here.”
“So you can pry out blackmail information on me?”
She gives me a look. “No. Admittedly, I am curious to meet your sister, but I will contain that curiosity better than others. They will pry—only to satisfy their curiosity, but in doing so, they’ll invade your privacy.”
“All right. I’ll introduce you to April.”
* * *
I take Isabel to meet April, and my sister stares. Just stares, as if a mirage has emerged from the wilderness. Or, possibly, the saloon mistress has emerged from her fine establishment.
Isabel looks like she belongs on the set of a Wild West movie. She’s mid-forties. Dark hair with a few strands of gray—we don’t import dye into Rockton. No makeup—also not a priority. But the lack of more modern feminine grooming only adds to Isabel’s aura of old-time glamour. Her silk wrap and bare feet cement the image, and when she swans into my old house, her hand extended, I half expect her to say “Charmed, I’m sure.” Which wouldn’t be Isabel’s style at all. Instead, it’s a firm handshake as her gaze assesses my sister.
“Isabel Radcliffe,” she says. “I will be your hostess for the next couple of days, freeing Casey to go about her duties.”
April’s gaze flicks to me. “All right…”
“The town knows you exist,” Isabel says, “but we will refrain from parading you about. That would be … unwise.”
April’s brow furrows.
A knock sounds at the door, and Isabel murmurs, “Our boys are fast on the draw. One must give them that.”
I open the door to find a trio of locals. All men. All trying to peek around us at April. I block their view.
“Yes?” I say.
“We just, uh, thought your sister might, uh, want breakfast. We could escort her—”
“Unnecessary, boys,” Isabel says, stepping around me. “I have this under control. Please, pass the word on to the others. While I’m here, Miss April will want for nothing, particularly companionship.”
Isabel shuts the door. “Reason number two why I offered to care for April. The local wildlife have caught wind of prey.”
April looks alarmed. “Wildlife?”
“The men,” Isabel says. “We have a lot of them. It’s a problem.”
April frowns.
“Three men for every woman,” I say.
My sister continues to look confused.
“Sex,” Isabel says. “They want sex. As men often do. Well, no, that’s unfair. Women want it, too. In this town, though, that is much easier to come by for us.” She looks out the front window to see the trio of men talking to another group, warning them off with a shake of their heads.