SPY IN THE SADDLE

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Book: SPY IN THE SADDLE by Dana Marton Read Free Book Online
Authors: Dana Marton
Tags: ROMANCE - - SUSPENSE
that either of them had thought to call and let her know.
    She finished her last song to enthusiastic applause, gave a smile and a quick bow before running off the stage, ignoring the catcalls. She thanked the band as they came off the stage behind her, bringing some of their instruments and going back for the rest.
    She smiled at the keyboard player, Sam. “Can I give you a hand?”
    The band was here two nights a week. They must have seen a thing or two. She could do worse than getting friendly with them.
    The fiftysomething man grinned at her. “Sure.”
    “Is it always like this?” she asked as she helped him take apart the keyboard stand.
    “On a good night.”
    “And on a bad?”
    “Fistfights. Or some idiot will pull a gun.”
    She tried to look scandalized. “I hope the cops don’t shut us down on a night when I’m singing. I really need the money.”
    Sam shrugged. “Brian doesn’t call the cops. He has people to deal with guys who get out of hand. Shorty’s got a mother of a rifle behind the bar.”
    She’d bet he did. And then there was the meat mountain if Shorty needed backup.
    “You guys make a pretty good band.” A compliment could go a long way toward establishing goodwill, and maybe a connection.
    “You’re not bad yourself,” he said as he walked out back with his equipment.
    The back door stood propped open for the band, letting in some fresh air. One of his buddies had pulled the band’s van up to the back door. The alleyway was just wide enough to allow a single vehicle.
    She helped them load. It gave her another few minutes to hang out with them. Then they were done and getting into the cab. “Hey, thanks. See you tomorrow night.”
    “You bet.”
    The main area of the bar was mostly cleared out by the time she went back in. She sidled up to the bar and asked for some ice water. She was hot and sweaty from jumping around onstage, but she saved icy drinks for when she was done. Anything cold constricted her throat and made singing more difficult.
    Shorty put a glass of ice water in front of her. He gave a lopsided smile. “Damn if you didn’t make me feel twenty years younger.”
    She narrowed her eyes as she watched him. “Are you trying to tell me you’re over twenty?”
    He gave a booming laugh. “You’re all right for a drifter, you know that?”
    “I prefer to think of myself as a woman of the world.”
    He snorted.
    She drank. “How long have you been working at The Armadillo?”
    He shook his head. “Think I might have been born behind this bar. Mama used to waitress here.”
    “You like working for Brian?” she asked carefully, glancing at the jumble of ads on the column by the bar, pretending that the question wasn’t important, just something to say.
    Shorty shrugged as he put up the clean glasses. “Boss man’s the boss man. They come and go every couple of years.”
    No big surprise there. Bars and restaurants changed hands frequently.
    She grinned. “I’m just glad he likes the way I sing.” She made sure she sounded super enthusiastic, as if this was her big break.
    The meat mountain she’d encountered in the basement slogged by, nodded at Shorty. “Wagner came back yet?”
    “Haven’t seen him.”
    Lilly waited until the man walked away before she asked, “Who is he?” He’d been down in the basement with Wagner. Maybe he was Wagner’s connection to the Coyote.
    Shorty turned back to his work. “He delivers the booze for Brian,” he said over his shoulder.
    A name would have been better, something Lilly could have run through the database back at the office. But she didn’t ask. Not tonight. Asking too many questions would jeopardize her cover.
    She hung around until the very end, observing the dynamics among the staff, noting who was friends with whom, who goofed off, who took their job seriously. Mostly everyone just went about their job. They all looked tired. As hard as she watched, she didn’t see anything suspicious.
    Yet she felt that

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