Free Picking the Ballad's Bones by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

jokes, and vicious attacks on his ex-wife's
character and lineage. He told them much more than they wanted to
know about all of that until Gussie put a halt to it, asking him
where he thought they could go to find ballads and what was the
best way of getting in contact with or leaving a message for the
remnants of their group and could they, by the way, talk him into
taking them around?
    Far from resenting her intrusion, he
actually looked relieved—tired, but relieved at having the flow of
acid that had been eating him shut off for a while, and to be
distracted by other people's problems that he could, of course,
treat as if they were small matters he could handle easily. Other
people's problems tend to be that way. Willie helped him finish a
bottle or two of scotch and Gussie took a glass for herself and one
for Juli too, strictly for medicinal purposes.
     
    * * *
     
    "I'll drive," Brose said firmly to
Faron.
    "It wasn't his fault about the
instruments," Ellie objected. "If you hadn't all been crowding him
and been in such a hurry, he wouldn't have stumbled. He knows what
he's doing."
    "Uh-huh," Brose said skeptically,
climbing behind the wheel and holding out his hand for the
keys.
    Faron handed them over with a shrug
and pretended to curl up for a nap.
    Anna Mae said, "Don't let's all be
macho and infantile over this. We need to think up a
plan."
    "Goddammit, woman, we know we need to
think up a plan," Brose said. "And don't start any of that women's
lib crap on me now."
    "Pardon me, but it seems to me that if
your good buddy Willie MacKai was a little less into the old lone
wolf act, he and the banjo might be here right now and we'd know
what to do. Not to mention if he hadn't separated from the group to
begin with to go off with her." She turned to Torchy, who was
snuggling in as close to Faron on the other side as she could, to
Ellie's consternation. "Just where did he go, anyway?"
    "Don't frown at me so, ducky, just
because he didn't come your way. I know he's attractive but it
isn't my fault he preferred me. And later, he simply preferred
someone else. For all I know he's still on the train."
    "And he's not the only one missin',
don't forget," Brose said belligerently. "There's Julianne too. I
thought you two was together. If you're so damn smart, why didn't
you keep an eye on her?"
    "Look, I've lost my home, my land, and
my job over this mess you people got me into," Anna Mae said.
"Don't expect me to play nursemaid to you too."
    Torchy smiled. "Wake me at the next
petrol station, there's a love," she said to Faron. "I need to use
the facility again."
    "Do we even know where we're going?"
Ellie asked.
    "Faron mentioned Sir Walter Scott's
estate and Gussie seemed to think that was a good idea," Anna Mae
said. "And there's bound to be some border lore there
someplace—maybe the guide can give us some idea where to look
further."
    "Okay, we'll drop you off there,"
Brose said. "And the Randolphs can go to the library, and do what
college kids are good at. And I'll go talk to people, hang out in
the clubs, see what I can turn up."
    "I'm sure you'll just love that," Anna
Mae sniffed.
    Torchy passed out cold with the top of
her red head snuggled against Faron's leg.
     
    * * *
     
    "You're supposed to beat 'em, DD, not
join 'em," the Chairdevil told her when the Debauchery Devil had
resumed her seat at the board.
    "I thought you said this was to be my
operation, boss? I'm handling it my own way. After all, I've done
the hardest part. Willie MacKai and the banjo have been eliminated
and the girl—"
    "Idiot!" the Chairdevil thundered.
"Your job is to lie to everyone else, not to me. Do you think I
don't have ways of checking up?"
    The Debauchery Devil raised an
inquisitive brow.
    "The two women, MacKai, and the banjo
are all alive and well. Your minions failed and you didn't even
check up. And now those—musicians"—he spat the word as if he were
saying "cannibals" except that that word was one he tended to say
with a