Rogue Gunslinger

“You knew your True Fan could be charming, right?” Chloe asked. “Maybe you should have accepted the date.”

“No!” Annabelle cried. “What if he is...True Fan?”

“Well, he changed his mind about asking me out, so the point is moot,” she pointed out. “Tommy Harwood asked me out though.” Her sisters gave her a blank look, which confirmed that Tommy had gone through high school as invisible as she had been.

When she described him, Chloe said, “I do remember him vaguely.”

“Kind of getting bald guy with the little potbelly?” Annabelle asked.

“That’s him. He works at the auto shop.”

They both quickly lost interest in him.

“I saw Dot. She hasn’t changed a bit,” Chloe said.

“Joyce Mason apparently works here,” TJ said, keeping her voice down. She thought Joyce might be hiding nearby listening. “She was a little strange.”

Chloe put an arm around her as she got to her feet to leave. “You survived it.”

She smiled. She had. But she was no closer to finding out if one of the people who’d come through the line was True Fan.

“I say we go have some lunch,” Annabelle said.

“It’s that or head straight to the Mint Bar,” Chloe said. “Up to you, Tessa Jane.”

“Didn’t someone say food?” Annabelle asked innocently. “I’m starved.”

Chloe looked to TJ and said, “Food. I’ve never seen you this thin.”

“Yes, we’ll get you some good Montana eats and fatten you right up,” Annabelle agreed. “How about some chicken-fried steak?”

TJ felt her stomach roil at the thought. “Yum.”

Her sisters laughed as they headed out the door. It was a wonderful sound that felt like a much-needed salve. She told herself that her True Fan hadn’t been in Whitehorse today, hadn’t come through the line, hadn’t gone home with her latest book.

And yet she couldn’t help but think about each and every one of the people who’d come through the line, including the young woman who’d been right before Silas Walker. TJ had been distracted, but now that she remembered...

“I signed a book for Nellie Doll,” she said as they started up the street.

Chloe stopped, coming up short. “Lanell? I didn’t see her in the line.”

“She sent her niece to get it for her,” TJ said. “The niece had me sign it ‘to Nellie, just like old times.’”

“That is kind of creepy, isn’t it?” Chloe said. “You and Nellie weren’t friends.”

“No,” TJ said. “Far from it.” She tried to shake off the memory.

“You aren’t thinking that Nellie...” Annabelle was walking backward in front of them, looking from TJ to Chloe and back again.

“That she’s True Fan?” Chloe shook her head. “Anyway, didn’t you say that the letters had been sent from all over the country? I’m betting Nellie’s never been out of the county.”

TJ nodded, remembering the girl Nellie had been in high school. She couldn’t imagine that she’d want to drop so much money on a hardcover book, especially TJ’s.

She tried not to think about True Fan. She had so many amazing readers. Why did one fan have to spoil it? What bothered her was that she really didn’t know whether True Fan was a man or a woman. She’d had several women murderers in her books. In fact, in the book she’d just signed, the antagonist was a woman.

Chapter Eight (#u7888e162-b2a0-5645-95ed-ca226ffea76e)

TJ woke with a headache after a night of weird dreams. She took a couple of OTC painkiller tablets after her shower. She was not looking forward to her interview with a reporter from the Billings Gazette later this morning.

As she dressed, she could hear her sisters already downstairs in the kitchen. Opening her bedroom door, she followed the rich, wonderful scent of coffee down the stairs.

She couldn’t help smiling to herself. There was something so comforting about being back in this house with her sisters. Just the sound of them lightened her step as well as her heart. As she walked into the kitchen, she headed straight for the cupboard where she knew she would find a mug.

“Good morning!” Annabelle called from the table, where she and Chloe were already sitting with their coffee. “It’s a beautiful day.”

TJ blinked as she looked outside to see the sun shining on the new snow, making it glitter blindingly. “Were you always this cheerful in the morning?” she asked her as she took a seat at the table.

“Don’t you hate morning people?” Chloe said, and grinned, since she was one as well.

“I thought we’d get a Christmas tree today,” Annabelle said with unusual jubilance. “Willie saved some of Grandma Frannie’s ornaments from the trip to the dump. We could decorate the tree later, and I need to do some Christmas shopping.”

TJ could see what her sister was trying to do—get her mind off True Fan and yesterday’s book signing.

“Is there a place to buy a tree in town?” Chloe asked.

“Don’t be silly,” Annabelle said with a laugh. “We’re going to take a picnic lunch and go up into the mountains and cut one. I found an ax in the garage.”

“Ax?” Chloe cried.

“The Little Rockies?” TJ said, and both sisters turned to look at her.

“Why do I detect a strange excitement in those three words?” Chloe asked. “You aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Of course not,” TJ said. “It’s just been so long since I’ve been up there.” Both sisters were studying her. “Come on, he isn’t True Fan.”