Town of Two Women (9781101612125) by J.r. Roberts Read Free Book Online

again. I don’t care how, just get her out of here.”
    â€œMrs. Locksley,” Clint said, “you’re not being reasonable.”
    â€œI thought I was being very reasonable by giving you the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Adams,” she said. “I’m afraid that’s as reasonable as I can get after what that woman did.”
    â€œAnd what did she do?”
    â€œNever mind,” she said. “I don’t want to go through the whole business again. It was . . . distasteful.”
    â€œMrs. Locksley, where’s your son? What’s his name? Jake?”
    â€œThat’s right,” she said. “Why do you ask?”
    â€œI just thought since I was here, I should probably talk to him.”
    â€œWell, you can’t,” she said. “We sent Jake away.”
    â€œAway?”
    â€œBack East,” she said. “To school.”
    â€œHow old is he?”
    â€œTwenty.”
    He’d had trouble guessing Mary’s age, but she seemed a little old for a twenty-year-old boy.
    â€œHave you spoken with my husband?”
    â€œI have.”
    â€œWere you impressed?”
    â€œI’m afraid not.”
    â€œI didn’t think so,” she said. “I need you to listen to me very carefully, Mr. Adams.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œIf you don’t get that girl out of town, I will have her killed,” she said. “If you get in the way, I will have you killed.”
    â€œI’ll tell you what I told your husband, ma’am,” Clint said. “Anyone you send will have to deal with me.”
    â€œI will not send someone,” she said. “I will send several someones. I am aware of your reputation, but you are only one man.”
    â€œAs I told your husband, I’m one man who will be fixated on you, and on him.”
    â€œYou don’t frighten me, Mr. Adams,” she said. “Perhaps you frightened my husband. I rather think you probably did. But you don’t scare me. You would not shoot an unarmed woman.”
    â€œI’ll gladly shoot anyone you send after me, though,” he told her.
    â€œThen you’ll have to deal with the law.”
    â€œYou think if you send gunmen to try to kill me, the law will be on your side?”
    â€œIn this town?” she asked. “I know it will.”

SIXTEEN
    Clint left the Locksley home, shaking his head. The woman was unbendable in her resolve. He’d now spoken to husband and wife, and there was little or no difference—except he did agree that Angela Locksley had the power.
    Mary had told him that she was having an affair with Eric Locksley, but she didn’t tell him if Angela knew about it. Did the woman hate the girl simply because she thought she was after her son, or did she know about her dalliance with her husband?
    That was something Mary might be able to tell him, when she woke up.
    Clint still had not gotten himself a hotel room. He didn’t know how long the doctor would let him sleep in that spare room, but perhaps he could go back there now and freshen up for his supper date with Gina Hopewell.
    Locksley’s secretary certainly seemed willing to talk about her boss, so maybe she’d have something to say that would be of value.
    Clint returned to Doc Mathis’s office and put the question to him.
    â€œYou can stay as long as you want,” Mathis said. “In fact, I prefer having you here, in case anything goes wrong.”
    â€œDo you think the Locksleys will send men here after Mary?” Clint asked.
    â€œI think if they send anyone, it will be during the night, trying to catch us unaware. Also, that would be the cowardly thing to do.”
    â€œYou don’t have much of an opinion of them, do you?” Clint asked.
    â€œI don’t have a high opinion of them or of myself,” the doctor said. “Not after what they did to that girl.”
    â€œHow could you have stopped them?”
    â€œI