Page 59 of Lost and Found Cowboy
“No, not yet. We’ve already been talking to a deputy. Let me find Lorna, and then we’ll call him.”
“Go,” Gertie told him. “I’ve got the kids covered. Go get Lorna.”
“You don’t haveto hold onto me so tight,” Lorna told Lyle as he all but dragged her into the courthouse, using the same tight controlling grasp on her forearm he’d used before. She’d snuck a glance at her arm in the car and saw the set of circular bruises the grips of his fingers had left there. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I just don’t want you changing your mind and trying to run away.”
“I won’t change my mind. My kids are more important to me than anything. So, you can have the coffee shop and the building.”
He leaned close to her ear. “I know I can.”
He was close enough for her to smell the beer on his breath, and she wondered if that was from this morning already or the stale leftover scent of the night before. Alcohol was the usual culprit fueling the worst of his rages, and she worried about what it couldtalk him into this morning.
The Clerk and Recorder’s office was on the second floor at the end of the hall. Lorna was thankful the elevator and hallway had been empty, and they hadn’t run into anyone they knew.
They stopped outside the office door, and Lyle tightened his hold on her arm. “Now, I’m gonna let you go, but you’re gonna behave when we get in there, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered, loathing the submission in her voice.
She wanted to yell and scream and fight and claw his psychotic eyes out, but more than anything, she wanted to get this over with and get back to her children.
Please God, let Gertie have shown up already.
They stepped through the office door, and Lorna was both thankful and mortified to see Judy Fitzgerald sitting at her desk. She was grateful for the familiar face of a friend, but ashamed that this woman would soon witness how weak she was and how she had succumbed to Lyle’s power over her.
Judy looked up, a pleasant smile on her face as they walked in, but her smile faltered as her gaze dropped to the bruises on Lorna’s arm.
She hadn’t seen her reflection, but she wondered if the red sting of the backhand still showed on her face, as well. Maybe the heat of humiliation rushing to her cheeks would hide it.
“Lorna. Lyle. What can I help you with today?” Judy kept her tone congenial, ever the professional.
Lyle nudged Lorna hard in the ribs.
“Oh…um…we would…I mean…Iwould like the deed to the commercial building where Mountain Brew is located because we…I mean…Iwant to transfer ownership of it over to Lyle.”
“You want togivethe coffee shop tohim?” Judy asked, the astonishment evident in her eyes.
Lyle nudged her already bruised ribs again, and she fought not to cry out in pain. “Yes, I do.”
“I don’t think it’syourjob to question your customers,Ju-dy,” Lyle sneered. “I think it’s your job to just get them what the hell they want.”
Lyle’s behavior was terrifying Lorna. He usually used his charm and charisma to get his way with people. In this town, he was one of the good old boys, a high school jock, who liked to pick up a round at the bar. But today, the asshole that she knew and had once loved was surfacing, and it told her that he’d either already been drinking or just how desperate he was.
And neither option was a good one.
Judy peered at Lyle over the top of her glasses. “I see. Thank you for explaining that part of my job to me. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to help you today.”
Lyle glared at her. “Why not?”
“Because we don’t keep those deeds on file here. There was a fire some years ago that destroyed a bunch of records, and ever since then, we have stored the most important documents in Denver.”
“So, you’re saying we have to drive all the way down the pass and to Denver?”
“No, not necessarily. I can put in a request for the documents, and they’ll get sent up here, usually within five to seven business days.”
“Five to seven days? We can’t wait that long.” He peered around the office at the filing cabinets and shelves behind herdesk. “You’ve got to have some kind of transfer of ownership form we can sign to do this today. I looked it up online, and it said we just had to come down to the clerk and recorder and you could take care of it.”
Judy looked at Lorna. “Are you sure this is what you really want to do?”
