She nodded and checked her computer.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the same room available. But we do have several vacancies. Would you like a king size bed since you’re a big man?” Her face flushed as she realized what she had said, and she quickly told him the price for the night.
“A king is perfect.” Deke tried not to grin as he swiped his credit card through the machine.
“Do you know how long you’ll be staying with us?”
“I’m not sure. It could be a few days or weeks, it depends.”
“I understand.” She handed him a keycard for his room. “Enjoy your stay.”
“I’m sure I will. Thank you.” He nodded and picked up his duffle bag before heading toward the elevator. As he stepped inside and pressed the button for his floor, he caught sight of the woman still watching him from behind the counter as the doors closed shut.
When the elevator stopped on his floor, he waited as the doors opened, and stepped out. He strode in the direction of his room and stopped infront of the door, inserted the keycard and pushed the door open. After making sure the door closed, he put the security latch on, then tossed his duffle bag onto the bed.
He unzipped it, removed his clothes, put them in a drawer, then he took the computer from the bag, sat on the bed, took off his boots, and swung his legs up onto the bed.
Opening his laptop, he looked into the Winchester family and learned quite a bit and it wasn’t all good.
Deke shook his head as he read about the family. It seemed they were always in trouble with the local law. Not that any livestock theft was mentioned but they were cited for destroying neighbors’ fences to move their own past their boundary lines. Two of the sons, ages twenty and twenty-two were arrested for putting poison down a well on another neighbors’ property, though for some reason, the charges were later dropped. Deke had a feeling their father got them out of it. Luckily, no animals or people were hurt. The well had to be closed and that might have been their purpose all along.
The oldest boy ended up in jail for getting into a fight with another neighbor. If the family had problems getting along with three of their neighbors, Deke knew it was not a stretch that they had problems with Hollister.
“Damn. How in the hell did they get away with so much shit?” Deke murmured as he looked up local politicians, judges, lawyers, and law enforcement. He scanned his eyes through, what looked like a lot of names for such a small town, but he saw nothing that would tell him exactly whythey got away with everything.
His stomach growled and he realized it was time for lunch. He set the computer on the bed, opened the drawer on the nightstand and pulled out several local menus. He was happy to see that a couple of them delivered.
He knew he could go downstairs and eat at the buffet, but he was too interested in getting through these names to leave the room.
After placing an order with a sandwich shop, he got back to looking into the names. He wanted to send a text to Mr. Hollister about getting here, but he’d wait until his lunch arrived.
Twenty minutes later, a knock sounded on the door, he stood, picked his wallet up from the nightstand, and got the delivery person a tip, then he peered through the peephole to see a kid standing there, so he opened the door.
“Hey, I can smell that already,” Deke said.
The kid grinned. “We have the best burgers in town.”
Deke smirked.Yeah, maybe in this town.
“I sure hope so, I’m starving.” He reached for the bag.
“Are you a cop?” the kid asked as he handed Deke the bag of food and nodded at his badge hooked to his belt.
“Livestock agent out of Clifton.”
“Cool. I’ve been there. It’s a great town.”
“Yes, it is. Here you go.” Deke handed him a twenty. He’d already paid for the meal online.
“Oh, hey, I don’t have any change.”
Deke grinned. “I don’t expect any. Have a good day.”
“Wow! Thank you. Enjoy your meal. Later,man.” The kid walked down the hall and Deke closed the door with a grin.
Walking toward the bed, he opened the bag, inhaled, and groaned at the wonderful smells coming from it.
Sinking down onto the plush hotel bed, Deacon released a contented sigh as he reached for the foil-wrapped burger and small bag of onion rings. Taking a bite of one of the crispy rings, he gave a nod of approval.
