Lost in the work, he didn't hear Frances enter. 'Little late this morning,' she said. 'It's afternoon,' he told her. 'Even later then.' She was standing at the foot of the ladder, wearing jeans and a sweater with a vest over-top. Her hair was tied back and she had a slightly pissed-off look about her. And the comment itself was out of the blue. Carl worked his own hours and she had never questioned him on it. 'Mondays,' he said. 'Moving kind of slow.' Frances made a point of looking at her watch. 'I was thinking you were moving pretty fast. You've been to the city already, had a little talk with Bud Stephens, drove back here and now you're stringing wire and acting dumb.' Carl stripped the ends of the cable. 'Can't anybody keep a secret anymore?' 'Apparently not,' Frances said. 'He called me two minutes after you left. You want to tell me about it?' 'Didn't he?' 'I'd like to hear your version, Galahad.' 'I told him I knew it was him behind that shit at the market.' 'Thought you were going to keep out of it.' 'I said I would stay out of the landfill situation. I didn't say I was going to let Bud Stephens push you around.' 'Bud Stephens is not going to push me around,' Frances said. 'You do realize that this whole notion of you protecting me is rather sexist, don't you? I hired you to build this addition. That's it.' Carl connected the wires before turning to look at her. 'OK, how about this? If these guys try to run you out of the market it could affect your business, and if your business suffers, I could be out of a job. So really, I did it for selfish reasons.' 'That the best you got?' 'I thought it was pretty clever,' Carl said. 'You know, for spur of the moment.' 'I'll let you know when you're being clever,' she told him. 'And this morning didn't qualify. I'm not the schoolmarm and you're not John Wayne.' 'I don't want to be John Wayne. Can't do the walk.' She wasn't smiling. 'All right,' Carl said. 'So what did Bud say?' 'Same thing he said to you, I'm guessing. He lied about the whole thing, said he had nothing to do with it. Said it's not his style. Why do guys like that always think they have style?' 'That was it?' Carl asked. She shrugged. 'Pretty much.' He caught her hesitation. 'What else?'She took a moment. 'Nothing you want to hear.''Let me decide.'She sighed. 'He brought up Red Walton and then he suggested that you were a disreputable character. Told me I shouldn't be associating with you.' 'He's probably right.' 'Oh, he probably is,' Frances said. 'But I'll be goddamned if I'll let Bud Stephens make that call. I'll let you get back to work, Carl.' 'Yes, ma'am.''And don't ever call me ma'am again,' she said, and left. Excerpted from Rough Justice by Brad Smith All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
