Her eyes widen. “No shit? I’ve already heard of you.”
I push the shot glass across the bar toward her. “You better pour me another.”
She reaches to refill the shot. “You’re the one from up north that apparently rode Logan Brantley’s dick all last night.”
I choke on the liquor as I toss it back. Her lack of filter reminds me of me.
“You pay a lot of attention to gossip?” I ask when I’m done coughing.
“I can’t avoid it, working behind this bar. But that’s only part time. I work swing shift at the furniture factory too. I pick up as much extra work as I can, including sometimes changing oil for Logan at the garage when he needs an extra set of hands.”
An older man sidles up to the bar wearing a VFW trucker hat, a flannel shirt, and wrinkled black slacks. “I need another beer, Nicole, and Rosie is MIA.”
“Sorry, Joe. Her kid’s been sick lately, so she’s had to leave a lot. I’ll fix ya right up.” She pulls a pint glass from behind the bar and slides it under the tap.
The old man takes the stool next to mine, but ignores me completely. “So you heard about the house that blew up on County Line Road tonight? It was next to Millie Freeman’s place, and she’s raising a stink. Cops can’t keep ignoring this shit much longer, because Millie ain’t having it.”
“Another meth house?” Nicole asks.
“That’s what they’re saying.”
“Such a shame. We keep losing employees here and at the factory because they come in high as a kite, tweaking, and can’t barely string five words together.”
Joe nods. “Same everywhere. I swear, it’s a damned epidemic. Someone’s getting rich off it while they poison this town.”
“Do the police have any leads?” I ask, interjecting myself into the conversation.
“Who the hell are you?” Joe asks, swinging his head toward me.
I hold out a hand. “Banner Regent. I’m new in town.”
Old Joe looks me up and down. “Shit, I can tell you’re not from here. What the hell brings you to Gold Haven?”
Isn’t that the million-dollar question?
“I think she’s here to lock down Logan Brantley,” Nicole offers.
I cut my gaze to her. “Really? You’re just going to throw me under the bus like that? And by the way, I’m not here to lock anyone down. I needed a change of place and a change of pace. I’m friends with Holly Wix’s sister-in-law, so she let me use the house in exchange for keeping an eye on it.”
Joe accepts my explanation at face value and nods. “It’s a good thing, because I think these meth houses that’ve been blowing up are usually vacant or abandoned. It would’ve been terrible to see Rosemary’s place go up next.”
That thought, while horrible, actually makes me feel a little better about this whole deal. Maybe I really am offering a useful service to Holly and Creighton.
“That would be a shame,” Nicole says, setting the beer in front of Joe.
“Damn right. Fuckin’ tweakers don’t have a single thought in their head to the damage they’re causing.” He leans forward and whispers to Nicole. “But the cops don’t think it’s possible that it’s just a few random individuals cooking this shit. There’s too much of that shit moving around this town, from what I overheard.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
Nicole answers instead of Joe. “It means we’ve got someone in this town running a drug operation while they’re living right under our noses.”
“Shit’s gonna get bad if we start pointing fingers at each other,” Joe says.
She nods. “I suppose that’s best left up to the cops to figure out before people start throwing accusations around.”
“Things are bound to get messy either way, in my opinion. Not that anyone gives a shit what this old man has to say.”
Nicole wipes the towel along the bar again, covering the same spot for the third time. “You better not get shit messy in here, old man.”