Perfect Partners

low. “Sit down. I’ll buy you another whiskey.”
    “You won’t buy me shit.” Keith swayed slightly but stayed upright. “I know what you are, Blackstone. You’re the same lowlife Copeland says you were fifteen years ago. Maybe you’ve got a little more money to throw around these days, but we all know why that is, don’t we?”
    “Shut up, Escott,” Joel advised quietly.
    “You got money and a big-time executive title now because you’re fucking the owner of Thornquist Gear.
Isn’t that right?
How does it feel to sleep your way to the top? How does it feel to be Ms. Letitia Thornquist’s private stud? You on call twenty-four hours a day?”
    Joel came up off the stool without any warning. In spite of his inebriated condition, Keith was ready for him. He swung wildly.
    Joel ducked beneath Keith’s arm and went in close just long enough to throw a short, solid punch. Then he stepped back quickly.
    Keith doubled over from the blow to his midsection. He staggered backward, but stayed on his feet. “You son of a bitch. I’ll teach you to mess around with other men’s wives. You can’t have Diana.” He surged forward.
    Chairs scraped along the floor of the Anchor as everyone darted out of the way of the two combatants. A circle formed around Joel and Keith, but no one made any move to get involved. This was no free-for-all. Joel knew why. This was between Copeland’s handpicked son-in-law and the man who had come back to shut down Echo Cove.
    Keith lashed out with a surprisingly well-aimed blow that caught Joel on the side of his face. Joel saw a few stars as he reeled back. Escott was not as soft as he looked.
    Escott pressed his advantage, sidling in close for another solid roundhouse.
    Joel threw up his arm to block the punch. “This isn’t going to solve anything,” he snarled. “I learned that a long time ago.”
    “If you’d learned anything, you wouldn’t have come back here, you bastard.” Keith delivered a well-coordinated kick with his left foot.
    Joel took the heavy blow on his left thigh. He lost his balance and went down to the hardwood floor. It occurred to him that he was making a complete fool of himself in front of the patrons of the Anchor.
    So much for the virtues of sweet reason.
    In the distance a siren wailed.
    Keith launched another kick at Joel’s ribs. Joel managed to catch hold of Escott’s ankle. He jerked hard.
    Escott fell with a thud. Joel rolled on top of him, pinning him to the floor.
    Lights from a police cruiser flashed through the windows of the tavern. An instant later the door flew open.
    “Everybody freeze,” the young cop roared. “You two on the floor. Don’t move.”
    “Shit,” Joel muttered. It struck him then that Letty was not going to be pleased with this new development.

    Letty knew she was not going to get to sleep until Joel returned to his room. She gave up the effort and got out of bed to turn on the television.
    Fifteen minutes of late-night programming was almost more than she could take. She sat through an interview with a celebrity who had recently completed his fourth therapeutic stay at a fashionable substance-abuse clinic. The actor assured the audience and the show’s host that this time he was definitely cured. Then she watched the talk-show host make a lot of incredibly tasteless jokes about a female guest’s cleavage. When the host started in on the cleavage of the male guest, Letty got up again and turned off the TV.
    She went over to the window and stared out into the darkness. Echo Cove lay shrouded in light fog and heavy silence.
    The uneasiness Letty had been feeling since Joel stormed off into the night was growing stronger. When she found herself starting to pace her room, Letty got mad.
    He was in some sleazy tavern having a great time, she decided. He was probably guzzling beer, ramming quarters into a jukebox, and dancing with every loose female in the place.
    He had never once danced with her, Letty realized. Not once. Oh, he had made love to her, all right, but he had never taken her dancing.
    He called her a nagging woman. Accused her of being a difficult boss. All because she was getting in the way of his carefully planned vengeance.
    God only knew what sort of trouble Joel might get into tonight, Letty thought anxiously. He was mad enough and wild enough to do something really stupid.
    A police siren howled in the distance. It made Letty realize how rare such sounds were in a small town like Echo Cove.