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it's right to coldcock your brother when somebody's holding his arms."
    Jim had the grace to look chagrined, and dipped his chin onto his chest."I was caught up. Heat of the moment. And the son of a bitch pissed me off. You're that Outsider's come to be chief of police, aren't you?"
    "You're a quick study, Jim."
    Jim sulked during the short drive to the station house. Then he trudged along as Nate took him inside.
    "Lower 48 here," he said the minute he spotted Otto and Peach, "he doesn't understand how things are done in Lunacy."
    "Why don't you explain it all to him?" There was a light in Otto's eyes. It might've been glee.
    "Need the first-aid kit. Step into my office, Jim."
    Nate led him in, pushed him into a chair, then, after unhooking one of the cuffs, snapped it onto the arm of the chair.
    "Aw, come on. If I was going anywhere, I could just take this little dink of a chair with me."
    "Sure you could. Then I'd add stealing police property to the mix."
    Jim sulked some more. He was a bony man of about thirty, with a shaggy mop of brown hair, a narrow face sunken at the cheeks. His eyes were brown, with the left puffing up nicely from one of those shortarmed punches. His lip was split and continued to dribble blood.
    "I don't like you," he decided.
    "That's not against the law. Disturbing the peace, destroying property, assault. Those are."
    " 'Round here, a man wants to pound on his fool of a brother, it's his business."
    "Not anymore. 'Round here, these days, a man's going to show respect for private property, and public property. He's going to show respect for duly designated officers of the law."
    "Peter? That little shithead."
    "That's Deputy Shithead now."
    Jim blew a sighing breath that had blood spitting out along with the air. "Christ's sake, I've known him since before he was born."
    "When he's wearing a badge, and he tells you to settle down, you settle, whether or not you've known him in vitro."
    Jim managed to look both interested and baffled. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
    "I get that." He glanced over as Peach came in.
    "Got the first-aid kit and an ice pack." She flipped the ice pack to Jim, set the kit on the desk in front of Nate. Then she fisted her hands on her hips. "Jim Mackie, you just don't grow any smarter, do you?"
    "It was Bill started it." Flushing, he pressed the ice pack to his bleeding lip.
    "So you say. Where is Bill?"
    "Peter's bringing him along," Nate said. "When he wakes up."
    Peach sniffed. "Your mother's likely to blacken your other eye when
    she has to bail you out." With that prediction, she walked out, snapped the door closed.
    " Jeez! You're not going to put me in jail for punching my own brother."
    "I could. Maybe I'll cut you some slack, seeing as this is my first day on the job." Nate leaned back. "What were you fighting about?"
    "Okay, listen to this." Gearing up for his own defense, Jim slapped his hands on his knees. "That brainless jackass said how Stagecoach was the best Western ever made when everybody knows it's Red River."
    Nate said nothing for a long moment. "That's it?"
    "Well, Christ's sake! "
    "Just want to be clear. You and your brother whaled on each other because you disagreed about the relative merits of Stagecoach versus Red River in the John Wayne oeuvre."
    "In his what?"
    "You were fighting over John Wayne movies."
    Jim shifted on his seat. "Guess. We'll settle up with Charlene. Can I go now?"
    "You'll settle up with Charlene, and you'll pay a fine of a hundred dollars each for creating a public nuisance."
    "Oh hell now. You can't—"
    "I can." Nate leaned forward, and Jim got a good look at cool, quiet gray eyes that made him want to squirm in his seat. "Jim, listen to what I'm saying to you. I don't want you or Bill fighting in The Lodge. Anywhere else for that matter, but for just this minute, we'll pinpoint The Lodge. There's a young boy who spends most of his day there."
    "Well, hell, Rose always takes Jesse back in the kitchen if