Read The Double-Jack Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries) for Free Online Page A

The chicken-fried steak is the biggest and best in the world.”
    “It must be. That’s what the sign says. Dave wouldn’t lie about a thing like that.”
    The restaurant was crowded with locals and apparently a few tourists passing through. Tully looked around for an empty table but found nothing. Then a man and his wife at the far end stood up. The man shouted above the roar of chatter. “Here’s one you can have, Sheriff! We’re just leaving!”
    “Thanks, pardner,” Tully told him, ambling over.
    “I never thought I’d get the urge to eat again after your Freezer Day,” the man said, “but danged if I wasn’t hungry again this morning.”
    “Glad you could make it,” Tully said. He and Pap pulled out chairs and sat down. A pretty waitress came over, cleaned off the table, and returned with a couple of menus. She gave Pap a big smile. “You want the seniors’?”
    “No, miss, I still go with the regular. The white hair is just part of my costume. What’s your name anyway?”
    “Everyone calls me Missy.”
    “Well, Missy, you are the prettiest girl I’ve seen in a long while.”
    “Why, thank you!” she said, just as if she hadn’t heard the same thing from a hundred customers. She disappeared into the kitchen.
    Dave Perkins walked over and sat down. “I wondered when you two characters might show up. I’ve got my stuff ready to go.”
    “You packin’?” Tully asked.
    “Armed to the teeth.”
    “Good.”
    The waitress came back to take their orders. Pap went with the chicken-fried and hash browns with gravy. Tully had two hotcakes and bacon.
    “How can you eat bacon after seeing them little piggies?” Pap asked.
    “Piggies?” Dave said.
    “Yeah, Bo drove out to Batim’s place and gave him Clarenceand we got to see his piggies. I tell you, Dave, they are about the cutest little critters you ever seen.”
    “Piggies?” Dave said.
    When the waitress returned, she gave Pap another big smile.
    “Missy,” Dave said, “I don’t want you flirting with this old reprobate. He came by last fall and ran off with my prettiest waitress. Said he needed a housekeeper! He’s nothing but a vile old man and you best avoid him.”
    Missy laughed and returned to the kitchen. Pap watched her go. “I tell you this, Dave,” he said. “Deedee turned out to be not such a bargain as a housekeeper. She bosses me around from morning to night. You can have her back anytime.”
    “Really?” Tully said. “And here I thought you were in love with Deedee.”
    “What’s that got to do with anything? I’m in love with lots of women, but I can’t stand being bossed around.”
    “It’s their nature,” Dave said. “I’d think you’d know that by now, Pap. So, what’s this I hear about us stopping by Quail Creek Ranch?”
    “I thought we should stop for a visit,” Tully said. “I haven’t seen Agatha and Bernice since the last time we went quail hunting up there. You know they’re both getting well up in their eighties.”
    “Right,” Dave said. “Now tell me about the girl.”
    “What girl?”
    “There’s got to be a girl.”
    “Oh, well, I do recall something about Agatha’s niece staying at the ranch while Agatha helps her with her dissertation for a Ph.D.”
    “I thought so. Pap, this girl is a knockout, right?”
    “Knock you right out of your boots, Dave.”
    “Hey,” Tully said, “this trip is not about women. It’s to get off by ourselves in the mountains, do a little fishing and gold prospecting, and just generally relax.”
    “So why is it we need to be armed to the teeth?” Dave said.
    “I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.”
    “Yeah, everybody around here knows Kincaid has sworn to kill you, Bo. Half the town is rooting for him and the other half for you. So your idea is to lure him out into the mountains.”
    “That’s right. And arrest him.”
    “I bet. You figure if he shoots you, Pap or I will get him.”
    “That’s not why I’m taking the two of