The Great Jackalope Stampede by Ann Charles, C. S. Kunkle

have a visitor. From where he sat, he couldn’t read the license plate to see if it were a local.
    He climbed out of his pickup and stretched, trying to work out several kinks he’d acquired last night thanks to Chester’s couch. As if the lumpy cushions and lack of length weren’t bad enough, Mac had tossed and turned in a fog of stale cigar smoke that seemed to seep from the fabric and foam.
    He shaded his eyes from the sun, which had crested the Tres Dedos Mountains to the east hours ago and burned away most of the remaining coolness. The only shadows left were huddling at the base of the large mass of Precambrian granite called the Middle Finger, which jutted out of the northern flank of the range. He grinned, remembering Claire’s comment from a couple of months ago that the Middle Finger was Mother Nature’s response to the Copper Snake Mining Company’s continued blasting and ravaging of the surrounding desert over the last century. She had such a creative way with words.
    The screen door creaked open. Claire’s cousin Natalie stepped onto the porch, letting the screen door slap shut behind her. When her gaze hit his, she shook her head. “You don’t want to go in there.”
    “I don’t?”
    “Absolutely not. I’d advise getting back in your pickup and flooring it in the other direction.”
    Shit. He felt his grin wilt. “Is Deborah dabbling with her evil magic wand already this morning?”
    “Not yet.” Natalie descended the steps and joined him in the warm sunshine. “Your aunt has a visitor,” she said in a lowered voice.
    He glanced back over at the Cadillac then walked around the front of it. Natalie followed.
    The Ohio plates were plastered with bug guts. Who did Ruby know from … then it hit him. He winced, hissing inwardly through his teeth. “Oh, hell. Don’t tell me that’s Jess’s dad’s car.”
    “Winner winner chicken dinner. Give the man a prize.” Natalie crossed her arms over her chest. “From what I’ve gleaned through all of the yelling and cursing while I inhaled my bacon and eggs, your cousin invited him to come to Arizona for a visit, and he took her up on it.”
    Had Ruby known about this? She would normally have mentioned something as big and ugly as this to Mac if so.
    “Ruby looked like she’d bit into a slab of raw liver when Jess’s pop walked in the door.”
    Mac rubbed his hand over his face, his whiskers making a scratching sound. “Damn it. Ruby doesn’t need this on top of Deborah being here, especially with Harley out of commission.”
    Natalie nodded slowly. “Yeah. Not to mention the situation with the university crew.”
    “Exactly.” Wait! Mac frowned at Natalie. “What situation?”
    “You know, the conspiracy stuff Claire keeps talking about.”
    What particular conspiracy stuff this time? He cocked his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. More importantly, he thought, “Has something happened recently?” Something that Claire had not told him about? Not that he had had any time alone with her since he had arrived at the R.V. park to get caught up with her latest presumptions.
    Natalie’s cell phone rang. “Didn’t she tell you about that weird conversation I overheard?” She tugged the phone out of her back pocket.
    “Not yet.”
    She grinned when she looked down at her cell phone’s screen. “It’s my other half from back home. I have to take this.” She lifted the phone to her ear. “Nat’s cat house, head puss speaking.”
    Mac did a double take. Had he heard her right?
    “Violet Lynn Parker, always good to hear your sweet swearing voice.” She paused, listening. “No freaking way.” She listened some more, her smile widening. “Wait, wait! You need to back the truck up and tell me how this all started.”
    Mac didn’t hang around to eavesdrop on Natalie’s call. Ruby was most likely in need of reinforcements by now. He just hoped her shotgun was still resting against the wall up in her closet. He took the porch steps