Tale of the Broken Spoke: a Sedona Chi Mystery by Paul Johnson

Author:Paul Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2021-01-14T14:39:19+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Female Firepower

Lilac hated driving down I-17 to Phoenix. Her Rubicon Jeep was great on Sedona’s backroads, but at seventy-five the soft top, plastic windows, and terrabite Baja tires made it sound like a jet engine on a tarmac. She couldn’t even hear Karen Carpenter on Fun Oldies 100.9. However, she had decided helping Zula Ballsy trumped doing the bidding of a two-timing ex-boyfriend. She had known Zula long before she even met Skip Rhodes. Sister camaraderie was thicker than male BS.

Mooney Zuni Gallery and Gift Shop was located a block from Old Town Scottsdale. The southwest tchotchke market was cutthroat, and attracting customers with schlocky sounding names and sidewalk sales was the name of the game; which only partially excused the politically incorrect painted wooden Indian wearing a Sioux headdress and holding a bowl of candies outside the front door. Lilac took a red and white striped mint.

The only authentic Zuni pieces in the store were those worn by Terrance Mooney, Teresa to his old friends. She was heading directly to Terry’s back office but was stopped by the overly decorated salesgirl behind the counter. The girl had more lemon colored beads in her hair than a cholla had yellow buds, and a wedge of saguaro spine sticking through a hole in one ear. She looked to be maybe twenty with sunburned shoulders as red as a miner’s pecker after an all-nighter at Miss Kitty’s. Lilac smelled aloe in the air.

“Can I help you?” the salesgirl said in an aggressively loud voice to get Lilac’s attention. She had stepped from behind the central counter and was eyeing the pistol strapped on Lilac’s hip.

Lilac followed her gaze and decided the girl’s interest was a teaching opportunity. “It’s a Glock,” Lilac said, patting the gun. “I wasn’t expecting any trouble today so I packed light. The G19 is popular with women. I was able to customize the grip to my hand. As a 9mm it’s on the low end in firepower, but hey, as long as I aim straight, right?” Lilac snickered at the girl’s silence and turned to head back to the owner’s office.

“I prefer the Kimber K6,” Lilac heard the girl say from behind. She was back behind her counter holding a K6 snub-nose revolver. Lilac recognized it as the lightest Magnum, good for petite-sized women with firearm experience, but still a hole-blasting Magnum. “It feels good and smooth in your hands, kind of sexy don’t you think. Little kick, but nothing I can’t handle,” the salesgirl said. “Anything I can help you with?” she smiled politely.

“Very cool,” Lilac said. A chip off the old block, she thought. “Lilac Williams, I’m here to see Terry. He knows I’m coming.”

“Betsy Oakley. Let’s just check,” the girl said cutely, wrinkling her nose like a contestant answering a question at a beauty pageant. She put her K6 away and walked around to join Lilac. “What do you need from Terry?” she said walking toward his office.

Lilac fingered her stress-relieving anti-anxiety chakra bracelet. It had been awhile since anyone had pulled a gun on her, even just for show.

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