Order another drink!

“Gimme another, Annabelle.”

Why not? Texas was feeling brave and this day was already turning out differently from any other. Liquid courage, that’s what she’d heard it called more than once. Sometimes a sheriff’s courage isn’t enough, and she could feel that extra dose warming her up from the inside.

Besides, it was for the job, after all. Maybe all she needed was to try a different tactic, and she’d be ready to face any situation. She knocked back the last few dregs that had been resting in her tumbler and clacked it down on the bar.

“Ain’t you supposed to be working today?” Annabelle asked, though she had overcome her surprise quickly enough to know better than to turn down a paying customer when she had one. She refilled Texas’ glass and took the cash as dutifully as any barkeep, though kept one eye on the sheriff at all times. It was hard not to be wary of a trick with an old foe acting so out of character.

But there was no trick. Texas was simply here to do some investigating, and this was all part of the plan. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. Whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working. Annabelle, though cautious, had eased up around Texas and seemed to have forgotten the earlier enquiries. She was ripe for plucking info from, if Texas could figure out a plan.

And there was a plan, right? Surely, she hadn’t just turned up to get herself pissed. Although if she hadn’t, she was sure heading that way. Her thoughts were starting to get muddier and there was still enough sobriety in the weasel to know she might not be in a condition to keep her investigation going. Not unless she had a really good plan that involved being more wasted than six bullets in the desert sands.

Plans would come in time. Texas had always found that sometimes sitting on your ass and thinking up a plan was a surefire way to get yourself done in. No, this was the time for action and if nothing more came to mind then ordering another drink was as good an action as any.