Chapter 14

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The Long Road Ranch Inn was nothing spectacular. It was in Chestnut Hill, a middle-class-family suburb of Tulsa. The inn building was three stories high, clad in red boards and blazing-white window gardens that I always thought looked like eyes. A wooden patio at the right side led to an Oklahoma prairie where horses grazed next to a pond. It crossed my mind that the patio would be a good place for summer dinners and entertainment. I tried not to pound angrily up the three granite steps that led into the lobby, where an ornate chandelier hung over the hospitality desk. The dark-skinned man with wide lips and Dumbo-worthy ears who staffed the desk welcomed me to the inn. I eyed his nametag that read “Mitchell” as I waited for him to finish his welcome spiel.

I said, politely, “I’m here to see Mr. Chambers. I think he’s expecting me.”

Mitchell craned his neck a bit to see through two glass-and-walnut doors, and said, “I think he’s at the bar.”

“Thank you,” I said.