Chapter Eleven

Wednesday, July 31 st .

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Me and Virge finished the morning chores and Virge kept on with his fretting about transporting our horses to Texas. “Three days in a trailer, Harlan. They ain’t gonna like it.”

“They’ll hate it, Virge. You see how crazy Lucy’s horse was when she took it out of the trailer a couple of weeks ago—the day they got here from Texas?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”

“Guess we’re taking Tammy’s horse with us.”

“Have to. We can’t leave Bonnie Grace here by herself.”

“Think Dad is sad inside him about Tammy? Like in his heart?”

“Yeah, I do. I’m sad and I ain’t Tammy’s daddy,” said Virge.

“Where the hell is that girl, Virgil?”

“Wish I knew—mostly for Dad’s peace of mind. He’s responsible for all the shit she’s done and he’s feeling it.”

“Think we’ll ever see her again?” I asked Virge as he locked up the barn.

“She can’t come back here ever again, Harlan. She’ll go straight to fuckin’ jail.”

“Yeah, there’s that.”

Billy cooked breakfast for Dad’s last day of work.

“You don’t need to do that, Billy. I can make breakfast for y’all same way I always do.”

“I’m doing it today, Travis. You just sit there and drink your coffee.”

Travis laughed. “Okay. Last day of work ain’t a big thing to celebrate. Ain’t like my wake or nothing.”

“Big enough,” said Virge. “We’re gonna party all day and deep into the night. Me and Harlan are done working too, and we’ll be doing some moon-howling tonight.”

Travis laughed.

“We’re hanging up our utility belts and our badges, Billy,” said Virge. “Harrison County will go to hell in a handbasket, but we’ll be kicking up dust in Texas and we won’t know a thing about it.”

Virge made me chuckle.

“You guys like working as deputies,” said Billy. “I don’t know too many guys your ages who work as hard as the two of you.”

“Thanks, Billy.”

“I agree,” said Travis. “You boys are fuckin’ great deputies. Best in Montana.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I gave Travis a fist bump and he reached across the table and gave Virge one too.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Molly was ready for Dad’s last day when we got to the station. She had a big cake on the gallery part of her desk up above where she worked. Paper plates, napkins and forks there too.

The words written on the chocolate icing said— We’ll miss you Travis, Harlan, Virgil, Max and Sarge —and there were pictures on the cake that looked just like our dogs.

Almost brough a tear to my eye.

“I ain’t eating a piece with a dog on it,” said Virge.

“Wow, that’s some cake, Molly,” said Travis. “Thanks for being so thoughtful, and for all you’ve done for me since the day I got here as a rookie.”

Molly smiled. “You’ve never been a rookie, Travis. Marines are not rookies.”

Travis laughed. “Guess that might be true.”

“We’ll cut the cake at morning break,” said Molly. “We have arraignments this morning.”

“Me and Virge will get the prisoners ready to go, Dad. You have a coffee and stare at your cake.”

“Thanks, Harlan.” Travis laughed and went to get himself a coffee.

I could already tell Dad’s last day of work was going to be one we’d remember.

Harrison County Courthouse. Coyote Creek.

The arraignments were boring as hell. That’s why nobody ever came to watch them. Same old. Stand in front of the judge and enter the plea. Bail or no bail.

The best stuff happened in the parking lot after Susan Mannington made bail and her brother, Matt, came to pick her up.

Both of our prisoners made bail, and they weren’t coming back to our jail. Happy about that, we were getting into the squad when Virge saw Matt open the door of his truck for his sister and then Matt kissed her like guys never kissed their sister.

Unless you were me and Lucy.

“What the fuck?” hollered Virge. “That ain’t his sister.”

“Drive closer and get the fuckin tag on Matt’s truck,” said Travis.

Virge veered over near them and hollered out the letters and the numbers.

Travis punched it in, and the Ford came up registered to Matt Goreman. “His name ain’t Mannington. It’s Goreman.”

“He got a sheet?” I asked.

“Hang on a second.” Travis ran the name through the police database. “Yep. Here he is. Matthew Goreman. Armed robbery.”

“Could’ve been the same convenience store as Miss Susie,” said Virgie.

“Yeah. Coulda been, Virge. Get us back to the station. I’m putting Billy and Ted on Matt Goreman.”

“Copy that, Dad. Making a run to the station.” Virge squealed the tires on the squad as we zoomed out into the street. He made Dad laugh.

Mannington Residence. Shelby. Montana.

Billy and Ted got the job of watching Matt and Susan after Susan was released on bail.

Using Billy’s pickup, they were out of sight parked halfway down the street in a residential part of Shelby.

“This is a good spot,” said Ted. “I’ve got a scope anyway if we need to ID somebody in a hurry.”

“Like who? Some famous robber knocks on Susan’s door?”

Ted laughed. “Yeah, like that.”

Billy and Ted had both finished the coffee they’d brought with them and were thinking of going for more when a van and a pickup pulled into Susan’s driveway.

“Huh,” said Billy. “Looks like they’re having a meeting. Five more guys coming to the party.”

“Susie is the inside person,” said Ted. “Virgie is sure of it.”

“Virge is right more often than not,” said Billy. “He picked Susan and there is a lot of convincing shit circling around her, Ted. I’m starting to think Virge may be right on the money. Now her fake brother is one of the puzzle pieces. They’re a team.”

“Should we pay another call on the casino boss and tell him the thing is heating up?”

Billy shrugged. “What’s the point? We tried to help him, and he laughed in our faces. Said the casino couldn’t be robbed.”

“Guess we’ll let them have at it then,” said Ted. “We can’t arrest this bunch. Not yet anyway. Talking about a robbery ain’t much to bring them in on. They haven’t committed a crime.”

“Not yet,” said Billy.

Wait for it…

Maynooth. Northern Ontario.

Bobby decided he had nowhere better to go so he headed for the cabin in Northern Ontario that Tammy talked about all the time when they were a couple.

Her mama’s cabin on Baptiste Lake.

Bobby had no idea if he could find it, but it would give him and Cleo something to do. And if he did find it, it should be a safe place to stay for a while.

“Can you remember where Tammy said the key was, Cleo? We might have to hunt for it—like a treasure hunt.”

Cleo wagged her tail.

Bobby pulled into the gas station on the corner of the highway in Maynooth and filled up the Wrangler. He filled his lungs with fresh northern air and wondered why anybody would want to live anywhere but up here. Trees and lakes and rivers and not too many people.

“Yep. I already love it here, Ray. Wish you were with me.”

Bobby went inside to pay for the gas and asked the clerk at the cash. “You know where Annie Powell’s cabin is? It’s on North Baptiste Lake. Am I close to that?”

“Yep, you are. Want me to draw you a map?”

“That would be fantastic,” said Bobby.

The girl drew a map on a scrap of paper and marked all the turns. “That’s the north lake road. Once you turn onto that road, you’ll have to watch the mailboxes to find her cabin. I don’t know which one it is. Sorry. Don’t know her.”

“This will help a lot. Appreciate it. I should load up on some groceries while I’m here. I’ll fill a cart and be back to check out.”

Bobby bought enough food and water for a few days, paid the bill, then loaded up the Wrangler.

With the map in his hand, he drove south down the highway and watched for his turn.

“Tell me when you see North Baptiste Lake Road, Cleo. Your eyes are better than mine.”

Bobby cruised along until he saw the sign, turned on the lake road and drove slowly reading the name on every mailbox.

“Left side, Cleo. See that? We’re here.”

Cleo hung her big head out the window.

“Whoa. Helluva steep driveway, girl.”

Bobby pounded the gas and rammed the Jeep into four-wheel drive to make it up the hill. Once he was up and in the clearing, he could see how cute the log cabin was. He drove around back where the Jeep was out of sight and cut the engine.

“This place is nicer than the one Ray and I had in West Virginia, Cleo.” She was running wild, sniffing the ground and growling.

“Don’t you go too far. Might be wolves or something around here.”

Bobby started looking for the key. Lifting flowerpots and running his hand along the tops of windows. Wracking his brain, he couldn’t remember where Tammy told him it was.

“I should’ve been listening, Cleo. Guess I wasn’t.”

Trauma Unit. Watertown. New York.

“Is the Jane Doe awake yet, nurse?” asked Detective Carmichael.

“No, sir. She’s in a coma and her injuries are so severe, she may never wake up. You should get ready for a long wait before she ever talks to you, sir.”

“It would help me out a lot if we could take her prints, ma’am. If we knew who she was, we could call her family and find out what happened to her.”

“The doctor left orders that no one was to move her or touch her, Detective. You’ll need the doctor’s okay before taking her fingerprints.”

“When will the doctor be in, ma’am?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Could I have his cell number, please?”

“Of course. Let me get it for you.”

Carmichael sighed. He was getting nowhere fast on Jane Doe’s case.

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek. Montana .

The end of Travis’ last day as Sheriff of Harrison County and me and Virge were anxious to celebrate. We cruised into the roadhouse after work and Jack had a special booth set up for us.

Savanna had decorated it with a sign that said,

SHERIFF FROST’S LAST DAY

We laughed, but Dad thought we were making too much fuss over his last day of work. He wasn’t laughing.

“Did you boys just walk away from your surveillance on Susan Mannington and her crazy brother, Matt Goreman?” asked Travis.

“Yeah, I guess we did,” said Billy. “We didn’t want to miss your party. Nothing happening there and it’s not our case anyway. If they head south to rob Big Bear there’s not a damned thing we can do about it, Travis. The Conrad cops will catch it.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Travis.

Travis was surprised how many local people showed up for his party. County Supervisor Lyndell Gibson, Doctor Olsen the County Coroner, Gloria Grafton from County Child Services, and the DA for Harrison County even showed up with a couple of his assistants.

They just kept on coming in through the front door of the roadhouse and congratulating him.

“This is embarrassing,” Travis mumbled. “I’ll get Billy for this.”

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