Page 74 of Rocky Ride

“I noticed Dan Darkers at your wife’s reception, and I wondered why he was there. Was he a friend of either of you?”

“I’m sorry, Sheriff. I don’t know the name. I don’t know who he is.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“What did he say?” asked Virge.

“Doesn’t know him.”

“Huh,” said Virge. “Bob doesn’t know who Dan is, so he was at the funeral for Sandra. Had to be.”

“Darkers knew Sandra Ellington,” said Travis, “and he cared enough about her to put a suit on and attend her funeral. A funeral where he didn’t know anybody else—not even her husband. What does that tell us, boys?”

“No clue, Dad,” I said.

“Virgil?” Travis waited for an answer.

“He liked Sandra a lot and felt bad she was dead, or…he was scoping out the funeral to see if he could spot who killed her.”

“Or…” Travis waited for us to come up with another reason.

“Don’t know,” said Virge. “What’s the other thing?”

“Darkers killed her and went to the funeral for an entirely different reason.”

“What’s the reason, Dad?”

Travis shrugged. “No idea.”

Nashville. Tennessee.

Casey and Ardal finished an exhaustive search of the music district in Nashville looking for the songwriter and Bobby Preston and they came up empty.

Casey called Blacky to see if he had any ideas of where they should look next. “Can’t find them, bro. Have no idea where to go from here. Do you?”

“Nope. If you’ve tried coming at it from the songwriter angle and got nothing, you might as well come home. Prescott has probably sold the truck and hunkered down somewhere in Tennessee and the only way we’re going to find him is by shit-house luck.”

“Okay,” said Casey. “We’re packed up. I’ll get us a flight and we should be home by tonight.”

“Copy that.”

Brentwood Estates. Tennessee.

Bobby and Ray spent each day kicking back and being happy they were free at last. Ray wrote new songs every day and sang them for Bobby. They named the songs and made a list of them for the demo CD Ray planned to make.

Bobby’s gut wound was almost healed, and he was taking short walks each day to ease back into shape gradually.

Keeping to themselves in the trailer park was Bobby’s plan. The fewer people who knew them, the better their chances of nobody ever finding them.

So far, so good.

Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange. Texas.

Blacky called Annie and told her that Casey and Ardal hit a dead-end in Nashville.

“I told them to come home. More money down the drain and they haven’t made any progress.”

“Bobby must be well hidden,” said Annie.

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