Page 19 of River Ride

“You’re being mean to me, Mama. I don’t want to go back to Montana. Travis is mad at me, and he’ll be mean to me too.”

“No, he won’t, and I’m not being mean to you either, Tammy. You’re the one causing all the problems. It’s not the rest of the world like you believe it is. Until we can trust that you won’t run away again, you’ll have to wait here in the truck. I’ll bring you your breakfast when I come back.”

“I don’t want her in my truck,” whispered Rowdy. “She makes me too nervous.”

“I’ll stay with her for the rest of the trip until we turn her over to Travis. He’s responsible for her now that she’s on parole.”

Rowdy nodded. “That girl shouldn’t be out of the hospital, Annie.”

“I’m beginning to agree with you, sugar. I believe it’s a little too soon.”

“A little?”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

“How far is Butte from here?” asked Virge.

“In miles or drive time?” asked Billy.

“Time,” said Virge.

“Just over four hours,” said Billy.

“Wow. They’ll be here this afternoon.”

“That’s going to be a whack load of people here for dinner,” said Travis. “You boys will have to do grocery shopping this afternoon. Make a list.”

I opened my leather notebook and took my pen out of my pocket. “Shoot. Go, Dad.”

Travis started spewing out stuff we needed, and Billy and Virge jumped in and added more. The list was huge when I finished it.

“Y’all get that shopping done right after lunch, then drive up here and put it all away and tidy up the house before Annie and the kids get here.”

“Copy that. It’s gonna be a busy day.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

All morning at the station, we worked on the case. Kody Kollard dropped in shortly after nine talking about all the deer and elk meat in Brian Groveman’s freezer.

“There’s nobody around his place,” said Kody. “I’ll have to wait until he turns up to ticket him and confiscate his rifle.”

“Molly has been phoning around trying to locate him and has had no luck so far,” said Travis. “His hunting buddies don’t seem to know where he is, and he’s currently unemployed.”

“Did you get anything useful from the sack of grain, Warden Kollard?” asked Virge.

“Nothing has come back from the lab yet, Virgil. I’ll let you know as soon as I get the report.”

“Thanks.”

Around ten, I stopped filling out reports and went into the break room to get myself a coffee. Virge followed me down the halland whispered to me, “I’m running across to the laundromat, Harlan. Cover for me.”

“I thought you broke up with Vicki.”

“Yeah, but it was a text. I’m a better man than that.”

“Okay. Don’t be long or Dad will start missing you. I don’t like lying to Travis.”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

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