Page 30 of River Ride

7:00 a.m.

Annie was cooking breakfast when we left but Virge and I didn’t get any. Neither did Dad, but he looked like he was going to puke anyway.

We took our Jeep with Virge behind the wheel for the trip to the border. We’d have to change off later if Tammy was going all the way to the fuckin cabin again. No reason for her to go there. It was sitting empty. But Tammy’s head was screwed up and she might think that Fontana guy was there or something.

Dad sat in the passenger seat. Lowered the window and lit up a smoke. He wasn’t saying a goddamned thing.

I sat in the back seat with Max and Sarge trying to think of what the hell we should do.

Border Crossing. Montana/Alberta Line.

7:45 a.m.

“Pull over there next to the office, Virge. I’ll go in and talk to Mark.”

Virge parked and we went into the customs office to ask questions.

“Is Mark here?” Travis asked the woman at the front counter.

“He’s just coming on duty, sir. I’ll get him for you.”

Mark came out of the back office with a coffee in his hand and grinned at Travis. “Hey, Sheriff. Got something going on?”

“Yeah, nothing good, Mark. Believe me. My squad was stolen, and I think it might have crossed here a few hours ago.”

Mark moved to the computer on the end of the counter. “Plate number?”

Travis told him the tag number and Mark typed it in. “You’re right. I wasn’t on duty, but that vehicle crossed at four a.m.”

“Any clues on where the driver might have been going?”

“Only the officer who cleared the vehicle and the driver would have had a conversation like that.”

“That person still here?”

Mark shook his head. “Nope. Shift has changed. Sorry.”

“Okay. Thanks for your help, Mark.”

“Hope you get your truck back, Sheriff.”

“Yeah, the county will be hoping for that too.”

We ran back to the Jeep and had a little discussion as we crossed the line into Canada.

“I think she’ll go back to that cabin, Dad. Where else would she go?”

“Yeah, I thought of the cabin in British Columbia first off, but then I wondered about the trailer where we found the dead guys. That was a big trauma for Tammy, and she might feel she has to go back there.”

“I don’t think she would go back there, Dad. She ran from there after she killed those guys.”

“Maybe not, but I’m thinking it’s close and we should check it first before we go hundreds of miles in the opposite direction.”

“I see what you’re saying, Dad,” said Virge. “Cross it off before we go on to door number two.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Okay. Taking the highway up to Taber,” said Virge. “We’ll check the trailer park first.”

---