Page 8 of River Ride

“Ted confirmed there was only one set of prints.”

“The father could’ve fixed the prints easy enough when he cooked up the poaching story,” said Travis. “I don’t like the vibes I’m getting from Carpenter or his son.”

“Ask Molly to check and see if the kid had any shooting awards,” I said. “Three to the heart takes a lot of skill when you’re on horseback.”

“Sure does, son. Also, you ask her to look into Trevor Carpenter’s background. High school and all the rest of it. See if the kid has been in trouble.” Travis chuckled. “See if he has a juvie record.”

I smiled at that one. “Copy that, Sheriff.”

After the bookings had been completed for father and son, Travis allowed Jed Carpenter to make his phone call.

I fetched him out of the run and let him use the landline at the spare desk in the squad room. He called a lawyer in Cut Bank and the guy promised to come to the station later in the afternoon.

“I’ll let you know when your legal counsel gets here, Mister Carpenter.” I locked him in the cell next to his boy.

Billy closed the office door and sat down at his desk to make the call to Marlene Treadway in Missoula. It rang a couple of times before she answered.

“Mrs. Treadway, this is Undersheriff Billy Johnson calling you from the Harrison County office.”

“Yes, Sheriff, the local police have been here to my house. Have you found out who shot my husband? I want to know who would kill Wayne and why. He was a good person and a good husband and father.”

“I need to ask you a few questions to help us with the investigation, ma’am. Do you feel up to giving me a few answers?”

“Okay. What do you want to know?”

“Why was Wayne way up here in the northern part of the state?”

“He has friends up there he likes to hunt with.”

“This is the middle of summer, ma’am. There is no hunting until September at the earliest.”

“I’m not aware of the dates, Sheriff. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. Do you know the names of his friends up here?”

“Umm…let me think. I’ve only met one of them, I think, and it was a couple of years ago. No. I met two. The only names I can think of offhand are Brian Groveman and Terry Marshall. Sorry, I don’t have addresses for them, but they must live near you.”

“I’m sure they do.” Billy wrote the names down. “Your husband was on horseback when he was shot, ma’am. Did he trailer his horse to Montana?”

“Wayne doesn’t have a horse, Sheriff. I don’t think he knows how to ride one.”

“Thank you very much, Mrs. Treadway. You’ve been very helpful.”

Mainliner Diner. Coyote Creek.

Dad sent us across the road to the diner to get lunch for the prisoners and he told us to eat while we were over there. We ordered our usual, burgers and fries, and were nearly done eating when a text hit my cell.

“Who’s that?” asked Virge. “Probably Penny.”

I smiled thinking it would be Penny. We’d been getting along great, and I liked her a lot. I glanced at the text, and it was from Lucy.

Lucy was another story for me. I didn’t justlikeLucy, Ilovedher. Like I shouldn’t be loving my foster sister—like that kind of hot love.

“What are you going to do about Penny when Lucy is staying at the ranch, bro? No use pretending you aren’t thinking about it. I know you have the hots for Lucy and love her like a fuckin wild man. You’ve told me enough times.”

“I’m not sure what I’ll say to Penny when Lucy is staying with us. Somehow, I’ll have to put Penny on hold.”

Virge laughed. “This is going to be so fuckin good, Harlan. I can hardly wait to see how it plays out and what a fuckin mess you make of it.”

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