Chapter Ten

Saturday, September 28th.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

As soon as Travis shut the water off in the shower he could hear his cell ringing on the vanity. He stepped out of the stall and grabbed the phone before it went to message. "Livvy, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just missing you badly. Did you get Tammy home yet?"

"No, not yet. She's made a mess of things and she's at Annie's ranch in Texas. Between Tammy running off and the triple murder, I haven't had time to think straight. I'll drop by on the way to the station."

"Thanks. I'd love to see you."

Travis ran across the hall to his bedroom and grabbed up the shirt he'd worn the day before. Tara's perfume lingered on the flannel and her face flashed through his brain.

While they were dancing, she'd given him her number and he was seriously thinking of calling her. He needed a release from the stress he was under, and a stranger would be the best way to get it. No explanations required.

I have no time for a relationship with anybody.

He finished getting dressed thinking about Tara, gave his head a shake and hurried to the kitchen to make breakfast for the boys.

He wasn't ready for Virge and Harlan giving him the gears. "Did you get her number, Dad? That woman you were dancing with last night looked like she was hot for you."

"She wouldn't be too smart if she was hot for me, now would she?"

Billy chuckled.

"Are you going to call her?" asked Virge.

"I didn't say I got her number." Travis poured himself a coffee and got a carton of eggs out of the fridge.

"Are you going to call her, Dad?" asked Harlan.

"I might."

"You owe me five bucks, Harlan," said Virge.

Billy laughed.

Coyote Creek Inn.

Travis drove his own truck to the station thinking they'd need more surveillance vehicles for a round-the-clock vigil on Paula Fleming. The boys went on ahead to start the day while Travis made a brief stop at the Inn.

He and Olivia Best weren't a couple in the truest sense of the word, but he saw her now and then and the sex was always great. She seemed happy with the arrangement and didn't complain, but with all that was going on, Travis had been truant in his visits.

Olivia sat behind the registration desk in the lobby looking naturally beautiful at seven thirty in the morning. About a year older than Travis, medium length platinum hair and a face that would stop clocks, she took his breath away.

A big smile when Travis walked in the front door, she stood and led the way to her private quarters and there was no doubt in his mind what Olivia wanted from him.

As she closed the door of her apartment and locked it, Travis picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. Not a lot of time to spare.

"Sorry I've been neglecting you, Liv. You are on my mind, always, if that's any consolation. I'm sure it isn't. Just say'n."

"I'm happy to be in your thoughts, sweetheart."

Always sweet and gentle. She's way too good for me.

Travis gave her all he had, and he'd had better days in the perfect lover department. Olivia never complained and she seemed happy enough.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

When Dad got to the station, easy to see he'd stopped off at the Inn and screwed around with Olivia. He was a mess, his long hair tangled, his shirt untucked, and he didn't seem to care.

The dogs barked when the nurse from the Coyote Creek Medical Center came in the front door to change the bandage on Archie Twig's knee.

I got the keys from the rack in the office to let her into the run and Virge went with me. Dad liked two of us with the nurse when the cell door was open.

Archie was locked in the first cell by the door. I unlocked the cell, held the door open for Mrs. Paderno, and she walked over to the bunk with her medical bag in her hand.

She knelt down on the floor to take the old bandage off and Twig moaned and groaned and did a lot of cursing while she did it.

When the fresh bandage was on Twig's leg and she was done, Mrs. Paderno packed up her bag and got to her feet.

"Would you help me up, nurse?" asked Twig.

"Of course." She gave him a hand to stand up and gave him his crutch to lean on.

Watching them out of the corner of my eye while I lit up a smoke, I jumped when Twig wrapped his forearm around her throat and pushed forward using Mrs. Paderno as a hostage.

"Let her go, Twig," I hollered at him, but he kept coming towards the open door of the cell.

Virgie opened the cell next to Twig's, ran in and shot him from behind, putting a bullet in Archie Twig's ass. Down he went screaming, and the crutch clattered to the floor.

Nurse Paderno screamed too as she ran past me to the door of the run. I called an ambulance for Twig and locked him in his cell until it arrived.

"What's going on in here?" Travis came running in with Billy behind him.

"Archie tried to use Nurse Paderno as a hostage," said Virgie. "I got behind him, Dad." Virge pointed to the open door of the neighboring cell. "Only had one shot. Couldn't hit Mrs. Paderno. Shot him in the ass."

Travis smiled at my brother—his protégé.

"I called an ambulance, Dad. I'll go out front and watch for them."

"Nice work, boys."

Ten minutes later the paramedics ran in the front door, and I unlocked the cell to give them access to Archie Twig with a bullet up his ass.

"Ted, follow the ambulance to the hospital and secure the prisoner," hollered Travis.

"Copy that, Sheriff."

"Virge, you're with me. We'll question Stacey Croft."

"Copy."

"Harlan, take the first shift on Paula Fleming."

"Yep. Copy that."

"Billy, catch Molly up on everything she needs from yesterday."

"Copy, boss."

Stacey Croft's Residence. Cut Bank.

"This suspect is yours, son. You got the tag, and you can question her if you want to."

"You go ahead and start, Dad. I've never done an interrogation by myself. I don't want to fuck it up."

"Okay, let's find out what Stacey knows about the murders." Travis knocked on the door of the bungalow and a tall girl with short red hair pulled it open.

Peering at them through dark-rimmed glasses, she frowned. "The sheriff is on my doorstep. Huh. What a start to the day. Come on in, boys. Coffee is on."

We followed her into the kitchen, and she kept on talking. "What can I do for you, Sheriff Frost? Yeah, I know who you are. Everybody in the county does."

Stacey pointed at the chairs around the kitchen table and Virgil and Travis sat down.

"You're a friend of Paula Fleming?" asked Travis.

"I'm guessing you saw my truck at her place yesterday when you were bringing her in for questioning."

"Deputy Bristol saw the truck and jotted down the tag."

Virge nodded his head.

"Okay, when you saw me I was supposed to have coffee with Paula. She's been pretty stressed since the murders, and I told her I'd drive down and help her plan Harry's funeral."

"Nice of you," said Travis.

"Something any friend would do, Sheriff." Stacey poured three mugs of coffee and set cream and sugar on the table.

"Appreciate the coffee," said Travis.

"I'm not particularly generous with my time off, but Paula and I went to school together and we're longtime friends."

"If you and Paula are close, she must have talked about the murders with you."

"She did. Some, but not a lot. She was sad and crying a lot. She loved Harry before he got mixed up with Alex's friends at the trailer park. That's when their marriage got shaky."

"Who do you think killed those three people?" asked Travis. "Give me your best guess."

Stacey shrugged. "No idea. I met Alex Perkins a couple of times but didn't really know him at all. Never met the girl—Carla Venner."

"Did Paula ever talk to you about Carla?" Travis pulled a worn leather notebook out of his pocket.

"Once or twice. Carla was Alex's brother's girlfriend, wasn't she?"

"She was, and we've talked to Tim Perkins about Carla. You ever meet Tim?"

"Never did. I'm from Cut Bank and I work at the Inn, so I don't gallivant around the county too much. I work a lot and spend my down time at home."

"Are you married, Miss Croft?"

"No, but I'm seeing someone, and we've talked about getting married. He's a nice guy and we get along well."

"Who's the lucky guy?" asked Travis.

"You wouldn't know him."

"Try me. I know a few people in Harrison County."

"His name is Wyatt Thompson."

"Uh huh. We've met. He runs the Cut Bank paper."

"That's right."

We finished our coffee, thanked her for talking to us and walked out to the truck.

"What did you think of Stacey, Virge? Was she lying in any part of her story?"

"Hard to tell. I watched her for signs because I thought she was lying. I can't believe she's Wyatt's girlfriend."

"Yeah, that surprised me too. I didn't know he had a girlfriend."

Fleming Residence. Valier

I parked down the road from Paula's house for my surveillance shift and it got pretty boring at times. She didn't go out and no cars or trucks pulled into the driveway. She let the dogs out once for a run and then called them back in.

To keep from falling asleep or going nuts, I texted Lucy in Texas.

"How is Tammy doing?"

"She's driving me crazy, bawling her eyes out over the Interstate Rage Killer that she told me she was going to marry."

"So stupid. I don't want her to marry anybody."

"I miss you so much, Harlan. I think about kissing you in the barn."

"I think about that too. Wish I was in Texas right now."

"Can you come down for a visit? I'd love you to see our ranch, and Mommy would be happy to see you and Virge."

"Can't right now. We're working a triple murder and Travis is messed up over Tammy running off."

"She did so many bad things, I can't believe it was her who did them."

Cut Bank Hospital.

Ted sat in the waiting room reading the paper and drinking lukewarm coffee while Archie Twig was in surgery. He was a little surprised when Wyatt Thompson walked in and sat down next to him.

"Hey, Ted. I spotted your squad from across the road and wondered if something was going on. I could use a good story for this week's paper. Something happen at the station?"

"We had a brief hostage incident in the run, and the perp was shot. I brought him in for medical, and that's about it, Wyatt. He's on the operating table now and I'm here to make sure he's secure when they transfer him to the ICU."

"Uh huh. Sounds like a headline to me, Ted. I think I'll drive down to Coyote Creek and meet Travis for lunch. He'll probably give me more details."

"Maybe. He might not have time for lunch. The boss is pretty busy with the triple murder."

"I put out a special edition when the murder happened, but I haven't been able to do a crime series on it like I usually do. Your office isn't talking about suspects or anything and I only have the vaguest of details to work with."

"We're following up on all of the leads," said Ted. "I'm not sure Travis would tell you any more than that."

"Thanks, Ted. Nice to see you."

Huntsville Trauma Unit. Texas.

On the drive to Huntsville, Lucy said a bunch of stuff to me about Eldon being a serial killer and I put my hands over my ears. I didn't want to listen to lies about the man I was going to marry.

"Stop that, Tammy. You have to listen to the truth. Bobby Prescott killed all kinds of innocent drivers on all different Interstates, probably because they got in the way of his big truck."

"He did not. He only killed the welders who raped his wife. He did that because he was sad Emma got raped, and besides, they had it coming."

"Mommy said she has pictures of Bobby's Interstate victims and she's going to show you the evidence photos to make you listen."

"I'm not looking at any pictures. I won't."

"Bobby smashed all his victims' heads in with a tire iron, Tammy. He's a rage killer and you can't marry a man like that."

"I'm going to marry him, Lucy, and nobody can stop me. Not Mama or you or Travis. Nobody. I'm going to be his wife and take care of him forever."

"You're being stupid again, Tammy. Mommy wants you to take a look at the facts before you make another mistake."

"Eldon isn't a mistake. He's the man I love."

I was upset by all the crap Lucy said to me on the drive to the hospital and I tried to smile when I went in to see Eldon. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes and I loved him so much at that moment.

"How are you doing, Eldon?" I sat down in the chair and held his hand.

"Every day is a new nightmare of pain, Tammy."

"You'll soon be better, and I'll take you away in the truck and we'll get married."

"No. That's a false dream, Tammy, and it's not happening. You're too young and I'm not marrying anybody. The truth is, I'm going to jail, and you'll be old when I get out."

"I won't let you go to jail, Eldon. I'll get you out of the hospital before the cops come for you."

"You can't do that, Tammy. In a couple of days, I'll be transferred to the infirmary at Ranger Headquarters in Austin, and I'll be there until my trial. They already told me."

"I can get you out before they come."

"No, you can't. I want you to go home and leave me alone, Tammy. Don't come back here anymore. Do you hear me?"

I tried not to cry but couldn't do it. "Don't you love me anymore, Eldon?"

"My name isn't Eldon. It's Bobby Prescott, and there is nothing you can do to keep me from going to jail, Tammy. Forget about it and go home to your Mama. Just leave me alone. I'm too tired to argue with you anymore. Go away."

I walked into the waiting room where Lucy waited for me, and my heart was broken. Eldon said the words, but I knew he was only saying that stuff because he loved me so much. "You go on home, Lucy. I'm going to stay here for the day and see Eldon a few more times."

"No, Tammy. Mommy wouldn't let me leave you here. I have to take you home."

I didn't want to hurt my sister, but I balled up my fist and punched her as hard as I could in the stomach. She hollered, and while she was bent over gasping for air, I left.

I ran to the stairs at the end of the hall, down to the main floor, across the lobby and out the front door of the hospital.

Somebody was picking up a patient and they left their SUV running at the curb. I jumped in and took off. I was a trained cop, and I wasn't afraid of anything or anybody. I knew exactly where I was going and what I had to do.

Mainliner Diner. Coyote Creek.

Wyatt Thompson entered the squad room asking for Travis and Molly fetched him from the break room.

"Hey, Wyatt. What's new?"

"I wanted to ask you the same thing. I ran into Ted at the hospital in Cut Bank and he told me you had an incident here at the station."

"Wasn't much of an incident, and only lasted a couple of minutes. Wouldn't make an interesting story for your readers."

"I'll buy you lunch across the street, Travis. I've got pages to fill and no good stories to write this week."

"Hmm…guess I've got time for a quick sandwich."

Wyatt smiled. "Thanks."

They walked across the street together, Travis getting a feeling from Wyatt. A cop feeling.

Maryanne rushed over with coffee as soon as they sat down in the last empty booth. "You been on a diet, Sheriff? Haven't seen you much in the past week."

Travis tried to smile but couldn't manage it. "Stress kills the appetite, Maryanne."

She shook her head. "A lot of people are stress eaters, Sheriff. That's how they cope."

"I ain't one of those."

They ordered lunch and Wyatt pulled his notebook out of the pocket of his jacket. He raised an eyebrow when Travis pulled his out too.

"You're taking notes?" Wyatt laughed a little nervously. "You've never done that before."

Travis looked Wyatt in the eye. "What's your game, Wyatt?"

"What do you mean?"

"Cut the shit. You sent your girlfriend to Paula Fleming's house to get the dirty on the murders. I could call that interfering with a homicide investigation."

Wyatt pushed back from the table and inhaled a big breath. "I didn't see how it could hurt. Stacey and Paula are friends from high school. Stacey told me she knew Paula Fleming when we discussed the murders."

"So, you encouraged Stacey to call her friend and volunteer to help with Harry's funeral arrangements?"

"Something like that."

"Funny, I never thought of you as a weasel, Wyatt. Not until now. You watch yourself or you might find that you're writing your next column from a cell."

"Come on, Travis. Lighten up. I didn't break any laws."

Travis stood up and called to Maryanne, "Make my lunch to go."

"Sure. I'll pack it up for you, Sheriff."

Fleming Residence. Valier.

Ted started his surveillance shift after the end of the workday. Smoking and listening to the radio, he had no action until Big Dave Turcotte arrived shortly after seven.

Not a surprise. They already had talked to Dave. Had the description of his truck and the plate.

Without a tag in Paula's house, Ted couldn't hear conversations and he found it boring sitting down the road staring at the outside of the bungalow.

He butted out his smoke, scrolled through his list of contacts and called Travis.

"Hey, Ted. You at Paula's place?"

"Yeah. I'm here. Big Dave just rolled in and I'm wishing for a tag in there, boss."

"Go for it, if you get the opportunity, Ted."

"Thanks, boss. Wouldn't be such a waste of fuckin time if I could hear what they were saying about the murders."

"Yeah. We should've had a tag in there by now. Harlan's been inside a couple of times, and I should've been smart enough to have him do it. My bad."

"Yeah, but you've been in a bad way with the Tammy thing, boss."

"No excuses, Ted. I'm not at the top of my game and I'd better get there quick and find us a goddamned killer."

"Copy that." Ted reached over and groped around in the glove box of his truck for a tag.

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek.

Travis figured he'd shouldn't be doing it. Everything about it was wrong, but he called Tara Bunting's number and asked her to meet him at the roadhouse.

When the boys were heading up to bed, he changed his clothes and went out the back door. Sneaking out on his kids gave him a guilty feeling, but he did it anyway. Couldn't seem to help himself.

When he got to the Run, Tara was sitting alone in a booth waiting for him. She smiled as he slid into the seat across from her and he said she looked pretty.

He felt stupid after saying something so fuckin lame, but it was too late to take it back.

They barely knew each other, and he had no idea why he was drawn to her.

They drank a couple of pitchers of Miller, danced to all the slow songs and didn't talk much.

She told him about moving to Coyote Creek. A transfer to work at this branch of the Credit Union. She didn't know anybody in town. Only the girls she worked with at the bank.

He told her nothing about himself. Best that way, and she didn't seem to care. Didn't ask any probing questions.

When he figured he'd better get home and get some sleep, he walked her out to her truck. Gently, he pushed her up against the side of the load bed and kissed her.

"Are you going to call me again, Travis?"

"Sure."

Walking to his own truck on the other side of the parking lot, he saw Brooke—one of the servers at the Inn—and he cursed under his breath.

The way his luck was running, Olivia would know all about Tara by the next day, and that would make things awkward between them. More than awkward.

"Fuck."

Prescott Residence. Midway. Texas.

I parked the stolen SUV behind Eldon's house, jumped out and glanced around to see if anybody had seen me drive into his place.

None of the neighbors were in their yards.

I let myself in the back door with the key, walked through Eldon's house breathing in his scent and trying to forget what he said to me at the hospital.

"He didn't mean it. I know he didn't."

I rested on the sofa for a few minutes wishing the two of us could live here in Texas in Eldon's cute house, but we couldn't let the cops catch us. It was the first place they'd look for Eldon.

"He's not the Interstate Rage Killer. I know it."

One more look through each of the rooms to see if there was anything Eldon would need. I couldn't see anything he'd forgotten the first time he left.

"He took everything he wanted."

I locked up the house, jumped into the cab of the Freightliner and started her up. Eldon loved his truck and he'd be so happy to be back on the road.

The drive back to Huntsville didn't take long. I chose a truck stop on the edge of town and parked in a long line of trucks. I blended in—except for not having a trailer on—and none of the other drivers would even notice me.

I shut the engine off, crawled into the sleeper, curled up with Eldon's pillow and went to sleep.