Chapter Fifteen

Thursday, October 3rd.

Gold Mine Hotel and Casino. Lafayette.

When they were eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant, Virge asked, "Did Dad call you, Mom?"

"More than once. He feels he made a mistake sending y'all down here, but he couldn't come himself with the triple murder hanging over him."

"What are we gonna do about Tammy?" I asked. "I don't want to say that we gave up. I can't tell Dad that, Mom."

"We're not giving up," said Annie. "I know people we can hire to go into the swamp to find her. That's their specialty and I'm going to suggest it to Travis."

"Okay. You said we would find her some other way, and that might work. I don't think me and Virge could do it. We don't know much about boats and swamps and gators."

"And snakes," said Virge. "Don't forget the fuckin snakes."

"If we hire a hunter to keep looking for her," I said, "then Dad will still have hope."

"Exactly," said Annie. "I'll find the right guy."

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Over coffee, Billy and Travis tried to figure out how Paula Fleming's murder fit in with the others. "Ted heard Wyatt say, ‘Did you have any trouble? Did anybody see you?' What if Wyatt sent somebody to kill Paula because she figured out that he killed the first three?"

"Why would Wyatt Thompson kill the first three?" asked Billy. "He didn't even know them."

"That we know of," said Travis. "What if he did know Harry or one of the others? Let's say one of them was—for want of a better motive—blackmailing Wyatt for something they knew about him."

"Okay," said Billy. "I guess it's possible—now that we know he's a weasel—but we have no evidence of any of that."

"Then today we'll find a motive and once we have that, we'll find the fucking evidence. That's what we're going to do today."

"Explain to me how we're going to do it."

"We'll start this way," said Travis. "All we need is one of them to say something by accident and we'll take it from there."

Billy listened to Travis lay down his plan and he thought about it for a minute. "It might work. I'll think about it some more while I feed the horses."

"I'll make us some eggs," said Travis. "We're going to have a busy day."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Molly found Paula Fleming's next of kin and had the city cops in Helena notify her father. "Mister Palmer was devastated," said Molly. "He can't believe his daughter was murdered. He also had some unpleasant things to say about his son-in-law, Harry Fleming."

"A little too late to come down hard on Harry now," said Travis.

"Paula's father would like to be kept abreast of the investigation," said Molly. "I promised to let him know whatever we're at liberty to tell him."

"Sure. We can read him in when the investigation is over." Travis went to the break room, poured himself a coffee and called Annie to ask if there was anything new.

"Nothing new since yesterday, but I have a suggestion for you, sugar. We hire a guy who hunts down felons in the bayou and ask him to continue the search for Tammy."

"That would result in her going directly to jail," said Travis, "but I guess that's better than her being dead. Do you know someone like that?"

"Not yet, but I'll have Chet find someone with a high retrieval percentage."

"Okay. Let's go that route, Annie-girl. I need the boys home. I'm coping badly with four murders now and I'm short on manpower."

Annie had the phone on speaker and the boys could hear Travis. "Four? Who's dead, Dad?" asked Virge. "Who's number four?"

"Paula Fleming."

"What the hell?" I said. "Who would want Paula dead?"

"We're working on it."

"We'll come home and help you, Dad," said Virge. "We can't find Tammy, and we tried. Honest, we did."

"I believe y'all tried your hardest," said Travis. "I think she doesn't want to be found, and she's making it nearly impossible."

"I agree with that," said Annie. "She's gone into hiding and the question is—will she be able to hold her own with seasoned criminals living off the grid?"

"Jeeze, I don't want to picture that, Annie-girl."

"I'll call with flight info as soon as I have it."

"Thanks, Annie-girl. I owe you a huge one."

Travis ended the call and joined Billy and Ted in the squad room. "I made a plan at breakfast, and this is what we're going to do today, Ted. Billy's a little skeptical, but he's willing to go along."

"Okay. We got fuck all, boss. We gotta do something to stir the pot."

"Yep. Exactly what we're going to do. We have to ruffle some feathers." Travis outlined what he had in mind, and Ted listened closely.

"Yep. I'm in favor."

"Let's give it a try. We got nothing else."

"Good plan, boss. Stir ‘em up. Make ‘em mad."

"Billy will stay at the station with Molly and process the suspects when we bring them in. Ted and I will go drag their asses in here."

Ted grinned. He liked to be in the middle of the action.

"Have you heard from the boys, Travis?" asked Molly.

"I think they'll be home tomorrow, Molly. Annie is working on the tickets now. Could you check and see what time the flight from Austin gets to Great Falls?"

"I'll do that. This office is like the morgue without them. The dogs are so depressed."

"Yeah, hard to miss how quiet the Max and Sarge are," said Travis. "They've got a bad case of the mopes."

Cut Bank Tribune. Cut Bank. Montana.

Ted and Travis walked past the front counter and kept going right on through the newspaper office to the back of the building where the boss's office was located.

Wyatt was clearly surprised to see them standing in front of his desk, and a look crossed his face that Travis couldn't read.

"I'm bringing you in for questioning, Wyatt. You can come voluntarily, or I can cuff you and do it that way. Your choice."

"Are you out of your mind, Travis? What inspired this crazy move?"

"Cuffs or no cuffs was the question I asked. My motives aren't open for discussion."

"No cuffs will be needed, Sheriff. I'm not a tough guy like you."

"Huh," said Travis. "You're not the guy I thought you were, Wyatt, but I fully intend to look further into that."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Travis parked at the back of the station, and they brought Wyatt in through the sally port. "We can talk in the office," said Travis, and he hollered for Billy.

"Are you going to explain to me what this is all about?" asked Wyatt.

"Paula Fleming was found dead in her home, and I happen to believe you have information on that."

"Are you kidding me? Paula is dead? I never knew a thing about it until you told me one minute ago."

"You're not a convincing liar, Wyatt, and I also believe you know a lot more about the previous three murders up in Sunburst."

"No, I don't. I didn't even know those three people. I want to call my attorney."

"You'll get your phone call after you've been booked."

"You're booking me?" hollered Wyatt. "On what charge? I can't believe you would go this far, Travis."

Travis smiled. "You have no idea how far I'm going with this, Wyatt. I'm barely getting started and it will be one hell of an eye opener for you when I'm done. It will be a story you can write while you sit on your weasel ass in your cell."

"You're not getting away with this, Travis. We don't want a vigilante ex-biker sheriff in Harrison County."

"A little too late for that, ain't it?"

"My paper has a lot of influence in this county," hollered Wyatt. "You have no idea of the power of the press."

"And you have no idea who you're dealing with, Wyatt the Weasel. Book him, Billy. Suspicion of murder and suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. Four counts."

"Got it, boss."

"Give his phone, wallet and any personal stuff to Molly and she'll seal it up for him."

"Copy that."

Travis left Wyatt Thompson with Billy and stepped into the hallway and hollered, "Ted, you're with me. We have more work to do."

"Coming, boss."

Perkins Residence. Sunburst Acres.

Next on the list was Tim Perkins up north of town in the trailer park. Tim worked nights so Travis figured he'd be at his trailer sleeping.

Ted parked the squad behind Tim's pickup, and they walked into the trailer. Wasn't locked. Total silence in the trailer except for Tim's cat meowing for food.

Travis walked down the short hallway to Tim's bedroom and rousted him out of a deep sleep. "Party time is over, Tim. Paula Fleming is dead and I'm taking you to the station for questioning."

"What?" Tim was barely awake, and Travis felt a bit sorry for him. He wasn't the strongest suspect, but he was definitely on the list.

"Paula Fleming is dead, Tim. You're the one she was leaning heavily on at Harry's funeral."

"I wanted her to lean on me, Sheriff. I liked her a lot and I would never hurt her. You've got it all wrong."

"You don't seem surprised she's dead, Tim. Explain that to me."

"I am surprised…and sickened. Come on, Sheriff, I was sound asleep. Give me a fuckin minute."

"Take a minute," said Travis.

Tim sucked in some oxygen then looked Travis in the eye, "I was trying to get something going with her and it was going pretty well. At least, I thought it was."

"When we get to the station, you can straighten me out, Tim. I'm looking forward to our little chat."

"Aw, shit, Sheriff. I'm not the guy you want."

Ted settled Tim in the back of the squad and then drove south down the I-15, through Coyote Creek. He kept on going south until they reached the Turcotte Ranch.

Turcotte Residence. South of Coyote Creek.

Ted turned at the mailbox and zoomed in Big Dave's laneway. From the back seat Tim asked, "Why are we at Dave's place?"

"We're bringing him in for questioning, Tim. Dave is on the list same as you. There is something going on and if I find out it's a conspiracy, all of you are going to get the needle. I'll make it my mission to see that it happens."

"You can count me out, Sheriff. I'm not in any murder ring—if there is one. You have the wrong guy."

"As soon as I figure that out for myself, Tim, you'll be on your way back to your trailer."

"Okay, good. That makes me feel a lot better."

Ted parked the squad near Big Dave's long rancher, and we headed into the barn to find number three on our list.

"Hey, Sheriff, didn't expect to see you here today. Something up?"

"I have bad news for you, Dave."

"Like what?"

"Your girlfriend, Paula Fleming, is dead and I'd like you to come to the office to answer a few questions."

"Me? Am I a suspect? I would never kill Paula. I loved her, and yeah, she dumped me, but she wasn't worth me killing her over it."

"Cuffs or no cuffs, Dave. Let's get moving."

Dave swung the shovel he had in his hand at Travis's head. Travis grabbed the handle in mid-air, snatched it away from Dave and smashed him in the face with the blade.

Dave went down into the pile of straw and horse shit he was about to shovel into the wheelbarrow. Blood gushed from Dave's nose as he groaned and covered his face with his hand.

Ted reached down, gabbed Dave's shirt and jerked him to his feet. He snapped a cuff on his left wrist, spun Dave around and clicked the other cuff on.

"Roll him up, Ted. Felony assault."

"It was only a fuckin shovel, for chrissakes," shouted Dave. Blood gushed into Dave's mouth, and he spit it out on the barn floor. Chunks of horse shit were stuck in his hair.

"Be wise for you to shut the fuck up, Dave," said Travis. "I'm already pissed at you."

Ted shoved Dave Turcotte into the back of the squad with Tim Perkins.

"Now we're cooking," said Travis. "Stand on it, Ted. We've got more work to do."

Ted chuckled as he drove north to the station.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

It was quitting time by the time all three of the suspects were booked on suspicion and locked up. Billy got them supper from the diner across the road and he and Travis left the prisoners locked in their cells to think about their past dirty deeds.

Wyatt Thompson hollered the loudest as they left the run. "You can't just lock us up and leave us here. We have rights."

"So did Harry, Alex, Carla and Paula. They had rights too, but their rights were violated, and their lives snuffed out. The four of them are dead."

"We get a phone call, Sheriff," shouted Big Dave Turcotte. His words were a bit garbled because of the swelling around his mouth and nose where the shovel hit him.

"Yep, tomorrow—that's what we'll do tomorrow, boys. We'll all make phone calls. Looking forward to it."

Travis turned off the lights and locked the run.

"Good night, Molly. See you tomorrow."

Dry Run Roadhouse.

Billy and Travis ordered food at the roadhouse. Since Tammy had been kidnapped, their routine at the ranch had gone down the fuckin toilet.

There had been no time to shop for groceries and even less time for cooking. Even worse with the boys gone. Best they could do was eat greasy food at the roadhouse and wash it down with beer on their way home.

Sadly, they couldn't eat the fantastic meals at the Inn any longer since Travis screwed that food source up. Travis's phone rang as he thought about hollering at Tessa for another pitcher of Miller.

"Hey, Annie-girl. Are the boys coming home?"

"They are. I booked them on the early flight out of Austin and they'll get to you at one-thirty."

"Thanks. I'll send you the money for the tickets. The boys are my responsibility."

"I'll let you know when I hire the bounty hunter," said Annie. "Those guys know what they're doing."

"I hope so. I'll pay the guy," said Travis. "No problem. If he finds Tammy, great, but even if he finds out she's dead, I want to know."

"I understand, sugar pop."