Chapter Five

Monday, September 23rd.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

When Virge and I came in from the barn, Dad was slumped down at the kitchen table with his head in his hands.

I figured Annie had called him and he knew about Tammy. That meant me and Virge didn't have to tell him the horror story and take the flack he'd throw back at us.

"Hey, Dad, are you okay?" I headed for the coffee maker to fill a mug and Virge was right behind me—like I was his protection from Dad.

"Far from it, son. Annie told me you put a BOLO out on the Freightliner?"

"I did that, and I've been checking every couple of hours for an update. There's nothing on it yet."

"Annie called from Kamloops airport when she and Lucy were heading home to Texas last night. No idea which way Tammy went and there's nothing we can do but wait."

"Sorry about not telling you, Dad. Annie didn't want me to tell you right away. She hoped we'd get something on the truck and at least have a direction before you found out what Tammy did."

"Annie-girl was protecting me like she always does, son. I hope you find a woman like her someday. Annie is an amazing person, and she continues to love me no matter how many fuck-ups I cause."

"I'm happy she's my step-mom," I said. "She's the smartest, hottest woman a person could have for a mom."

Virge nodded in agreement.

"All I can figure," said Travis, "is Tammy ain't right. She's been off-center since she shot the kidnappers and got away from them. At that moment in time, she didn't come home when she had the means and opportunity, and the way I see it, that's the moment we lost her."

"I think you're right, Dad," said Virge. "I called her out on why she didn't take the Ram and come home, and she didn't give me an answer that made any sense. Not to me, anyway."

"Something went wrong with her head in that trailer, and I blame it on Franko Garrison. Having him show up in her life after she figured she was free from Tibor was too much for her to deal with."

"Yeah, I can see that, Dad. Tammy was a prisoner for five years before you captured Tibor Garrison and rescued her. Then the brother shows up at the Run, kidnaps her, and for Tammy, the horror story starts all over again."

Travis nodded his head. "She snaps and runs for it. She thinks she can't go home, so she runs for the highway and jumps in the first semi that stops for her."

"You're right, Dad. I don't think she ran away from us on purpose. She was too messed up to think."

"If we get her back, will she have to go to a shrink, Dad?" asked Virge.

"Might be something we have to consider, son. I'm not much on shrinks myself, but the one I had at the Vet hospital helped straighten out my head a helluva lot."

Billy nodded his head and I figured I'd ask him a few questions about Dad's PTSD when Travis wasn't around.

Boise. Idaho.

Outside of Boise, I stopped for gas and more food for Eldon. Drifting in and out of consciousness, I had no idea what to do to help him.

His pain pills were all gone. Every time he came around, he hollered in pain, and asked for more of the little white pills. He begged me to do something to stop the pain but I had no more pills to give him. The Advil wasn't cutting it, and I had nothing else.

Seeing the pain on Eldon's face and the look in his eyes made me cry every time. I should've left him in the hospital. I was wrong and so stupid and my whole family would be pissed at me forever.

I filled the truck with gas first and put it on Eldon's credit card. He kept one separate for the truck. Fuel and all the rest of it, and that was the one I used. He got mad if I didn't keep things straight like he wanted them.

I checked on him before I went into the convenience store next to the restaurant to buy another package of Depends, more sandwiches and coffee.

When I got back to the truck and moved through the cab into the sleeper, he was staring right at me, his cloudy brown eyes wide open.

"I want to take you to a hospital in Boise, Eldon. You were right about me not knowing how to take care of you, and I'm sorry I moved you from the ICU."

"Too late for that sad story, Tammy. I've only got a few hours left. Get out and find a truck driver selling fent and get me some. I can't stand the fuckin pain."

"Okay, I'll try."

"How much cash have you got?"

"Forty bucks."

"Go inside to the machine and get five hundred bucks on my card. Not the truck card, the other one."

"Five hundred? Is that how much the pills will cost?"

"Be ready for a high price and offer less to the dealer."

"Okay, I'll be ready."

"Hurry, Tammy. I can't take this pain for much longer. I'm gonna lose my fuckin mind."

Eldon was so pissed at me, I could hear the anger and the disgust in his voice. He said I was a baby trying to act like a woman, and he was right. I wanted him to love me, and I did a lot of stupid things to make that happen. Taking Eldon out of the ICU was the stupidest. He was going to die because of me.

I ran inside the convenience store to one of the ATMs lined up near the vending machines. I stuck Eldon's card in, punched in the pin and asked for five hundred bucks.

The money came shooting out of the little slot and I grabbed it and put it in my purse. I ran back outside to the rows of parked trucks and started looking for a driver who might be dealing.

I walked really fast up and down the rows until I saw a couple of young guys talking to a driver who was leaning on the front fender of his truck smoking.

As soon as the boys were finished and walked away, I ran up to the guy. "My husband is hurt bad and needs something for pain. Can you help me?"

He stared at me for a long time before saying, "You a cop?"

I shook my head. It was a lie, but I didn't care. "I'm not a cop."

"You're young for a cop, but you have the look."

"Not a cop. I need the fent for my husband. If you don't believe me, you can see him for yourself." I pointed to our truck. "He's lying in the sleeper."

He laughed. "You driving that Freightliner by yourself, little girl?"

"My husband taught me how to drive it on our last long haul to Winnipeg."

"Winnipeg? Like in Canada?" He tossed his butt down on the pavement and stepped on it. "Okay. I don't believe a fuckin word you're saying. Feels a lot like entrapment to me, but I'm gonna walk over to your truck and look in the sleeper. If it turns out you're lying to me, I'm going to make you real sorry you messed with me."

"Why is everybody so mean?"

"Because you have to protect yourself out here in the real world, little girl cop. Somebody is gonna rob you, kill you, or break your fuckin heart and you've gotta be ready for it. That's my philosophy."

"I don't like it much."

"You don't have to. The truth ain't always easy to hear."

The drug guy followed me to our truck. He hopped in the cab and pushed into the sleeper to take a look at Eldon.

"Jesus, girl. That guy ain't gonna live more than a couple of hours. I'll give you four pills for three hundred. He sure as hell needs them."

"Thanks." I pulled the money out of my purse and handed it over. He gave me a tiny container of pills.

"Where you headed?"

"Midway, Texas. Eldon has a house there and he wants to go home."

The trucker nodded his head. "I get it, and I hope you make it in time, girl. I wouldn't bet on him lasting that long. What's wrong with him?"

"Gut shot."

"Shit, that's bad. How'd that happen?"

"Bounty hunter came for Eldon. They had a fight and Eldon got shot. Kind of an accident."

"Guess it would be. The retrieval guy would want him alive so he could collect his money."

"Eldon didn't want to go with him."

"Yeah, I got that part. Good luck to you, girl. Getting him to Texas in time to die is gonna be the longest ride of your life."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Me and Virge grabbed coffees when we got to the station and spent the next two hours giving accident reports to Molly. We were days behind.

Working from the list of calls she'd received, Molly had to remind us of the locations to help us remember what we'd done at each of the accidents. We had to match the names in our notebooks to each of the accidents we'd been to. A fuckin mess.

Travis gave Molly the whole Tammy story and Molly was in tears over Tammy still being gone. She checked on the BOLO several times and nothing had been reported on Fontana's truck.

While we worked on the reports, a call came in from a woman in Valier. Her husband had gone out hunting the day of the storm and he never came back home and didn't call. She was worried.

Billy took me and Virge to Valier.

Fleming Residence. Valier. Montana.

"This is the house." Virge pointed at a frame bungalow painted yellow.

Mrs. Fleming opened the door, and her eyes were red from crying. Even with the crying going on, she was a looker and caught a stare from Virge.

Long blonde hair and blue eyes that kind of sparkled, she waved us into the living room and shoved two big Rotties off the sofa and out of the way so we could sit down.

Billy pulled his notebook out and asked his first question. "Mrs. Fleming, did your husband go hunting by himself?"

"Yes, he often goes out for a few hours alone when he has the chance. He works a lot and doesn't have much free time."

"When exactly did he leave the house?"

"Saturday morning. He said he'd be back by noon."

"You waited until today to call the sheriff's office?" asked Billy.

"Not exactly," said Mrs. Fleming. "I called Harry's buddy, Alex Perkins, and told him Harry didn't come home. He said he knew exactly where Harry would be, and he'd go look for him."

"And Alex didn't come back either?" asked Billy.

"No. And I can't get an answer from either one of them. They must have no service in the bush. What should I do?"

"I'm not sure what we can do, Mrs. Fleming."

"Did Alex mention where he was going to look for Harry?" I asked. "That would help us."

"Yes. Alex said Harry always starts down at the Quarry Cutoff."

"Great," said Billy. "Now we have a starting point. Could I have a piece of Harry's clothing? I need a scent for the dogs."

"Sure. I'll get you a T-shirt."

"One from the dirty clothes would be best," said Billy. "Unwashed clothing will have more of Harry's scent on it."

"Unwashed. Oh, I see what you're saying. Let me get that for you."

Paula Fleming returned to the living room with a wrinkled T-shirt and a pair of dirty socks belonging to her husband. She shoved the items into a plastic grocery bag and handed the bag to Billy.

"Here you go."

"Thanks. We'll go back to the station and get the dogs then try the Quarry Cutoff. If we find Harry's vehicle, that will help us zero in on where he went into the forest. What's Harry driving?"

"Dark blue Silverado. Two years old, Sheriff. It's pretty new and Harry takes good care of the truck."

Billy jotted down the information in his notebook, then handed her a card. "If Harry or Alex happen to contact you, call my cell, and tell me."

"I will. Thank you for looking for him, Sheriff. I'm worried out of my mind."

We went back to the squad and the Bronco had gone stone cold inside while we were in the house. "This weather is the shits," said Virge.

"Be quicker if we don't go back to the shop," said Billy. "I'll call and tell Ted to meet us down at the Quarry Cutoff and bring the dogs. Save us a trip back to Coyote Creek."

"Good thinking, boss," said Virge.

Salt Lake City. Utah.

Driving out of Salt Lake City, I stopped at a truck stop to use the bathroom and to stock up on water and Cokes for Eldon. Barely able to lift his head, he could drink from a bendy straw and that's what I'd been giving him—lots of drinks.

He wouldn't—couldn't eat any food.

Inside the convenience store, I bought a burger for myself and picked up a sandwich for later. I took two candy bars, a six-pack of Cokes and a dozen shrink-wrapped bottles of water.

At the front counter, I asked for a carton of smokes, paid for everything, and lugged it all to the truck.

While I was piling it all on the passenger seat, the driver of the truck parked next to me unlocked his truck.

I turned around and asked him, "Would you know how far it is from here to Texas?"

"What part? Texas is a huge state."

"North of Houston."

"Just a guess, but I'd say twenty hours or more."

I let out a sigh wondering if Eldon would live for another twenty hours. "Thanks."

"That your truck?" He grinned at me.

"Yes, it is."

"Uh huh."

Why do guys think I can't drive a truck?

Quarry Cutoff. Montana.

Quarry Cutoff wasn't a well-travelled road. Hardly anyone lived on the road leading into the old quarry. Dense bush on both sides of the road made it a favorite for hunters.

It might have been plowed once since the storm, but parts of the road were drifted in again.

"There's the dark blue Silverado," said Virgil.

"Yep. It looks like his friend Alex found Harry's truck," I said. "He's parked right behind it."

"Both trucks are covered in a lot of snow," said Billy. "The hunters haven't been back here."

"How long is Ted gonna be?" asked Virge.

"Shouldn't be much longer," said Billy. "He said he was leaving right away with the dogs."

"While we wait for Ted, we'll take a look in both of the trucks, just to be sure."

"Why?" asked Virge. "We can see the snow on the trucks ain't been touched."

"We'll clean off the windows and look inside just to make sure nothing else is going on."

"Like what?" asked Virge. "What do you mean, Billy?"

"Umm…foul play, Virge. Always be on the lookout for foul play. Never take anything for granted. Our first inclination is that Harry is a lost hunter, but that may not be true."

"Right. I get it. Somebody might have knocked Harry off and made it look like he's lost in the bush in the fuckin snow. Good thinking, Billy."

Billy chuckled. "Thanks, Virge."

"Here comes Ted." Virge pointed at the big tow truck coming our way.

"I'll check the insides of the trucks while you get the dogs ready to go."

"They won't need leashes, Virge," I said to my brother. "With snow this deep, they won't have any speed to get way ahead of us."

"How are they gonna run?" Virge screwed up his face. "The snow is too fuckin deep for them. Over their goddamned heads, Harlan. I don't think they can run through that much fuckin snow.

"They'll figure it out. Once we get into the bush, it will be better for them. There'll be a lot less snow in the thick of the forest."

"Better be. My dogs will be wiped."

We struck off from the two parked trucks following a straight line into the trees. With the snow three feet deep, the dogs had to bounce their way along until we were in the shelter of the woods.

Once we'd gone a fair ways into the bush, Billy stopped for a rest and gave Max and Sarge Harry's shirt and his dirty socks.

The dogs carried the socks around for a few minutes and neither one of them alerted.

They don't smell him," said Billy.

"Does that mean Harry was never in these woods?" asked Virge.

"I'm not sure," said Billy. "Let's go a little further into the trees and see if they pick up a scent."

We tramped along with the dogs for another quarter of a mile until Billy said, "This is useless. We're going back to the road."