Chapter Six

Tuesday, September 24th.

Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.

Unsure about what to do about finding Bobby Prescott, Annie called her son, Blaine Blackmore, head of the Violent Crime Squad for Texas and told him about finding Eldon Fontana, a.k.a. Bobby Prescott, by sheer accident.

"New fake ID, sugar. The red Freightliner is now black, and he's been hauling in the Canadian West."

"Amazing," said Blaine. "I wasn't sure we'd ever catch him. That's one of my open cases and I hate like hell having cases on my desk that were never solved. Makes me feel like I didn't do my job."

"I know you hate that, honey bunny. And this still might not be closed the way you'd like it to be. By the time Tammy drives Bobby home to Midway, he might be dead."

"Do you know that's where they're headed?" asked Blaine.

"No. It's only a guess. If he thinks he's dying, he may want to go home. He won't care about getting caught anymore."

"That's true. The fear of prison will no longer be a factor. Let's put surveillance on the Midway house for two or three days and see if the truck shows up."

"Okay. I'm down with that," said Annie.

"Does Tammy know Bobby's real identity?"

"I don't think so. She always called him Eldon. Never once did she refer to him as Bobby."

"Okay, she doesn't know. We don't know what he may have told her."

"When we got to the cabin, I grabbed the paperwork out of the dead bounty hunter's hand, and nobody saw the picture or Bobby Prescott's name but me."

"I'll arrange the surveillance in Midway, Mom."

"Let me know if Tammy shows up. Travis will want her to come home to him in Montana. He officially adopted her and she's his daughter."

"Will you let him know what you think might happen? Or do you want to wait until it's a reality?"

"I'll call and give him a heads up. He might as well be ready for it."

"Yeah," said Blaine. "I think you should tell him."

Annie called Travis next and dumped the Bobby Prescott story on him.

He listened quietly as Annie told him about the rage killings on the Interstates, and how the only reason the Agency got close to him was after Bobby's wife was raped by three welders and Bobby killed all three of them and ran for it.

"And this is the guy Tammy wants to marry? She's not thinking straight, Annie-girl. She might be heading for Mexico."

"We don't know her final destination, sugar. If she shows up in Midway, are you coming to Texas to get her? What do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure."

"What the hell is wrong with you, Travis?" Annie hollered at him. "You adopted her and now you have to take the bad with the good. That's the way it goes."

No comment from Travis but Annie could hear him breathing hard while he dealt with the information. Finally, he said, "Will you let me know if you hear anything?"

"Of course, I will. Catch a fucking brain, Travis. If you don't man up for this, I'll come up there and beat the living shit out of you."

"Looking forward to it."

Annie ended the call furious with Travis. If Tammy came to Midway, she'd take her home to the ranch and she doubted she'd ever tell Travis where Tammy was. He could eat shit.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

When me and Virge came in from the barn, Dad was talking on the phone to Annie. We poured ourselves a coffee, sat down at the table and waited for him to finish talking.

"What did Annie say, Dad?" I asked.

"She laid some hard facts on me, boys," said Travis.

"Like what hard facts?" asked Virge. "Like worse shit than Tammy taking her boyfriend out of the hospital and running away from us?"

"Yep. Worse than that, Virgie."

"How much worse?" I asked.

"Annie found out who Eldon Fontana really is," said Travis.

"That a fake name?" asked Billy.

"Yep. His real name is Bobby Prescott and he's wanted in several states for rage killings on the Interstates. Eldon Fontana is the Interstate Rage Killer."

"A serial killer?" Billy raised an eyebrow.

"Yep."

"What else?" asked Virge. "Is there more?"

"Only a guess, but Annie thinks if Bobby is dying, he might want to go home to his house in Texas. He has a place in Midway."

"Do you think that's what will happen, Dad?" I asked.

Travis shrugged. "No telling, son. It's a guessing game."

"We going to Texas to wait for Tammy and see if it's gonna happen that way?" asked Virge.

"Nope. If it does happen, then we'll think about it. Not before. That would be a fuckin waste of time."

"Tammy don't want to live with us no more, Dad," said Virge. "You gonna make her come back to Montana?"

"I have no idea what I'm gonna do, boys. This is a crazy mess that Tammy made all by herself and I can't decide anything yet."

"Too many variables at this point in time," said Billy. "We should wait and see if she shows up in Texas first."

"Yep. This is a wait and see situation," said Travis.

"What if we don't want to sit around waiting?" asked Virge.

"You'll do it anyway," said Travis. "We've got jobs to do, and we can't take off for Texas on a crazy hunch that Annie has and waste a week for nothing."

"Are Annie's hunches usually nuts, Dad?" I asked.

He shrugged.

Gallup. New Mexico.

I put the windows down in the cab and let a warm breeze blow through. New Mexico was warm and the truck smelled bad because of Eldon's state of dying.

I needed to sleep for a while before I could drive any farther, but I felt like I was getting closer to Texas.

Eldon was out cold and not moving and I took the opportunity to crawl into the sleeper and clean him up. Using water from a bottle, I washed all the blood off of him and put on fresh bandages and he never moaned like he sometimes did when I touched him.

The stitches didn't seem to be healing and the wound looked red and sore.

Pills for the pain were all gone, and I'd have to find another drug dealer and buy more when Eldon woke up. While I worked on cleaning him up, he never flinched when the cool water touched him, and that made me wonder if he was sleeping or if he was unconscious.

I wasn't a nurse, and I didn't know the difference between unconscious and sleeping. Mama pointed out how stupid I was, and she was right. If Eldon died, I was the one who killed him.

I can't live with that.

While I lay down next to him, I didn't try to hold back the tears. I slept for a couple of hours and felt a bit better when I woke up. I drank a bottle of water and crawled out of the sleeper into the driver's seat.

As I started the engine, I noticed all the keys on Eldon's keyring and wondered if one of them was for his house in Midway, Texas.

"If one of them doesn't fit the lock, I won't be able to get you in the house, Eldon."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Molly wanted to know about the day before. The day we spent in the freezing cold and didn't find a clue where Harry Fleming was.

"The dogs didn't smell him in the woods at all," said Virge. "Billy said it was like Harry was never in those fuckin woods at all."

Molly frowned. "That's odd, isn't it?"

I shrugged. "His truck was parked on the side of the road, and we followed the path he would've taken into the trees. Can't say, Molly."

Travis leaned on the desk and asked, "Is there a search and rescue team for the Rockies we could borrow, Molly?"

"I'll find out, Travis. There must be something we can do."

"Could be bears," said Virge. "Doc Olsen said they were way behind on their kill numbers."

Molly made a face. "I hope it's not more bears, Virgil. That's such a …brutal way to die."

"Yeah, you should've seen some of the bodies we found, Molly. Arms ripped off and legs hanging by a tendon. Goddamned mess. Make you puke."

"I'm glad I didn't see them, sweetheart. I don't want to have that experience."

"Don't look at the evidence pictures," I said.

"Believe me, I won't, Harlan. It's bad enough knowing it happened in our county."

Fleming Residence. Valier.

Billy sent me and Virge back to Valier to talk to Harry's wife again. She'd be looking for us to tell her good news and we didn't have any.

She was smiling at us when she opened the door, and the Rotties did a lot of loud barking. We didn't bother taking our boots off and going in to sit down this time. Just stood in the front hallway.

When the dogs shut up and we could hear Paula, she asked, "You didn't find Harry?"

"No, ma'am. We gave the dogs a run through the bush where Harry's truck was parked and…nothing."

"But you found his truck?"

"Two trucks," said Virge. "Harry's truck and his buddy's truck parked right behind it."

Paula Fleming teared up. "Does this mean Alex is missing too?"

"No trace of him, ma'am. We have his address from his truck tag and we're going there next. He have a wife?"

"No. Alex lived by himself in a trailer up in Sunburst Acres."

"Okay. We'll let you know if we find anything up there, ma'am. Both trucks have been towed and they're at the sheriff's office in Coyote Creek."

"Can I have the truck back? I don't have a car."

"As soon as we're done with the interior, I'll have Molly call and tell you. Then you can pick it up ma'am."

"Thank you, boys, for coming to tell me."

"No problem, ma'am," said Virge.

Sunburst Acres Trailer Park.

Virge drove our orange Jeep up to the trailer park—the same trailer park we got a lot of our customers from. Seemed to be a place filled with drugs and dealers and guys who would rob you fuckin blind.

Decent citizens might live there too but they were a definite minority.

Looking at the address in my notebook, I told Virge to turn. "Chipmunk Avenue, that's the street Alex Perkins lives on."

Virge turned the corner and drove down Chipmunk while I looked for number twelve. "That one with the Harley under the carport."

"The bike shouldn't be sitting out like that," said Virge. "It's half covered in snow."

"Feel free to brush the snow off when we're done."

He punched me in the shoulder. "Shut up, Harlan. Just sayin'."

No answer at the door.

"Stay here and I'll come in from the back."

"Want me to do more fake knocking?"

"Suit yourself."

I left Virge knocking on the front door while I ran around the single-wide and tried the back. Turned the knob and the door opened with a squeak. Didn't have to pick the lock.

As soon as I stepped inside the little room at the back filled with boxes and crap, I could smell the decomp.

A quick run through to open the front door for Virge and I shook my head. "Don't take any deep breaths."

Virge made a face. "Jeeze, this smells worse than the morgue. Where are the bodies? Has to be more than one to stink this bad."

Virge was right.

One bedroom was loaded with dead bodies. Three on one double bed—all naked and bloody and crawling with flies and maggots.

Almost as bad as the bear's leftover breakfast, but not quite.

Virge gagged and ran into the bathroom next door to heave his lunch.

You never really get used to the smell.

"I'll be out front calling Dad and Doctor Olsen," I hollered to my brother. No way I was staying in the trailer if I didn't have to. I called the coroner and got him on his way here, then I called Travis's cell phone.

"Did you talk to Harry's wife, son?"

"Yeah. Checking out Alex Perkins' trailer, Dad, and it's fuckin full of bodies. You'd better come up here."

"Full…like how many is full, son?"

"Three in one bed all naked and shot, and they're stinking real bad. This happened a couple days ago."

"Like when Harry went hunting and didn't come back? Like that day?"

"Yeah, just like that day, Dad."

"Max and Sarge were right when they said Harry was never in the bush," said Travis.

"Yep, they're always right."

"I'll be up there soon as I can. Sit in the Jeep until Doc Olsen gets there. You don't have to stay in the trailer, son."

"Okay. Copy that."

Virge came running out looking pretty pale.

"Dad said to sit in the Jeep and wait for him. We don't need to stay in the trailer."

"Good call, Dad. I'm doing it."

I laughed at my little brother.

While we waited for Travis and Doctor Olsen, me and Virge sat in the Jeep and smoked to get the smell out of our noses and throats.

Dad rolled in first with Ted, and Doc Olsen was right behind him in the coroner's van.

"You boys don't have to go inside," said Travis. "Wait out here until we need help with the bodies."

"Copy that."

Virge looked at me and said, "Once they're in the body bags, the smell won't be so bad."

"Hope you're right."

"Wonder who the girl is," said Virge. "She looks young."

"Did you notice a purse near her clothes?" I asked.

"Didn't stay long enough to look at clothes and purses, bro. Had to run and puke."

"Yeah, right. I thought I saw clothes on the floor."

"You think that's Harry and Alex and unknown girlfriend?"

"Alex's trailer, that's about all we know. Dad will get the IDs from their clothes."

"Why would their trucks be down on the Quarry Cutoff road if they were here?"

"That's a damned good question, Virgie. When you find out the answer to that question, the case will be solved."

"How do you figure, Harlan?"

"Because the person or persons plural who put those trucks down there to throw us off, was the person who murdered the three people in the trailer."

"I'm a fuckin genius." Virge flashed me a big grin and I had to laugh out loud at my brother.

We waited outside while the doc did his thing, then we helped get the body bags into Doc Olsen's van. He left and Dad told us to seal the trailer.

"Tape it up, boys, and come back to the station. We'll canvas the neighbors tomorrow. Won't get a goddamned thing from them, but we'll try."

"Copy that."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

The dead girl's purse and phone were sitting on Molly's desk being marked for evidence. Travis had her driver's license in his hand reading it off. "Her name was Carla Venner, and she had an address in Sunburst Acres."

"How old, Dad?" asked Virge. "She looked young to me to be already dead."

"Twenty. Alex Perkins and Harry Fleming were both mid-thirties."

"Harry Fleming was married," said Molly with a hint of disapproval in her voice.

"Guess being married didn't matter to Harry," I said. "Mrs. Fleming is gonna be sad when we tell her."

Molly researched the address where Carla Venner lived and said, "This is interesting, boys."

Travis turned his head to listen to Molly.

"That trailer is rented to Tim Perkins."

"Is he kin to Alex, Molly?"

"Twenty-eight," said Molly. "Probably a brother."

"Huh." Travis had his thinking face on. "And Carla Venner lived in his trailer. That puts Tim Perkins way up there on our suspect list."

Molly nodded her head.

"Carla lived with Tim and Tim might have been pretty pissed with his brother Alex fooling around with his girlfriend," said Travis.

"Tim is one suspect," I said, "but Mrs. Fleming could've been ticked off too. She's really pretty and I feel bad for her having a cheating dick like Harry for a husband."

Travis smiled. "Paula Fleming is second on the list, son. Don't go feeling too bad for her yet. Y'all get the notifications done and I'll meet y'all at the Run for a beer before we go home."

"You ain't doing any of the notifications, Dad?" asked Virge.

"Correct," said Travis. "Damned good practice for y'all."

Billy grinned. "I'll take Tim Perkins. Ted and I will do it. You guys drive down to Valier and tell Paula Fleming her husband died in a threesome with a twenty-year-old, Carla Venner."

"I ain't saying that to her, Billy."

"Course not. The truth is too fucking brutal. Be gentle to her, Harlan."

"Copy that."

Perkins Residence. Sunburst Acres.

The wind was unforgiving as Billy and Ted stood shivering at the front door of Tim Perkins' trailer. Since the big snowstorm, the weather in northern Montana had been the high shits.

"Think this guy is our killer, boss?" asked Ted.

"Can't rule him out, Ted. Let's watch him real careful when we give him the news. See how he takes it and that will tell us a lot. We're here to tell him that his brother is dead and that his girlfriend is dead too. A double fuckin whammy. Let's see how Tim does with it."

"Could be tough on him," said Ted.

"But if it's not hard to take, then we need to know why."

"Yep. I got it."

Tim opened the door and Billy tried to read his expression. Was he surprised to see the sheriff, or did he expect them to be standing there?

Holding up his badge, Billy said, "Can we talk to you for a minute, Tim?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I'm afraid we have some bad news for you."

"Like what? I'm on the nightshift and I've been sleeping most of the day." He pointed at the sofa and Billy and Ted sat down.

"Earlier today, Sheriff Frost was at Alex's trailer."

"Okay. Something wrong with my brother?"

"I'm sorry to tell you that Alex is dead, Tim."

"What? That's impossible. Was he in an accident?"

"No, not a vehicle accident. He was found in his trailer with Carla Venner and Harry Fleming. All three of them shot to death."

"Carla? Nope. That's not right. Carla's at work."

"This happened a couple of days ago, Tim. Didn't you notice that Carla wasn't here? She lived here with you, right?"

"Not all the time. Sometimes she stayed with her sister in Shelby if she got off work late. Tracey Venner. You can check it out."

"Where did Carla work in Shelby?" asked Billy.

"O'Malley's. Irish Pub on the main street. Busy place and Carla made good tips."

"Wouldn't she call you if she wasn't coming home?" asked Billy.

"Sometimes she would." Tim smiled. "Carla wasn't too…dependable. She's young. Know what I mean?"

"But you were in a relationship with her?"

Tim nodded. "Off and on for about a year. She only moved in here about three months ago." Tim ran his fingers through his shaggy brown hair. "I don't believe Carla is dead."

"She's in the morgue in Cut Bank. Would you know who her next of kin might be?"

"Carla's from Lethbridge. Her father lives there. I can't get my head around this story you're telling me, Sheriff. How did this happen? Who shot Carla and my brother?"

"The three victims were shot with a rifle from close range, Tim. I have to ask you for your rifle—if you have one. It's procedure."

"You think I shot and killed three people?" Tim was on his feet pacing. "Two of them being people I happen to love? That's just crazy. I don't believe any of this."

"Could you show me your rifle, Tim?" Billy didn't give up. "That's if you have one."

"Course, I do. Every person living way up here has a goddamned rifle. We're overrun with fuckin grizzlies." He turned to leave the room. "I'll get it for you."

Tim returned with his Marlin lever action and handed it to Billy. Billy checked it and it hadn't been fired in a while.

"Here you go, Tim. Thanks." Billy handed the gun back to him. "I'm sorry for your loss." Billy handed him a card. "If you want to positively ID the bodies at the morgue, give Doctor Olsen a call and he'll arrange a time for you to stop by his office in Cut Bank."

"Thanks. I might do that. I guess I won't believe it's true until I see Alex and Carla for myself."

"Sometimes that's what it takes," said Billy. "Sorry to give you such bad news, Tim. You take care of yourself. Call the office if you have questions."

Tim looked at the card in his hand. "Thanks."

Fleming Residence. Valier.

Paula Fleming opened the door when we knocked, and she didn't seem surprised to see me and Virge standing on her doorstep.

"Come in, Deputies. Is this good news or bad about Harry?" She sighed. "It's been so long, I'm kind of giving up hope of him being alive in the forest after so many days. Cold and no food…and the bears." She started to cry. "Everybody I talked to about Harry mentions how bad the bears are this year."

"Yeah, we've seen some of their handiwork," said Virge and I gave him a look so he wouldn't give Paula any of his gross descriptions.

"I'm sorry to tell you that Harry is dead, Mrs. Fleming. He ain't coming home, and a bear didn't get him if that makes you feel any better. He was found dead up in Sunburst Acres in Alex's trailer."

"What? He was at Alex's place?"

"Yes, he was."

"Harry goes there a lot to hang out with Alex. What happened?"

"Harry was shot along with Alex and Carla Venner. Do you know her?" I asked.

"Yes, I know her. She's Tim's girlfriend. Alex's brother, Tim. Is she dead too? Was it a drug thing? I told Harry to stay away from Alex and his druggie friends, but he wasn't a good listener. Carla was young and wild as they come. That girl was always getting high and driving Tim crazy."

She grabbed a couple of tissues from a box on the side table and dabbed at her eyes. "What am I going to do without Harry? I loved him so much."

"Sorry for your loss, ma'am," said Virgil.

I handed Paula one of our sheriff's office cards. "Call the office if you have questions, ma'am."

We showed ourselves out and piled into the Jeep. I started the engine and cranked up the heater. "What do you think of her, Virge? As a suspect, I mean."

"I knew what you meant." Virge made a face at me. "There was something about her that wasn't right. I got the feeling she knew they were all dead."

"Oh, yeah? I was watching for that but didn't see it in her eyes."

"She was definitely covering her ass by going heavy on the drug deal gone wrong and trying to steer us in that direction. She knew they were dead."

"No evidence of drugs being the cause," I said. "No cash or wads of drugs in the trailer."

"Huh," said Virge. "I've gotta think hard on this."

"Yeah, me too. Let's go meet Dad at the Run. I hope he ain't miles ahead of us."

"Could be, Harlan. You know how he gets. He's pretty messed up over Tammy."

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Travis was slouched down in a back booth, an empty pitcher and half a bottle of tequila on the table in front of him.

"There he is and he's a fuckin mess," said Virge.

"Yep. He ain't good when he's into the tequila. We ain't staying, Virge. We'll get Dad out of here and put him in his own truck. You drive his truck home and I'll follow you."

"Yeah. We've got chores ahead of us and I'm already half fuckin dead."

Driving north to the ranch, Travis did a lot of drunken rambling. He talked about the Black Breed and things he needed to do to certain people in Houston… when he was Dale Burden.

Virgil listened closely and tried his best to remember all of it. "Damn it. I need to write this shit down."