Chapter Eight

Thursday, September 26th.

Huntsville Trauma Unit.

Annie had to admit that Fletcher was right about it being a long night. They should've opted for a motel room and slept in beds instead of trying to rest in cramped vinyl chairs in a public waiting area.

The doctor ambled into the waiting area half asleep himself, and said, "We're doing our best to keep him alive. His chances of regaining consciousness are slim at this point. I don't think it's possible, but I've been wrong before. The will to survive is stronger in some humans than in others."

Tammy sobbed and said, "When will Eldon wake up?"

"Tammy," said Annie, "the doctor just told you, he may never wake up."

"I don't understand."

"We're going home to the ranch to eat and sleep. We'll come back to visit Eldon tomorrow when he's had more recovery time."

"No, Mama. I can't leave him."

"We are leaving him here in this hospital, Tammy, where people can look after him, and you are coming with me. This is not the time to put up a fuss."

Tammy heard Annie's tone and didn't argue any further.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Before running into the barn for morning chores, Virge stomped around the side of the building past the woodpile looking for tracks and found them. The mama bear had left some huge paw prints in the snow.

"Look at how big her paws are, Harlan," he hollered from behind the woodpile. The dogs ran to Virgil and sniffed the tracks.

"You don't want her swatting at you with paws and claws that size, bro. Best stay out of her way."

"You think she's looking for food?"

"Bears are always looking for food. They probably have stomachs as big as a fifty-pound feed sack."

Virge made a face. "Jeeze, Harlan. Let's get the chores done. I'm hungry as a bear."

"Hilarious."

We stamped the snow off our boots in the woodshed before running into the house for breakfast. Travis was on his feet cooking bacon and eggs, but he looked pretty pasty.

"You okay, Dad?" I asked as I got myself a coffee.

"Not too good. Think I'll come to work a bit later. I've got shit to do here."

"What shit, Dad?" asked Virge. "We can help you."

"More like banking and bills and stuff like that, Virge. Y'all go to town after y'all eat, and I'll catch up."

"Hear anything about Tammy yet?" asked Billy.

"Nope."

"Would you be mad if I called Mom and asked her about it?" I looked at Travis and tried to get a read on his face. I didn't want to get him pissed at me, but I wanted to know if Mom heard from Tammy.

"Call Annie if you want, son. It's a free country."

"Yeah, it's free n'all, but I don't want you mad at me and Virge. Ain't good for us when you're pissed off at us."

"I just gave you clear sailing on your call." He shrugged. "Call or don't call. Your call." Then he laughed and Virge laughed too.

Maybe I knew our dad a little better than Harlan did. Travis could stand next to you and laugh and then throat punch you a second later. Seen him do it lots of times in the run when prisoners ticked him off.

Dale Burden mode could be scary.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

Virge drove the Jeep to the station, and I called Annie to see if there was news on Tammy. I put the call on speaker so Virgie could hear too.

"Hi, Harlan. How are you and Virgil doing?"

"We're okay, but Dad ain't telling us anything about Tammy and we were wondering."

"I haven't called him, but I should've called you."

"Have you seen her, Mom?" hollered Virge from the driver's seat.

"Yes. Tammy is in Texas. She drove that big truck all the way to Bobby's house in Midway and I had one of our guys sitting there waiting for her. He called an ambulance for Bobby—who is near death—and Tammy went to the hospital in Huntsville with him. She's at the ranch now. I'm not taking her back to the hospital until Bobby is conscious. There's no point."

"Right. Unconscious," I said. "He's hurt bad."

"The doctor told us Bobby may never wake up."

"What should we do, Mom?"

"Nothing you can do, honey. Call later and talk to Tammy. She's not up yet."

"Okay, I'll do that. I want to know if she's coming home."

"I don't think she knows that herself yet. She's pretty mixed up over what she did to Bobby by taking him out of the hospital in Enderby."

"Yeah, she almost killed the guy."

"May turn out to be not just almost," said Annie. "Bobby Prescott may die in the hospital. The doctor isn't optimistic."

"Yeah, right. That will hit her hard, I guess."

After Annie said goodbye Virge asked, "Should we drive down to Texas and get Tammy, bro?"

"Too soon to tell. At least we know she's with Mom and she's okay. Let's be happy with that for now."

"Yeah. Are we gonna tell Dad that?"

"We'll think about it while we work."

"Good plan."

Billy went over the case with us in the squad room when we got to the station. "Our first triple murder and one that's going to take some figuring out."

"Yeah," said Virge. "We've got a couple of suspects and right now I'm kind of going with Paula. She shot us some shit like she was trying to make us believe they all got killed because of drugs."

I shook my head, "Paula tried to steer us down that lane, but there was no evidence of that in the trailer. None."

Molly nodded her head. "I read what she said to you boys, and it seemed like she wanted to believe that story herself."

"Might have been a crime of passion," said Billy, "in which case, the killer would be somebody who was jealous of one of the three dead people."

"That could be Tim Perkins," said Ted. "Jealous of Carla being with his brother and Harry."

"Or a girlfriend of Alex Fleming that we don't know about," said Billy.

"Or Paula," said Virge. "What if Paula knew Harry was cheating on her and she wanted him dead?"

"But Paula moving two trucks down to the Quarry Cutoff?" Billy shook his head. "I'm not buying that she could do that alone. One person didn't do that."

"Right," said Molly. "One person didn't move the trucks. They had to have somebody picking them up to do that. Had to be two."

"Who would've helped Paula?" asked Virge. "Did Paula have a boyfriend and she wanted Harry out of her life?"

"That's a possibility too, Virgil," said Molly. "In that case, Paula's boyfriend helped her kill the victims and move the trucks."

"We any further ahead?" asked Ted.

"Nope," said Billy, "but we're not giving up. Virge and Harlan, go back to the trailer park and knock on more doors. Ask what the neighbors saw three days ago. Even a vehicle in Alex's driveway that they didn't recognize. A tag we can check. Anything at all."

"Copy that, boss. We're on it."

Billy went into his office after the boys left to do more door-to-door. His cell rang and it was Tim Perkins.

"Have you found out anything about my brother's murder, Sheriff?"

He's not asking about Carla.

"Everybody at our station is working on it, Tim. We're checking every lead we have."

"Can I ask what leads you're running down?"

"Nope. I can't talk about that yet, but if you have any suspects in mind, I'd like to hear about them."

"Since you were here, Sheriff, I've been doing a lot of thinking and there's this guy Archie Twig. He's a bad guy with bad friends, and Alex sometimes hung out with him. Harry too, if he was at Alex's trailer."

Billy wrote down the name. "Got an address for Archie?"

"He lives in Sweetgrass. You can get the exact address from his license."

"I'll do that, and I'll go talk to him this morning. Thanks for the call, Tim. I'll let you know about Twig."

"Thanks, Sheriff. I want to help you solve my brother's murder."

Sometimes the killer will inject himself into the investigation.

Billy remembered reading that somewhere.

Sunburst Acres Trailer Park.

Billy sent me and Virge back to the trailer park to do a door-to-door for what the neighbors saw. I remembered Dad saying we wouldn't get anything, but Billy was a little more by-the-book than Travis, so we were doing it his way.

An hour of door knocking and all we got was sore knuckles and no answers, just like Dad said. We were nearly done when Billy called my cell.

"Tim Perkins called and gave me a lead."

"Oh yeah? Who does he think capped his brother?"

"Guy named Twig. Meet me at this address. Might be a drug depot with a lot of hands on deck."

"Yeah, we're about finished here."

"Get anything?"

"Nope."

"What's Billy say'n?" asked Virge.

"Meet him at this address. Punch it in and I'll drive us up to Sweetgrass."

"Getting close to the border again, bro. Don't like the feel of it."

"Why's the border making you antsy, bro?"

Virge sucked in a gulp of oxygen. "Reminds me of Tammy going nuts and leaving us, is all."

Sweetgrass. Montana.

It was farther for Billy and Ted coming from the station than it was for me and Virge. We got to the address first and parked across the street to wait for Billy. He wouldn't be happy if we rushed in ahead of him and got ourselves good'n dead.

The house was an old two-story brick with a couple of windows covered in plywood. Kind of reminded me of the crack house where I first saw Virge. This one was in a little better shape—still had doors and windows.

Billy pulled up behind us about ten minutes later. I butted out my smoke and unsnapped my holster and I was ready to go.

Virge watched me unsnap my gun and got his ready too. He wasn't supposed to have a gun, but Travis let Virge do all kinds of things he never let me do at sixteen. Huh. Seemed like Dad was training Virge for some kind of special task force, but they never talked about it to me.

Billy motioned for us to come with, and while he went to the front door, we ran around to the back of the house and checked for a back way in. Virgie tried the door, and it squeaked open. Let us into a dark room stinking of trash and dog shit.

"Reeks in here," whispered Virge.

"We'll go halfway in and listen for Billy. See if he's got it under control."

Virge nodded and we sneaked along a back hallway trying to hear the chatter from the front room.

"Everybody down on your knees. Hands behind your heads. Do it now." Billy hollered.

That's when me and Virge started running. We sprinted through a dirty kitchen and sent two cats flying away from a bag of garbage they were chewing on.

Ted had his knee in the back of one guy while cuffing his hands. Billy saw us run in and pointed to the other three on the floor. Me and Virge took one each and cuffed them.

We were almost in control of the scene when a big guy about six four pounded down the stairs with a gun in his hand.

"What the fuck is going on in my house?" he hollered. Deep voice. Red in the face and red hair flying. He raised his gun at Billy and before I could aim, Virgie shot him in the knee and the big fucker fell down the last three stairs and crashed on the floor right in front of me. His gun skittered out of his hand and Billy grabbed it up.

I stuck my knee in his back and grabbed for his hands. Big hands and he was strong as a fuckin ox. Virge had to help me get both hands behind his back, but we did it with a lot of grunting, and got the cuffs on the big fucker.

"March these guys out to the squads and secure them," said Billy. "I'll start the search for evidence."

"Copy that," I said.

More than one trip to get the four of them to the squad and lock them in. Ten minutes to wait for the ambulance to come for the guy Virgie shot.

Ted set me watching one squad and Virge watching the guys in the back of the Jeep while he ran in and helped Billy with the drug search.

The ambulance siren wailed as it roared up the I-15 and came into Sweetgrass to find the shot guy they were after.

"He's in the house," I hollered. Two of them with a stretcher ran in to get Big Red and they looked like they were straining their muscles when they carried the big fucker out and slammed him into the back of the ambulance.

Somebody would have to watch him at the hospital and bring him to the station. Billy came running out the front door and pointed at the ambulance driving away.

"Guess that's me."

Cut Bank Hospital.

I sat in the waiting area for an hour before I could talk to the doctor who operated on Big Red's knee. "Can I take him to jail, or does he have to stay here?"

"The bullet missed the kneecap and sailed through the flesh above it, so Mister Twig can leave, but he'll be on crutches."

"Thanks, Doc. Appreciate it."

"He'll need to be in your infirmary for the next couple of days. The dressings will have to be changed and his medication given to him at the appropriate intervals."

"Yep. We'll take care of it, Doc. Thanks."

Like we have an infirmary.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Travis finished up his bill-paying stint at the ranch and drove down to the station to find out from Molly that Billy had taken everyone to Archie Twig's place in Sweetgrass.

"I'll call and see how they're making out, Molly. If they don't need my help, they might be on their way back by now."

Travis called and got the update from Billy. He said they were five minutes out and bringing in a load of prisoners for processing.

"Harlan is at Cut Bank hospital waiting for his prisoner. Twig was aiming for me when Virgie shot him in the knee."

Travis smiled. "I'll get the full story when y'all get back here."

"Copy that."

Travis was slipping his cell into the pocket of his shirt when Tammy called him.

"Hey, Daddy, I'm sorry I did such a stupid thing. Eldon is going to die because of me, and Mama said I'd have to learn to live with it." She started to cry. "How am I gonna do that, Daddy? I love Eldon and I didn't mean to kill him."

"He ain't dead yet, is he, Tammy?"

"Nope. He's in the hospital and Lucy is going to take me to see him in a few minutes. Can you come to the ranch and stay with me, Daddy? I'm so sad about the trouble I've caused my family."

"I can't, Tammy. I'm in the middle of a triple murder and there's no way I can leave right now."

"Okay. A triple murder. I should be there working my shift to help y'all. My brothers must be so fuckin mad at me."

"They're worried, Tammy. They miss you."

"I don't know why anyone would miss me. I'm such a stupid fuck-up. I hate myself so bad right now."

"Listen to what Annie tells you, Tammy. No more mistakes. I can't take the fallout from any more of your impulsive crap. Hear me talking?"

Tammy answered between sobs. "I hear you, Daddy. Will you ever stop being mad at me?"

"Maybe. In a while. In the meantime, don't add more shit to the manure pile. Get my drift?"

"I got it, Daddy. I won't mess up."

"Great. Pull yourself together, Tammy. And get your ass home. We've got work piled up to our butt cracks here."

"I will, Daddy. I'll be home soon."

Travis blew out a breath, glad the call was over. He was so furious with Tammy he wanted to beat her with a stick. That wouldn't do any good, and he would never hit her, but she had pulled some pretty stupid moves in the past few days.

Billy, Ted, and Virgil burst in through the sally port at the back of the building with a bunch of druggies for processing. Hearing the hollering and yelling, Travis left his coffee sitting on the table in the break room and went to help them.

"Four of them," said Travis. "Lock three of them up in the run and start with this one."

"I can book them, Travis," said Virgil.

"Ted can help you." To Billy: "Work on the report and the evidence with Molly."

"Copy that."

The door opened again, and Harlan shoved a huge guy with red hair into the back hallway. "Archie Twig, Sheriff."

Archie leaned partly on his crutch and partly on the wall. The door of the run was open. "Book him next, Harlan, then put him in a cell so he can lie down."

"Copy that. You're next, Archie."

Travis leaned on the other wall and said to Twig, "Tell me about the triple murder, Archie. How did that go down?"

"How the fuck would I know? I wasn't there. Why don't you wise up and ask somebody who was there?"

"And who would that be?"

"I don't do favors for the law, but if I tell you what you want to know, I expect something in return."

"Like what?"

"Like the trafficking charge y'all are gonna hit me with knocked down to possession. That's what."

"Okay. That's doable," said Travis. "I'll have to overlook it here. Be easier than working it through the DA's office in Cut Bank."

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. A charge that don't appear on my sheet."

"Okay. I'll go along with that. Who do you think did the triple?"

"Don't know it for the gospel, but there's this guy I know—Big Dave Turcott—he's a pretty intense guy who happens to be out of his fuckin nut over Paula Fleming. Like the dude would do anything to have Paula for himself."

"I like that information, Archie. Where does Big Dave live?"

"South of Coyote Creek. Horse ranch and he'll have a mailbox at the road."

"Yep. I'll go have a talk to Big Dave," said Travis. "See about his relationship with Paula Fleming."

"She's hot," said Archie. "Goddammit, she's hot. I've had thoughts about her myself."

Ted came to get Archie when it was his turn to be booked. "Your turn, Archie."

"All right, Harlan, possession only for Archie. Not enough on Archie for trafficking. Archie is helping us with our murders."

"Possession is what I'm charging Archie with. Copy, boss."

Archie smiled.

Turcotte Ranch. South of Coyote Creek.

Travis and Billy drove south to Big Dave Turcotte's ranch. His lane was fairly long and led to a low one-story ranch house painted dark green. White shutters and a broad front porch.

Billy knocked on the front door and no one answered after several tries. "Let's go to the barn."

"Yep," said Travis. "Might be in the barn."

Nice looking barn that was pained to match the house. Travis pulled open the double doors and they stepped inside and gave a shout out.

"Hey, Big Dave. You in here?"

Dave poked a big head out of one of the stalls and gave them a wave. He grinned as they got closer. "What's the sheriff want with me? I do something?"

"Probably not," said Travis. "We heard you were friends with Paula Fleming, and we need to ask you a few questions about her husband's murder."

"Aw, shit. You guys don't think I had anything to do with that, do you? Sure, Harry was an asshole husband to Paula. He did drugs with his buddies, and he cheated on Paula all the time, but we were kind of waiting until he got himself arrested and went to jail for dealing. Then she planned to divorce him."

"Y'all never discussed getting rid of Harry a faster way?"

"Hell no. I'm no murderer. I'm a rancher. Yes, I love Paula and when she was free of Harry, I planned to ask her to move here to the ranch, but I could wait."

"Can you think of anybody else who would want one of the victims dead?" asked Billy.

"Who was there besides Harry Fleming?" asked Dave.

"Alex Perkins and Carla Venner."

"Never laid eyes on Carla Venner, but I heard Alex Perkins was a prick. I can tell you that much. He was Harry's best buddy who supplied him with drugs."

"Did you know Alex Perkins well, Dave?"

"Nope. Seen him at the roadhouse with Harry a few times. Alex always had a couple of young girls with him. I think he was a regular at Krystal's Palace. Paula was always fuming when he took Harry there for a night out."

"Why didn't Paula just divorce Harry?"

"I wanted her to, but she wanted to wait until Harry got his inheritance from his aunt who was dying. She was in a nursing home in Great Falls and didn't have long to live. She was leaving her estate to Harry, her only relative."

"So, Paula wanted Harry to have that money before she divorced him, so she'd get her half?" asked Billy.

Dave shrugged. "I told her the money didn't matter because I'm not a fuckin poor man. I could give her everything she wanted."

"How much was the inheritance?" asked Travis.

"Paula thought it was a lot. Maybe a million."

"Huh," said Travis.

Billy drove out Big Dave's lane slowly as he lit up a cigarette. "What did you think of that story?"

"Interesting. If Dave is a liar, he's a damned good one. The story about the inheritance was pretty detailed to be a lie. There might be some truth to it."

"We need to talk to Paula, the grieving widow, again," said Billy.

"Yeah, we do."