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“I’ll see if Molly can get us an address for Carter Raza, then you and I will go get Miss Suzie and Mister Raza and arrest them on suspicion of murder, and we’ll add in conspiracy to commit charges as well. See if we can shake some answers out of them.”
“What about Thorn? We bringing him in too?”
“Yep. We’ll bring him and his wife in for questioning and put the fear into them. One of the four is going to cave and tell us something. My money is on Thorn’s wife.”
Billy laughed. “Hope it plays out like that. We’re going to have a busy day.”
It didn’t take Molly long to get an address for Carter Raza in Shelby, the same town Billy was from. Once we had that, the plan was in motion.
“We’re going out to round us up some new customers, Molly.”
She laughed. “We don’t have room for too many more, Travis. Only two empty cells.”
“Yep. Some guys will have to double up. We’re going to have a full house.”
Billy and I hopped into my truck and I said, “Two things to do first—buy the trailer and pick up Tammy. Then we’re going to round up the murder ring and close the case. I don’t want anything hanging open when I leave you here on your own.”
Billy laughed. “You’re pretty confident that one of them is going to spill the beans, boss. We don’t have anything even close to hard evidence. No murder weapon. Everything we have is circumstantial.”
“Yeah, we need to find out if Doctor Olson has been able to come up with a cause of death, besides Chris being frozen to death. If Chris was already dead when they dumped him at Thorn’s ranch, there has to be a weapon and a COD.”
“Why hasn’t Doc Olson called then? Wouldn’t he tell you as soon as he had something?”
“Yep, he would. I’ll call him as soon as we’re done here. I think bringing them all in at once will trigger something, Billy. We’ll push them hard and make it happen.”
Coyote Creek Needs and Feeds.
The horse trailers in stock were parked around the back of the feed store and were half buried in snow. I asked one of the guys in the mill which one was the best and he pointed it out to me as we stood on the loading dock.
All I could see was the top of a black trailer above the snow line and I had to take his word for it. There was no way I could get to the trailer or open the back doors to look inside.
“Ain’t gonna dig out a trailer that you ain’t gonna buy, Sheriff. I got feed orders coming out my ass and got no time for playing in the fuckin snow.”
“Okay, dig the best one out and get it ready for me. I need it right away. Want to get my horse used to the feel of it before I take off for Texas.”
“Sure thing, Sheriff. Sorry to see you go. I would’ve voted for you.”
I shook his hand. “I want y’all to vote for Billy Johnson instead. He’s gonna be the new sheriff and the only man running who can get the job done. The other two candidates have no experience whatsoever. One’s a lawyer and the other is a car salesman.”
“Yep, I’ll vote for him.”
“Savanna in her office?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t be. Pale as paper, but she’s in there trying to clean up the mess that the robbers made.”
Billy chatted to the guys working the mill about voting for him while I went into the store to see what Savanna was doing.
When I walked into her office, she glanced up from her computer screen looking pale and wiped out. “You sure you should be here?”
“Not staying too long.”
I rounded the desk, leaned down, and held her gently in my arms—mindful of her injuries—then I kissed her on the mouth.
“That’s a goodbye kiss, and don’t be telling Jack. He’ll be pissed and want to throw a punch at me, and I don’t want to hurt him.”
Savanna smiled. “We’re giving it another try, Jack and me. See how it goes the second time around.”
“I wish y’all the best.”
