Page 13 of River Justice

The rancher cursed. “Robert ‘Bobby’ Robinson. He was from Roundup.”

“Where did he die?”

“Billings. We were up on the band of rock cliffs above the city called The Rims. He and I...we’d been drinking and...arguing. He lunged at me, I stepped aside, and he went over. I was young. I panicked when I saw that he was dead on the rocks below. I ran, okay? I didn’t report the accident.”

“Was anyone else there?” He shook his head. “And you’re positive that he died?” He nodded. “What were you arguing about?”

“I don’t even remember. Like I said, we’d been drinking after a rodeo. Bobby was a bull rider. His wife was nagging him to quit. He was in a foul mood. After he died, Holly Jo’s mother moved to Missoula and raised her daughter there.”

Stuart nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out about his family.” Right now, he was anxious to talk to Holly Jo’s classmate from school, Gus Gardner. Friend or foe, Gus might know if someone had been hanging around the school, watching Holly Jo. Or if someone had contacted her from her father’s family.

“Stay here,” the sheriff ordered after a deputy arrived to be with the family. Another deputy was keeping an eye on the mailbox down the road in case the kidnapper tried to contact Holden again. “Let me know if you hear anything, and I’ll do the same.”

Stuart felt the clock ticking. What made it all the more difficult was his small sheriff’s department. Shorthanded, he and his deputies had to cover the entire Powder River Basin. Two deputies from Yellowstone County had been brought in to help look for Brand Stafford after they’d checked the Stafford Ranch without finding him. Charlotte had gone to Billings for a doctor’s appointment and was allegedly on her way back.

He knew from his law enforcement training that the first seventy-two hours of a kidnapping case were most crucial. But the first forty-eight hours were critical because that was when he had the best chance of following up leads while details were fresh in everyone’s minds. The process had been compared to following a trail of breadcrumbs.

Right now those crumbs led to a boy named Gus Gardner, son of Joe Gardner and classmate of Holly Jo’s. Duffy seemed to think that Gus had been bullying Holly Jo. He’d said that there had definitely been something going on between the two of them.

The moment Stuart drove up to the ranch hand’s house, Joe Gardner came out. He was a string bean of a man, weathered and slightly bent for his age, having grown up as a ranch hand’s son and becoming one himself after high school. In his forties, he looked tired as well as angry as the sheriff climbed out of his patrol SUV.

“Duffy McKenna has no business coming out here and accusing my son of anything,” Joe began before Stuart reached the porch.

“He’s upset because Holly Jo is missing,” he said calmly. “I’m sure we can clear this up quickly. I just need to talk to your son.”

The man hesitated for a moment before he turned toward the screen door and called, “Gus!”

The door opened at once. Gus had no doubt been standing just inside, listening.

Stuart scaled the porch steps, taking in the boy as he did. Stocky, blond and moody-looking, Gus appeared guilty as well as nervous. But it was the abrasion on the side of the boy’s face that caught the sheriff’s attention. “I need to ask you about Holly Jo.”

“We already told Duffy,” Joe said. “We don’t know anything about her.”

“I’m still going to need to talk to Gus.”

Stuart looked to Joe, who quickly said, “You’re not talking to him without me.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” the sheriff said, although he doubted the boy would be forthcoming in front of his father. “Let’s sit down here on the porch steps,” he said to the boy.

Gus looked reluctant but took a seat, his father towering above them on the porch proper.

Stuart started with the easy questions. “When was the last time you saw Holly Jo?” No surprise that it had been in school the day before. “Are you friends?”

Gus shrugged and mumbled, “Not really.”

“Have you been hassling her or bullying her?”

“What?” Joe demanded.

The boy’s reaction was immediate. His head jerked up, his eyes wide as if he was shocked by the accusation, and he shook his head fiercely. As Joe started to object, Stuart waved him into silence.

“Do you like her?” He watched the boy swallow and blush as he looked down at his boots and nodded reluctantly. “You know she’s missing, right?” Another nod. “Is there someone who might want to harm her?” He watched the boy hesitate.

The words came out hesitantly. “There are these girls at school. Tana Westlake and her friends. They’re mean to her. I told Holly Jo to stay clear of them, but she doesn’t always.”

He saw something in the boy’s expression. “She stands up to them?”

Gus nodded and avoided eye contact again. “It only makes them meaner.”

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