Page 8 of River Wild

As he pulled behind her rig, she cut her engine and lay over the steering wheel, suddenly exhausted and afraid that once she looked into Stuart’s face, she would tell him everything. She’d been running from this for years, but she’d never been running more scared than she was now.

Bailey looked up as she heard the patrol SUV driver’s side door open. In her side mirror, she saw with a start that it wasn’t the sheriff but a middle-aged female patrol officer who stepped out and approached.

There were no women on the county force, which meant this officer was out of her jurisdiction. That thought zipped past as she noticed something disturbing. The female officer had dropped one hand to the weapon at her hip.

As Bailey reached toward her glove box for her registration, she told herself this was just a standard stop. Maybe she’d been going over the speed limit. Maybe she had a taillight out. Maybe... The hard tap at her side window made her jump.

She looked over to see the name on the officer’s uniform. R. Durham. She felt a chill. Everything about this, including the dark night, had her nerves on edge. Her instincts screamed that something was wrong.

Bailey swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat, fighting the instinct to make a run for it as common sense told her running could get her thrown in jail—if not killed. She put down her window. “I have my license and car registration right—”

“Get out of the car.Now!”

Bailey turned to see that R. Durham had stepped back, the gun now in her hand.

“Get out of the car!”

She was still trying to convince herself this was some kind of mistake as she stepped out of the car. She barely got her door closed before she was struck. The woman slammed into her, shoving her face-first into the side of the SUV and pressing the gun to the side of her head.

“What is this about?” Bailey cried, fearing this was no mistake after all.

R. Durham leaned closer, holding her face crushed against the side of the car, the barrel of the gun pressed even harder against her temple. “You’ve messed with the wrong family. I know what you’ve been doing, going around digging into things that are none of your business.”

“I don’t know who you are.”

“Oh, you’ll remember me, though,” the woman said, and slammed a fist into the small of Bailey’s back.

The blow knocked the air from her lungs and seemed to paralyze her legs. She slumped to the ground as the woman stepped back to tower over her.

“You leave my family alone,” the officer said, grabbing a handful of Bailey’s long hair and dragging her to her feet, all the while keeping the weapon trained on her. “I always heard you were tough. Don’t seem so tough right now.”

“You have a gun to my head. Put down the gun and badge and we’ll see who’s tougher. But you’re not looking for a fair fight, are you?” Bailey said through gritted teeth as her hands fisted at her sides.

The woman dragged her to the rear of the SUV, then shoved her hard. Bailey tumbled down into the deep, weed-filled barrow pit. As she rolled, dried weed stalks tore at her face, at her bare arms, ripping her shirt until she finally came to a stop at the bottom.

Officer R. Durham stood on the edge of the road, silhouetted in the lights from the patrol car, her weapon dangling from her hand. She raised the gun slowly. Bailey didn’t move. Couldn’t. If this was where it ended, fine. She almost welcomed it. In her nightmares, her death had been much worse.

“Leave the Durhams alone. Next time, you won’t be getting out of that ditch.” She holstered the gun and walked back to her patrol SUV. A few moments later, her engine revved. She sped off in a hail of dirt and gravel.

Bailey lay in the dried earth and weeds at the bottom of the barrow pit, listening to the patrol car drive away. She didn’t have to ask how she’d gotten here or why. Slowly rising, her body aching, her skin bleeding where it had been scraped raw, she crawled her way back up onto the road.

The dark night closed in around her, the silence deafening, as she stood in the middle of the road. R. Durham had believed that she’d scared her. The thought made her laugh as she reminded herself what was out there in the darkness coming for her.

But her laugh ended abruptly as she let out a howl of frustration that turned into a scream. The sound filled the night, chasing back the darkness and the fear before she pulled herself together. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

STUARTHADN’TREALIZEDhow late it was. He’d been tying up loose ends, preparing to step away from the office for good. But when he saw the time, he knew he needed to go home and try to get some rest.

He wondered if he’d see Bailey, doubting it. She knew he was going to demand answers, so she’d probably stay away. Maybe it was better that way.

As he got up to leave, he was notified that someone wanted to talk to him about Willow.

“Did you get a name?” he asked.

“Aaron Branson.” Before he could ask, “He’s Willow’s brother.”

“Send him back,” Stuart said, even though it was way after hours. Until it was official, he was still the only law in this part of the Powder River Basin.

A few moments later, a tall, nice-looking dark-haired man with a cleft chin was at his door. He motioned him in as he stood to shake the man’s hand. “I’m Sheriff Stuart Layton. I’m sorry about your sister.”

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