Page 96 of Stormy Ride

“Up for a long ride this morning, Harlan?” I asked.

“Yeah, I need more practice on Windrider.”

“Aw,” said Tammy, “we won’t be able to go with y’all. We have no horses to ride.”

“All male ride this morning, girls. Sorry.”

Harlan had never ridden all the way to the back boundary of the thousand acres.

Travis led the way on Outlaw and Outlaw was a fast horse. Harlan kept thinking he’d fall off, but he didn’t, and he was gradually becoming more comfortable in the saddle.

Up ahead he heard Travis shouting and saw him waving his arms and pointing.

“Yep, I see them.” Harlan pulled up on his reins and slowed Windrider down so he could reach for his phone and take pictures of the mustangs.

Travis wheeled Outlaw around and came galloping back to him. “See them? Three of them.”

“I think I got some pictures. We almost to the back of the ranch?”

“Uh huh. Almost to the boundary. We’ll turn and ride back down the other side.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Harlan and I headed for the station after our big morning ride. Felt good to get out on Outlaw again and he enjoyed the freedom to gallop.

Now that the rain had finally stopped, the corral was dry enough for Outlaw and Windrider to stay outside in the daytime. I still didn’t trust the bears at night.

Across the road we grabbed lunch specials for the prisoners, and for ourselves as well. All that fresh air and Harlan was starving. The kid could eat.

Giving the prisoners ten minutes to eat, I cleaned up stuff on my desk and got ready to bring Louise Carrigan into the office for questioning. I couldn’t talk to her in the run with Evan Bronowski there listening to our conversation. She might be next on his list.

While I collected the lunch containers and handed them off to Harlan, I cuffed Louise and led her out of her cell.

“Where am I going?”

“To my office for a few minutes.”

“Don’t want to talk to you, and I’m not going to.”

“Suit yourself, Louise.”

I sat her in a chair in my office and locked the door. Harlan moved his chair up against the door and we were ready to start as soon as I turned on the tape recorder.

“I know you picked Evan up from the bridge, Louise, and that fact alone puts you at the scene of Kala’s murder. You being present at the scene, even if it was only to pick Evan up, makes you just as guilty of the crime as Evan, and when you are convicted you will be sentenced to death.”

She stared at me, focusing on the scab on my face. The one healing over the gash she put there with her long ugly nails.

“The only way for you to avoid the death penalty, Louise, is to testify against Evan. It’s not an option if you want to have any chance at a life, it’s the only choice you can make. There’s no other road for you to travel. Chose to stick with Evan and say nothing to help me convict him, and both of you sit on death row for the rest of your lives.”

“You don’t scare me, Sheriff. You’ve got a rep for being tough, but I think that’s all bullshit. You’re all talk.”

“I’m not into beating up women, Louise, but if that’s what you want, hey, I can break your nose for you.”

“You can’t do that. I have rights.”

I jumped off my chair, circled the desk, jerked Louise to her feet, spun her around and smashed her face into the wall.

Blood gushed from her nose and her split lip, and I handed her a couple of tissues. “I’ll take you back to your cell to do a little thinking. Open the run for me, Harlan. I think Louise is going to trip and fall on her way back to her cell.”

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