Page 23 of Lawless Ride

“I am too,” said Molly.

“It’s true that the dogs would have tried to prevent whoever…from taking Peterson, and I didn’t think of that. I was so goddamned mad when I saw the empty squad, I wasn’t thinkingat all. I’m going to take a run over to his house just to be sure, but I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to go home.”

“I’ll get his street address for you and put a fugitive want out on him as well. Any witnesses?”

“None that I saw.”

Before we left, Harlan brought Mrs. Boyd to the squad room. She sat at one of the empty desks and made a call to her husband. She sobbed out her predicament to Floyd Boyd, telling him to get in touch with their attorney and send him over to our station.

Peterson Residence. Coyote Creek.

As soon as Tanya Boyd was locked up, Harlan and I cruised around to the Peterson residence. Only a few blocks from Main Street, rumor had it that Peterson’s wife had left him a few months before and he now lived alone. Maybe she didn’t want to be involved in his new drug business. If that was the case, she made a wise decision.

I picked the lock on the back door and gave Harlan a lesson on that skill at the time. Once we were in, we had a good look around and didn’t find much.

Showing Harlan how to do it, I slipped a tag in and then showed him the best places to hide them. He seemed pleased when I let him put one in on his own.

“Tags legal?” he asked me.

“Umm… there’s sheriff’s department legal and then there’s black ops legal and I was trained in black ops, so sometimes it’s hard for me to separate the two.”

Harlan laughed. “I see what you’re saying.”

A fast learner, he was doing more every day.

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek.

When we stopped in at the Dry Run for a cold one on our way home, Jack said all the talk was about Clay Peterson getting beat up by the sheriff.

“That true?” asked Jack. “Did you beat the shit out of Peterson in his office?”

“I went to his office at the back of the garage to talk to him about something and he pulled a gun on me and Harlan, so yes, there was a disagreement.”

Harlan nodded with a slight smirk on his face. “Yep. Peterson had a Glock.”

“He in the lockup?” Jack set a pitcher of Miller down and gave Harlan a Coke with ice.

“Right now, I don’t know where the fucker is. His buddies broke him out of the squad on the main street of Cut Bank and Peterson is a wanted fugitive.”

“No, fuckin way.” Jack stood behind the bar with his mouth open. “Peterson is in the wind?”

“Yep. You heard from Billy?”

“Is Billy mixed up in the Peterson thing?”

“Nope. Just wondering how he was doing. We miss him at the ranch.”

Harlan sipped his Coke and nodded.

I noticed Savanna come in and she didn’t sit at the bar on her regular stool. She walked farther back and sat in a booth alone.

Harlan and I picked up our drinks and moved to the booth to sit with her.

“Hi, guys. You had dinner yet?”

“Nope. On our way home.”

“When you finish your pitcher why don’t I follow you home and make dinner for us? I get sick of eating alone.”

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