Page 43 of Lawless Ride

Harlan walked through to the squad room and gave Molly his version of what happened at the shooting of Joe Mendenhall and his drug boys in Conrad, and then a second story about Tanya finding Floyd Boyd dead in Shelby and us going to the scene with Doc Olson.

“My goodness, you boys were busy yesterday. I’m glad neither one of you got hurt.” Molly entered all of the data into the computer. She asked Harlan a few questions for the sake of clarity when he talked too fast, and details were obviously left out of the report.

“I like to demonstrate in the reports that it was obviously self-defense when Travis shoots someone,” she said.

“Yeah, I get that,” said Harlan. “And for sure it was. No question, that drug boss pulled a gun out from under his desk, jumped up and pointed it right at Travis. Then as soon as Travis shot him, all the rest of the gangers pulled their weapons.”

“I’m grateful you and Travis weren’t shot.”

Harlan smiled. “Me too. When all hell broke loose, Travis shoved me onto the floor.”

“He’s excellent in a violent situation,” said Molly. “He never panics.”

“No, he sure don’t.”

“How are the girls doing at the Pellegrino ranch, dear?”

“Second week of training,” said Harlan. “I think they’re fine.”

“Travis told me that Annie is coming to watch them on the weekend,” said Molly.”

“Yep. She’s coming on Friday night. I ain’t met her yet.”

Molly smiled. “I’m sure you’ll like her. I liked her right off when I met her. She came to Montana when Max got hurt and slept in his cage at the vet’s office. Such a kind person.”

Harlan’s eyes widened. “Travis didn’t tell me that. I guess I’ll meet her next weekend.”

Harrison County Courthouse.

I parked at the back door of the courthouse and Harlan helped me take our prisoners from the squad and hand them over to the bailiff at the rear of the building. Once they were safely locked up in the holding cells, Harlan and I went inside to wait. We couldn’t leave until we were sure they all made bail and weren’t coming back to the station with us.

The cases were called one by one, and for some reason the procedure seemed incredibly slow this morning. But eventually, all three of our druggies pleadednot guiltyand were granted bail. The more hearings I attended, the more I was convinced that the judges were too fuckin lenient, but it wasn’t my call.

While Harlan was sitting in court, he received texts from Lucy about a girl who didn’t like her and Tammy. She was calling them hicks from Texas in front of all the other girls.

Harlan texted back.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be there on Saturday morning.”

“We won’t be coming home on Friday night. Not until Saturday afternoon, when the demo is over.”

“Annie is coming. She confirmed.”

“Is she bringing Jacks? I want him to see how much I improved.”

“Yes. He’s coming.”

“Yahoo. My brother is coming.”

Harlan wondered to himself if he was going to like Jackson, the rodeo kid.

Boyd Residence. Shelby.

Before going to pick up Ray Dangerfield, we stopped into the Boyd residence to see Tanya and take a second look at the crime scene.

“Come in, Sheriff. I’m doing better today. This is my sister, Patty Hamlin.”

“Nice to meet you, Patty. I’m glad you could come and keep your sister company. She’s had a rough few days.”

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