Page 78 of Lawless Ride

Glenda used the phone on one of the empty desks to call her twin sister and I heard her tell Brenda to hire her a lawyer and send him to our office.

She turned to me when she finished the call. “I won’t be in here much longer, Travis, and as soon as I get out, I’m going to sue your ass and break you.” She laughed. “You’ll be running back to Texas without a dime.”

“Go ahead, Glenda. Do your worst.”

Harlan returned her to her cell, and we left for Shelby to search Glenda’s house.

About halfway to Shelby, Billy called and said he was at his parents’ house, home from fucking rehab, and he wanted to come home.

“Heading for Shelby right now to search a house. I’ll pick you up in ten minutes.”

“Fantastic, Travis. I’ve got to get out of here. My mom is fussing over me, and she won’t stop. I’ll puke if I eat another bowl of chicken soup. I need to get home.”

We stopped for Billy at his mom and dad’s house, and he was waiting out front. Harlan jumped into the back seat with Ted and the dogs and Billy climbed into the front to give his leg more space.

He had a brace now and a cane—no crutches. He wasn’t a bit better, he just had better equipment.

Driving to Glenda’s duplex, I filled Billy in on what had happened so far, and he could hardly believe the Crandall twins were involved in murder.

Glenda Crandall’s Residence. Shelby.

I parked in Glenda’s driveway and continued the debate on the case. “Nothing says Brenda had anything to do with this,” I said.

“I’m saying she does,” said Billy. “Before I started taking Brenda out, she was with Ray Dangerfield. She was still pretty hung up on him that first night I took her out. She told me all about what a womanizer he was and how she’d like to get even with him for messing her up.”

“Huh,” I said. “That’s news. So, Ray was doing both the twins?”

“I’m not sure if it was at the same time,” said Billy, “or if he switched from Brenda to Glenda.”

“Holy shit,” said Harlan, “how did the big stud have time for Tanya Boyd?”

“We’ll figure his copulating timetable out later. Right now, we have to search for the gun. I’ll come in from the back and let y’all in the front door. Glove up, we’re not going to miss anything.”

The four of us methodically searched Glenda’s two-bedroom duplex room by room. Harlan won the prize when he found the gun taped to the back of one of the dresser drawers.

Laughing, he dropped the gun into an evidence bag. “Same way we used to hide our shivs in Juvie.”

“Nice one, son. Bagged and tagged.”

From there we went back to the office.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

“Molly, this gun came from Glenda Crandall’s duplex. Harlan found it. Enter it into evidence and let the DA know we have it. Upgrade her charges to first degree murder.”

“I’ve got all that. Does the caliber match Ray’s wound?”

“Caliber matches. Ballistics will test the bullet after Doctor Olson does the autopsy and digs it out of Ray’s head. That should be today or tomorrow.”

“Nice work,” said Molly.

“We’re on our way to Sunburst Acres to see if Grant Andrews is behaving. Back soon.”

Sunburst Acres Trailer Park.

His pickup was there. No other vehicles meant no customers at the moment.

“No knock.”

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