Page 93 of Lawless Ride

Bang.

The bullet flew past my head, so fucking close I heard the sound of it.

Zing,

A mirror shattered behind me on the far wall and the shards flew in every direction.

Ted threw a stack of folded sweaters at Brenda, and they hit her in the face and knocked her off balance for a couple of seconds.

I was running towards her, and those two seconds gave me the chance to knock the gun out of her hand. I grabbed her arm and twisted it up behind her back and cuffed her. “Bag that gun, Ted. Nice diversion.”

He grinned. “Thanks, boss.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

This time around, we booked Brenda on suspicion of murder, attempted murder of a police officer and resisting arrest.

Ted managed to book her without any assistance. After all the bookings he’d done on the rustlers, he was an expert.

The run was full to overflowing and I had no choice but to lock Brenda up in the same cell as her sister. While I was locking the twins in together, I said to Glenda, “Your sister told me you borrowed her gun about a week ago. That’s the gun that was used to murder Ray Dangerfield.”

“She’s lying. I never had her gun. I don’t own a gun, but Brenda has several.”

“I found that out when she shot at me at the store. You girls work it out between you. As of now, I’m charging you both with Ray’s murder.”

“That’s not fair,” hollered Glenda. “You can’t do that. I didn’t do it.”

“The gun was found at your house, Glenda. What does that tell the DA?”

Glenda’s face took on a look and it was directed at her sister. The question was, would she go down for Brenda? Don’t think so. Things were going to turn ugly in that cell. Couldn’t wait for it to happen.

Before I left, I spoke to Molly in the squad room. “I’m going home to check on Harlan. Any luck finding kin for Hannah?”

“She had a brother in Butte. I sent the local authorities to inform him about his sister.”

“Thanks, that’s off my list. The horses?”

“They’ll be picked up tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“Great. Billy and I will feed them tonight and make sure they have water if they’re still in Hannah’s corral.”

“Go on home, Travis. We’ll catch up on your reports tomorrow. Go see how your boy is doing.”

“Ted will help you with distributing the supper packages to the prisoners before he goes home.”

“I’ll need help with the sell-out crowd we have.” Molly laughed.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Harlan seemed groggy when I got home to the ranch, and I mentioned taking him to the hospital for a quick checkup. “I think a trip to the hospital is the way to go, son. You don’t seem much better.”

“Maybe I don’t look it, but I am a lot better. I don’t feel sick anymore.”

“Billy and I are going over to feed the horses at Hannah’s ranch. Molly made arrangements for the sanctuary people to pick them up and give them a new home where they’ll be free again.”

“I’ll come with you and Billy.” Harlan got to his feet, and he wasn’t walking too badly.

We returned from Hannah’s ranch just as Savanna was getting out of her truck with bags of food in her hands. “I brought you guys dinner.”

---