Page 26 of JoyRide

Thursday, July 25th.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Me and Tammy had a big talk in the barn while we did morning chores and mucked out the stalls. Travis and Billy weren’t talking to each other and that was like…so fuckin weird because they were best friends and lived together, and they always joked and laughed and kidded around.

“What do you think is going on?” Tammy asked me. “I can’t figure it out.”

I shrugged. “Don’t know, Tam. About all I can do is come right out and ask Travis when I get a chance alone with him.”

“Yeah, can you do that? Both of them seem so unhappy about whatever it is. Too much tension inside the house. I’d like it to be done with.”

“Me too.”

We put the horses in the corral for the day and then ran into the house to clean up and have breakfast. Billy wasn’t in the kitchen when we got there.

“Where’s Billy?” Tammy sat down at her place and drank some of her orange juice. Travis made us drink juice and eat vegetables every fuckin day.

“He’s drinking coffee on the porch,” said Travis.

“What’s going on with you guys?” I took my chances with pissing Travis off. “What are you arguing about with Billy?”

“Just a personal thing,” said Travis. “Nothing to worry about, kids.” He tried to smile but easy to see he was faking it.

“Y’all never fought before,” said Tammy. She was pushing it a little.

“Eat your breakfast, both of y’all. We’ve got work to do.”

“Billy coming to work today?” I asked.

“Nope. He’s taking a sick day. Says his leg is aching like a bitch.”

“Okay. We should be fine without him,” I said. “Not too much going on. Just a fuckin killer we can’t find.”

“Or it was Carl and we already found him,” said Tammy. “I’m voting for Carl.”

“Yeah, Carl is our best option,” said Travis. “He ticks all the boxes. Just gets released from the mental hospital, andbang…two dead bodies.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

“State-wide alert,” hollered Molly. “Two juveniles, one sixteen and one seventeen, escaped from Great Falls Detention Center.”

“Are they heading our way, Molly?” Travis hollered back to her from the office.

“No direction given, Sheriff. I guess we’ll watch out for them.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“What do they look like?” asked Tammy.

“Look like kids,” said Ted.

“Thanks, Ted,” said Tammy, making a face at him. “That helps a lot.”

Sitting at his squad desk, he shrugged. “You know what I mean. They probably look like regular kids. Jeans and a fuckin T-shirt. Every kid wears that.” He hooked a thumb at Tammy.

“They might be blond-headed or have red hair.”

“Okay. Hair color.” Ted hollered over to Molly. “Hair color, Molly?”

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