Page 58 of JoyRide

“Nope. We have to pass right by the turn for Ethridge. You might as well see what you turn up. I’ll wait in the squad.”

“Okeydokey.”

SaveWay Market. Ethridge.

Ted parked in the back corner of the market parking lot, and I let the dogs out to sniff around the area where the kids had been hunkered down behind the truck they had stolen.

Ted had come back yesterday and towed the stolen pickup to the station. Molly was finding out who it belonged to and where it had been jacked. It wasn’t the Chevy Silverado taken from Shelby Lumber.

I held onto Max’s leash and Ted held Sarge as the two dogs sniffed the pavement where the four boys had been when the shooting went down.

As soon as Max alerted and started to run, Sarge followed, and it was hard for me and Ted to keep up. The dogs were lightning fast on four legs, and we only had two.

Max’s nose was to the ground as we ran through town, past houses, and stores, then out the other side of the village and across a field of tall corn to an abandoned barn.

Big barn behind a house that had burned down. All that was left of the house was the foundation grown up and tangled with weeds and vines and a few wild saplings.

A few boards were missing from the weathered barn, but the blackened doors were intact and working. Ted and I went inside and looked around and it was easy to see where the kids had been hiding out.

Straw bales were gathered together in a square and the area was littered with food wrappers, soda cans, and empty cigarette packs.

“They were here,” said Ted. “Goners now.”

I wonder if they called their buddies and more of the kids came and picked them up.”

“Yeah,” said Ted. “They could’ve waited here for a ride. They couldn’t risk coming back to the store to get their stolen pickup.”

We jogged back through town to the market where Travis waited for us in the Bronco. We’d been gone so long; he was asleep in the back seat and jumped when I opened the door.

“Hey, y’all are back. Any luck?”

“We found the barn where the kids hid out. Might have called for a ride from there. Long gone now.”

“Y’all will get them, Tammy. Don’t worry on it no more. It will happen.”

“We’d better get you home to the ranch,” I said. “You’re looking pretty pale. Snowball has more color than you do.”

That made Ted laugh as he started the engine.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

I parked close to the front porch steps to make it easier for Travis to get into the house, but it was slow going. His side hurt so much with every step he took; I hated seeing so much pain on his face.

Once he was inside, he was happy to sit on the sofa in the living room. I tucked a blanket in around him and at the same time noticed that Virgil wasn’t lying on the other sofa over by the woodstove.

Travis could see the kitchen from where he sat and could hear me and Billy talking.

My first worry was Vigil. “Where are you, Virge?”

I ran through the house, went upstairs, and he wasn’t in the house. Gone.

Billy went into the living room to talk to Travis, and he was saying, “Glad you’re home, buddy,” when I came running back from my search.

“Where’s Virgil?”

“Don’t know. I’ll look in the barn, although I don’t know why he’d be outside. He can only walk on crutches and he sucks at it.”

I ran out the back door and through the woodshed with the dogs. We checked everywhere there was to check, hollering out Virgil’s name as we went.

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