Page 68 of JoyRide

Tammy and I walked through the front opening—missing a door—and inside talking to the drunk and high residents were a couple of dealers. They were only interested in the kids or homeless people who had money to buy their drugs.

When they peered through the dim light and saw our uniforms, they booked it and sprinted for the back door.

Leaning against the back wall, Ted was in position waiting for them to run. We followed from the inside and had them sandwiched between us.

Ted pulled his gun and held the slingers on their knees in front of him while we cuffed them from behind.

Tammy patted them down and took the goods they had for sale along with their weapons. Each of them had a gun and a knife. She bagged everything and marked it while Ted and I secured them in the back of the squad.

I wasn’t much help with the arrest, but I asked the slingers if they’d seen Virgil Linley.

“Who? Don’t know who that is.”

I had no way of knowing if they were lying or not.

Tammy took the wheel, and we continued north on the interstate to Route Two and turned east to Shelby.

“Where do they set up the carnival, Ted?” asked Tammy.

“Fairgrounds. On the north edge of town. You turn on one of the side streets and it takes you right to the gate. Can’t remember the name of the street.”

“The GPS will find it.” I punched in Shelby Fairgrounds, and it only took a couple of seconds to pop up on the screen. “Turn on Elm Street, Tam.”

“Elm. Got it.” When we came to Elm Street, she made the turn and drove for a few blocks, and we were there—looking right at the gate.

Leaving the squad at the gate, we walked in, and it was easy to see where all the action was. The carnival wasn’t all set up, but the laborers were unloading the trucks and putting the pieces in place.

Tammy stayed with the squad while me and Ted searched through the big crew of workers looking for Danny Burridge, Stuart Dickinson and any other kids in that age group that might be part of the gang.

“See them?” Tammy asked when we returned to the gate.

I shook my head. “Not here yet. We’ll come back tomorrow and check out everybody who’s been hired on for the weekend. We’re going to find them this time.”

“Yeah,” said Ted. “Carnival is a good place for them to work. Lots of people to rob on the side. Big parking area full of vehicles to steal. This will be a fuckin gold mine for them.”

“I think so too,” I said. “Hard for them to pass up a golden opportunity like the carnival. We’ll put in time on surveillance.” I laughed thinking about it. “I’ll take Tammy on the Ferris wheel.”

And kiss her at the top.

“Be a first for me. Never been to the carnival.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Ted and I brought the prisoners in the back door, and he locked one of them in the run while I booked the other.

Billy came out of his office to hear what was going on and see what we were doing. We were his responsibility with Travis not at the station.

“We picked up a couple of drug slingers, Billy,” I said.

“Where’d you find them, Tammy?”

“Checked the crack house in Conrad East again. Had to pass near there.”

“Making sure Virge wasn’t there?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, doing that,” said Tammy.

“I wanted to be sure,” I said to Billy.

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