Page 15 of Midnight Ride

The Olivers left and we had a meeting in the squad room and went over what Mrs. Oliver told us.

“The father trashed their phones, and the boys were pissed out of their trees,” said Virgil, “then the next morning they didn’t give a shit? I ain’t buying that.”

“Especially if they saved up for the phones and paid for them themselves,” said Tammy. “They’d keep on being pissed.”

“Sounds to me like the boys were mad as hell at the father, but they made a plan to get even and decided to go on the trip,” I said. “At breakfast the next morning, they acted all nice because that was part of the plan.”

“Yeah,” said Virge. “I agree with you, bro. Those boys only went on the trip to do something to their old man.”

“But would they kill him over a couple of phones?” asked Billy. “Seems a little extreme to me.”

Travis shrugged. “Guess we won’t know until we find them.”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Dinner was over and me and Virge were helping Tammy with the dishes. Not exactly helping her but tormenting her and tickling her while she tried to do the dishes. Just having fun in the kitchen but we were making a lot of noise.

The sheriff’s phone rang, and Travis gave us a hand signal to be quiet so he could hear. “Okay, I understand. I’ll be down there in five minutes.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Tammy.

“The Olivers are staying at the Inn and Olivia is having trouble with them.”

“Want us to come with you, Dad?” I asked.

“Sure. Why don’t you and Virge come and give me back up? Billy’s already comfortable watching a game.”

“You don’t want me to come?” Tammy sounded hurt.

“No, I don’t. I have a reason that I’m not discussing, Tam. Stay here with Billy and feed the dogs.”

“Okay.”

Coyote Creek Inn.

I drove Dad down to the Inn at the north end of town and Virge rode in the back seat. I parked the sheriff’s Bronco out front and left the strobes turning.

Olivia met us in the foyer and pulled Dad aside to tell him what was going on.

Virge and I moved in closer so we could hear the reason she called us.

“Mrs. Oliver is going from table to table in the dining room asking the guests if they’ve seen her sons. Of course they haven’t, and they don’t know what she’s talking about. She’s raised her voice several times and she’s annoying all of the dinner guests. I didn’t know how to get her out of there.”

“I’ll remove her,” said Travis.

While Dad went into the dining room to be his diplomatic best, Brooke came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food and she smiled at me.

“Don’t leave yet Harlan. I want to talk to you.”

“Okay, sure.”

“Who’s that? She the one you took out once?”

“Yeah. She’s the one.”

“She’s pretty,” said Virge. “Why don’t you take her out again, bro?”

“Don’t really want to.”

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