Page 2 of Midnight Ride

Billy pulled the phone out of his pocket and took a breath. “Sheriff Johnson.”

“Sheriff, didn’t know if you’d be working on the holiday, but this is Grady Cartwell and I have a ranch on county road ten about two miles south of Oilmont.”

“Okay. East or west of the highway?”

“East.”

“Yep. What’s your trouble, sir?”

“My land’s all posted so they ain’t on my land, but from behind my barn I could hear a lot of shouting on the vacant land next door.”

“Shouting?”

“Yeah, yelling and hollering and then there were seven shots fired in a row. I counted them.”

“Shooting at an elk?”

“Not sure if they were rifle shots, Sheriff. Could’ve been a handgun. I’m not saying I’m an expert, but I can tell the difference. Think it was a pistol.”

“Okay. I’ll take a drive up there and check it out.”

“Thanks. I’ll be home all day.”

“Yep. I’ll drop by and take your statement, sir. Leaving right now.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.”

Billy had the phone on speaker and Virgil jumped to his feet. “Is this the start of the hunters shooting each other?”

“Guess we’d better find out, kiddo. Let’s go.” Billy tossed the keys to the Bronco to Virgil. “You can drive. You’ve had one less beer than me.”

County Road Ten. South of Oilmont.

“See that dirt track there, Virge? Drive along there a ways and let’s see if we come to a camp. Put the shifter in four-wheel if it starts to get rough.”

“Copy. Lot of bush coming up. Think they’re camped back in the trees?”

“Yeah, could be. We might have to park and walk.”

“Should’ve brought the dogs,” said Virge, “but they went on the ride with the horses.”

“Yeah, they love to run all the way to the back of the ranch. Good exercise for them.”

Virgil stopped at the tree line and shut off the engine. “We gotta walk from here, Billy. You up for it?”

“Let’s see how far I can get. I might have to stop and let younger legs go find the shooters.”

Virgil laughed. “My shot leg ain’t so sore now. I can almost run on it.”

The two of them tramped along into the woods for about ten minutes and came to a clearing where a fire in a make-shift pit was still warm. A few embers still glowing bright red.

“They were here. The area all around the fire is tramped down.”

“If hunting is just starting and they made camp here, why would they leave?”

“Must’ve had a reason to move their camp so fuckin quick,” said Billy. “Let’s have a good look around before we go.”

“Yeah, sure.”

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