Page 28 of Midnight Ride

“That would be a mistake on her part,” said Molly.

“Yeah, it would be.”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

On the way home, Travis stopped at the chicken place in town to pick up dinner and while he was inside, he saw a copy of the newspaper lying on the end of the counter.

He placed his order and the young girl behind the counter said, “I think one of those twins was in here eating chicken with an older guy.”

“Just one of the boys?”

“One who looked exactly like the picture in the paper.”

“What day was that?” asked Travis. “Can you recall?”

“Nope. Can’t think of it, Sheriff. Maybe a couple days ago.”

“What did the older guy look like?”

The girl shrugged. “Like a hunter. Big guy wearing a marker. Ball cap. Like that.”

“Thanks for telling me,” said Travis.

“No problem, Sheriff. Let me go check on your order.”

Travis paid for the order, collected the bags, and went back to the Bronco. He jumped in and passed the information along. “If that’s true and two of them came into town to eat, then it paints a different picture.”

“What kind of picture?” asked Billy. “I’m getting more and more confused. I don’t know what the hell we’re looking at.”

“Yeah,” said Travis. “You’ve got a point.”

Tammy wasn’t on the sofa when we got home with the food and Travis sent me to find her. I ran out to the barn and Tammy and Max were sitting in Bonnie Grace’s stall.

“Hey, Tam. There you are. Dad brought dinner home. Come and eat.”

“I’m not too hungry, Harlan.”

I lifted her up gently off the straw bale and kissed her. “Come in and sit at the table. I can’t eat if you’re not there for me to look at.”

Tammy giggled and took my hand.

Chapter Six

Saturday, September 7th.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

At breakfast, Billy was still puzzled by the keychain he’d found at the crime scene. It was something tangible but wasn’t evidence of any kind and it didn’t point to any one individual. It could have been as simple as one of the twins dropping it out of their pocket. Mrs. Oliver had never been to the crime scene so she couldn’t have dropped it.

Travis seemed more encouraged by the sighting of one of the twins in town. The girl at the chicken store had the newspaper right in front of her and she was positive she’d seen one of the twin boys in the restaurant.

“But why would there only be one of the twins in Coyote Creek with an older guy?” asked Tammy. “I don’t get it.”

“No idea,” said Billy. “Maybe they split up and were hunting in pairs. That twin and the guy he was hunting with were close to town, so they stopped in to eat.” He shrugged. “I’m running out of ideas.”

“I wish they’d all come into the Run for a pitcher of beer,” said Virgil. “Then we could arrest the whole works of them at once.”

“That’s right,” said Travis. “They were all present when both murders were committed, so every one of them is guilty of murder.”

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