Page 32 of Midnight Ride

“Is that what we’re supposed to do?”

“He texted me.” I reached for Tammy’s hand, and she wasabout done. We still had a long trek back to the road.

Dry Run Roadhouse.

Billy was already hunkered down in a booth working on his second pitcher of Miller by the time me and Tammy got to the roadhouse.

Travis was sitting on the end stool at the bar having a serious conversation with Jack. Virge was on the stool next to him, listening. Seemed like my brother listened to every word Travis said now.

Funny how that worked.

We sat down in the booth with Billy and asked him what was going on.

“Let me tell you kids a weird story.”

“How weird is it?” asked Tammy.

“You can judge for yourself. I can’t quite figure it out and neither can Travis.” Billy told us about Travis and Virge finding Linda Tucker strung up in a tree in the bush south of Boundary Road.

“Do you think it’s the guys we’re looking for?” I asked Billy and he shook his head.

“Travis doesn’t think so. He says it doesn’t fit with the killings at all. Just guessing, he thinks she might’ve come across guys over their limit and when she tried to fine them and confiscate their guns, she was an easy target.”

“Huh. No sign of anybody around when they found her?” I asked.

“Nope. Max and Sarge found her. They must have caught her scent, and they ran off leaving Travis and Virge miles behind. They had to catch up to the dogs. When they finally got to the spot where Sarge was lying down—you know like he does when he finds the target—there was Linda up in the tree.”

Travis came back to the booth carrying his pitcher and satdown. “Jack is going to listen for any mention of Linda Tucker.”

“Is she gonna be okay, Daddy?”

“Don’t know. She sure wasn’t okay when me and Virge left her at the hospital. She was barely breathing.”

Tammy teared up. “I feel bad for her. She seemed nice when she was in our office.”

“We had better luck, Dad.”

“Tell me, Harlan. I need something to get us going.”

“The old guy we interviewed had video of the twins and the guys they’re with, and we brought it with us. That was up on the Old Kelvin Road. I want to take the dogs back there tomorrow.”

“Video,” said Travis. “That’s a goddamned miracle. Could y’all make a positive ID on the twins?”

“Yep,” I said. “Weird thing was, and Tammy noticed it—there was only five of them and not six.”

“Aw, shit,” said Travis. “What does that mean?”

Billy shrugged. “Don’t want to think about what it could mean. Obvious guess—there’s only five left.”

“What the hell game are they playing?” Travis shouted. “Is it like some kind of survivor thing and they’re eliminating each other?”

“That’s as good a theory as any other,” said Billy. “I got nothing better than that.”

“I like that one,” said Virge. “Survivor games while you’re hunting. You can just shoot somebody off the fuckin island.”

“Jesus, Virge.” Travis shook his head.

We hung out for a while and listened to the band. I danced with Tammy twice. She tried to get Virge to dance with her and he wouldn’t try it.

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