Page 33 of Midnight Ride

Hunters began pouring in and Travis had his eye on all of them. A while later, Bobby Ray walked in with his buddies and Tammy seemed happy to see him.

He asked her to dance a couple of times and I didn’t like it one bit. My brother had sharp eyes on me, and I didn’t want him to know how pissed I was. If he thought I was jealous, he’d never let me hear the end of it.

Savanna dropped in for a drink later and came over to our booth to say hi, but she didn’t speak to Travis. I figured the way things were going, they were never going to patch it up and be a couple again. Savanna was still mad and the last fight they’d had wasn’t even Dad’s fault. Dad being as stubborn as he was—no way he was gonna saysorryfor something he didn’t do.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

When we got home, Virge and I did late chores and after we fed the horses, we bedded them down for the night.

“Tell me about finding Linda Tucker, bro,” I said. “How bad is she hurt?”

“When I cut her down, I didn’t think she was breathing,” said Virge. “Travis found a pulse and we made a drag and hauled her heavy ass to the truck and then to the hospital. The doctor never told us she’d be okay or anything like that. She might not be.”

“Who the hell would do that to her?”

“Another crime for us to solve, bro. Have to start on that tomorrow.”

“Sunday’s our day off. I want to go riding.”

“You’ll have to go for a midnight ride when you’re done busting your ass looking for murderers.”

Chapter Seven

Sunday, September 8th.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Tammy’s arm was good enough for her to help Travis cook breakfast. While we ate, she giggled and laughed and talked about dancing at the roadhouse with Bobby Ray.

I kept quiet and ate my eggs and sausages, then went to the barn so nobody in my family would notice I was pissed off. Burned my ass every time I heard Tammy talking about that guy from Arkansas.

Virge followed me out to the barn and picked up a shovel. Big grin on his face and he was all over me in a heartbeat. “You are so fuckin jealous of Tammy, bro, your skin will soon be green.”

“Shut up.”

“You better get yourself a girlfriend before you get into serious trouble with Travis.”

“Yeah, I should. I’ll start on it tomorrow.”

Virgil punched me in the gut for good measure. “I’ll remind you.”

“Yeah, I bet you will.”

When we went back to the kitchen for a coffee after chores, Tammy said she was staying home to clean up the house. “This place got messy since I only had one good cleaning arm.”

I laughed at her because I never even noticed.

“Yeah, it is a mess,” said Travis. “I guess Savanna helped out with cleaning up more than I noticed.”

“You guys gonna make up anytime soon?” asked Virge.

“Don’t think so,” growled Travis. “She ain’t even talking to me, son.”

“The Olivia mix up wasn’t your fault, Dad,” I said. “Savanna took it wrong, and she was so fuckin jealous she freaked sideways. That means she still likes you.”

Travis frowned. “That what it means?”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

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