Page 5 of Midnight Ride

“So,” said Travis, “a lot of guys in this little hunting party. More than the usual foursome.”

“Wonder where in hell they moved their camp to,” I said. “If they were scared shitless after they shot their buddy, they should’ve dragged his dead ass right back to where they came from.”

“Idaho,” said Virge.

“Pocatello, Idaho,” said Billy. “We need the locals to do a notification for us.”

“Any brass near the body?” asked the doctor.

Billy shook his head. “Nothing. They picked all the casings up.”

“Huh.”

“If it was an accident, they would’ve called it in,” said the doctor. “But I’ve never seen a guy shot seven times by accident.”

Travis smiled. “Me neither. More like this guy did something beyond shitty and all the rest took a shot at him for payback—something like that.”

“Maybe not,” said Virge. “He might’ve pissed off one guy enough to do the seven-card damage.”

“That too, Virge. Be interesting to find out what the hell went on here.”

“If we ever do,” said Virge. “If these fuckers are back in Idaho, we’ll never find out.”

“Don’t give up so easy, son. We haven’t even tried to find them yet.”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Took all day to process the scene and we got home in time for one quick beer while Tammy put the finishing touches on our big dinner.

“Y’all are so lucky y’all got here before I finished stirring this gravy.”

I laughed at my sister as I took cans of Miller out of the fridge and handed them out to Virge, Billy, and Travis. Tammy had a can of Coors going on the counter beside the stove.

“Tell me every detail I missed,” she said. “I don’t want to be behind on a murder case when I go to the station tomorrow. Couldn’t think of anything worse.”

Virgil laughed. “I can think of way worse shit.”

“You cannot.”

“Can too.”

“Give me an example,” I said to my brother. “Gimme the worst shit you can think of.”

“Okay…let me think for a second. Okay. This is it. You’re drunk and sleeping it off and some asshole thinks it would be funny to shoot you full of H. That’s worse than not knowing all there is to know about a murder case. Way worse.”

“You got me there, Virge,” said Tammy. “One of your buddies do that to you?”

Virgil shrugged. “Just say’n it would be worse.”

“Damn right it would be, son. Let’s sit down and eat this five-star dinner that your sister made for us all.”

Chapter Two

Tuesday, September 3rd.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Virge and I hurried through the barn chores while Tammy made breakfast. Travis decided that if Tammy was doing the cooking in the mornings, she didn’t have to do barn chores too. And he was right. No way me or Virge wanted to cook. For one thing, we didn’t know how. Better this way.

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