Page 62 of Midnight Ride

“Thanks. We’ll need it.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Billy got to the station in time for the feds to crowd into his office and start asking questions about the murder case. “That case is closed. We have the killer,” said Billy.

“We need to find the twin boys and the hunting party,” said Agent Chapman. “They are our witnesses, and their statements are needed for Trevor Oliver’s trial.”

“Steve was posing as his twin brother, Trevor, and I’ve had to start over and book him again to make it all legal,” said Billy. “Steve Oliver confessed to committing the murders with his wife. He’s not going to trial. I’ll get his confession in writing today and that’s it. I have other cases I have to work on this morning, and I can’t spend more time on a case that’s all but wrapped.”

“We’ll need more manpower to search for the twins and the men protecting them,” said McBain. Billy wondered if she’d gone deaf in the last two minutes.

“You’ll have to get that manpower from somewhere else, ma’am. Ted and I both have a full workload for today and we can’t help you with something so useless. We’ve looked for two weeks for those boys, and they are constantly moving on purpose, so they won’t be found.”

Molly called to Billy, and he hurried to the squad room and left the feds standing in his office. “Got something, Molly?”

“Linda Tucker has two Earls with elk licenses to check out and she has addresses for both of them.”

“All good if they’ve gone back home. If they’re still in the bush, they’ll be harder to find. Where are they from?”

“Earl Manning is from Twin Falls, Idaho, and Earl Clarkson is from Billings.”

“Call their home numbers, Molly, and ask their wives or whoever answers the phone if either Earl is home or still hunting in northern Montana. That will help us out.”

“Good idea. I’ll do that before we start searching for them.”

“I’ll pull up their driver’s license pictures and see if either one matches Linda’s description.” Billy leaned on Molly’s desk and did that.

“Either one?” asked Molly.

“Only one of them has a beard in their DL photo,” said Billy, “but the other one could have a beard now. Can’t rule him out. I’ll send both pictures to Linda’s phone and wait to hear fromher.”

“Good idea.”

Billy sent the pictures along with a short text and got a reply and a positive ID. “It’s Earl Clarkson, Molly. Call down to Billings and see if he’s there.”

“Doing it now, Billy.”

Canadian Border Crossing. Alberta/Montana Line.

Travis stopped at the border, held up his badge and told the customs officer what he wanted to find out.

“Pull over there next to the office and ask for Mark at the front counter. He’ll be able to find what you’re looking for, Sheriff.”

“Thanks.”

Travis glanced at both boys as they walked into the customs office, and both of them were pale and completely freaked out. Traumatized.

“Mark here? I need some information from night before last.” Travis placed his creds on the counter and the lady in uniform went into the office and brought a man in uniform out to talk to them.

“Sheriff, something I can help you with?”

“I hope you can. A black Ram crossed over night before last, and I have reason to believe they had a kidnapped girl in the truck with them. Witnesses say the plate may have started with BZY…possibly. Can you find something like that for me?”

“A kidnapping. My men are trained to look for anything suspicious like that,” said Mark.

“They may have missed it if the girl was drugged or…hidden.”

“Come into my office and let me look back through the crossings. This isn’t a busy border point, Sheriff, but there will be a couple hundred vehicles to look through—at the least.”

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