Page 86 of Midnight Ride

“Wow. That’s cool.”

Lucy pointed at the ladder and Virge climbed up on command to get the hay and straw from the loft. My brother was fun to watch.

Annie had oven mitts on, and she was taking pans of biscuits out of the oven for breakfast when we came in from the barn.

She made pancakes and sausages, eggs and biscuits, and Dad ate more than he had since Tammy got snatched. Yep, he was doing tons better since Annie arrived.

When we were all served, Annie sat down and took a sip of her coffee. “I have one of my guys checking the weigh stations on the Trans-Canada eastbound on the day Tammy was seen getting into the semi. He should be back to me soon.”

“The weigh stations,” said Billy. “That’s a damned good idea, Annie.”

“More like a needle in a haystack,” said Travis. “Hundreds of black trucks hauling loads on the Trans-Canada. It’s the major east-to-west artery.”

“Narrowed down to that particular stretch of highway in Alberta, black rig on that day and approximate time,” said Annie, “I don’t think it’s a stretch at all.” She gave Travis a look and he had no more to say about Annie’s idea.

I thought it was a fantastic idea. One we never thought of, so why shoot it down? “This is gonna work, Dad. As soon as we know where that trucker lives, we can go there and find out what he knows about Tammy.”

“I’m glad you’ve got the faith, son. Guess I’m a little more skeptical.”

Annie winked at me. It was gonna work.

Fontana Cabin. Sicamous. British Colombia.

Waking up in the cabin with the sun shining in the bedroom window gave me the happiest feeling I’d had in a long time.

I got up quietly and left Eldon sleeping. He was exhausted from being on the road for days and days. Easy to see why he needed a place like this to come back to and unwind.

After I made coffee and waited for it to brew, I filled a mug and took it outside.

The deck at the back of the cabin was my new favorite place to sit and have a smoke. From there I could see the sun shining down on the mountains in the distance making the snow caps sparkle like they were made of diamonds.

Relaxed and enjoying the sound of the river at the bottom of the hill, I didn’t hear Eldon step out through the sliding doors. He sat down in the chair next to me with coffee in his hand.

“Morning to my best girl.”

“Hey, Eldon. I love sitting out here looking up at the mountains. My new fav thing to do.”

He laughed. “My new fav thing is having you here with me, Tammy. I want us to stay like this forever.”

“Me too. This is our perfect life, Eldon.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about it, Tammy, and I want to get married and make our life together permanent. What do you think of that idea?”

“Married or not married, I’ll stay with you forever, Eldon. It’s my destiny and I’m down with what the Fates have chosen for me. For us.”

“Good,” said Eldon. “We’ll talk about it more when I’m wide awake.”

“Do you want to go back to bed for an hour?”

“I do. I love you, Tammy.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Annie cleaned up the kitchen while she waited for her guy in Austin to call her back. Dad decided to wait with Annie and Lucy, and he sent me and Virge to the station with Billy.

We didn’t have any new cases to work on, and if a call did come in, Ted and Billy would both be there. Billy didn’t have any jobs for us to do, so we cleaned up our desks in the squad room.

We talked to Molly for a bit and caught up on all of our reports that weren’t finished. After that, we drank coffee in the break room and waited.

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