Page 20 of Longest Ride

“Eldon didn’t want to go with him.”

“Yeah, I got that part. Good luck to you, girl. Getting him to Texas in time to die is gonna be the longest ride of your life.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Me and Virge grabbed coffees when we got to the station and spent the next two hours giving accident reports to Molly. We were days behind.

Working from the list of calls she’d received, Molly had to remind us of the locations to help us remember what we’d done at each of the accidents. We had to match the names in our notebooks to each of the accidents we’d been to. A fuckin mess.

Travis gave Molly the whole Tammy story and Molly was in tears over Tammy still being gone. She checked on the BOLO several times and nothing had been reported on Fontana’s truck.

While we worked on the reports, a call came in from a woman in Valier. Her husband had gone out hunting the day of the storm and he never came back home and didn’t call. She was worried.

Billy took me and Virge to Valier.

Fleming Residence. Valier. Montana.

“This is the house.” Virge pointed at a frame bungalow painted yellow.

Mrs. Fleming opened the door, and her eyes were red from crying. Even with the crying going on, she was a looker and caught a stare from Virge.

Long blonde hair and blue eyes that kind of sparkled, she waved us into the living room and shoved two big Rotties off the sofa and out of the way so we could sit down.

Billy pulled his notebook out and asked his first question. “Mrs. Fleming, did your husband go hunting by himself?”

“Yes, he often goes out for a few hours alone when he has the chance. He works a lot and doesn’t have much free time.”

“When exactly did he leave the house?”

“Saturday morning. He said he’d be back by noon.”

“You waited until today to call the sheriff’s office?” asked Billy.

“Not exactly,” said Mrs. Fleming. “I called Harry’s buddy, Alex Perkins, and told him Harry didn’t come home. He said he knew exactly where Harry would be, and he’d go look for him.”

“And Alex didn’t come back either?” asked Billy.

“No. And I can’t get an answer from either one of them. They must have no service in the bush. What should I do?”

“I’m not sure what we can do, Mrs. Fleming.”

“Did Alex mention where he was going to look for Harry?” I asked. “That would help us.”

“Yes. Alex said Harry always starts down at the Quarry Cutoff.”

“Great,” said Billy. “Now we have a starting point. Could I have a piece of Harry’s clothing? I need a scent for the dogs.”

“Sure. I’ll get you a T-shirt.”

“One from the dirty clothes would be best,” said Billy. “Unwashed clothing will have more of Harry’s scent on it.”

“Unwashed. Oh, I see what you’re saying. Let me get that for you.”

Paula Fleming returned to the living room with a wrinkled T-shirt and a pair of dirty socks belonging to her husband. She shoved the items into a plastic grocery bag and handed the bag to Billy.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks. We’ll go back to the station and get the dogs then try the Quarry Cutoff. If we find Harry’s vehicle, that will help us zero in on where he went into the forest. What’s Harry driving?”

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