Page 83 of Longest Ride

“You know Wyatt Thompson, Dave?”

“The guy in the cell next to me?”

“Yes. Did you know him before he was in the next cell?”

“Nope. But I know who he is, and I’ve been in that newspaper office in Cut Bank a couple of times when I needed to run ads for hands. I hire on in my busy season. Never saw that guy when I was at the front counter.”

“Fair enough. I’ll take you back to your cell, Dave.” Travis walked Dave back to the run, removed the cuffs and locked him up.

“My turn now?” asked Wyatt with a smart-alec grin on his face.

“I think I’ll save you until tomorrow, Wyatt. I’ve got to get to the airport in Great Falls to pick my boys up.”

“Come on, Travis. Stop screwing around and let me out of here. I’ve got work to do at the paper.”

“Yeah, I’ve got work to do too.” Travis walked out and locked the run. He gave a shout out to Molly to tell her he was leaving and went to pick up the boys.

Mainliner Diner. Coyote Creek.

Ted strolled over to the diner across the road to get lunch for the prisoners. He was walking to the counter when he heard the screech of tires and then the inevitable crash.

He ran out of the diner and into the middle of the road to gauge the damage and it was bad. He called an ambulance for the obvious injuries to the driver of the Lexus. The womanwasn’t moving. The guy in the feed truck was able to get out of the cab.

Trying to figure out what happened, Ted guessed the Lexus had been making a leftie into the station parking lot when the delivery truck from the feed store was coming north and T-boned the Lexus.

Ted ran over and peered through the driver’s side window at the woman trapped behind the inflated airbag. Unconscious and possibly dead. He knew immediately who she was and called Travis.

The boss was on his way to Great Falls to pick the boys up, but he hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes.

“Hey, boss. Bad news.”

“What, Ted? Can it wait until I get back?”

“How far down the interstate are you, boss?”

“About ten miles, I guess. Why?”

“Come back right now and send Billy to the airport.”

“Why, Ted. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Olivia just got T-boned turning into the station. It’s bad, boss. Real bad.”

“Oh, fuck. Not that. I’m turning around, Ted. Did you call an ambulance?”

“On its way.”

“Tell Billy to go get the boys.”

“Copy that.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Travis flipped on the siren and the strobes and stood on the gas, pushing the Bronco as hard as it would go northbound to Coyote Creek.

Main Street was blocked by the accident when Travis got to town, and the fire and rescue guys were using the Jaws of Life to get Olivia out of the front seat of her car.

Ted stood in the middle of the street with the scene firmly in hand. He had pylons out blocking traffic on Main and was rerouting the flow around the back street.

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