Page 77 of Rocky Ride

Hal Hoover had no trouble coming up with the bond and after a few minutes, he and Ellington left the courthouse together.

Travis followed them to the parking lot and was surprised to see Ted sitting in his pickup watching his man—Graham Van Cedar.

Van Cedar was focused on Ellington and Hoover, and Travis wanted to know why. What did Van Cedar know that he didn’t? He intended to find out.

Louis Armstrong International Airport. New Orleans.

“You have to wait in the truck, Clyde, while I go inside to fetch the beautiful lady.” Clyde whined and Mason promised him a biscuit if he behaved himself.

A bit nervous on embarking on a hunt with a partner, Mason figured he wasn’t too old to try something new. If it didn’t work out, he might have fun finding that out.

His heart pounded a little too enthusiastically when she came through the door with the other passengers from Texas.

Mason smiled, reached out and pulled her into his arms and holding her close to him and inhaling her soft perfume felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“I’m so happy to see you.”

“Same. I hadn’t thought of coming with you, when I called, but I do know the Bobby Prescott case inside out and I may be able to help you with a lot of details that will help locate him.”

“He may be living under an alias making him harder to locate.”

“I’m sure he is, and if Bobby is as smart as I believe he is, I’m sure he sold his truck by now. Thinking about it on the flight, that’s one way we may be able to get a read on his new identity.”

Mason laughed. “You’ve been thinking hard on it already.”

“I had time to kill on the plane.” Annie laughed.

Mason took her bag and escorted Annie to his truck parked at the curb. Clyde wagged his tail and whined when Annie jumped into the front seat.

Annie twisted in her seat so she could stroke Clyde’s velvet ears. “I missed you, Clyde.” She pulled a large biscuit out of her pocket and gave it to him.

“All set,” said Mason wearing a huge smile. “Shall we head towards Nashville?”

Darkers’ Residence. Sweetgrass. Montana.

I cruised by the Darkers place twice looking for the perfect place to park where we wouldn’t be noticed. Virge picked a spot down the road where the snowbanks weren’t so high, and we could see a little bit of the cinderblock building through the trees.

All of the activity took place in that building and we still had no fuckin clue what was going on in there. Travis was sure it wasa meth lab, but it didn’t stink like one. What else could they be doing in there? We had no idea.

My coffee was gone, and the Jeep was getting cold when my phone signaled a text. I’d been texting Penny almost every day and I liked her a lot.

“Are you working?”

“Yes. On surveillance.”

“Exciting.”

“Not exactly.”

“Who are you watching?”

There was no way I could tell her I was watching her father, so I made something up.

“Watching a murder suspect.”

“Ooh. Don’t get caught and get shot or anything.”

“Hope not. Want to go out on the weekend?”

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