Page 15 of River Ride

“We’ll go see him right after this is over,” said Travis.

The judge was lenient and granted Carpenter and his son bail. They put up the bond and left with their attorney.

“We got rid of the Carpenters, Dad.”

“Temporarily,” said Travis. “I’m not convinced there won’t be more charges coming their way. You can’t convince me they put three in Wayne Treadway’s heart for trespassing. It’s too brutal and calculated if they intended to scare off a poacher like they claimed.”

“What about the horse and the feed bag?” I asked. “Can we nail them on the coverup?”

“We need evidence,” said Travis.

“Let’s go see Groveman, the liar,” said Virge. “He might know where Wayne’s blue Silverado is at. Somebody has to fuckin know.”

Groveman Residence. Black Eagle Pass.

From the courthouse we drove down to Black Eagle Pass and parked in Brian Groveman’s driveway. No answer to a knock on the door.

Travis tried the handle, and the door was unlocked.

“Wellness check,” he said as he pushed the door open, and we went inside for a look around.

The house was a mess but not ransacked. Just cluttered and dirty. Groveman might have been living alone. We hadn’t asked his marital status.

“Check all the rooms, boys. Make sure Brian didn’t off himself somewhere. He might be feeling bad about lying to us.”

“Not that bad,” I said and then chuckled.

“Guilt is a powerful thing,” said Travis. “Can eat you up inside.”

“What’s he guilty of?”

“There’s the mystery, Virgie. We have to figure it out.”

“His clothes are all here,” I hollered to Dad from the bedroom with the unmade bed.

“He ain’t rabbited on us,” said Virge. “Where’s he work?”

“Let’s work on that when we get back to the station,” said Travis.

Casper. Wyoming.

The kids were groaning and professing starvation when Mick pulled into a truck stop for a late lunch and to gas up.

“I hate to stop at a truck stop,” whispered Annie. “Too much of a temptation for Tammy.”

“No other restaurants on this highway with enough room for the horse trailers,” said Mick. “You’ll have to watch her extra close.”

“I will. I’ll never let her out of my sight.”

Before we got to the door of the restaurant, Tammy had wandered down a row of parked trucks and her assigned buddy, Davey, was running after her trying to keep up.

“Come on, Tammy. You’re going the wrong way. We have to go inside the restaurant and eat.”

“I need a smoke.”

Rowdy saw what was happening and tore after the kids. He caught Tammy by the arm and turned her around. “Not rightnow, Tammy. We’re eating. Not going for a truck tour.”

“Let go of me. I don’t know you.” She turned and pulled away from Rowdy.

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