Page 41 of Final Ride

He stood in front of the vanity mirror with the wound perfectly clean. The stitches he needed weren’t to be had, so he applied antiseptic cream generously, then bandaged himself up the best he could.

With three Advil extra-strength under his belt, and Cleo fed, Bobby crashed.

Sleep was the best healer of all.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Molly had a lot of questions when they returned to the station from the scene of the crime. “Any idea who the robbers were, Travis?”

“Not yet, but we might have an idea what they needed the guns for.”

“More crime?”

“Pauline heard them mention Big Bear,” said Travis, “and we’ll check out that lead.”

“The casino in Conrad?” asked Molly. “That would be a daring robbery for two men.”

“They took more guns than two,” said Virge. “More like six or eight guys will be robbing the next target.”

“Oh, my,” said Molly. “It gets worse instead of better.”

“I know Mrs. McNeil,” said Billy. “I’ll do the notification myself.”

“I know her too,” said Molly reaching for a tissue. “Nadine and Charlie were such a happy couple.”

“Did Mrs. McNeil work in the store sometimes?” asked Travis.

“Yes. She and Charlie started the business as a joint project about fifteen years ago and they ran it together. A very successful business.”

“I’ll talk to her about the store while I’m there doing the notification,” said Billy. “Today may have been her day off.”

“The boys and I will take a drive down to Conrad and check out the security situation at the Big Bear Casino,” said Travis. “I’m thinking it wouldn’t be an easy place to rob.”

“Unless you had help from the inside,” said Virge. “I saw a movie like that once. The guy on the inside rigs the lights or the alarms or like that…tells the outside guys when the cash is being taken to the bank…like that. The robbers know the exact day to come to the casino and it makes it a lot easier.”

“Good one, Virge,” said Travis.

“I’ll take my kit to the store and start on the fingerprints,” said Ted.

“Copy that.”

Big Bear Casino. Conrad. Montana.

Dad drove us down to Conrad to the casino and it was pretty impressive from the outside. All glass and lights and Vegas glitz and glitter. I’d never been there, but Virge used to hang there when he was on drugs and lived in East Conrad.

I was so fuckin’ thankful those days were over for my brother. Getting him back was hard enough. I wouldn’t want to go through that again and neither would Travis.

Plain to see why Dad was getting the ranch in Texas and going with the new Juvie plan. It was because of me and Virge. He figured he could turn out a couple more winners like us during his retirement years.

Travis parked in the massive parking area, and I glanced up at the marker poles. An animal picture on each one to help people remember where their vehicles were.

“Gray Wolf section, Dad. Row ‘B’.”

“Remember that, son.”

Inside, we toured around the gaming floor and Dad asked twice to see the manager on duty before anybody volunteered to show us where the guy was.

One of the casino slot attendants was more friendly and she said, “I’ll get you an escort, Sheriff.” She called on her hand-held and a guy in a dark green suit came along to fetch us to the boss.

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