Page 45 of Final Ride

“Can’t find it.”

“They might’ve brought it with them,” I said. “Like a tire iron from their truck and then took it with them when they booked it.”

“Yeah, could have, Harlan.”

Virge wrote down names as we slowly cruised through the casino. Don’t know what good it would do, but he was committed.

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek.

While the boys were at the casino, Travis and Billy drove down to the roadhouse for a beer. They sat at the bar to talk to Billy’s cousin Jack to catch him up on what was going on at the station. He liked to know stuff like that.

After telling him about the robbery and Charlie McNeil being dead, Travis told Jack all about the new spread in Texas.

“Billy is wavering on whether he’s going to Texas or not, Jack. What’s your opinion?”

“Try something different, Billy. Hell, you might love it in Texas.”

Billy laughed. “Yeah, I guess I might.”

“You still considering it?” asked Travis.

“Yep. Haven’t ruled it out.”

“Good.”

Chapter Ten

Tuesday, July 30th.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Billy and Travis had lots of questions about the casino surveillance for me and Harlan at breakfast. “No sign of any robbers,” said Virge. “I took down the names and employee numbers of possible inside people. Everybody me and Harlan thought looked like a con.”

“You can tell at first glance, Virge?” Billy had a smirk on his face.

“Takes one to know one,” snapped Virge. He helped himself to two more eggs from the platter in the center of the table.

“Guess that’s true,” said Travis. “I can tell a cop when I’m looking at one.”

“Soon as we get to the station,” said Virge taking another slice of toast, “I’ll get Molly to run the names through the police database and see who has priors.”

“Wouldn’t hurt a bit to check those people out,” said Travis. “We might get lucky.”

“Might also be a huge waste of time,” said Billy. “I don’t see a casino hiring people with prison records. “I’m sure they vet all of their prospective employees thoroughly before hiring them.”

“Always a way,” said Virge. He took the last piece of bacon, placed it on the last piece of toast, covered it with a layer of ketchup, rolled it up and ate it.

I laughed at my brother and poked fun at him. It got my day off to a good start. “You an expert on casino hiring practices, bro?”

“Maybe I know more about it than you. When I needed money for drugs, I tried to get a job there. One of the girls got me an app and told me for sure I’d get hired. Her aunt Lizzie would put my application through, and they’d never know about my time in Juvie.”

“Huh,” said Billy. “That’s interesting, Virge.”

“Ain’t it?”

“Why didn’t you fill out the application?” I asked.

Virge shrugged. “Can’t remember, bro. Probably couldn’t find a pen.”

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