Page 17 of Final Ride

“Fantastic.”

Bob Crockett shook hands with all of us before we went to the station to start work. We soon wouldn’t be working as deputy sheriffs, and I wondered how that would feel. Virge hadn’t mentioned it to me, but he must be thinking about it too.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Travis closed the office door to talk to Billy in private. “We need to talk.”

“Sure. Go ahead. What are we talking about?”

“Bob Crockett has three properties for me to look at and I have to move my ass and go to Texas if I’m going to have a place for the boys to live. I have a ton of vacation days coming to me that the county owes me for and I’m going to take them to finish out my month. If I don’t, the ranch will be sold, and we won’t have any place to fuckin go.”

“Sure. You can do that. All we’re working on is Vicki’s missing mother and for all we know, she might’ve just taken off. We don’t even know there’s been a crime committed.”

“No, we don’t. I’m going to look for a flight for tomorrow morning from Grand Falls and take the boys with me. Can you and Ted handle the office?”

Billy laughed. “You used to be here alone.”

“Yeah. I did it alone for a long time.” Travis went to the door to leave. “Don’t forget you’re thinking on coming with us. I’m waiting to hear about that.”

“I’m working it out in my head.”

Travis moved to the break room, poured himself a coffee and Virge came barreling in. “How can I go to Texas to look at ranches with Vicki missing, Dad? I have to help Billy find her.”

“I want you with me when we pick out the ranch, son. Billy and Ted cand find Vicki and her mother.”

“I’m not sure I can go, Dad. I’m not being an asshole neither.”

Travis smiled. “You seldom are an asshole, Virgie, and neither is Harlan.”

Billy joined them in the break room with news. “I just got a call from the Butte police department.”

“What’s up in Butte?” asked Travis.

“Vicki’s mom’s old Ford Focus was found in the Target parking lot down there in Butte. No sign of the driver and nothing in the car.”

“If Vicki was searching for her mother,” said Billy, “she knew enough to go to Butte. Looks to me like they changed vehicles. There’s not a damned thing you can do about Vicki from here, Virgil. Vicki and her mother are up to something, and they might not be in trouble at all.”

“Why did Vicki come to us then?” asked Virge. “If they were doing something on the down-low, why call us?”

“Maybe her mother hadn’t clued her in from the first. Vicki gets scared and turns to you and then her mother is pissed her kid involved the cops.”

“Huh,” said Virge. “I guess it could’ve been like that.”

“Okay, let’s do this,” said Travis. “Before we drop the case completely, let’s go over to the laundromat and do a thorough search of the office. We haven’t looked through Vicki’s desk yet.”

“Okay, and if we find nothing crime-related, I’ll pack and go with you and Harlan tomorrow.”

“Thanks, son. Let’s go do that now.”

Duds & Suds Laundromat. Coyote Creek.

Dad went with me and Virge across the street to the laundromat. We left theclosedsign in the window, and we took every single piece of paper out of that old desk where Vicki sat and worked all day long.

“What are these?” I picked up a handful of papers with a rubber band around them.

Travis took them from me and said, “These are betting slips. Was Vicki’s mom a bookie for the mob? She couldn’t have run her business from here in the laundromat.”

“She never came here during the day, Dad,” said Virge.

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